GETTING MARRIED IN CRETE, GREECE.

A WEDDING IN MAKRY GIALOS, CRETE

It was my dream to get married in Greece, even before I had someone to marry! When my boyfriend and I came to Makriyialos on a package holiday with his sister and her family in august 2001, marriage wasn’t really on the cards, and I was surprised when he proposed in October of that year. Even more amazing was that he’d been working quite hard behind the scenes to make my dream Greek wedding happen. He’d organized our friends and family for a wedding on November 5^th, he’d been sorting out a ceremony with the help of Myrto Botsaris, a wonderful girl we’d met just once or twice in the shop she owns in Makriyialos, and he’d got the phone number of a guy who he thought might be able to help sort out some accommodation for the wedding party. Unfortunately for me, with only 5 weeks to go before the potential wedding, he hadn’t really done any of the essential paperwork. And November is definitely “out of season” in Makriyialos. The day after the proposal I rang our local registry office and the Greek Embassy, to find out what was necessary – we had to post bans as we would for a wedding in England and after that get the certificate of “no impediment to marriage” and our birth certificates translated into Greek by an official Greek translator, then get all the documents authorized at the Greek Embassy. We went to Marylebone registry office that lunchtime, and started the process. With the bans having to be posted for two weeks, and us having to be in Makriyialos for two weeks before the wedding, time was very tight, but fortunately we live in London, and, as it turned out, we had no problems getting all the documents sorted in time. We had an amazing amount of luck on our side too; on the Saturday after the proposal I met up with a friend from out of town for lunch and a bit of a shop. We met at Paddington station, and went for a drink in one of the back streets there. Opposite the café we were in, was a Greek travel agents – I’d worked in Paddington for years and never noticed it. I went in and asked for a bit of help sorting out some scheduled flights. The guys in the travel agents were fantastic, and within 30 minutes we had flights for ourselves, and for most of our friends and family, all at their preferred times of departure, at a price comparable to a charter flight, and all whilst we sat outside the café opposite drinking sangria. I had more incredible luck with a wedding dress. Since my friend was down for a spot of shopping, we thought we should at least try and find something “weddingy” for me to wear, although I thought that obviously a real wedding dress was out of the question. We tried a few department stores, then, on a whim, and because it was raining, went into Pronuptia. I asked to see some dresses, tried on a few and picked one that needed a bit of alteration. They thought it might be a bit of a struggle getting it ready in time for me to fly out to Greece, but it was only when another customer came in that I realized how lucky I’d been again – “I’m getting married in July” she said. “I’m sorry”, replied the woman how’d served me, “we don’t have any appointments until January 18^th”. And I’d just walked in off the street!

The next couple of weeks were punctuated by emergency trips to jewellers, translators, embassies and the like, as we tried to arrange the wedding itself, accommodation for the guests, and a party in England for all those who wouldn’t be able to come to Crete. We had an Oxfam donation account and a Selfridges wedding list (where people just pledge money into a big account, that you spend as you want, a great idea, but very poorly executed by Selfridges as it turned out), and the party was to be in a pub off Baker Street, the weekend after we came back from Greece.

As soon as the certificate of no impediment to marry was ready we picked it up and rushed it round to the translator. She translated it and we raced off to the Greek embassy in Holland Park. I remember being really nervous as the Greek official read through our documents, and searched through a battered old tin to find the correct stamp with which to authorize them. We had to pay a fee – I can’t remember how much, but it was very little, and then we were set to go.

We picked the dress and our wedding rings and were on the plane that night. It was a long journey out of season, and the then new airport at Athens was only partly open, and very unwelcoming for a 7 hour wait in the middle of the night. We finally got on a small internal plane with massive leather seats like armchairs, and flew across the sea to Heraklion as the sun was coming up, feeling like celebrities. Baggage collection was a dream – being an internal flight, they were on the carousel before we’d even got into the terminal building, and then we picked up our hire car. We drove to Makriyialos in brilliant sunshine, we even had to have the air conditioning on, and went to Myrto’s houses in the Pefki valley, Aspros Potamos. We had a meeting with the “registrar” at the town hall in Koutsouras the next day, and everything was set for the 5^th of November at 6.00 in the evening.

We’d hired most of the little hamlet of Aspros Potamos for our friends and family, and spent some time stocking their fridges with tasty Cretan treats. Steve busied himself pootling around the town and the surrounding area to find out which restaurants and cafés would still be open to provide the wedding party with food and holiday entertainment. As it turned out all of our friends and family stayed either at Aspros Potamos in the valley, or at Villea Village, although we also considered the White River Cottages, just below Aspros Potamos, but I think the owner was only willing to re-open the complex if we could guarantee complete occupation for at least a week – as we ourselves and some of our friends wanted to stay at Aspros Potamos, and as some of our guests were only staying for four days we chose Villea Village, which was one of the best choices we made as the owner, Vasilis, was absolutely amazing throughout the whole wedding, arranging surprise fireworks after the ceremony, a room for me and my bridesmaids to get ready in, looking after the relatives arriving at ridiculous times of the day and night, and generally being an all round star.

