Crete • 42 guests • Late September
Sophie & Emma
A sunset celebration beneath the olive trees
Sophie and Emma met in a record shop in Manchester and spent nine years collecting songs together. They wanted a day that sounded like them — long, warm, unhurried, and ending with everyone barefoot.
The setting
A family olive grove above the Libyan Sea, reached by a single dirt road. We negotiated the use of the terrace for one evening, brought in linen, ceramics and candlelight, and left everything else exactly as the grove already was.
The day
A ceremony at seven, when the light drops behind the ridge. Their oldest friends read instead of an officiant. Dinner came from a village kitchen four kilometres away, served on long tables under the branches.
The detail we remember
The first dance was a b-side neither of their families knew. By the third song, everyone did.
“We never once had to explain ourselves. They just asked better questions than anyone else, and then built the evening we couldn't quite describe.”
Sophie & Emma
