Naxos is the largest and most geographically diverse of the Cyclades. The island has mountains, fertile valleys, extensive sandy beaches along the western coast, and a Chora centred on a Venetian kastro with a marble gate facing the sea. Located at the northern edge of the Small Cyclades, Naxos sits close to Koufonisia, Schinoussa, Iraklia and Donoussa to the south. This cluster of islands gives the region a distinctive character within the Aegean. Agia Anna sits quietly on the western coast, facing the open sea.

Christina and Antonis married at the church of Agios Nikolaos, which stands on a hill above Agia Anna beach and overlooks the gulf. The day was windy, as summer on Naxos tends to be, and the Aegean breeze gave the ceremony its own quality. Afterwards, we photographed them in the surrounding landscape. The series in the haystacks near the church, with their dog, became some of the most atmospheric images of the day.

The reception was held at their private house. The day ended as it had begun, intimate, relaxed, and entirely theirs.

The next day we went to Plaka. The long beach with its cedar trees at the southern end of the western coast, the same couple, the same dog, the same light, without the wedding around it.

Agia Anna and the area around Agios Nikolaos rewards scouting on foot. The hillside, the haystacks in the nearby fields, and the light on the water from that elevation are all places best understood before the day, not found during it.

The haystack series with the dog was not planned in advance. It came from staying present and reading what the location offered. Before arriving we had learned enough about Christina and Antonis to know that the most honest images of the day would come from the moments between the ceremony and the reception, not from formal portraits.

Plaka the next day gave us the same couple in a different register. The cedar trees, the long beach, the afternoon light over the Aegean. No schedule, no direction required.

For our work across the Greek islands and Cyclades visit our dedicated page  Wedding photography in Greece