My Wedding Day

Olympic Lagoon Resort Paphos, Cyprus

June 7th 2016

Five months ago, I married my partner in crime in Paphos, Cyprus at the Olympic Lagoon Resort. A holiday abroad and an unforgettable honeymoon in Mexico later. James and I have been super busy juggling work, blogging, family events and housework since we landed back in the UK. So much so, we haven’t even gotten around to picking, editing, printing or sharing any of our wedding photos yet.

So when Expedia got in touch with me to ask whether I would like to share my travelling tips, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to share some of our raw, un-edited wedding photos and my thoughts on getting married abroad! In today’s post I will touch on my make-up tips, surviving your wedding ceremony in the heat and getting those all important photo opportunities – had to obviously stick this last one in as a blogger lol.

P.S Expect a photo heavy post today! If there are any other wedding related questions you may have that I don’t cover in this post, comment below and I will get back to you to try my best to help!

My Wedding Makeup Tips for a Holiday Abroad

To be honest, I felt pretty chilled on the morning of my wedding, my wedding planner even commented on it. But perhaps a wonderful holiday in the Cypriot sunshine for 6 days in the run up to my big day, spent relaxing with friends and family helped – Despite being rushed to the emergency doctor and not being able to speak the day before my wedding , to be loaded up with antibiotics and the lot. Which, I have to say is one of the plus points for us getting married abroad: to have a relaxed day with our closest family and friends in the sunshine! Below are my make-up tips for getting ready on your big day in a hot climate…

Decide Who is doing your make-up?

Before you fly out you will need to decide whether you are doing your own make-up, having it done by a make-up artist abroad / in the accommodation where you are staying, or if a friend is doing this for you. I was lucky enough to have the lovely make-up artist Katie Eaton attending our wedding as a guest, whose make-up looks I adore and was thrilled to have doing my make-up on the big day. Which definitely set me at ease to know that I would love my wedding make-up before we even applied it.

Follow Katie on Instagram here – @makeupbykatieeaton – or contact her via email: katieeeaton@hotmail.co.uk

Keep Your Cool When Getting Ready

This obviously goes without saying. But, getting ready in your cool room is definitely the way to go rather than trying to top up your tan last minute. Remember to stay hydrated too and apply your finishing makeup touches – such as lippy – once you are in your dress.

Go light on your application & use setting spray!

As much as I love to have heavy brows and layers of contour, judge your makeup for your setting and if it is going to be hot – Cyprus was around 30 degrees – then I would suggest keeping your make-up application light where possible. Katie and I went for a light base, my eyebrows were lighter than usual and rather than loads of coats of mascara we opted for false lashes instead. To finish off I would highly recommend getting a decent setting spray: my Mehron one was a saviour!

Have Your Bridesmaids on hand to help

Can I just say a big thank you to my beautiful bridesmaids, who were wearing Gorgeous Couture dresses and shoes from Boden on the day. Didn’t they just look stunning! Thanks for being my wedding support ladies and for sharing a truly memorable day with me. For being on hand to top up my lipstick, keep my makeup in their purses, to re-arrange my headpiece and a special thank you to Cat for helping the photographer with our couple photos!

Surviving your wedding ceremony in the heat

You definitely don’t want to feel like a hot sweaty mess on your wedding day. Which was my main concern about getting married abroad outside. Yet, despite it hitting around 30 degrees Celsius I managed to keep my cool, just about…

Dressing Wedding Appropriate For The Weather

For my wedding dress I wanted to find a backless number that was a traditional wedding dress, but wouldn’t have too many layers or be too hot for my big day. I found this gorgeous Ronald Joyce Esther dress, which I knew was the one when I stepped into it. Coincidentally it is the same brand my Mum got married in! And, to keep my hair in check from the wind, I had a beautiful headpiece created by Ann McKavney from eleventhheaven.com.

And for my bridesmaids I wanted them to feel beautiful but comfortable on the big day. So, we opted for the Phoebe maxi dress with an airy leg slit and Grecian vibes. These midnight blue beauties were from Gorgeous Couture in their bridesmaid dresses section, ordered via their custom made to measure service.

Stay Hydrated

Now, this will seem like an obvious one. Buy you don’t want to pass out on your wedding day! So make sure that you stay hydrated and have some water bottles and refreshments on hand for yourself and your guests. I would also advise drinking lots on the days in the run up to your wedding too. Just be prepared for having to take a bridesmaid with you to help you undress for the toilet from your wedding dress!

Provide plenty of shade for your guests

If you are getting married under a hot sun, I would advise to hold your ceremony in an area that is either shaded. Or, if not, is somewhere that you can provide shade. For example, we had a canopy that we stood underneath and guests had parasols above them to protect them from the sunshine. We also picked a spot next to the sea, which meant that there was also a nice cool breeze during our ceremony.

Think about your flowers!

Due to the heat, my bouquet had gone a bit on the droopy side by the time we had finished taking photographs. So, when getting married abroad in a warm climate take into consideration flowers and decorations that you have for your ceremony. I would even suggest looking into some fake flower options, which is what we did for our table center pieces and you would swear that they were real!

Getting The Most out of your photo opportunities

For some people, one of the biggest components of their wedding day is picking the right wedding photographer or videographer. We were given some options by out wedding planner, from who we were able to choose our favourite from (I think there was a choice of about 4 or 5). We did our research online first and got our choices down to two photographers and ended up going with Andreas from Paphos Wedding Photographers. We got 700 odd photos on disc, which are raw files for us to do what we want with. But, we now have the task of going through and picking our favourites!

Have Your Guests Take Photos

Capture the day from different angles by having your guests snap away on their phones or by giving them their own cameras. We gave my Brother in Law Ben my Olympus Pen to take some shots and film the ceremony (which I am debating whether to share on Youtube or not? Let me know if that is something you would want to see in the comment below). Something I wish we had done, would be to have mini Polaroid cameras on the tables for guests to take shots so we could create a wedding wall collage.

Shoot In As Many Different Locations As You Can

Our photographer had us on the beach, getting ready, around the grounds, in front of the sunset and in various locations to get a number of different shots. That way you are sure to find a background or composition that you are happy with. Some of my favourite photos were at sunset (which I haven’t shared in today’s post) and mainly the shots where we are not looking at the camera, as I love this natural set up of catching the moment the most. But everyone has their personal preference so make sure you pick a photographer whose previous work you love.

Get Your Whole Wedding Party Involved

Like taking a number of shots in different locations. Get a number of different shots with all of your guests too, which will make for even greater memories when you look back and see everyone that you shared your holiday and special day with!

AND SMILE!

P.S We didn’t set a colour code for our wedding…this was pure coincidence!

Again, I just want to say a huge thank you to all of our guests that attended, for my beautiful bridesmaids and to our loving families support. Without it, the day wouldn’t have been possible and I hope you all have as many great memories of the day as we did!

Would you consider getting married abroad? Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions 🙂