Our first stop? Villa Kanoni, where all dove grays, bright whites, wide-plank floors, and original stone staircases couldn’t have been better suited to a lady, her porter, and a trunk filled with Leonie’s trousseau. Her preparations began serenaded by the strings of mandolins, just like you would expect to see in a Hollywood flick that depicts the old ways of slow, intentional living. Spetses, you see, is all about that old-world charm.

And then it was Leonie meeting Konstantinos at the church of the resurrection, Anastasis church; their Orthodox union amidst a cloud of myrrh, frankincense ritually burned, the buzz of smiles and happy chatter, blessings and anticipation for the priest to say: and then the two become one!

A while later water taxis dock at the pier of the thatched-shade beach, Kaiki. Curtains of string lights spreading on every surface, cascading from the roof of their beachfront restaurant, a rustic wicker-seat white-chaired taverna, the couple’s reception venue. Weaved lampshades topped with blooms dance in the breeze, light bulbs dangle over lush florals and rattan sous-plats, Moroccan throws and pillows corseted by candles on the sands, a dancing stage on the beach enveloped in fairy lights fronting on perfectly warm and blue water.

Their boat arrives and waves of applause can be heard for miles. The pleasures of what we Greeks call a way of living, delicious food, fine wine, and unbridled fun, quadrupled staring at the impossibly ancient landscape, that goes all shades of purple and then velvet blue under the starry skies. And if the spirit of old Greece fills your head, it’s surely the modern Greece to feel your ears, as over these parts, dancing till morning breaks is the law.