a big, fat Greek wedding

mykonos, greece

I know what you’re thinking… Anddddd no, it wasn’t mine.

They told me I was going to a traditional, Greek wedding.. between a Greek and an Italian.

It was the wedding of Christos, a Trio Bambini employee, and Eleanora, a spunky redheaded Italian girl from Milan. They have an adorable story of how they met at Trio Bambini that quite frankly rivals my story, and may actually be cuter. Barf. He proposed on a beach and the ring was perfectly cushioned inside a clam. I mean, come on.

She flew in to Mykonos several days before the wedding, and I got to know her and talk with her, stroll around town a few times.. the usual. Her and Christos saved up the money to fly out all of her family and friends from Milan to Mykonos so everyone could be together, including her Nona (Grandma), who had never been on an airplane in her life.

And so it went… Elenora stood on top of stairs of a white washed home in the middle of town to have her photo taken, and then hopped right on a stylish donkey dressed for the occasion, and rode off into through the small streets of Mykonos town, squealing, yelling, and laughing all the way to the Church.

Her Italian crew were loudly chanting Italian songs through the streets as she rode on. The anxious groom was waiting at the stairs of the Church, and then whisked her off the donkey and proceeded to carry her all the way inside and literally placed her next to the priest.

The wedding ceremony was traditional and religious, and since this wasnt my first Greek wedding rodeo, I was friendly and said the right phrase to the groom, and congratulated her in Italian after consulting Google Translate. They LOVE to throw rice. So much rice. They danced around three or four times with everyone dumping as much rice on them to the point the priest was laughing and spitting out the rice from his mouth. Feeling #blessed. Amen.

From there, everyone headed to a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Old Port where the party really started. Upon the newlyweds’ arrival, champagne was popped, and the cake was cut (I know, out of order, right?), and the feast began. I must say it was the loudest wedding I have ever been to with the combination of such two proud cultures . Everyone was grinning from ear to ear, happy to see the couple so blissful.

The DJ was playing, and everyone was sweating from dancing so much that one by one people started jumping into the pool of the hotel restaurant with their clothes on! The groom stripped off his suit down to his underwear (proof below) and dove off of the platform of the buffet into the water in a cannon-ball. So dramatic. He was joined shortly by the blushing bride who seemed to have changed into a white bikini out of nowhere. She jumped in after him making a small, graceful splash into the pool.

And then ABBA started playing. Seriously, I am not making this up. A three song streak was blasting as one by one almost the entire wedding party was dancing in the pool. I was very close to jumping in, but I was wearing a somewhat expensive dress (mistake), and I have not seen legitimate dry cleaners, so I didn’t want to risk it. To be honest, I deeply regret this decision now, as it would have made for a better ending.

The soaking wet wedding party climbed out of the pool into a congo line led by none other than the Nona!!! She was clearly having the best time out of everyone. There were even drone cameras whizzing by to capture this madness, and I can only imagine how amazing their wedding ceremony footage must be. We danced, ate, and drank some more.

Opaaaa! Actually, no plates were broken, as unfortunately this isn’t really an active custom anymore, and restaurants are not as keen to make a mess.

love, k.