Elpida & Nikos

by atelier zolotas
January 8, 2018

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How I met my man

I met Nikos in 2010 when I started working for the same company as him, where we both stayed for 5 years. We never collaborated directly though… we got closer when I discovered that Nikos came from Nafpaktos, where my parents happen to have a country house.

What is funny is that although we had been sunbathing on the same beaches all these years, we got to know each other in Athens, through a company! Our professional paths separated just after his wedding proposal, but we then shared a new path together!

Then, he proposed…

We had moved together in a new house for 2-3 months, which we had furnished from zero. We discovered that staying home and cooking, having our friends around, or just watching movies made us really happy.

It was our anniversary that night, and we had booked a table in a nice restaurant on a terrace, with a view of the Acropolis, but we didn’t count on the weather! It turned out to be a really rainy night, so we decided to stay in. So we cooked and lay on the couch watching a series. When the episode was over, I asked “OK now what?”. Nikos simply said “I have an idea. But you might say I’m running too fast”. I looked at him in wonder, when he took out from the pocket of his tracksuit (that was the dress code of the night after all!) a wedding ring!

And just like that, he simply asked me to be his wife. When I said yes (which I did!) he just pushed a button, and a photo video of our days together started playing, to the soundtrack of “You are the best thing” by Ray LaMontagne. It might sound simple and informal but whenever it comes to my mind, I instantly feel moved!

We got married on August 22 in Saint Georgios, at Trizonia (Fokida).

The wedding concept was cottage/vintage in the colors of… well, everything! The basic elements were burlap, lace, wood, twine, zinc, in a true cottage & raw spirit!

The concept already started unfolding from the wedding invitations! It was a representation of the poster of the movie “An education“… Instead, we rephrased the title to “An Invitation”, in a true setting of a movie poster (by the kind attribute of Nik’s Hope productions)! We were photographed lying on hay (!) and the wedding invitations were enclosed in a simple brown envelope, tied up with twine and sealed with wax.

Now for the flowers… I wanted to choose flowers of the field, but they were out of season! So we opted for vivid colored flowers like amaranth, roses & other more peculiar ones (which I honestly don’t remember how they are called)! Chamomile, laurel, wheat, and lavender come to my mind!

If I had to choose one favorite moment!

Our first dance. It was very personal, so moving, even though there were all our friends and relatives around.

The best wedding decision I ever made… and also the worst one!

The best had to be to actively get involved in our wedding preparations and come up with unique and beautiful details that would express our aesthetics, no matter how unconventional they might have been! Everything was handcrafted, from the wedding invitations to the wedding favors… which meant a lot of weekends staying in, looking for handicraft ideas! But in the end, it was really worth it!!

…and also the worst one!

The worst one was not using drones during the photo shoot and the cinematography of our wedding. The idea didn’t even cross our minds, but now we realize it would have given some magical shots! The view from above, of the transition from the island to the garden party, would have been amazing!

Magic lies in the details

As for my favorite wedding details… The reception was held in the garden of our house, at Skaloma (a little village near Nafpaktos, the one I was telling you about). Rows of lamps were hanging above the garden. The buffet tables were made from cable drum rollers in different sizes! The food was unconventional and served in clay and wooden dinnerware, provided by my mother. There was also homemade lemonade and a popcorn corner set on old barrels.

We had an open bar, placed on old barrels as well, which served custom-made cocktails. The sweets and the wedding cake (which was a naked red velvet) were set on our water well, which was decorated with lights all around the rim (a stunning sight).

Hanging from the trees there were ribbons and candle jars. On the tables, there were bronze zinc jugs (the classic ones found in old-fashioned wine taverns) as well as cages filled with colorful flowers.

The wedding favors were small buckets or twine containers, filled with wedding candy in the shape pebbles. Our wine had custom made, handmade labels with our pre-wedding photos, entitled “Nik’s Hope” and also and the saying “Cheers to love, for it deserves the first toast”.

The newly-weds table was in the shape of the word “LOVE”! I don’t know where to begin…!

If I could give some advice to a bride-to-be…

I think the most important thing in a wedding is to go ahead because you really want it, after having an emotionally rich relationship with your other half.

We had this wedding primarily for ourselves, and secondly for our guest’s sake. It’s a beautiful party during one’s lifetime, so you’d better live it to the fullest!

Oh, my wedding dress!

I had never thought of how I wanted my wedding dress to look like. It had never crossed my mind nor had I contemplated the matter. I tried on several dresses, but when I put on that particular one… it just clicked! It felt like myself and like no other. I instantly fell in love with it, even though it wasn’t even completed when Sara, (who was really amazing) presented it to me. With the help of the designer, VG Zolotas, we made it take its final shape and form!

He designed it on paper from the very beginning for me, we added some elements, excluded some others, until something that was beyond my imagination, became reality! Especially on the wedding day, it was magical. , Beautiful, unique, distinctive, comfortable, feminine as it should, in total harmony with the wedding concept, the venue, and the groom!! DIVINE! I can’t fully express how much I love it…!

The Atelier Zolotas experience was ideal. My wedding consultant didn’t inflate my ego. She was patient, ready to provide a solution and she caught my style immediately… and mainly presented me a diamond of a wedding dress, which ended up becoming the one for me. It was fantastic!