The big day begins...

When I woke up in the morning, I rolled over and looked at Akis and realized ‘Hey, this time tomorrow, we’re going to be married…’ I know it bucks all the traditional norms when we decided that we would spend the night before the wedding together, but hey, when have we ever gone with the average??

We prepared for the day, but also embraced that some things today were not going to go as we had planned. We had originally planned to have Akis’ brother as our second witness. We were both devastated when we received the phone call the night before saying that while he had been excused from his ship by the Senior Officers, the Port Authorities were not allowing him to disembark from the vessel. I know he was devastated to not be able to come, however both Akis and I know, that when you are on a ship, sometimes things are out of your control. Even though he won't be with us physically, I know he will be with us in spirit.

One of the good parts of the day however is that when you have an 8pm wedding, you don't need to set the alarm and get up at a ridiculously early hour to make it to your hair appointment. Instead, Akis and I had quite a leisurely morning and even ended up walking down to the port to pick up ferry tickets. Along the way we ran into a former colleague who was home for the day from Easy Cruises and asked what we were up to. The straight answer: We’re getting married….. today. Congratulations were offered, but I’m sure he was thinking to himself, why is it you are out for a walk when you are getting married in 9 hours???

Akis and I decided to get ready in Petroupoli at his parent’s and grandparent’s house. Ioannis, my hair and make up guy came to the house shortly after 3pm and the ‘transformation’ began. Krista decided that she would also like to have the hair done and was subjected to the warm hair dryer in the heat of the day.

Ioannis' tools:

Krista's prep:



Once the hair was complete, the next step was the make-up. We had decided to sit out on the porch hoping to catch a bit of a breeze. Now having full make-up done was quite a bit for me. A girl who will put on mascara, sometimes eyeliner and lip gloss, the whole foundation, blush, eyeshadow was a lot for me to take in. Not to mention I was afraid to touch my face!



Once the work was complete, I was taken aback by how much make-up I was wearing. We had him tone down the eyes a bit as Krista and I were thinking it is too much, and all the other Greek women were saying it was beautiful…


After seeing the repaired eyes, Beth assured me that in the photos it won’t look like I was wearing a ton of makeup so with that, we decided we were good to go.

The final step in the transformation was the addition of the veil. Ioannis put it on and we were finished at about 6:15pm.

Akis had wanted to get preparation video and photos done, so we agreed to get the photographer to come for this. The only problem was, the photographers arrived about 90 minute before the ceremony and by that time, aside from stepping into my dress, most of the work had been complete. Bit of a pity as I’m sure there would have been some nice photos, but we’ll have to settle for our artistic photography.

Other tasks that were completed during the prep included the cleaning of the rings. Beth a certified diamond expert was in charge of making those babies sparkle. Who knew with a bit of window cleaner and a toothbrush you are ready to go.


A newly explained Greek tradition had Aunt Tula writing names of single women on the bottom of my shoe. According to the tradition, the name that wears off the shoe first is the name of the single woman who will be getting married next. Note where Krista put her name… smartie pants.



The shoe wasn't the only thing Aunt Tula was taking care of...



Over all the preparation at Akis’ parents was good, however there was a lot of commotion and ‘visitors’ to the house that I didn’t expect. It would seem that in Greek homes, everyone comes to visit the bride and get a sneak peak. I had envisioned a calm, quiet afternoon with Krista and Beth and Akis’ parents. Dad arrived at about 7:15 or so and entered into what must have just seemed like chaos. I have gotten used to the fact that I often don’t understand conversations that are going on around me, however didn’t think about how this would affect others. Oh well…

Some Observers:


And poor Beth who was suffering from Gastric flu was a real trooper:

Akis getting ready with our friend Stratos:

I got into my dress, and the final photos of the family were taken ~ and now, we’re ready to go!