We met at our friend's 30th birthday party. At the time, Kelly thought Tony was super cute, but he was off the market. Fast forward 9 months and we ran into each other again at the same friend's going away party. Tony asked Kelly out and we went on our first date the following week. The day after our first date, Kelly left for Greece on a trip with her family. We reconnected when she returned. Two years later we went on our own trip to Greece, where Tony popped the question--only 5 days after Kelly's brother proposed to his girlfriend! We got engaged on the balcony of our hotel room in Crete! That hotel (the Porto Veneziano) has a very special place in our hearts and we hope to return to it someday soon. Tony and I are both close with our families, so we have really enjoyed this time celebrating with them!

What made you chose your venues?

Kelly grew up in the Greek Orthodox Church and Tony is actually converting to Orthodoxy the Sunday before our wedding. He decided in January that he was going to convert. We chose the Radisson Blu as we wanted somewhere downtown where people could walk to their hotel rooms at the end of the night. We also needed somewhere to hold the over 400 people we invited!

Did you have any DIY projects? If so, can you describe them in detail?

We did our own wedding favors. It's Greek tradition get a bunch of girls together to make the boubounieres (jordan almond favors) so we got the materials on Amazon, Michaels and we ordered the koufeta (jordan almonds) from a store in California. We had all the girls over to Kelly's mom's for dinner and made them in one night. We will also see if this happens, but I really wanted to have wine corks as the name card holders. My cousin tested them out and he took sand paper and rubbed the cork until it was flat. He then took a razor blade and cut a slit in the wine cork and it held a sample card. We are hoping to get those done before the wedding, but we will see if that happens. :) Other than that, we are not crafty enough to do anything else!

Ceremony Venue: St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church

Reception Venue: Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown

Gown Boutique:  Posh Bridal Couture

Wedding Planner: Kismet Event Group

Make-Up Artist: Salon Oriana ~ Nicole Twito

Men's Apparel: Heimie's Haberdashery

Stationary: Carlson Craft

Calligraphy: Aggie Koutroupas

Florist: Zinnia Design Floral

Caterer: Radisson Blu Minneapolis Downtown

Cake: Queen of Cakes

Reception Music: Chris Ploumitsakos

Linens: Linen Effects