Have you ever walked down the street, or found yourself at a big party, looking at the sea of faces before you while wondering if one of those strangers could be your true love—the person you are fated to one day meet and fall for? Have you ever picked a certain face or brushed someone’s hand, and thought of what life would be like with that person if they were “the one”?
For most of us, such flights of the imagination are no more than a pleasant daydream, a modern-day fairytale where our prince might one day emerge from the crowd to rescue us from a dropped shopping bag or fly-away umbrella, or our princess might be found through a chance encounter with friends of friends… Surely, we tell ourselves, such fairytales only come true in movies; today, they are only stories being revised from times long past when heroism, romance, and courtship inspired everything from epic poetry to wild elopements that defied the feuds of medieval families.
If you feel that way, this modern wedding in Limassol might change your mind: Stephen and Natalia, the beautiful couple gracing the images below, bumped into each other fully a year before they actually “met” properly. One day, Natalia unexpectedly encountered some friends, and they hurriedly introduced her to Steve. Natalia moved on, the new stranger becoming only a hint of a pleasant memory… Until yet another friend, who had not been present at the initial introduction (and who had been out of touch for a long while) one day called Natalia out of the blue. “There’s this guy at my work,” the friend said, “And he seems made for you! You have to go on a date with him!”
Natalia laughed it off—what a crazy idea! But her friend just wouldn’t drop it. Finally, after two whole months of persuasion, Natalia caved in to her friend’s insistence and agreed to meet this “perfect” mystery man. Thunderstruck, Natalia found herself face to face with Steve once more.
While one meeting could simply have been chance, two such unlikely meetings—and the adamant belief of a friend—was beginning to feel like the work of destiny. Surrendering to the cosmic pull of the universe as it aligned her with her twin flame, Natalia spent ten whole hours talking to Steve on that first date. The couple have never separated since.
It took Steve and Natalia one year to go from strangers to partners, and another year to go from lovers to avowed soulmates; the proposal slipped into Natalia’s life in just the same unexpectedly perfect way that Steve had, uttered not with fanfare nor heralded with finery, but spoken quietly one night as she settled down to sleep. This time, no persuasion was needed: Immediately she answered “Yes” and helped to set the date for next autumn.
Between then and the magical modern wedding in Limassol pictured below, the couple endured many changes (including a move from Cyprus to Denmark), but they stayed true to their love and to the beautiful Mediterranean country where it had been born. They returned to Cyprus to wed, and though planning a celebration from abroad was challenging, the big day went off without a hitch. Stephen was able to prepare at the home of his parents in Erimi, while Natalia got ready in a charming house in Old Town Limassol.
The couple married at Panagia Katholiki Church, which is also in the historic Old Town, and then danced the night away at the exquisite Carob Mill restaurant, full of the joy that only those who have lived a fairytale can understand: The knowledge that there really is a Happily Ever After.
Sometimes, all it takes is a chance encounter with a stranger…
