Sophie and James celebrated their wedding on the Peloponnese coast of Greece, a place full of personal meaning for them both. With family roots in the region and years of shared memories spent visiting, it felt like the natural choice for their destination wedding.
The couple were inspired by so many things they love; Greek history and mythology, the energy and colour of Mamma Mia, a touch of 70s glamour and the classic cool of James Bond. They didn’t want anything too formal or overly styled, so the aim was to create a weekend that felt fun, expressive and completely true to them.
Sophie wore a bespoke dress by the truly wonderful and highly recommended Wilden London, designed in collaboration with designer Charlotte herself. The dress was a reflection of Sophie’s love of fashion, childhood animated movies, art and fantasy and suited her perfectly. We adore the gentle nod to 70s’ style.
This beautiful wedding was photographed by Marta Ilardo, whose work we love sharing on Love My Dress. Enjoy!
A Few Favourite Vendors
Explore our Wedding Directory and discover amazing talent.
I had a lot of different inspirations for our wedding day; I love Greek mythology and history; we are BIG fans of Mamma Mia (the music, the aesthetic in the films, the liveliness); and as a Brit, James is of course a Bond fan. We wanted it to be colourful, fun, yet elevated and chic without feeling alien to the beachy and laidback vibe of our venue,
We wanted to incorporate all these elements which we felt represent our personalities but in a way that didn’t feel ‘themed’.
Regarding the dress code, for the wedding day we requested our guests wear “tropical black tie” for the wedding and encouraged colors and for all guests to have fun with it and take some fashion risks. Our guests put together some fabulous looks and we still reminisce on our favorite outfits that we saw!
We didn’t use any wedding stylists or a long-term wedding planner – I love fashion and art so putting together the event concepts and finding our vendors ourselves was quite a fun challenge.
For the weekend itself, we did use an event coordinator, Messinia Bespoke, who have an office adjacent to the W Hotel, to help coordinate the vendor set ups and decoration details. We specifically worked with Yiannis Alexandrakis and he was so patient and reassuring throughout the process which was great!
A Few Favourite Venues
Visit the Love My Dress Wedding Directory to discover more of our favourite venues.
The Dress
Wilden London
My dress was by Wilden London. I highly recommend designer Charlotte for any bride (or person!) looking to create a unique couture outfit. Charlotte and I looked over tons of pictures I had collected of different inspirations and she came up with amazing initial sketches, and then the dress really began taking shape from there!
Charlotte is so knowledgeable about different textures, fabrics, and techniques and is capable of bringing your wildest dreams to wearable reality. I was also able to bring my mom and future mother in law to several fittings which was so lovely to share the experience with them.
My dress was partially inspired by some bespoke wedding dresses created by Peter Dundas – I loved how they featured fantasy-feeling elements such as long draped sleeves and corseted bodices but that each dress felt still felt timeless rather than dated.
When working with Charlotte, we looked at lots of different styles, particularly for the bodice and sleeves, using inspiration from medieval dresses and animated movies I watched as a kid (the Swan Princess & Sleeping Beauty in particular!).
In addition, I knew I wanted to incorporate colour into my dress and particular that flowing, floral, carefree 70s vibe. When looking at the different shades to dye the embroidery with Charlotte, we decided to match them to the color dresses that my bridesmaids would wear (sunny yellow, pinks, orange/rusts) to complement their dresses. Charlotte then added some light blue accents in embroidery on my dress to break up the colours, and we also used some light blue flowers in our arrangements to balance all the warm tones.
I wore a very simple veil, also made by Wilden London, to attach to my grandmother’s crown. My shoes were Loeffler Randall.
I wore a vintage pearl beaded crown which my grandmother Omi and mother both wore on their wedding days. I also wore a ring which my dad gifted my mother after I was born – it contains two blue sapphires cut into hearts, representing myself and my older sister! I also wore a pair of earrings borrowed from my mom and kept everything else simple.
Each bridesmaid picked her own dress; I provided a colour scheme and mood board of the vibes I was hoping for (solid colours, floor length, no patterns but lots of different textures and styles encouraged) and the dresses came together on the day perfectly.
I gifted each of my bridesmaids a different pair of pearl and gold earrings I found from different jewellers on Etsy, which I tried to match to each of their individual styles. For one sister who doesn’t have her ears pierced i got her a bracelet with pearls instead!
The Ceremony
My father walked me down the aisle (which was actually his second time doing so, as when we did our small legal ceremony back in London he also walked me down the mini ‘aisle’ at the Chelsea town hall!).
Our ceremony was lead by James’s godfather Victor, who studied with his father at university. As he’s known James his whole life, he was the perfect person to officiate our ceremony. He brought the perfect amount of spirituality and magic.
James and I both wrote our own vows and wrote them on extra copies of the welcome bag maps to read during the ceremony:
Excerpt from Sophie’s vows (cut down in parts for size); “In our relationship, we have always been equals – leaning on each other when needed and standing together always….To keep it very simple, I love our partnership because Doubt is not a word that our relationship knows….Through all our big life events and changes, I never doubted that we’d make it through them. And I have no doubt that we’ll make it through everything else in life together. With you, I never feel self doubt, I never feel doubted that I am loved, and I have never doubted our future together. With you I am loved and I am safe. I’ve said I don’t believe in soulmates but I believe in choice and I’ll choose you every day forever.”
