OK... the ball was rolling...

Since we wanted to get married quite soon after the issue had been settled in April, and we couldn’t yet afford to go to Las Vegas, as first thought upon, we started thinking about other arrangements that would suit us. Pierre doesn't want a regular wedding here at home, so that was out of the question. So we were up to an informal ceremony with just the two of us. Pierre and I have been together for so long, and lived together more or less like a married couple, so no one was really expecting us to get married. Many people in Sweden settle for engagement alone, and live happily ever after...
This is why we wanted to do this as a surprise to everyone, and not tell them what we were up to. Even to us, the whole getting married-thing feels like a great "bonus" in our lives.

Process

We had been wanting to go to Greece for holidays during the summer of ’97, since Pierre has never been abroad to a warmer country, but then we ended up buying a new bed, and a trip was out of the question.
That fall we decided we’d again start saving money for a trip, for the summer of '99 instead. We were already certain we really were going this time, so just for fun I sent a mail to the Scandinavian Church in the port town of Athens; Piraeus, to ask what their arrangements for getting married were. Very soon we received an answer from the reverend there, who told us that it would cost us 1200 SKr (about $140) and 6 packages of Swedish coffee to be wed in their church. And the more we thought about it, the more we felt that this was what we wanted to do. Talk about being effective… getting married while on honeymoon…?

So a major flow of mails started going their way from Eagle Street (yep, that’s where we live) to Greece. Although our ceremony was going to be very simple, I still had a million of questions that needed answers. I once told the minister I had a feeling I was the most inquisite bride-to-be he ever had had to do with, and he agreed and said that on the same time I had provided him with lots of fun moments in front of the computer. ;o)

Since we live in Sweden, and the church is in Greece, we wouldn’t be able to do any kind of meetings with the officiant, or any rehearsals either. He wanted us to send him a couple of lines about ourselves, but we weren’t able to meet him until just prior to the ceremony.  So there was really not much to plan regarding the wedding itself. 
Åke (the reverend) has done this millions (?) of times, so we just had to rely on him, and of course, all my mails… ;o)

The date was finally set to August 23rd 1999. First we had thought of the 21st, but the reverend was busy that day, so we postponed the whole thing a couple of days. All the papers were in order pretty early on. We had our marriage license, and had applied for our new last names. Well Pierre is keeping his, but since it’s a (to be honest!) common, quite boring Swedish one (Gustafsson) I’m keeping my maiden name (Forslund) as a middle name. So my name is going to be Julia Forslund Gustafsson. I’ve practiced writing that as a signature for future purposes, but it looks really weird! But I guess this is a common problem for all newlywed brides, getting used to writing their new name, and incorporating it to their handwriting…? Slowly, slowly everything was getting in order.

What's it all about?

So basically what was going to happen is that Pierre and I would be flying to Greece around mid-August, and spend some time on one of the beautiful islands in the Greek archipelago. We were to explore the surroundings, historical sites and basically just enjoy life in the sun! 
On August 3rd we finally settled for a place to go! The price was right, and considering there wasn't much to choose from (The travel agencies have sold 90% more trips than last year, and the prices have gone up by 15%) we were thrilled to announce we're going to the beautiful island of MYKONOS. 

A few days later we'd catch a boat back to Piraeus to be wed on the 23rd, announce our wedding to friends and family, and go back to our island as husband and wife! After two weeks in the sun we’ll be heading back to Sweden, and some time later we’ll be throwing a party/informal reception for all our loved ones, so that they too can participate in everything. In this way we feel we get the best out of everything, and hopefully without all the hassle…!
How's that for planning the whole concept?!?

How will we look?

