It was Alex’s mom who had originally gotten in touch with me about photographing Alex & Tino’s Samothraki wedding in September. Samothraki, or as it is in Greek, Samothrace, is an island in the northeastern Aegean group of Greek islands. If you’ve been to the Louvre in Paris, you might remember the statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. Legend has it that the statue is from a temple on this island. As far as Greek islands go, Samothraki is not your typical island. It doesn’t have the houses with white-washed walls and blue domes of the Cyclades like Santorini, but it doesn’t have the crowds either. :) There is tourism there, but not mass tourism, so the island still retains its authentic charm. It definitely takes a bit of effort to get to, but it’s worth it.
Anyway, back to the wedding! Alex & Tino live in the United States, but Tino is half Greek and spent time in Samothraki growing up. It is one of his favourite places in the world. They decided to have their wedding at the lovely Archondissa Hotel, right by the sea just outside the village of Therma. The ceremony was right on the beach, at sunset with their friends & family from all around the world witnessing as they said their own vows. Then everyone had dinner & danced under the stars. It was just as they had imagined it – everyone enjoyed it.
Alex & Tino, thanks for letting me document your wedding day on the beautiful island of Samothraki! Here are some of my favourites from that day.
Elegant Wedding in the Olive Groves | Sovana, Tuscany
I had been to Tuscany twice before, but both times it was around central Tuscany, near Siena and Florence. When Laura emailed me about their wedding at Hotel Sovana, I had to Google it to find out where exactly in Tuscany it was. Turns out Sovana is a charming little village in the southern part of the region and is only about a 2.5 hour drive from Rome. Since I wanted to photograph a wedding in Tuscany for a long time, it was an easy decision on my end. Luckily, Laura & Johannes felt the same way about having me document their special day!
Laura is British while Johannes is German but grew up in Tuscany, near Sovana. Since they met, they have visited the area many times and Laura has fallen in love with Sovana as well. They both love the area so much, that when Johannes proposed, one of the first things Laura said besides “Yes!” was “let’s get married in Tuscany!” And so on a sunny August day, they brought together their closest friends & family under the Tuscan sun and tied the knot in the garden of Hotel Sovana lined with hundred-year old olive trees.
I had an amazing time documenting Laura & Johannes’ wedding, as well as exploring Sovana and the surrounding southern Tuscany countryside. I can never get enough of the rolling hills, the olive groves, the smell of vines, the tiny hilltop villages and the friendly locals. I already can’t wait to return again. xo
I’ve wanted to photograph a wedding in Guernsey ever since I read The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society and this article. So when I received an email from Helen last year with the subject “Wedding in Guernsey!” I was pretty stoked. After a few email exchanges, my visit to Guernsey was booked.
You might wonder just where is Guernsey? It’s one of the British Channel Islands, although they are closer to France geographically.
Now about Helen and Tom. Their first date involved a late night chat, an impromptu late night stroll on the beach and then watching the sunrise together. Couldn’t have been more perfect. They love to travel and spent a year travelling the world together.
The wedding day started with the boys having a (very cold) swim at the beach. So fun! Because you can only legally get married in a church in Guernsey, they found Ste Apolline Chapel that dates back to the 14th century, and got married with 15 of their nearest & dearest in attendance. Then a reception followed at Fairfield with a big marquee, lawn games, yummy food, music & dancing. We took their wedding portraits along the stunning southeastern coast, where the landscape inspired Renoir to create a series of paintings, and was also Victor Hugo’s favourite picnic spot.
It was truly a beautiful day with many memorable moments. But I think Tom’s speech will forever go down in history as one of the funniest Groom speeches (at least in my opinion). I was laughing so hard at some points that it was hard to take photos.
Thank you Helen & Tom, for inviting me to share in your beautiful day, for welcoming me so warmly, and for trusting me to tell your story!
The Cinque Terre is a series of five villages perched on the Italian riviera coastline southeast of Genoa. The villages are, for the most part, only accessible by boat/ferry or the regional trains that run through them, connected from Pisa to Genoa. The first time I heard about them was reading a Rick Steve’s guide book on Italy. We visited in 2012 as part of our Italy trip. After spending a few days in the beautiful Tuscany countryside, we realized we missed seeing the ocean.
The train ride to CT was an adventure. The high speed trains in Italy and across Europe are fast and efficient. But the slower, local trains are so interesting. Perhaps because they provide a taste for slow travel and what feels like a more authentic experience, traveling almost like a local. We caught a train from Siena that was destined for La Spezia with a switch at Empoli. Once in La Spezia, we needed to catch a local train for CT. A map here if you are interested. On the Empoli to La Spezia leg, we stopped at Pisa station for a very long time. At first I didn’t notice because I was enthralled by my book of choice for that trip: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. But then Mike pointed out we’d been sitting there for 20 minutes. There hadn’t been any announcements, not even in Italian. No train conductors appeared to tell us what was going on. A few minutes after, some of the locals started to get off. I asked one person if he knew what was happening, and he said no one knows. Then I saw across the platform, there was a train coming into the station in 5 minutes that was headed to La Spezia. I told Mike we should just get off our train and hop on that one since our ticket brings us to the same destination. When the new train arrived, our original train was still sitting there. That experience reminded me a lot of taking the trains in China as a child. The disorganized nature and lack of information.