Two of my sisters gave readings at our wedding but I let them have complete autonomy over what they chose to say. My youngest sister Lexie made a lovely toast to James and I, and my older sister Calli other wrote a beautiful speech inspired by quotes from Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.
In her words: “I wanted something that was philosophical, to reflect Sophie’s passions, but still relatable and easy to visualize for Sophie, James and their guests. I like this reading because it combines our understanding of both science and spirituality to provide an epic context into the ultimate expression of love.”
And an excerpt from Calli’s reading: “Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious . In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another. Every single moment that you are alive and you are together is miraculous. We are beneficiaries of chance. Pure chance was so generous and kind for you to find one another.”
“For you to be together. The way you treat one another, the way you take care of each other and your family. You saw each other. You found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”
James found Emma Clarkson Webb when he was designing my engagement ring and they worked together to make a gorgeous style that was exactly what I dreamed (and sent him via instagram in the early days).
Our wedding bands were both also made by Emma. Our ring bearer (my cousin’s son) wore trousers with suspenders which another cousin of mine had worn when he served as my parents ring bearer back in the day.
Photography
Marta Ilardo was actually the first vendor I chose and locked down! Immediately after we were engaged, I was browsing Instagram and came across Marta’s profile.
I was instantly obsessed with her work and we had a very early call with her to talk about hiring her (before we even had our date/venue chosen!). I was so so thrilled she was available for our actual wedding weekend and she was so perfect – capturing every moment so organically and effortlessly.
How They Met
We met at the University of St Andrews in 2014 when we were both first years. We didn’t officially start dating until a few years later in 2016, and we’re now soon to celebrate our 10-year dating anniversary this autumn! James proposed on our seventh anniversary weekend, where he took me back to visit St Andrews in October 2022. We had our legal ceremony in June 2023 and then the real deal wedding in September 2024.
James wore a custom tuxedo with a white jacket from Hackett. My dad had also worn a white dinner jacket when he married my mom, so it now feels like a tradition! James and his groomsmen wore brown textured silk bowties from Scottsberry and hand-made feathered lapel pins from Brackish, which are re-wearable!
The Reception
For the reception dinner, I really wanted to feel like we’d gone back in time and were sitting on a beach in ancient Greece having a massive Dionysian feast. Because our reception was on a pretty empty strip of beach, I also wanted to ensure that the setting had lots of colours and different arrangements and decorations to occupy the space and make it feel more intimate without using any actual structures.
I hand painted our invitation artwork, maps of the region, table name signs, and other bits of art used on the wedding day. I edited my artwork using Procreate and then worked with Mount Street Printers in Mayfair to assemble and print the invitation suites and maps.
My sister and co-Maid of Honor Remy also helped me using her calligraphy skills to write out the seating arrangements that were displayed on a mirror for guests to find their table name. For the individual seating cards, I used a supplier on Etsy, Thoughtfully Made UK, and they came out beautifully. We used the ties on the cards to secure them to the napkin holders so they wouldn’t blow away in the breeze.
We hired a florist from Athens called Studio7. We worked with Rodopi Papadiamantopoulou who was absolutely fantastic. I actually couldn’t believe it when I saw the flowers being unloaded the morning of the wedding, and for a few days after the wedding I had my and all my bridesmaids’ bouquets back in my room and cried every time I looked at them! The flowers were truly just stunning.
We made goody bags for our guests which we handed out at the welcome party. We ordered the tote bags from Amazon and filled them with the custom maps, bug-repellant wristbands, sunscreen, lip balm, small bottles of Mastiha (a Greek spirit sourced from Deli Coast wine bar in Pylos), bags of pistachios, small flashlights for guests walking along the beaches at night, custom matchboxes from Perfect Occasion Store and wine corks from Allincork that featured our wedding logo. The wine corks and matchboxes were both made by Etsy creators. I used MerchTerritory on Etsy also to make little tags for each bag with our logo.
We used pieces from Prop & Tore Event rentals including rugs, Grecian columns, mirrors, and the freestanding chandeliers. Our florist also brought in amazing massive floral installments and unique vases to bring it all together.
I’ve been so so many weddings where the traditional wedding cake is plated but largely abandoned. My absolute favourite type of dessert is anything with pastry and cream, so we opted for a Millefeuille with berries that we could have a cutting ceremony with sparklers and had the cake topper from my grandparents’ wedding in 1957 as a decoration! For the guests, we had family style platters of different desserts passed around to the tables so guests could try a few different sweet treats!
Our first dance was to the Mondo Bongo by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. We wanted a song that was islandy and fun which we could do a ‘slow dance’ to with a bit of an edge.
We had an amazing instructor (Honour Roche from Dance Attic Studios in Fulham) who we worked with for two weeks. Honour came up with the most amazing routine exactly as we had dreamed of and she even taught us how to do a lift for the grand finale.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Anticipate things to go wrong, and choose ahead of time what you will be the most upset if it goes wrong/doesn’t work. Then work around that to ensure that your biggest priorities will be perfect, including by making sure your on-the-day support network is aware.
I would have been more relaxed about the timing of everything on the day! As we didn’t have a planner, it was up to my husband and I to sort of keep things on track and it meant we sometimes panicked ourselves when I think we could have had more time here and there during particular moments!
Save Your Favourite Content
Register for a Love My Dress account to start saving and curating all your favourite Love My Dress content to access at anytime from your own personal dashboard. You can save all your favourite real weddings and wedding inspiration, your preferred suppliers and venues in our directory, coveted shop items and ceremony readings (we’ve a huge selection to browse through!)
