Taking Ethereal Floral Abroad - Greece Wedding

Miranda Anderson Photography

When I started my floristry business in 2020, I never imagined that my designs would take me around the world, designing wedding flowers abroad.

Let’s rewind back to the autumn months of 2020…

I had just started my business on a whim, not really expecting anything to come of it yet. I checked my DM’s on instagram, when I saw an inquiry regarding a flower crown for a shoot from a young photographer, also just stating their own business. This young photographer, was Janessa, future bride of the intimate Greece wedding. After meeting Janessa, we planned more styled shoots, specifically targeting the wedding industry to build our portfolios. We then took it a step further and took our shoots out of province, to Banff, Alberta, in the height of a worldwide pandemic. Our aligned visions and thirst for adventure drew us together and we bonded over being two young women in the same industry, starting our careers.

In May 2022, Janessa met Jorick. Everyone who knew these two knew instantly that it wouldn’t be long until they were engaged and I was secretly counting down the days. In April 2023, I received a text from Jorick, asking me to help him plan a surprise engagement for Janessa. In July 2023, they were engaged. In August 2023, Janessa and Jorick asked me if I would want to travel abroad for an elopement style wedding somewhere in Europe. The destination was not yet chosen but I obviously was so excited to celebrate these two and be honoured at this opportunity.

By the end of August, they had settled on Zakynthos, Greece, a small island located on the Ionian Sea. I will be the first to admit that Greece, had never been on my bucket-list of travel destinations, but with a quick google search, I quickly fell in love with this stunning little island, just as Janessa and Jorick had. From that moment on, their Greece wedding was constantly on my mind. I spent countless hours searching for florists and wholesalers in Europe who were willing to work with me on this project. I received so many ‘no’s’ and an equal amount of no responses - except for one. One florist was willing to work with me and supply me with flowers for this much anticipated May wedding. I was ecstatic and felt at ease with the most important piece sorted. The next step was to meet with Janessa and figure out exactly what she had in mind for her vision - which was pretty much her giving me the green light to use my creative freedom to create whatever I wanted. She provided me with a general colour palette and we talked through different ceremony setups she was drawn to. After that, I drew up a plan of how this was all going to come together. We booked our flights in February 2024 and that’s when the countdown became very real.

It felt like I blinked and we were standing in front of the YVR airport, getting ready to walk through the security line and board a flight to London.

Truthfully, I was a nervous wreck the entire flight - I had major imposter syndrome and couldn’t believe I had said yes to this experience and opportunity. I kept trying to ground myself and tell myself to trust in my own experience and capability. I knew I was more than capable of this and kept trying to hold on the feelings of gratefulness and excitement I was feeling. I was getting to explore new places and share in new experiences with some amazing people for an amazing reason.

Janessa and Jorick had planned to have their wedding day at the end of the trip, so as to make sure they could enjoy exploring the island with their closest friends and families, which was exactly what we did. The days leading up to the wedding were full of day to day excursions, lounging by the pool at the villa, long drives across the islands and several new beach explorations. Two days before the wedding, I took one of the girls with me into the main port city of the island where I met the florist I had been in communication with over facetime and email for months. We had arranged to pick up the greenery and all materials I would need in advance, so I was able to get a head start on the base of all the ceremony pieces - the next day, I would be picking up the rest of the flowers, adding those to the pieces and finishing the arrangements.

The day before the wedding, Janessa had treated the girls to a yacht tour - which was arguably the best way to spend the day before your wedding. After the most beautiful day on the water, I stopped in town once again, and picked up the rest of the flowers. Once we had loaded up the flowers into the car, we drove back up the treacherous hill to our villa, where I knew I had a long night ahead of me.

Some of the girls stayed up with me for a while, keeping me company and putting on a ‘Taylor Swift Only’ playlist to keep me motivated. I was so excited to see this all come together the next, I didn’t need any motivation, but I was grateful for their support and their equal amount of excitement. It was a very late night finishing everything, but I wanted to make sure that I was present for my friend on the day of her wedding day and only had a limited amount of ‘work’ to do. I woke up at 4:30am, finished Janessa’s bridal bouquet and sat in quiet for a short time with a tea, taking in the villa view. The villa was located on a hillside that overlooked the venue and the coastline of the island. Each morning, I had enjoyed getting up early and watching the sun come up, feeling the heat of the day beginning to increase with each moment that the sun rose higher and higher into the sky. That morning was no different. I finished my tea before starting to load up the car with the ground pieces for the ceremony, as well as the small ‘centrepieces’ for the reception flip. I took one girl with me to help setup the ceremony - we placed each of the floral pieces, arranged the chairs according to the seating chart, and placed the newspapers Janessa had created outlining the details of the day, on each chair. Afterwards, we drove back to the villa to continue getting ready, and then it was time to get our friends married!

It was the most beautiful ceremony, filled with so much love. There were happy tears shed, poetic vows exchanged and an overall atmosphere of happiness. Once the ceremony had ended, Janessa and Jorick went off to take their portrait shots while myself, and the rest of the wedding party began to start the venue flip for the reception. It was a unique setup that we had decided on only a few days before, due to the lack of table sizes that were available at the venue. We celebrated the couple with the most amazing buffet of Greek food, which included a choice of octopus tentacles. The celebration was definitely one to remember, as Janessa surprised her new husband with a new haircut and dress change halfway through the night.

Overall, this was one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life and I was so grateful to get to celebrate my friends in this way. We dropped off the cars at the rental place the next day before our flight back to London. It was a beautiful end to the most amazing trip.

To view more photos of Janessa and Jorick’s wedding in Greece, please view our portfolio!

Engagement Shoot - Photography: Annika Marie Brown Photography @annikamariebrown

Greece Wedding Photography: Miranda Anderson Photo @mirandaandersonphoto

Greece Wedding Makeup: Sydney Maxine Makeup @sudneymaxinemakeup

Greece Wedding Hair: Camryn R @camryndoesmyhair


Next
Next

Closing the Door on 2023.