It was ridiculously easy to organize things like flowers and wedding cakes – for the cake we went into Takis and Voulas Patisserie on the Saturday, and picked up a fantastic confectionary creation on Monday – amazing! We bought flowers from the florists in Makriyialos – unfortunately it’s not there anymore, but that was similarly easy, although the owner was very concerned at the extra cost to us of flying in lilies from Athens. She provided all the button holes for the family as a gift, and reminded us about the traditional floral decorations for the cars. All the family and friends were finally assembled, arriving in an assortment of cars from the same hire car company, including a battered old minibus with the seats not attached to the floor, (I’d use Anna Cars if I was doing it now!), and in worsening weather conditions. Winter had arrived and some guests had flown in through thunderstorms, and driven from Heraklion on roads greasy with the first rain, and perilous with mud and stones washed down from the hillsides. We had a fabulous meal all together at the Dragons Cave - highly recommended at any time of year, but particularly spectacular with a thunderstorm lighting up the bay below.

For the next couple of days it was like being on a holiday in a resort populated almost entirely by your friends and family. The weather was mostly good during the day, and the youngsters got to swim in the sea and in the pool at Villea Village. The rest of us spent the days checking out the surrounding area, and whiling away the hours with Dimitri and Hara at Cafe Olympio, eating them out of their stock of ice cream.

We spent a leisurely day on the day of the wedding, and, so as not to incur bad luck, co-ordinated our preparations fiercely, so that Steve and I didn't meet - no mean feat in either Aspros Potamos or Makiyialos! Steve was well looked after by Sandra and Sue at Villea Village, who ironed shirts for him and his best man, straightened ties and brought stiff drinks. Meanwhile, we were primping ourselves in another room, drinking champagne and sharing lipstick. My friend Lou did my hair and make up, but there are several hairdressers in town who would could help if you weren't lucky enough to have brought with you someone talented and patient enough to spend several hours making you look beautiful for your big day.

When it was time for the wedding the Groom's party went first - in a convoy of hooting cars, and we followed. By the time it was our turn, the weather had become really dramatic, with thunder and lightening worthy of a disaster movie. I think rain on your wedding day is lucky in any country, but Nature seemed to be making a really special effort to be memorable for ours. We got to the town hall in Koutsouras to find it transformed by, what seemed to be, a million candles (much to the amusement of the registrar, Katerina, and the mayor himself). The mayor performed the ceremony in Greek, and a Greek friend, Yiannis, translated. My new father-in-law, who was at the time vicar of All Souls Church on Regent Street in London, gave a blessing, and we signed the register.

We managed some confetti outside the town hall, and drove slowly back, again in a convoy of car horns and with an accompaniment of thunder and lightening. People all along the route came out of their houses to wish us luck - it was really magical.

With the help of Myrto and her mother Aleka we had organised a meal for after the wedding ceremony at a restuarant which is no longer open. I think if I was getting married today I'd try to arrange it at the Dragons Cave, or maybe ask Vasilis for recommendations (in the hope he'd volunteer his services, he catches a mean fish, unfortunately considered unlucky for weddings in Greece, and whips up one amazing barbecue!) - we had grand ideas of lamb on the spit and similar iconic banquet food, and on the night the food was lovely. My biggest regret is that we didn't take account of all the unanticipated people we would have liked to invite to the meal - in a very English way we'd organized only enough food (and seating) for the people we'd brought with us, and there were so many others we'd have liked to invite to share our day with us.

After the meal we went back to Aspros Potamos where we'd hired the biggest house. We'd stocked it with food and drinks and had a roaring fire burning (it was quite wintry at night by now). We had the surprise fireworks display (it was November 5th after all!), and ate, drank, sang and played music into the night.

We had to pick up the marriage "certificate" a few days later, and although it was just a photocopy from the register, once translated (back in England) and again, stamped officially at the Greek Embassy, it looks much more impressive than any English marriage certificate I've ever seen. We had a wonderful wedding experience in Makriyialos, and I think it was much less stressful to organise than it would have been had we done it in England, not least of all because of the kindness of all our Cretan friends. I would recommend it very highly.

We come back to Makriyialos every year, and every year it feels more like home. Our friends here are always happy to see us, and some have even visited us in England. We've been lucky enough to have two sons, and they've been here every year - Joe first at 10 months old, and Charlie at 3 months. Its a great experience for them too, and Joe spends all year from the time we get home until the next holiday asking when we can go to Makriyialos . It's a special place, so that's pretty much what we spend all year thinking as well.

Bev Bewes

(The photos shown are not related to the text. Hopefully relevant photos to follow soon)