It's beautiful out here...

...only 3 days to go an we'll be back on our way home. I thought to start with something merry.

If it were up to us, we wouldn't be going (though it is raining today), becasue it's so beautiful here and we haven't seen everything yet. Ofcourse we don't need to see everything, we're on a mission, to see if we can get married here. We'll that is possible! And we sure want too! Our plans of how we want it top hebben can all be realised here and in more then one way, we actually have to choose.

Halfway through the first week, we had a meeting with Makis, the photographer who Brigitte advised us to go to. A very nice guy and we liked him right away. He had some very good ideas and some nice examples. Yesterday we had a photosession with him and today we were already able to pick up the (digital) photo's! Ofcourse you don't get to see the most beautiful ones yet, but no photo at all wouldn't be fun either ofcourse.

Yep, getting married will be easy here, such beautiful spots, beautiful villages, just great!

Kefalonia here we come!

Only a few days to go and for the first time in our lives, we'll be flying to Kefalonia. Not that that's so special, I mean there are probably more places in the world where you can go to for the first time in your life, for most of us that is. But our goal makes it a more special for us! Yesterday we had a talk with sister in law Femmie and she told us she something about Kefalonia on tv a few days ago! Well it was more about the crisis Greece is in and what the inhabitants think of it, but it happend to be taken on Kefalonia. I looked it up on the internet and found it was a broadcast of Network, it can be found here.

On my search for that clip, I found a few other nice clips about Kefalonia, taken in the first week of May, this year. It's a bit of an amaturistic looking, filmed by de Griekse Gids (Greek Guide), but it's fun. Btw, this mean pronounces Kefalonia in a whole different way than that man form the Network clip and since this one is Greek I take it his way is the right one!
Starting to itch doesn't it? It sure does to us!!



They also traveled to Ithaka, an island only a few miles away from Kefalonia. I thought I'd share this one too!

Greek for Dummies

Here are some Greek words, for those who might go to Greece this year, or maybe just for practice:

Kalimera       = Goodmorning (can be used untill 2 or 3 pm)
Kalispera      = Goodafternoon (can be used from 2 or 3 pm untill late in the evening)
Kalinichta      = Goodnight (From late in the evening, or better, when you go home/to bed)
Yammas        = Cheers! (very importand!)
Ne                = Yes (don't let it fool you during the wedding ceremony!)
Ohxi             = No
Nerroh         = Water
Efgharisto     = Thank you
Parakolo      = If you please
Ena pita gyros parakalo  = A pita giros please!
Mythos        = It's a Greek beer, no need to be translate!

Kefalonia, part 2

It's been a while since our last blogpost. Did much change in between? No not really, we did book a vacation to Kefalonia and that's pretty much all there is to say. Ofcourse we are still busy with plans about how we want things, but that's it. Also, we're not going to share everything with you, we have to keep some surprisses don't we! We leave on the 24th of May and will stay for 12 days in lovely Greece!

We're very much looking forward to it! Look at places, see tavernas have great food and drinks. Yammas!!

KEFALONIA!!!

Just, so you know!

On Februari 14, we had an appointment with Brigitte van Rijn of de Griekse Bruiloft (the Greek Wedding), we arrived at 1 pm at her home where she welcomed us. We had a very nice but also informative conversation, bevause that's why we were there, to get some information about our wishes, if they could be granted and what they might cost.
We were properly prepared ofcouse (on our way to her in our car, we noticed we didn't have anything with us to write things down and what were our wishes again?) and she was an excellent help!

She told us that Kefalonia was a great place and everything that we told her we wanted, could take place there. Ofcourse those things were also possible on the south/west of Crete, but if we want to go somewhere this summer, she'd advise us to go to Kefalonia, we already knew Crete, so we could fall back to that without going there again. Fun thing was, without Brigitte knowing it, Kefalonia was already in our top3.

So at this time we're looking for an accomodation to stay this summer. We will find it, no worries. And yes, for those who think they'll get an invite to our wedding, you can start looking around for places to stay yourself, because if all goes well, this will be the island we'll get married in 2012.

There are a lot of things to do to make it a great vacation! There is a ferry to the main land, so for those who are planning to travel and see Athens and the main land first, you can. You can also make it an island hopping vacation: Zakynthos-Kefalonia-Itháki-Lefkas.

Anyway, after 2.5 hours we left Brigitte with lots of information and it was clear that all things we want, can happen and even the costs of it all looked better then we hoped!

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, okay, the new year is 18 days old already, but I don't care, I still wish everyone who reads this a happy new year!!!

After a few weeks of doing nothing, in the preperation of our wedding, we started it up again, because it has to happen in May 2012!! Maaike and I still don't know what Island it will be. Actually the choice is only getting better, while Samos and Santorini probably won't be it. How come? Last Thursday, we took Iris (one of the Schotanus sisters) to a Holidayfair in Utrecht. Ofcourse we went to the Greek section and got all kinds of brochures and we spoke with people. They wanted us to visit the most luxurious hotels and get married there, lots of rooms for our guests (over 500 rooms), jacuzzi's and pools in and around the rooms. Yeah it all looked pretty good! But we have to hit the jackpot before that will ever happen!
Actually we are thinking about letting go of the idea to arrange the stay of our guests. that way you give your guests more freedom to look for something that suits them and their budget. It will also be easier for them to stay as long as they want to, since they book it themselfs. We will put someone in charge of coördinating everybodies stay and maybe look if people can stay at one place if they want, to make it cheaper. But later more on that.
So yes, they offered very beautifull accomodations on that Holidayfair, but a bit to expensive, or we hae to use it for our honeymoon!

In Februari we will visit a weddingplanner, at least we have to make an appointment just yet, but we have the intention to go. So upcomming months will be very exciting, because we want to know where we are going to get married this May or June!