It was a shared friend and a night on the town that brought Harry Klonaridis and Calliope Spyridakis together in the summer of 2014. The 28-year-olds met in an Athens bar and couldn’t ignore the chemistry between them. This was the beginning of a summer love affair that grew into a long-distance relationship when Harry had to leave for Tanzania where he works.
A year later, during one of those beautiful Greek summer holiday evenings on the island of Crete, Harry stopped the car on the side of the road pretending to inspect the tires. A few minutes later, he asked Calliope to check on her side; and when she opened the car door, Harry was there, smiling, on his knees holding a sparkling diamond ring.
"IT’S SO HARD TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING THAT WAS SO SPONTANEOUS AND AT THE SAME TIME MAGICAL" - KALLIOPE SPYRIDAKIS
“It’s so hard to describe something that was so spontaneous and at the same time magical, Calliope recalls. “Chills, tears of joy and bliss. And my answer? In three words: 1,000 times, yes!”
“Hearing her say ‘yes’, was one of the most incredible moments of my life,” Harry adds. “It was the first day of the rest of our lives together. I felt so much love, happiness and a connection with Calliope.”
Days later, the elated couple selected Bond Events to take on the demanding task of planning the “big party for friends, family and loved ones”.
“We felt a real connection with Bond’s people and had absolute trust in their suggestions and aesthetic judgement,” the couple remarks. “Step by step we worked together in the 11 months up to the wedding for the most impressive outcome – tradition, vogue and refinement all in one.”
It was a cosmopolitan wedding by all standards. Guests traveled from across the globe – the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Tanzania, Mozambique, Brazil and Greece – for Harry and Calliope’s destination wedding in Crete.
During the ceremony, the bride was wearing a lace couture gown by Christos Costarellos as she made her way to the pool escorted by her brother and father, while her grandfather played the Cretan lyre singing “mantinades” – poems of love in rhyming verse – he had composed for her.
For the reception, in true Cretan fashion, began with traditional island music performed by the bride’s father and grandfather while eight dancers in traditional island costume took the stage. The wedding celebration was held at the Villa Prigipessa on a hill with stunning views of the town, the sea and the mountains. More like a home of their own, the exclusive venue was warmly decorated in soft green, dusty pink, white and silver, with candles and flowers exuding a sense of elegance and finesse.
Like all wedding festivities on Crete, the party didn’t stop until the new day had dawned. The newlyweds soon departed to begin their new life together as husband and wife, starting with a blissful honeymoon in Thailand.
