Title – Sam and Christinas wedding at tewinbury farm

Date – 30th September 2017

Bride – Christina Dionysiou

Groom – Sam Castiglione

Best Man – Joe Castiglione

Maid of Honour – Andrea Dionysiou

Bridesmaids – Nasia and Caris

Flowergirls – Sophia, Sophia, Emilia and Yolanda

 

Supporting Team

Photographer – John Paul ODonnell

Wedding Venue – Twelve Apostles and Tewin Bury Farm Hotel

Band – Millenium

Belly Dancer – Sarasvati Dance

Cars – R and j Car Hire 

Video – Tony o7941 059275

 

Sam and Christinas wedding at tewinbury farm. I first met Sam when he was best man at his brother Joes wedding 3 years ago. He was best man and did a brilliant job.  I got to know him and family very well.  When he met the beautiful Christina and got engaged he contacted me and they both came over to my office to discuss their wedding.

Sam and Christina are just the loveliest couple. Totally comfortable in each other’s company, they love spending time with their friends and family. They both smile all the time and when going through all the pictures I was so spoilt for choice as they smiled all day and put so much effort into the pictures.

Sam and Christina were married at the 12 apostles church in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire on the last day of September 2017. It was such a lovely, easy-going day and the church and Tewin Bury Farm are such stunning locations. There were 275 guests at the church and almost 300 at Tewin Bury Farm (Meadow Barn).

As this was a greek and Italian wedding with Christina being greek and Sam being Italian. Sam got ready at his parents house and I arrived at 8.30 am to get the getting ready pictures.  is old room had pictures from when he was in the army..great pictures and something I never knew. He had a lovely Italian send off from his family and left for the church with his brother Joe in a classic Alfa Romeo Spider.

Christina got ready at her parents house, something I adore as it’s always lovely to see lots of little details dotted about the house which are so personal to the bride and her family. I always know it’s going to be a relaxed and happy day when I walk in to find the bride relaxing while getting her hair done and seeing her girls fussing around her. And Christina’s family welcomed me in with big smiles, a totally lovely bunch of people.

Once Christina got into her dress she came down the stairs to see her dad Senagi waiting for her.. whilst he was holding back the tears.  I then positioned a chair outside on the terrace and in true green style Christina walked outside to see what must have been 60 people waiting for a glimpse of her. The violinist was playing and led the bride outside to everyone.  She looked absolutely stunning. It was time for the red scarf blessing or (zosimo) as its known as.  This involves the brides parents, grandparents and other relatives. They say goodbye to the bride and give her their blessing and then use a censer to bless her by circular movements around the bride.

The cars were outside so I took this opportunity to get everyone out the front of the house for a quick picture. I then headed over to the church to see Sam and Joe.  He was quite relaxed and everyone was arriving there was well over 280 people in the church to see them get married.

The ceremony was performed beautifully by the greek priest and then Sams family member whose a priest in Italy did a lovely Italian blessing. The traditional best men and best women all came up to the alter to sign the ribbon.  After a perfect ceremony we were able to get out into the sunshine for a few shots around the back of the church.  I looked up and could see that the weather was looking good and made a decision to shoot all the pictures at the hotel.  The couple got into the car and off we all went.  Adrian at Tewin Bury is someone I’ve known many years. I had arranged for the wedding car to pull into the Stable so that I could shoot some pictures using the old red brick building and doorways for some shots.

The guests were all arriving and this worked well as they all drove past the couple waving, tooting their horns and shouting “Bajo” (kiss) in italian. I shot some great pictures here and then Christina and Sam went and joined all their guests for drinks in the Millstream Barn.

They had an italian singer out in the gardens singing all the great songs. I then took a picture of everyone together and then shot all the group shots before getting some nice pictures of the couple.  The team from Bella Italia caterers then came over and told all the guests to take their seats.  The band then announced the bridal party in and it was at this point the violinist played the couple into the room. Everyone was going crazy, tapping glasses and screaming “Bajo”!

During the meal there was a big surprise for the guests.  The bride and groom had arranged for a multi award winning professional belly dancer to come and perform.  She was fantastic and everyone enjoyed her performance especially the guys haha.  The speeches then started and they were all fantastic, but for me Senagi the brides dads one was perfect.  He talked about how close he and christina are and when she learnt to ride her bike without stabilisers. How she knew she was ok as he was there with her… very nice analogy of a story that was very close to his heart.

We then went over to the stream with the best man, maid of honour, bridesmaids, flower girls and pageboys. I then took a few shots of the bride and groom. The band was ready to start the dancing.  Sam and Christina started with the first dance which very quickly ended up with them getting covered in streamers and confetti a great italian tradition. They were lifted up in the air and then it was the money dance. All the family and friends came up and in traditional greek fashion pinned the money onto the couple.  It was then time for the greek and italian dancing.  The band were brilliant and the dance floor was packed solid.

All in all it was such a beautiful day. One I’m sure Sam and Christina will remember forever. And hopefully the photographs will help 😉

Sam and Christina you are an  amazing couple and thank you for choosing me to be the one to capture your amazing day.  JP

 

If you have enjoyed reading this then please like and share.  When people like and share I know they enjoy reading and looking at the pictures so please like share and comment.  Sam and Christinas wedding at tewinbury farmphotographed and written © John Paul O’Donnell Photography.