Give us the proposal details! When? Where? How?
A little backstory: I am a first-generation American, and both of my parents are from Greece. In the summer of 2016, Rob and I were able to go to Greece for the first time to meet all of my family. I had also never been to Greece, so as you can imagine, this trip was very special. My mom was also on the trip, so for the two weeks that Rob was there, we traveled all over the country visiting family and touring the nation.
If for some reason every single thing went wrong on our wedding day, as long as we’re able to exchange our vows in front of people we love and officially become husband and wife—we’re all set! The rest is just icing on the (wedding) cake.
About half-way through the trip, we were visiting my grandparents at their home in the remote countryside of Greece outside of a small town named Agrinion. We were attending a small family reunion that night, so after I had taken a shower and gotten ready Rob talked me into taking a video tour of my grandparents’ home to show everyone back home. I worked in video production at the time and loved the idea, but little to my knowledge, it was all part of his plan!
A few minutes into the video, we enter the terrace of the home to find my grandma had cut my favorite flowers from her garden and they were on the table. Rob suggested that we take a photo with them, so we handed the camera to my mother and “took a photo.” However when I turned around, I saw Rob begin to kneel down and pull the ring out of his pocket. He gave this incredible speech that started by him saying, “I’ll keep this short and sweet like you,” and went on to explain how we had traveled the world together to visit my homeland, and while he didn’t have a specific homeland of his own, his home was wherever we were. (Side note: Can you believe this amazing guy?!)
As you can imagine, I was beyond ecstatic to say yes to marrying him, and I accidentally cut him off to say so! All in all, it was the most perfect proposal and in my wildest dreams I would never have thought up this story. And it’s all on video! To put the icing on top, the ring fit perfectly and I discovered that it was from 1931 and belonged to Rob’s great grandmother and had never been resized. I am so very grateful for this life and can barely believe that it’s mine.
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
My favorite part of wedding planning has to be when we thought up the plan to ask one of Rob’s oldest, closest friend’s to marry us. Our friend Tommy is so special to us, and he and his amazing wife Susan are in the process of planting a church in Chattanooga, TN – so getting them both to play such a special part in our marriage really means a lot to us.
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
I am able to stay sane under the wedding planning pressure because at the end of the day, I know I am marrying my favorite human, and that’s what this is all about. I really try not to lose sight of the fact that this is all about us promising to love and be with one another for the rest of our lives, and that is so very special! If for some reason every single thing went wrong on our wedding day, as long as we’re able to exchange our vows in front of people we love and officially become husband and wife – we’re all set! The rest is just icing on the (wedding) cake.
Hello Jude Photography
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
Joy is incredibly user friendly and highly graphic. As someone who knows how to code, but didn’t want to spend that much time on our website, Joy was such an incredible find. The designs are fresh, and it’s been super fun customizing our site.
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
My advice would be to set aside 30 minutes on a desktop/laptop to just click around and familiarize yourself with the site. Try making little changes before you delete anything to make sure you have a good handle on how your adjustments impact the website before you make any drastic changes.
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy lasts forever. What does that mean to you?
This means that what is most important at a wedding is the actual ceremony itself. Your wedding is a special day because it is a public vow to love each other every day for the rest of your lives – even when you don’t like each other. Your marriage means that for the rest of your time on this Earth you will have someone who will fight for you, support you and be your number one cheerleader, and nothing sounds more lovely and full of joy than that.
Hello Jude Photography
