Sensatori Aphrodite Hills Resort – Rebecca & Lee
Lee and Rebecca, both 29 and managers in retail tied the knot at the fabulous Sensatori Aphrodite Hills Resort in Paphos on 13th August 2018 and chose Lee Stuart Photography to capture their special day, read their journey below:
“Lee and I have been together 13 years, you could say we are childhood sweethearts as we met in school.
Lee proposed to me in January 2017 in Ilfracombe. We had been doing January breaks for about 4 years, to coast destinations for some quite time together after the madness of Christmas in retail. It was a total surprise, as we had been together so long, I had started to think Lee wouldn’t ever propose. Our beach hut was overlooking the bay, and it had the most spectacular floor to wall windows. Lee had intended to take me out for a meal, but as the setting was so beautiful, he did it there and then at the window. It was just the 2 of us, and so perfect!
My dress was a strapless, sweetheart neckline, fishtail dress. It had the most beautiful detail, button back, with beading and embellishment.
Lee looked so handsome on the day. We chose a light grey waistcoat suit with a nude tie. The suits, paired with the bridesmaid dresses and colour scheme of the wedding just worked perfectly, especially with the magic photography of Lee and Gaynor!
We looked and many venues, in the UK but always had doubts when we returned from viewing a venue. We had said for years if we ever got married, we would go abroad, so we went with our hearts. We always wanted to celebrate for more than a day, and we both dreamed of a relaxed, intimate day.
Lee’s only request was he wanted a BBQ on his wedding day, and so many venues in the UK tied you into everything at their venue. Not a single venue gave us a wow moment. So, we went to our local travel agent, with 2 destinations in mind, Mexico and Italy, but always knew if we married abroad, we didn’t want to marry on a beach, but something more private and intimate. Our agent then recommended Sensatori Aphrodite Hills Cyprus, and we knew, that was it. The hotel itself was amazing, but St. Catherine’s Chapel was just perfect for us. The image we had in our minds of standing together becoming husband and wife was there before us in a brochure. We walked out of the store, looked at each other, and said “We found where we’re getting married”
We went for a simple white one tier cake, with our own topper. Our bridesmaid’s Mum handmade flowers to match our colour theme that we added to the cake. One of our favourite photos of the day is a cake shot, simple cake with the most incredible setting behind us.
Ed Sheeran, Perfect was our choice of music, it was so made for our first dance in so many ways. We are both big Ed fans, we’ve been following him for years, right from the start. The lyrics are so special to us, as we have been together since we were ‘kids’. A little secret, we weren’t going to have it as our first dance, as it was such a predictable first dance song, and it was only 2 days before the wedding that we changed it to Perfect. We were sat on the sunset terrace where we had our cocktail reception 2 days before the wedding with our family and friends that’s stayed in the hotel with us. We went to the terrace every night for our ‘golden hour’, have some cocktails and would listen to Jon, one of the hotel’s guitarists. He sang Perfect, and knowing it was one of our favourite songs, our friends and family were all singing along with us. I looked at Lee, he was looking at me and we just started crying! Then everyone else starring crying. In that moment, there was so much love. It was such a special moment that we’ll never forget, and we knew we were exactly where we meant to be getting married. After that, we asked Jon to play at our wedding and he did!
The best part of the day? It was the setting. Being at that hotel, in Cyprus, having the freedom to have exactly what we wanted from our day, that’s what made it perfect. We just want to do it all again! In terms of a moment, Lee’s best is saying I do at the chapel. Everything built up to that moment that we’d been waiting for. My best moment was walking around the corner at the chapel, on my Dad’s arm, waiting for Lee to turn around. When he did, it was like everything else around me wasn’t there, just him. The only thing that didn’t go to plan was the bridal party waiting for the golf buggies to the chapel. Still now, everyone jokes that I kept Lee waiting, even though I was ready waiting for my carriage!”
Rebecca & Lee were a fantastic couple to work with, the day was full of laughter and tears of happiness, and we had a wonderful time with everyone, a truly magical wedding day and they didn’t stop smiling from the minute we walked into the room.
Congratulations once again to you both, and we wish you all the very best for the future, and thank you for choosing Lee Stuart Photography to be a part of your amazing day!