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This Cocoon Suites Santorini Elopement Will Take Your Breath Away

November 27, 2017 | Junebug Weddings

We love when Junebug worlds collide, and that’s exactly what happened in this Cocoon Suites Santorini elopement. Junebug members Ema Giangreco Weddings and Alessandro Bordoni Films were some of the amazing vendors who worked together to make Nicole and Michael’s elopement dreams come true. These two planned their destination elopement from Australia, so finding a wedding planner was #1 on their to-do list. Once they met Ema via Skype – thanks, technology – it was smooth sailing from there. Ema worked hard at referring vendors, like photographer Lilly Red Creative, and putting together all the details of the day. Nicole and Michael’s relaxed vibe made for an easy-going and fun day of celebrating their love.

The Couple:

Nicole and Michael

The Wedding:

Cocoon Suites Santorini, Santorini,  Greece

Michael and I were also fortunate to have Alessandro Bordoni Films capture our elopement. Alex and his partner were incredibly friendly and kind. I was speechless when I first watch our wedding video. It is insanely beautiful. The wind on our wedding day was almost unbearable but Alex was able to work with it.

 

Firstly, I would suggest doing your research and find a professional wedding planner. After almost 11 years together and a 6 year engagement, the only reason we really hadn’t married before this day was that we didn’t know where to start planning. Ema made the process so easy and stress free. We were based in Australia, and Ema, in Italy, but with regular contact via Skype and messenger, I was put at ease. I would also highly recommend eloping. The day was about Michael and I and our love. It was stress free, in an absolutely beautiful location and we enjoyed ourselves.

The whole idea of eloping was to make it a stress free wedding, which was the most important thing to us, and this was definitely achieved. We wanted it to be an intimate ceremony and one that we would remember for the rest of our lives together.

After browsing Ema’s website and social media pages, I trusted her style and impeccable attention to detail. I decided to allow Ema to design the style and overall look of our elopement. The result was beyond our expectations! It could not have been more perfect for us, right down to the fine details.

I was incredibly fortunate to wear a beautiful gown by Atelier Zolotas from their Hellenic Vintage Collection. The dress was perfect for the bohemian wedding style. I loved how beautiful the dress made me feel and how comfortable it was to wear. I literally only tried to dress on for the first time, the night before our wedding and it was perfect! Gave me goosebumps at how perfect it felt. Being in Australia, I had sent my measurements to the wedding planner and the dress was made to my size. My request was that my hair and makeup was natural and not over the top. I was extremely happy with the look.

Michael and I had organised a six week backpacking trip through Europe. Originally I contacted Ema, to see about eloping in Venice. After further conversation about our holiday and going to Greece before Italy, Ema suggested Santorini and I am so glad she did. It was a beautiful location. The venue for the ceremony was chosen by our wedding planner and it was stunning. For our wedding photos and video, the wedding team found locations that were out of the busy tourist area but remained fitting in the Boho/Greek style. 

I first met Lilly the night before the wedding. Straight away she made us feel at ease. Her positive energy and reassurance, made us feel comfortable to be ourselves. She made the whole experience fun and natural! Lilly was an absolute pleasure to work with.

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Lilly Red Creative
Event Planning – Ema Giangreco Weddings
Ceremony Venue – Cocoon Suites Santorini
Floral Design – Fabio Zardi
Videography – Alessandro Bordoni Films
Stationery – Bianchi Weddings
Macramé – My Macramania
Hair & Makeup – Santorini Stylist
Wedding Dress – Atelier Zolotas

 

A big thank you to Lilly Red Creative for sharing Nicole and Michael’s Santorini elopement with Junebug! For more Santorini goodness, take a look at this intimate wedding and why we love the reason why this couple chose Santorini for their destination wedding.

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You’re Going to Want to Book a Castle Venue After Seeing This Chateau de La Noue Le Coq Wedding

Chateau de La Noue Le Coq was the perfect all-inclusive place for Biggy and Nicky’s dreamy and intimate wedding in the French countryside. The gorgeous castle is located in-between Germany and the Netherlands, so that guests from either side would travel an equal distance. The comprehensive venue allowed their guests to eat, sleep, and party at the same spot without worrying about accommodation or driving. Starting with a sunset welcome party the night before the wedding, this fun celebration was full of character and offered plenty of opportunity for games, swimming, and merrymaking, all within walking distance. In the extremely personalized lakefront ceremony, the couple was married by the bride’s father, and asked the groom’s grandparents hand over the wedding rings instead of a ring bearer. We love how the bride spent the year before the wedding collecting vintage décor: mismatched crystal champagne glasses, gold candleholders, and even dinner knives. SUEGRAPHY captured all of the special moments with perfectly authentic couple’s photos on the castle grounds.

The Couple:

Biggy and Nicky

The Wedding:

Chateau de La Noue Le Coq, Grandpré, France

We found an old castle in beautiful France right between Germany and the Netherlands. It was a dreamy and big location where we could do everything on the same spot starting with a welcome sunset party and games, dinner, church service, sleeping accommodations, swimming pool, and the party…No one had to drive long distances and our guests could easily enjoy a few more wines and beers as they had their beds on a walking distance!

It was important to us our wedding reflected our own personalities and style and not a copy of different Pinterest boards. This days should reflect us from beginning to end. Planning a wedding is also a lot work but we always made sure it stays fun.

