Silly me, Tsilivi is perfect!

We went out to see our wedding venue AFTER we’d signed on the dotted line. I was adamant that we were getting married in May 2011 and on Cameo Island – a beautiful (at least it looked that way on the photos!) little island off the mainland of Zante, Laganas Bay – and due to there being only four possible dates left, despite all my fears, we paid the deposit and confirmed our wedding venues, without visiting them or meeting the people that we’d be relying on to make sure everything got booked!

You may remember me mentioning that I’m a slight control freak? Well, as you can imagine, this merely heightened my anxiety.

After the dotted line was signed, I went into panic mode and for the next six months I was uncontrollably freaking out. I was stressing out over everything. At one point I remember scanning the images of our chosen venue for signs of photo shopping. I spent days scouring the net looking for recommendations of the reception venue, to find nothing from no one, not one single teeny tiny review had been made. Many a night I spent in tears over the picture I had painted in my head of the nightmare that we’d find on our trip. Why oh why I put myself through that I’ll never know, particularly with my dependency on tangible facts, reviews and figures! I made it through in one piece (and still with my h2b on my arm!) and once I saw everything for real, I knew we’d made the right decision. Phewy!

So, off we trotted (flew!) to Zante on Friday 14th May 2010 - mood boards and a long list of questions safely packed. We booked into the hotel we intended to stay in for our actual wedding. Part of me would have liked to have saved it for the actual event, but the control freak in me, needed to experience as much as possible of what will happen for real.

All my fears and control freakiness were quickly put at ease when we arrived at Lesante Hotel and Spa, Tsilivi (pictured). We were greeted by the incredibly helpful staff, who stayed that way for the whole trip, and a very welcome glass of cold bubbles, and so started two-weeks of reassurance and welcome surprises.

Zante Weddings

We met Frances, from Zante Weddings, the person who would be our wedding planner, the next day. I raised my concerns and she answered them. We also got to meet our photographer, who also understood exactly what we wanted. Double phewy!

We flew out with my parents and were joined by the in-laws a few days later, when we started exploring. To some going on holiday with both sets of parents might sound like a nightmare, but we all get on really well and we wanted to share the excitement with them as we saw the place we’d actually be getting married for the very first time.

So once we were all out there, the research began. There’s going to be around 80 of us descending on Tsilivi (prenounced 'silivi') for the wedding, so we wanted to make sure we spent the time checking out hotels, restaurants, things to do and, of course, the bars for our guests. Luckily, Tsilivi takes about half an hour to walk from one end to the other and offers every kind of hotel, apartment and villa you can think of. Surrounded by beautiful vineyards and with most accommodation just a stones throw away from the beach – consider us 100% reassured about our choice!

We met some really lovely people during our time in Tsilivi and just can’t wait to get out there to do it for real next year.

Here’s to Tsilivi May 2011! xx