Both Kerri and Tony live in Adelaide, South Australia, but chose to hold a destination Santorini wedding in order to head around Europe on honeymoon. Another reason was that Kerri and Tony met in Canada, where Tony lived, so in order to make the wedding fair to both families they held it somewhere in between the two countries!

Preparation

While shooting destination weddings in Santorini is an absolute blast and pretty much a wedding photographer’s dream, walking inbetween wedding venues in the height of the Greek summer was no easy task! Thera is a town located right at the top of the cliffs, so walking to any wedding venue really takes it’s toll on your thighs! I mention this as Tony and Kerri were both prepared at different locations a good walk away form one another – good thing I’m fit! 😛

I started the day with Tony and his family, with his groomsmen who all travelled out from Canada for the big day. After getting in a bit of trouble splashing a bit of water out from the pool in order to get a shot of the boys jumping in, I took photos of them all getting ready. It was a fairly laid back affair with Tony showing little to no signs of nerves, and more keen on having a good time with his mates.

Kerri and her bridal party were the same, laughing and joking about whilst occasionally doing little dances all around the rooms and making funny faces in front of the camera. Perhaps the only difference was that everyone got ready inside so as to avoid the beating heat of the lovely sunny day. Kerri’s paresnts and flower girl dropped in for a visit just as she was about to leave which was nice as we got to have some family photos done before walking up to the ceremony at Dana Villas.

Dana Villas, Santorini Wedding

The Dana Villas ceremony location is a one of those Santorini wedding venues that you recognise straight away – even if you’ve never visited Santorini. Overlooking the entirety of the Santorini caldera – caused by an ancient volcanic eruption, the romantic setting of the Dana Villas wedding terrace is the setting of any dream wedding ceremony, and in my opinion would have to be one of the best wedding venues on the island.

There is a purpose built wooden arbour that covers where the bride and groom stand during wedding ceremones, while having a stunning viewpoint to the waters below. It’s conveniently located amongst some of the more upper scale hotel accomodations available on the island, and also withing short walking distance to the center of the town of Thera. The space allows for an intimate wedding ceremony with no compromise.

Kerri and Tony’s intimate Santorini wedding was officiated by a friend of theirs using some personal injokes and personalised vows that made sure their congregation were chuckling throughout. They even went as far as incorporate their mutal love of board games by having the rule book of ‘Settlers of Catan‘ as their marriage registry book.

As everyone had travelled for this destination wedding, both from Canada and Australia the congregation was a rather intimate affair with no more than 40-50 people in attandance.

Thera, Santorini Wedding Glamour Photos

As Kerri and Tony werent overly keen on the idea of spending too much time on their wedding day having glamour photos taken, I had spent the previous few days I had in the island scouting out spots on the walk in between the Villas and the Apelos cafe – where their reception was taking place. The aim being that I could utilise the wonderous views of Thera on Santorini, without taking up too much time before entering their reception and starting the party 🙂

A goal of mine before heading out to Santorini was to find a spot to capture the iconic blue domed church and three bell arch that’s symbolic of the Greek isles backdropped by the agean sea – luckily I found a spot in Thera for just that purpose and it wasn’t too crowded with tourists for us to use. For other shots I simply used the stairways and wonderful vistas the island naturally provides.

Just a tip for anyone out there planning a Santorini Wedding – try to book your day during a period where there are few cruise ships in port, as the island tends to fill up with tourists in no time when there are 3-5 cruise ships in town and some of the best spots for photo taking just get swamped!

Apelos Wedding Reception

The Ampelos cafe in the middle of the city of Thera is a wonderful little cafe situated on the rooftop overlooking the caldera of Santorini. It’s located right on the main pedestrian strip of the city where at sunset it gets super crowded with tourists, so being above everyone in the rooftop space was great for uninterrupted views of the world-reknowned sunset.

On one side of the reception space theres a magnificent white domed church which made for a beautiful backdrop for Kerri and Tony’s head table, while the guests tables were situated under the roofing, surrounding the dance floor. It was a beautiful spot to end what was an absolutely stunning day!

I’d be super keen to head back for any other Santorini weddings that you might have planned! Get in touch as I’d go out of my way to be const effective and my usual super awesome self! Or If you’d just like to have a chat about wedding venues in Santorini, I’m your guy!