So, a note about taking regional trains in Italy, if your train stops for a long time for no reason, don’t panic! The CT train from La Spezia spent much of its first 5 minutes passing through mountain tunnels, then suddenly, we are out of it, and you just see emerald green and blue waters of the Ligurian sea, it was a sight that caused the whole train to go “wow!”
Favourite things about the Cinque Terre:
– The natural stunning scenery
– You get a bit of both: mountains & ocean
– Hiking between the villages: though when were there in 2012, a couple of them were still closed as a result of the landslides that happened in fall of 2011.
– The amazing seafood in the area
– Amazing gelato! (although really, gelato is amazing everywhere in Italy I’m sure)
– The indescribable old-world charm of the villages. You know the saying about a slower paced life in more remote areas of the world, and here, even though it’s not that remote, you feel it. Even as travellers, you feel more relaxed
– How despite the increasing crowds visiting the region, it still retains its charm and authenticity. At night, when the day trippers have gone, the streets are filled with mostly locals (lots of Nonna’s) and it feels like time has not touched this place much in the past fifty years.
There is a tunnel on the walkway from Riomaggiore to Manarola (affectionately dubbed as Via dell’Amore, or Lover’s Walk), and it is filled with graffiti and writings.
Train station with a view :)
Vernazza. It’s the favourite village of a lot of people. We bought pizza from a pizza place just up the street from the harbour.
We sat down by the seawall, in the shade, ate delicious pizza (probably one of the best I’ve ever had);
drank Italian lemon soda (my fave!);
watched the comings and goings at the harbour and in the square;
And then sat on the rocks and watched the sun dip below the next town and the curve in the landscape.
It was one of my favourite days from that trip.
(Sorry, no photo of the pizza, you’ll just have to take my word for it).
This last photo makes me think of Old Man and the Sea.
Except it’s more like Old Men here…although they were kind of far, so not sure if they are even old! :D
Where to stay:
Aria di Mare in Manarola – lovely place, definitely rooms with a view
What to say about Santorini?! Other than that it’s heaven-on-earth? granted, crowded heaven-on-earth (from June to August)…but still, there is simply no place quite like it. It’s the sheer cliffs (caused by a volcanic eruption thousands of years ago) on one side of the island, the impossibly blue ocean, the iconic Greek isles architecture with white walls and blue domed churches, and of course, the sunsets, where people erupt into cheers and clap at the end (I am serious).
Usually I find myself going on and on about a place, but strangely this time, I have very few words. So I will just let the photos do the talking.
Warning, I’m generally more of a dog person, but you might see quite a few cats in this post.
Sunrise from up in the air.
It was worth the overnight at Athens airport haha.
Atlantis Books. Officially my favourite bookstore in the world.
If you are a book lover, how amazing would it be to get married here?!
If you’ve been to my site before, you probably know about my love for Iceland, and its desolate, wild but beautiful landscape. I think it all started with a visit to the Isle of Skye in 2011. The similarities are there, but Skye is probably greener, with more trees. But they have that same kind of wild, untamed beauty. I’m not sure what that says about me, except maybe these lands speak to the loner in me.
Skye, the Misty Isle. I remember before that trip, a friend of mine thought it was such a random place for me to want to go visit so badly. I couldn’t really explain it at the time either. But I was going through some books the other day and picked up my copy of No Great Mischief, and then it dawned on me that this book was the reason I wanted to see landscape similar to Cape Breton island on which the book was set in.
So after an early morning train ride from Edinburgh to Fort William (which has the reputation of being the wettest place in the UK, it did not disappoint), a short ride on the awesome Jacobite steam train from Fort William to the tiny fishing village of Mallaig, and a ferry ride over the sea, we had arrived. I must geek out about The Jacobite a little here, if you are a train enthusiast, this is a must-experience journey. The scenery along the way is stunning. And if you are a Harry Potter fan like me, then this is also a very special experience (certain compartments and the locomotive were used to film the Hogwarts Express scenes and the scene of the train crossing a beautiful loch was also filmed on this route).
Favourite memories:
– The bus ride from Armadale to Portree after the ferry. Just watching the landscape transform through the different weather systems.
– Various short hikes on the island
– Waking up in our B&B on our 3rd and last day feeling like I was at home because I was so comfortable
– Having fish & chips at 9 o’clock at night, and the fish the size of our heads
The island has a weather system of its own (just like Iceland), passing between rain, clouds and sun at a moment’s notice.
Because of the high winds, you can watch the clouds move across the landscape, leaving pockets of light and dark in their trail.
Cattle on the road! These guys stood smack in the middle of the road for a good 5 minutes.
And because a lot of the roads are single lanes only, you might have to wait it out if this happens.
Also, it’s custom to raise your hand to say hello as you pass another car.
How sweet is that? No one does that in the cities.
The beautiful Eilean Donan castle.
The Talisker Distillery is great for Scotch lovers.
I had my first “dram of Scotch” here…it was alright :P
First time I’ve ever seen a double rainbow!
Sea air, rolling fields, dramatic dips and curves in the landscape, the ever changing sky and ocean. All of which have enchanted me.
I don’t have any more words for this island that holds a special place in my heart,
other than this passage from the book Wild that I think describes what it feels like to be there:
“It only had to do with how it felt to be in the wild.
With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows,
mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets.
The experience was powerful and fundamental.
It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.”