We weren't that keen on dragging wedding gowns and tuxedos all the way from Sweden to Greece, so we were thinking of wearing something more informal than the average wedding clothing at our ceremony. I still wanted to wear white, so I found a nice, simple. yet elegant white dress for a really good price, and I also found really beautiful shoes for a bargain. We also bought an elegant dark gray suit for Pierre in early July, to wear. Cost exactly 10 times more than my dress... (I told you my dress was really cheap!)
He gave me a beautiful pearl necklace and matching earrings for Christmas and Valentine’s, which will be great for the wedding. I have also made my own veil. 
Yep... and I am the one who hates sewing! Bought some tulle and satin ribbon, and borrowed a friend's sewing machine. It was really easy, the only problems were gathering the wrinkles evenly before attaching it to the headband, and to choose which headband I was going to use. I had one thinner one with fake pearls which would look great together with my jewelry, and also a broader satiny one that would match the veil's edge and the embroideries on the dress. Finally I chose the satin headband, because even though the pearly one looked great, it was uncomfortable and tight to wear. 
We had to buy flowers on the premises, so we really couldn’t decide or tell what the wedding boquet would look like. I like sunflowers and roses, so probably I was going to be ending up with either of those at the ceremony. Probably roses... Just had to wait and see what there was to choose from…
We had our rings, bought them really early. Mine is similar to the engagement ring, a smooth 3,5 mm golden band, but with three 0.03 ct diamonds in it, and Pierre's is the same style, only in white gold and without the diamonds.  We love our rings, so please take a look at them here...

The ceremony

As I mentioned, there was just going to be the two of us, but the staff at church said they would be taking our pictures, and we bought a video camera to bring, so they also were going to film the whole event for us.
Åke the priest wasn’t sure the Norwegian cantor was going to be present, or if we were obliged to resort to a CD/cassette player, but I had written to him about some tunes I like, and if possible, have played during the ceremony.
The choices are Mendelsohn (of course –that’s a classic!) Albinoni’s “Adagio” (love that one, but perhaps it’s only played at funerals?) and Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it). Bach's "Jesu, joy of man's desiring" is a new aquaintance I love very much too.

Come to think of it, it's quite funny that most of our wedding ceremony would be a surprise to us...!

After the ceremony the church hosted a small reception, but since there was just Pierre and me present, we just settled for a nice cup of Swedish coffee!

And then what?

As mentioned above, we were planning to have a party for friends and family after we’ve come home from Greece. As mentioned, we weren't telling a soul here about us getting married, and planned to keep it a secret until the day after our wedding. But to still provide our loved ones with a feeling of participation, we were having this reception kind of party around mid-September. We already had our eyes on a nice place to keep the party, planned to invite around 35-40 people, serve some kind of a buffet and generally be having a great time! And since we were getting the whole wedding videotaped, we wanted to borrow a big monitor and show them the wedding, so my mum could be able to cry her happy tears after all... 

The colors were pretty much decided upon, as soon as we figured we'd throw a party. White tablecloth, blue napkins and sunflowers and blue candles for centerpieces. We had bought some sunflower seeds and planted them on Pierre's father’s piece of land in June. Invitations couldn't be sent out until after the wedding, but I found some really nice cards and envelopes in gold, I  had to make something out of.
We were plammimg to be serving some fruit punch, wine and beer and then have some kind of bar for those still feeling thirsty. We were on a very tight budget from the beginning (hoping to stay on the right side of  $3000  -trip, clothes, ceremony, party and all) and felt sure we probably would be spending it all for the wedding itself, and since bank robbery really isn't an option, we'd just have to take it from there, when we got home.
The main thing was to provide people with a really good time, though, and that I think we'd be able to manage!

Oh how we were looking forward to be going!
 
 

Pictures of the dress, the veil and my shoes, for those who are curious to see what I'll look like...
Click on the vine above to see them!
 

Meanwhile, we'd be thrilled to see you sign our wedding guestbook...

/Julia and Pierre
 

July 28th  1989  -Pierre and Julia meet for the first time
December 16th 1990  - Become a couple
January 17th 1992  -Move in together
December 16th 1995  - Get engaged
April 15th 1999  -Pierre officially proposes
May 3rd 1999  -Order our wedding rings
May 5th 1999  -Call Greece and book the date
May 19th 1999  -All papers are in order
June 1st 1999  -Our wedding rings arrive!
June 28th 1999  -The simple, informal yet elegant dress I've considered using for the wedding came in -and it fit!!! *yay*
July 2nd 1999 -Bought Pierre's suit
July 21st 1999 -Bought shoes
July 24th 1999 -Made my veil
August 2nd 1999 - Went to Stockholm (this country's capital) Bought some clothes, a gift to Pierre,  and a guide book for Greece.
August 3rd  1999  -20 days to go! Booked and paid for our trip. We're going to MYKONOS!

to be continued...