Kristian and Nik: A Wedding By The Sea
After five years of dating, Kristian and Nik tied the knot on a warm autumn day with a wedding by the sea in Portsea. Surrounded by their nearest and dearest, the ceremony was an emotional affair that perfectly represented the two grooms, followed by an evening filled with love, laughter, and plenty of dancing.
Photographer Georgia Verrells | Location Portsea, VIC
“For me, marriage is a symbol of commitment. A way of showing your partner that you accept them for who they completely are, flaws and all.”
How and when did you meet?
Kristian: Nik and I have known each other for about 8 years, but have been together for 5 years. We officially are a real-life Tinderella, but recognised early on that we had a mutual connection through Troy who was my clinical instructor when I was a Paramedic student. Troy and Nik were living together at the time.
Tell us a little about the first time you met?
Kristian: The first time Nik and I met was on a standard brunch date back in 2014. Unbeknownst to me, Nik had already been filled in about me from his housemate/best friend Troy. The date went well, we got along straight away, and it had that cliché I’ve known you forever energy.
What was the first thing you noticed about each other?
Kristian: I noticed that Nik was very handsome and tall, but extremely warm and polite in his demeanour. He was interesting to talk to and could keep an easy, flowing conversation (this is important to me, as I can’t stand awkward small talk).
Nik: I noticed Kristian was very handsome, with warm striking eyes and cute cheeks like a chipmunk.
Tell us about the standout moments in your relationship…
Kristian:
Managing our relationship in a pandemic as front-line emergency health workers who are working rotating shifts and long hours. It can be a lot of time apart.
Owning two properties.
Being Dad’s to our bunnies – Marshall & Mia and our dog – Otis.
Pre-covid, travelling together and experiencing the world.
Nik: Being able to grow and build our lives together is such an achievement for each of us individually. I would have never imagined I would be able to do half the things I’ve done in the past few years, which is thanks to Kristian’s personality as a motivator and the one who gets things done. Also finding our roles in this domestic partnership and settling into them so naturally - I handle most of the cooking, kitchen duties and maintaining the bunnies, Kristian handles the finances, Otis, houseplants, and most of the laundry duties.
What does marriage mean to you?
Kristian: For me, marriage is a symbol of commitment. A way of showing your partner that you accept them for who they completely are, flaws and all. It is about a partnership that is dedicated to working through anything and everything and a way I can show Nik that I choose him and no one else.
Nik: I guess there is a traditional element to it as well, we Greeks don’t need much of an excuse to have a big party or get-together. Also, I think the opportunity to declare your love with all of your family and friends present is an important experience; to get to share the vulnerability of expressing what is such a happy and significant occasion.
Who proposed and how?
Kristian: Nik and I did a mutual proposal. It was something we had discussed a few times in our relationship and before we knew it, we were just like, yep. We’re doing this. We’re getting married. We went and had our rings designed and made, before booking a romantic couple of days away down the Peninsula. We stayed at St Andrew's Beach in a self-contained and very romantic cottage. Think lux bed, great food, great wine and a relaxing spa bath on the deck with candles everywhere.
Nik: It was really nice to organise the “proposal” together, and removed any possibility of stress, pressure or nervous anticipation. It also gave us a chance to both get engagement rings and design them ourselves, particularly Kristian who got to have the opportunity to get the exact number of diamonds on his band just right.
When did you get married?
We got married at the Portsea Golf Club in Portsea in March this year.
Kristian and Nik’s story continues below ↓
What was the main influence behind your wedding day?
Nik: We chose this venue because the Mornington Peninsula is quite special to us both as we both spent many Summers down there growing up. We also liked that it was a destination that could be an excuse for a nice weekend away for ourselves and our guests!
What was the most important thing to you surrounding your wedding?
Kristian: The most important thing to us surrounding our wedding was having all our family and friends present. We both come from large ethnic families, so COVID provided us with a challenge with COVID and density limits playing a role in forcing us to balance family vs. close friends.
Where did you find the bulk of your inspiration?
Kristian: The bulk of our inspiration stemmed from things we liked from previous weddings we’d attended and Instagram/Pinterest.
How did you choose your suppliers?
Nik: We chose our suppliers mostly via vendors we’d experienced doing their thing at the weddings of a few close friends. There’s nothing better than seeing a vendor in action, it helps you make that instant connection and feel their vibe/energy and allows you to truly see if it aligns with you both as a couple.
Kristian: I was so set on certain vendors/suppliers that I booked them 2 whole years before our big day.
Any standout suppliers?
Georgia Verrells, Megan Watson, James Azzam and Jason Gayed.
James and Jason are a close couple of ours who went above and beyond to help us out when the venue tried to cancel our wedding 3 days out. We couldn’t have done it without them!
Megan & Georgia became personal psychologists in the drama that was the 3-day-out almost cancellation. They both helped us find wait, bar and service staff for our wedding and were an ear to listen.
What was the most difficult thing about planning your wedding?
Kristian: The most difficult thing about planning our wedding was finding time to organise things and picking up where we left off 2 years prior. We’d booked all our vendors very early and then when it came time to plan closer to the date, finding motivation was hard. Nik and I both work on the frontline as healthcare workers I am a Paramedic/Emergency Nurse and Nik is also an Emergency Nurse. With COVID, we were exhausted and with going in and out of lockdown, it was hard to get excited.
Where did you spend your honeymoon?
Nik: We spent our honeymoon in beautiful Fiji. 7 days of heaven in a luxurious bure, sipping cocktails by the pool, eating great food, and relaxing after the pressure of pulling off our wedding. We had 170 guests, so it really took it out of us.
Any advice for other couples planning their day and finding it difficult to navigate the journey?
Kristian: If we ever had our time again to plan and execute this wedding, I would 100% recommend getting a wedding planner. Chasing things up constantly and dealing with some vendors that were difficult was really time-consuming physically and emotionally. Being able to palm that off to someone else would have been absolute heaven.
Kristian and Nik’s Team
Photographer Georgia Verrells
Videographer Aaron Connan
Celebrant Megan Watson
Grooms Suits Trunk Tailors
Flowers Cassy Canterford
Cake Paul Di Benedetto
Wedding Website Appy Couple
DJ/MC James Azzam
Cocktails Jason Gayed
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