We wrote about personal memories we shared with them, funny stories, about our friendship, what we appreciate about them, how much they mean to us, how excited we are and how thankful we are they are celebrating with us! Many told us that it kept surprising them to receive those messages and that the postcards made it very personal.

I started to collect many decoration items already the year before our wedding. It was a fun project I shared with my friends where we made fun trips to different thrift stores through the whole country collection our wedding decoration. This included crystal wine and champagne glasses, candle holders and even the knives for the dinner.

We both decided to walk down the aisle together with our fathers. The ceremony was in front of a lake at the foot of a little hill. When walking downwards, we saw ALL our loved ones looking at us with happy face and honet smiles! Although we couldn’t share this moment together, because we both walked separately with our dads, this was the moment we both experienced as magical.

Biggy‘s dad is a preacher and it was a big honour that he was marrying us. It made the whole ceremony very personal. Every single guest was a close family member or friend of us andwe could totally be ourselves. Instead of having ring girls we decided to ask Nicky‘s grand parents handing us over our wedding rings (which are btw the original wedding rings from both of our grand-grand-parents!).

Make sure you plan enough time with your guests. We decided to have a whole weekend instead of only a day so we wouldn’t have the feeling to rush from one agenda point to the next. Between the ceremony and the dinner was enough time to chill at the pool (and to throw your mates into the water ;-)). 

Our photographers Erwin & Suzanne from SUEGRAPHY felt like “air” on our wedding day. On the one hand we didn’t notice them because they work so professional and on the other hand we totally couldn’t have lived without them! They somehow managed to be present to capture all special moments without anyone noticing it (which made ALL our pictures so real and authentic!) and in the meantime they were part of our friends andwedding guests because there’s no way you can not love them! We felt so relaxed around them and they are the reason we will be able to have our memories not only captured in our hearts but also on prints forever. We love you guys big time!

The Wedding Team:

Photography – SUEGRAPHY
Venue – Chateau de La Noue Le Coq
Catering – Jean-Charles Genty Traiteur
DJ – Benni Kostal
Live Music – Wolf & Moon
Videography – Dare Media & Nicky Regelink
Invitations – KIJK Kalligrafie
Makeup Artist and Hair Styling – Très Jolie Visagie
Wedding Dress – Monique Lhuillier
Bridesmaids’ Apparel – ASOS
Groom’s Apparel – Suit Supply

 

Congratulations to Biggy and Nicky and special thanks to SUEGRAPHY for capturing such a fun and whimsical wedding! For more castle wedding inspiration, check out this enchanting midsummer Irish wedding at Castle Leslie!

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Elegant Rustic Wedding in Gold Beach, OR

November 26, 2017 | Junebug Weddings

Lauren and Jeff’s wedding in Gold Beach took place in the middle of the woods on the groom’s family ranch, the scene of many family reunions. When they envisioned their big day after getting engaged, priorities were all about enjoyment: good music, good drinks, and getting all guests out on the dance floor. A neutral color palette of gold, champagne, and lots of greenery ran throughout the day, intended to make the surrounding landscape pop and made for a well-dressed wedding party. Champagne bow ties, ivory bridesmaid dresses, and gold sequin maid of honor dresses looked perfectly chic with oversized bouquets of silver dollar and seeded eucalyptus, white roses, and baby’s breath. Tons of DIY details and hard work went in to creating the elegant rustic theme of this day, from pouring concrete and cutting down trees to create the stunning open-air dance floor to crafting homemade limoncello for toasting. Karra Leigh Photography did an incredible job of capturing these newly weds in their element on familiar territory, chasing the couple around their favorite sentimental spots on the ranch.

The Couple:

Lauren and Jeff

The Wedding:

Private Residence, Gold Beach, Oregon

Relax, laugh, and enjoy every second. Don’t stress about the small things because in the end they don’t really matter.

Family and friends are two of the most important things to Jeffrey and I. When Jeffrey and I got engaged the number one thing we wanted was to enjoy our day with our closest friends and family. This included good music, good drinks, and everyone on the dance floor!

Karra is awesome. She is so down to earth and chased us around to our favorite places on the ranch.

Our wedding colors were gold, champagne, navy, and lots of greenery. We decided on a neutral color scheme because we wanted the colors of the surrounding trees andlandscape to pop.

The most memorable part of our day was was seeing each other at the end of the aisle. It was the moment we had been waiting for. Our best friends and family by our side. It was perfect.

The saying “it takes a village” applies to our wedding. We had so many family, friends, and vendors help in one aspect or another. It wouldn’t have been possible without them.

The venue was located on Jeffrey’s family ranch in Gold Beach, OR. This spot was a favorite of Jeffrey’s late grandpa and where family reunions are held.

We did SO much DIY for our wedding. DIY included pouring concrete for the dance floor, cutting trees to build a log beam structure, custom benches, floral arrangements, and homemade limoncello for toasting.

The Wedding Team:

Photography – Karra Leigh Photography
Catering – Black Trumpet Bistro
DJ – Richard Templeton
Videography – Lotus Motion Picture
Invitations – Minted
Makeup Artist – Faith Bartruff
Wedding Dress – BHLDN
Rings – Blue Nile

 

Congratulations to Lauren and Jeff and special thanks to Karra Leigh Photography for capturing this super sentimental wedding! For more raw venue inspiration, check out how this couple decked out their family farm for their charming Texas wedding!

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