Channy & Bernd – Romantic Mamma Mia Wedding

The vision of the perfect marriage proposal is a big challenge for many people. For men in particular, the topic often causes headaches after a certain point in the relationship.

Because often something very special is expected of them: a beautiful place, a special moment, a romantic atmosphere and then he is also supposed to find the right words (quite relaxed)…everything has to be perfect.

After all, she has imagined it a thousand times in her dreams.

But what really matters – for the perfect marriage proposal?

First and foremost: The two of you, exactly as you are!
Preferably, of course, in a relaxed mood.

You should not pretend for any moment in your life together or “shake things up” too much.

– and this important moment does not have to or should not be overly staged.

The most important thing is that you are very close to each other and very close to yourselves – just enjoying the here and now and your wonderful, exhilarating love for each other.

Preparations for the perfect moment – and against the excitement

To create the best conditions for this, we need – exactly: a beautiful place, a special moment and a romantic atmosphere.

And a ring would be good.

The rest – and also the right words – will then arise all by themselves.
Danilo had exactly this on his mind for the moment with his Nunzia.

Here on Crete, he imagined, would be the perfect place for the marriage proposal. And the holiday in relaxed togetherness would provide the ideal moment.

“Make it nice and cosy for us – but no unnecessary tam-tam!” was his request to me. And since I don’t have “unnecessary tam-tam” on offer anyway, I was happy to comply.

The time has come: a series of surprising moments begins

On the morning of 13 August, Danilo and Nunzia had just filled their plates at the breakfast buffet and sat down at a table when they started thinking about what they could do today.

The last days of their holiday had arrived. “We could go shopping. A few souvenirs to take home from the souvenir shops – what do you think?”, Danilo suggested.

“Good idea!” agreed Nunzia enthusiastically.

“Good plan,” he replied, grinning strangely in victory.

But she thought nothing of it.

A little later, the two of them were strolling through the souvenir shop mile in Hersonissos, already carrying some small souvenirs of their Crete holiday in their bags. They enjoyed the relaxed mood of the people around them, the sun was shining, it was pleasantly warm and not too hot – a nice day for a shopping trip.

Then it had come – the perfect moment. For the next step of our plan.

Nunzia headed for a rack of beach dresses and started looking at them more closely. As she was rubbing the fabric of a white dress with a blue and red floral pattern between her fingers, he said to her: “You’d better choose one. Because I have a surprise for you!”

She looked at him with sparkling eyes. He just grinned. “What is it? Tell me!” she broke his pause of tension. “Okay,” he began at last. “You’ve said so many times that you’d like to do this sometime.

So today’s the day: I’ve booked a professional photo shoot – on the beach – tonight – at sunset!”

“Wow! How cool! That’s a super surprise!”, Nunzia rejoiced and hugged him stormily. Danilo was happy too. “Step number two – ticked!” he thought.
Slowly he became confident that everything could really go smoothly that day.

A beautiful dress was quickly found. After that, the two went out for a fancy dinner and then prepared for the photo shoot.

While Nunzia was busy in the bathroom, Danilo wrote me a secret message: “We’re about to leave! Please text me your location again!” That sounded less like the relaxed Danilo of a few hours ago.

The excitement is rising

I wrote to him that according to the schedule he was too early and they should take their time and sent him the location of the beach cut at Kato Gouves, where I was just putting the final touches to the arrangement and Christos was setting up his camera.

I was actually sure that Danilo had understood the plan perfectly, but excitement does crazy things to you, so I quickly added: “But don’t forget: you have to go to the other side of the bay! The location I sent you before. Here again… There you will meet the photographer Christos in 20 minutes! NOT here!”

“Christo, you have to go! Please start packing up.” The young photographer looked at me a little shocked. Obviously I was getting a little nervous now too. We had to quickly prepare for any changes in plans.

Christos was about to leave when I heard the renewed “pling” from my pocket – it didn’t sound reassuring somehow. I quickly opened the message from Danilo: “We’re here!” and a photo of the beach with a couple of parasols and a changing room – luckily the changing room in front, because it obscured the view at least a little.

They were standing just a few metres away. And he was already offline again – probably without having had any chance to read my message.

“Christo, change of plans: they’re here!”
And so Christos walked to the car, pretending that no other meeting place had ever been planned.

As the three of them walked down to the sea and Christos distracted the beautiful couple from all the fuss with the attention of the camera, I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.

I turned away and pretended to be heavily busy. I fiddled here and there with the preparations…and hoped so much that they would not see them or refer to them. And if they did, that the emergency plan would work.

But fortunately there was no need for that. The three of them were very busy and the photo shooting was beautiful to watch. The two of them – and Christos too – were clearly having fun.

The warm red light of the sun slowly sinking towards the sea provided the perfect photo light and made the whole scene somehow magical.

After they’d stayed well clear of me and my decorations, along the sea, the three now came back in my direction.

I got ready to light the many candles.

I had made a heart out of lanterns in which the marriage proposal was to take place.

It took a while and I had to finish in time before they got here – even though it was still a bit early for candlelight. So many perfect schedules have fallen victim to excitement. But it didn’t matter now – it “flowed” quite beautifully and the next few minutes would be even more beautiful.

As I finished, the three of them came into view. Danilo covered Nunzia’s eyes and carefully guided her through the soft sand towards the heart, while Christos stumbled backwards in front of them to capture every moment.

And then it was time. He asked her to carefully take one last step, taking care not to trip over the lanterns.

Then they stopped together and he asked her to keep her eyes still closed while he went down on one knee in front of her….

Pictures say more than words, I guess.

We left them to their own devices and retreated a little.

But when we congratulated them and said goodbye, I still had one pressing question: “Nunzia, did you know about today? When did you realise?”
Overjoyed and beaming, she replied: “I didn’t suspect anything. It was only when he was kneeling there in front of me that I realised what was happening! It was sooooo beautiful!”

Wonderful – then everything went perfectly well!

Photographer: Christos Tzanidakis
Planning & Decoration: Sensevent Wedding & Event Planning Crete