Pierre and I had been planning to go explore the ancient Acropolis this day, so we had set the alarm clock at 8. The clock woke us up, but we were both so tired, so we decided to give ourselves another 30 minutes of sleep, regarding what a hectic day we had ahead of us. I was just begining to drowse off, when I suddenly realized what day it was, and what would be happening later that night. I got all nervous, and there was no way I could fall asleep again. Even had to go to the bathroom...!

Our day leading up to The Night

We had a great day, took the "elektriko" (=subway) into town, oooh'ed and aaah'd at the fantastic Acropolis with all it's monuments and temples, especially Parthenon, which was truly amazing, and you had to pinch your arm to realize that you actually were there, looking at it in person.
We even had some time to take a short tour through the famous Plaka quarters in Athen's old town. 

Pierre and I actually had a small argument about this; we were done at the Acropolis, the time was only about 1:30 p.m and we had plenty of time left. We had been planning to be back in Piraeus by 4, to be able to get ready for the wedding ceremony at 7. We couldn't start too early, because it was so darn hot and we would get all sweaty and uncomfortable in the heat.
Pierre wanted us to head back to Piraeus right away, while I wanted to explore the city some more. Being in Athens really isn't an every-day chance! We were both really stubborn, and I didn't want us to have a fight on our wedding day, but at the same time I really wanted to go to Plaka. So I said OK, you go home, and I go to Plaka myself.... Of course I knew Pierre would come with me (I know, dirty trick) and so he did, being the sweet, kind person he is. I just couldn't understand what we were going to do sitting in a hot apartment all afternoon, without even being able to get ready for the wedding until later.
I'm sure Pierre enjoyed the walk through Plaka as much as I did. Beautiful streets and lots of archaeological sites all over. :o)

It was sooo hot! You were dripping of sweat in a matter of minutes. No use in even bothering to wipe it off, since you would look/feel the same in no time. During our Acropolis session we actually spotted the first clouds since we had arrived in Greece, but those were only temporary.

I had occasional attacks of nervousness, but the fantastic sites we saw and the great places we visited that day kept my mind away from the wedding most of the day. Otherwise I would have been a wreck!

Eventually, we took the subway back to Piraeus, and since we hadn't exactly stumbled upon any florists, we decided to buy the bouquet of red roses we had spotted that morning, on the market place just outside Piraeus' subway station. It wasn't the fanciest bunch of roses  had seen, but there were lots of them, they were cheap (around $3 -how's that for a bridal bouquet?) and actually had a couple of baby's breaths in it. The main thing was that I had something to hold in my hands...

Preparations

According to our plans, we were safely back at the apartment by 4. We had put all the wedding related stuff -clothes, papers, jewelry, THE RINGS- in order the night before, so basically all we had to do was get a shower, get dressed and me to paint my nails and put my make up on. 
I shortened the stems, and took off all the roses' thorns, and tried to arrange the flowers to be somewhat wedding-like. Some flowers weren't feeling very good (again- the heat!), so I had to discard them. From the 16 roses I had left, I made a small boutonniere for Pierre, which turned out really great, and a bouquet for me, which turned out... um.. satisfactory. Put them in the fridge...

The church wasn't about to open until 6 at nights, but they had another wedding booked at 5 that day, so I went down there by 4:30 to iron my wrinkly dress. Went down to the church, and as I entered, seeing the aisle, the altar... I was overwhelmed with feelings, and again got a bit nervous and tense. (This is so weird, why would you be nervous, doing such a wonderful, important thing with the man you love? 
Well, besides the obvious... *grin*...  -I think it's all the anticipation, and realizing that the time has come. Both Åke the minister and his assistant Lisbeth smiled and said that you should be a bit nervous on your wedding day. I guess they are right...)

While I stood by there by the organ, ironing,  I noticed that the others getting married (the 5 o' clock people) had arrived, because I heard giggles from inside the dressing room. Two Swedish girls marrying their boyfriends, so it was a double-wedding. How could they be so casual about it? There I was, so wound up and excited about everything, been planning everything since April, and these two couples had arrived 30 minutes prior to their wedding, big backpacks by the entrance, since they were going island-hopping the same night, and two bouquets of daisies on the table, still wrapped in the same kind of market-place paper my flowers had been in.
And I thought I was being relaxed about getting married!!! *phew*

Pierre hit the shower at 5, and spent the next 1,5 hours walking around in his underwear in order to not get too warm. He wanted to wait with putting the suit on, for as long as possible, so he wouldn't be soaked in sweat by the time for the ceremony.
Around 5:30 I took my shower, remembering that I thought "the next time I wash my hair, I'll be a mrs." ;o)
Bodylotion, perfume (Aqua di Gio by Armani) underwear on... and then I placed myself in front of one of the giant fans, to start with my make up. Didn't want to get my face too shiny from the heat, so I tried to spin out the time for that happening, for as long as possible. One coat of nail polish... more make up, and by 6:30 it was time to get dressed. Luckily, I didn't have to do much with my hair, since I was wearing a veil, but just minutes before it was time to go down to the church, I noticed I needed one more layer of nail polish.... 

*** Important tip to future brides: make sure you put your nail polish on in time, doing that just 20 minutes before your wedding ceremony is about to begin, isn't a good idea at all!!! ***

6:40... Both of us dressed, in a bit of a hurry... Last check... do we have the papers, the license? Camera? Flowers? RINGS in Pierre's pocket? All set... 

Grab the veil and down to the church we went...