The real story behind how I got started

I went for a coffee last week in Paros with an old school friend that I hadn't seen for a while. We discussed about the twists and turns life throws at you and how in the midst of every crisis there is an opportunity. This inspired me to share with you today the real story behind how I got started. So here goes...

I returned back home after living in London for 8 years. I had found what I though would be a great job in a firm dealing with shipping claims. I was renovating my house and starting a new chapter in my life! But in less than a month, the reality of the job I had longed for turned out to be completely different.

In less than 3 months from the day I started, I decided to quit. The timing couldn’t be worst as recession was hitting our country and hundreds were being made redundant. I couldn’t help but think what a great mistake I had made to move back to Greece. 

After months of searching, I found a part time job as an analyst working Monday to Wednesday but I needed to figure out my next steps. I felt that this could be a great opportunity to finally open up the binder full of wedding ideas and clippings I have been collecting since I first moved to the UK and explore why I had started this binder in the first place?  I certainly didn’t plan on getting married anytime soon myself. There was something magical about weddings that mesmerized me and I had 2 days fee every week plus weekends to explore what it was.

I started doing small DIY projects for a couple of friends getting married or baptizing their kids, mostly favors and that sort of thing, for no more than €200 per gig. 

I still remember sitting in a coffee shop, when I got a message from my first University friend. She was getting married and wanted my help. She was looking at having a destination wedding somewhere warm. Without thinking I proposed Greece. 
As I sipped my iced latte and waited for her reply, I thought: Could I do this? This was not a simple task of making favors. I was taking a huge responsibility of planning someone’s most memorable day. 

I closed my eyes, took a big breath and before I opened them again, my friend had replied that she was booking tickets to come check out venues with the fiancée. 

I worked my butt off for months and when the day came I was ready.  
This is back in 2011 when Pinterest didn’t exist, Instagram was just a “filters -tool” and having website with just one wedding wasn’t the biggest seeling point for prospective clients.

So I submitted the wedding to a blog I used for inspiration called Style me Pretty. I didn’t know much about it but I though I would give it a try. A few months later I was the first Greek vendor to be published in what became the biggest wedding blog in the world.

Here’s what I didn’t know back then: 

• I didn’t know that my nightmare job would be my one-way ticket to the job of my dreams. 
• I didn’t know what I was doing when I decided to undertake my first ever wedding, but I was determined to figure it out. 
• I didn’t know that submitting my first ever wedding to a blog will bring me 3 weddings the following year, two of which would be featured on the same blog the next year and these in turn would bring me more clients. 
• I didn’t know  that taking a leap of faith and chasing my my dreams would turn into all of this.

So here is to chasing our dreams and working hard to make them happen! 

Photography: Anna Roussos