Kinsterna hotel monemvasia wedding venue

MONEMMVASIA, KINSTERNA HOTEL

PHOTOGRAPHY: SANDY AND ODYSSEAS | WEDDING PLANNing & design: THINK HAPPY EVENTS | Venue: KINSTERNA HOTEL | Flowers:JIM LABRACO | TABLETOP RENTALS: WHITE LILAC | MAKEUP: ANTIGONI LIVIERATOU | HAIR: ELENI KOTSI | sound & LIGHTING: MUSIC ESSENTIALS | Videography: PANAGIOTIS KASTANIDIS

MIKAELA & KONSTANTIN

kinsterna monemvasia wedding ceremony
kinsterna monemvasia wedding couple

〝The photos are wonderful and have caught all the best memories from a wonderful day, with lots of detail and emotion!〞

kinsterna monemvasia wedding couple portraits

〝Sandy and Odysseas did a wonderful job as our wedding photographers!

They were there at our welcome dinner and then throughout the wedding day until late on the dance floor! They were warm and friendly and always made us feel at ease and comfortable.

They listened to our wishes and priorities. It was great to have them both! We would highly recommend Sandy and Odysseas as your wedding photographers!〞

This multicultural luxury wedding in Greece’s Tuscany will make you a black-tie affair believer!

The clock strikes six, a sea of blooms carpets the floor, the Monkees belt out, “I’m a believer,” and you share your True Love’s kiss with your… high-school sweetheart! But let’s back up because Mikaela (our stunning Swede) and Konstantin (our gorge German-Greek) didn’t get here overnight! First came puppy love, followed by the solid foundations of their relationship, and once established in London, the trip to Greece.

Having fallen head over heels for the beauty of Greece’s Tuscany, as Monemvasia is fondly dubbed by those who visit, the gorgeous couple decided there was no better place than Kinsterna, the medieval castle marooned on Monemvasia’s citrus-scented cliffs, to say I do! Their black-tie affair? A perfect balance between the Swedish and the Orthodox tradition, with guests traveling from all across the globe to attend, elegance, luxury, divine food, and long en bouche vino being some of the hefty side servings these two thoughtful lovebirds had in store!

Their three-day wedding? A total dream. But let us not gabble any further… it’s all here for your inspiration!

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Bride

From the

How we met and the proposal

Our Wedding looks

We have been together for a very long time, 15 years! We went to high school together, back in Luxembourg. After many years of distance relationship, mainly because of Mikaela going to medical school, we moved in together in London, where we still live.

The proposal took place in July 2020, as we just emerged from the first Covid lockdown, on the beautiful cliffs on the south coast of England.

We went for a dress code of Black Tie as we think it looks so elegant, particularly within the beautiful setting of Kinsterna.

I tried on a few different styles of wedding dresses but kept returning to the style of a large A-line dress with a train in satin and a lace top. The dress I chose was from Rosa Clara, it has an open back with a bow (I love bows!) and a lace top with a large satin skirt. I chose to wear a veil for the ceremony to make it a little bit more formal. In terms of jewellery I did not want too much since the dress had a pattern in itself already. I was gifted beautiful diamond earrings by Konstantin on the morning of the wedding and I wore a very fine golden watch which I had inherited from my grandmother, it felt right to wear this as I wish she could have been there with us on the day.

In terms of hair and make up, Antigoni and Eleni did a great job, they created a simple and elegant style. I don't really like wearing make up so it was very important to me to create a natural look with as little products as possible.

Konstantin wore a black tie dinner jacket and trousers with a tailor made white dress shirt and a bow tie, which matched with the groomsmen in black with a very subtle dark navy blue floral pattern.

Why we chose KINSTERNA AND MONEMVASIA

We were inspired by our backgrounds and wanted to fit in different aspects of our culture into one weekend. I am Swedish and Konstantin is half German, half Greek, but we grew up in Luxembourg and live in London, so we wanted to include a little bit from everywhere. This is why we arranged for the vicar of the Swedish Church in Athens to come and do the ceremony as per Swedish tradition but we also got a blessing from the orthodox priest of Monemvasia, something we really appreciated.

Our guests travelled from all over the world to attend our wedding and we wanted to find a special place, elegant and luxurious with good quality, but not flashy. We had travelled to Kinsterna on holiday previously and always loved it! It could fit all the guests for the entire weekend and its beautiful setting, amazing food and wine and wonderful staff made it a perfect venue!

SPECIAL MOMENTS OF THE WEDDING

Overall, the most special moments of the day were many to list a few: the moment we saw each other as I was walking down the aisle, the exit out of the ceremony to Iím a believer when everyone sang along and threw rice, there was so much joy and happiness!, our entrance to the dinner when all our family and friends stood up and waved napkins in the air- what a moment! And of course, the moment our friends lifted us up to sit on their shoulders on the dance floor, we danced until sunrise and were then thrown in the pool!

This all shows how extremely important music is - we spent a lot of time thinking through music styles and pieces for every moment of the wedding day and we are so pleased with it! Our DJ was fantastic!

Décor and florals

In terms of style/theme, we did not want anything too over the top, just neutral colours, white and green flowers and simple yet elegant decor. Our wonderful florist Jim chose a beautiful selection of flowers, we particularly loved the flower arch which we used during the ceremony. It was then moved to the dinner area and used as a background for more photos. We also had my bridal bouquet and bridesmaid bouquets in the same style. The groom, groomsmen and fathers had boutonnieres in that style too.

For decoration at dinner we had centrepieces, it was important for us not to have anything too high that could disrupt the conversation across the tables. We also had candles and flowers on the ground around the dinner area which looked beautiful!

Otherwise the decor was all done by Chrysoula our wedding planner, who put together the flowers, table linen and candles to make a beautiful table setting. The stationery, including welcome sign, menus, name cards etc were all ordered in the same style (from the Save the Dates and onwards) from a specialist stationer in England.

Advice to other couples

My top tip for any bride to be is to have a dance dress!! I changed into a bridal jumpsuit and a pair of sparkly sneakers when moving from the first dance onto the dance floor and I have never felt so light and free before, I was literally bouncing and it was so fun!

HOW WE PERSONALIZED OUR DAY

Having two priests from different religions felt like a very personal touch! We also sang hymns in English and Swedish. The music choices were very personal, for my entrance a piano piece from a Swedish composer was chosen, one that means a lot to me. The music played when we exited the ceremony was also carefully chosen, it was "I'm a believer" by The Monkees, a fun, upbeat song with beautiful lyrics. This was definitely one of our favourite moments as it lifted up the entire ceremony and everyone sang along and smiled as they threw rice!

Another personal touch was an amuse bouche, a type of Swedish caviar, served with a shot of strong alcohol. The entire party sang a traditional song along with this dish.

SANDY AND ODYSSEAS

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