ELLE & Alex's Intimate wedding in Mykonos, Greece

The moment I met our couple, I could see softness in their eyes. They share a gaze that is full of quiet encouragement. There is a gentle magic that I wanted to discover. For me, photography has always been a quiet, sacred space, a medium to tell a couple’s unique and beautiful story, to capture their spaces, still moments, their longing, mellowness, the sky, life… But every now and then we have the opportunity to tell stories that yield emotional and visceral responses, and this photoshoot was one of them! Our couple’s portraits are so full of sweetness and joy, a proof that beauty has a place in our lives, and that it is the purest antidote when humanity is on the test.

Our intimate elopement photoshoot took place in a cliffside villa in Mykonos, and was sparked by a desire to show couples that the traditional format of a wedding is something that can be turned on its head and still be full of elegance and beauty. US-based stylist Jaclyn Journey finds a lot of inspiration in the spaces in which she works. She created a wedding ceremony with nothing more than foraged flowers, all harvested from the beautiful Mykonian countryside. Rather than creating an arch for the ceremony, she decorated an old stone wall with yellow helianthemum and pink roses, which peep from the nooks and crannies of the granite.

Our bride is radiant in a beaded Palma gown by Alexandra Grecco, and a beautiful gold-leaf headpiece. Catching her tulle chapel veil, the languid breeze teases out Mykonos’s other name – the Island of the Winds. A romantic stroll along the cliffside and through heathland captures the impressionistic wistfulness of a slow sunset, while splashes of poppies underfoot bring out the bright scarlet of the bride’s smile. The enchantment of the afternoon culminates in a sunset shoot on the villa’s rooftop. In the background, the hazy rocks and hills are as ancient as mythology itself, an exquisite counterpoint to the beginning of a new life together.

We then imagined a casual al-fresco dinner meant to be grazed on, instead of the standard plated fare. Our table was laid with true, simple yet genuine Greek hospitality: a table resplendent with untamed florals, honey, pistachios, apricots, pomegranate seeds, and fresh coal-oven baked bread, with a bottle of greek wine the colour of coming dusk. There’s nothing more to do but raise a glass to a night under Mykonos’s windblown stars: