“Fourteen Years Later, He Reminds Me It Was Love at First Sight”: Janet & Anthony’s Wedding at Aenaon Villas, Santorini
- Author: Natali Grace Levine
- Wedding date: 09/10/2025
- City: Santorini
Love Story
He noticed her the moment she walked in. She said a quick hello to her cousin and left without giving him a second thought. That’s how it started - at an under-18 music festival in Sydney, two teenagers in the same room, only one of them aware that something had just happened.
“Eventually, he tried to dance with me - which, in hindsight, was a bold move considering we’d known each other for about 30 seconds. But it worked.” Fourteen years, a decade of building a life together, and a wedding on a Santorini cliffside later - he still reminds her it was love at first sight.
The proposal came in the Hunter Valley, during a birthday weekend Janet had organized for herself. She had accidentally seen an email on Anthony’s laptop about photographers earlier that week, so she had a vague suspicion something might be coming - but not like this. Her cousins staged car trouble on the way to the estate to stall her while Anthony got ahead. A property manager offered to walk the group around as a distraction. Everything felt completely normal until they turned a corner and she saw the flowers, the decorations, and all her family already gathered, waiting. Then he was on one knee. The suspicion hadn’t prepared her for the moment at all.
About Your Wedding
Eight guests. Eight months of planning. A vision that never needed more than four words: “effortless but with a lasting impact.”
Janet and Anthony had always wanted something intimate - just the people who mattered most, in a setting that felt completely removed from ordinary life. Santorini was the answer, and Aenaon Villas, perched above the caldera with the Aegean Sea on every horizon, was the only venue that ever made sense. The style was romantic and timeless, the atmosphere unhurried, the day built around presence rather than production. Eight guests meant nobody was there to fill a seat - everyone was there because they were loved, and they knew it.
Morning Details
The morning began at Aenaon Villas, where Janet, Anthony, and their guests occupied most of the property’s six luxury villas - a detail that made the whole day feel less like a wedding and more like a gathering of the people they love most, held in an extraordinary setting. The jewelry told a story that had been building for years. Janet’s engagement ring was designed by jewelers in Singapore; the wedding bands were chosen in Sydney, where they grew up. “We love that each piece reflects a different place and moment in our story - it’s a reminder of the travels and experiences that have shaped us along the way.” Stationery and all day-of details were handled entirely by their planners, Julia and Evita, who had been present from the very beginning.
Bride Getting Ready
Janet got ready in the Marily villa at Aenaon, surrounded by her two younger sisters and her closest cousins - the women who had known her longest, in the place where the day was about to unfold. Her dress was by Cizzy Bridal, found at Brides in Love - and the story of finding it is entirely characteristic of how the whole planning process went. She had always imagined herself in a Sima Couture gown. She walked into a different store and changed her mind entirely. “I didn’t have to search far and wide - everything just came together perfectly in that one store.” A detachable train added drama. A pearl-detailed veil completed the look. Pearl earrings, a tennis bracelet, and heels from The White Collection finished off the look. Her bouquet - white roses and hydrangeas from Betty Flowers Santorini - was chosen entirely by her planners, because she trusted them completely. She was right to.
Groom Getting Ready
Anthony got ready in the Elidami villa at Aenaon, in a tailored suit from Theodore - THDR, an Australian menswear label - with his sisters and cousins nearby. The property outside was already being prepared for what was coming. The Aegean Sea was doing what it does at that hour. And somewhere in the Marily villa, Janet was getting into a dress he hadn’t seen yet.
First Look
Outside the Marily villa’s large veranda, at the same level as the infinity pool, with the western views of the Aegean Sea, the caldera, the volcano, and the setting sun stretching out ahead of them, Anthony saw her for the first time. “She looked incredible. I was doing everything I could to hold back tears the moment I saw her.”
Janet’s mind, by her own account, was somewhere between surreal and chaotic. Don’t trip. What is he thinking? Is he nervous, too? “And then it hit me - even after more than a decade together, I was still feeling nervous in the most unexpected, beautiful way.” The view, the volcano, the man standing in front of her. It felt surreal, grounding, and unforgettable all at once.
Photoshoot Before The Ceremony
After the first look, they stayed exactly where they were - moving through the property at their own pace, the caldera below, the light doing what Santorini light does in the late afternoon. Aenaon gave them everything they needed without ever leaving it.
Ceremony
The ceremony took place outside the Anezina Villa veranda at Aenaon - a live harp and violin duo playing as Janet walked down the aisle to My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. Titanic has always been her favorite film. The harp-and-violin version made it something else entirely.
Anthony cried. Janet, looking for a tissue, whispered “help…” and glanced instinctively toward their guests - only to find that every single one of them was already crying too. “It turned into this unexpected domino effect of tears all around us, which made me giggle a little and broke the emotional spell just enough to lighten the moment, while still feeling completely full of emotion and love.” Eight guests. Every single one of them. Even the ones who had claimed they never cried.
Photoshoot After The Ceremony
While the guests settled into canapés and cocktail hour, Janet and Anthony moved through the property for their sunset portraits - the caldera glowing below, the Aegean catching the last of the light, the volcano quietly present in the distance. Golden hour on a Santorini cliffside, eight people somewhere nearby with champagne. The best kind of after.
Wedding Venue & Decor
“I saw Aenaon Villa on my planner’s Instagram, and it was love at first sight.” The venue was chosen before Janet had ever seen it in person - and it delivered on every promise.
All white, with the softness of white flowers, the glow of candles, and the romance of chandeliers running through both the ceremony and dinner reception. The aisle was lined in white, leading to a white-draped arch framing the Aegean beyond. And one detail that made the ceremony entirely their own: a pale pink velvet couch in place of traditional seating - intimate, unexpected, and completely right. “This wouldn’t have been possible without the brilliant minds of my planners.” They also wrote personalized letters to every guest present - eight people, eight letters, each one chosen and meant.
Couple's Advice
“Trust in the wedding planners, photographer, and videographer. The backbone of your day is the people who make everything run smoothly and help you capture your special day. Without them, we wouldn’t have had a stress-free journey.”
Reception
He had promised her "Unbelievable" by Craig David one year into their dating. Thirteen years later, it played exactly when he said it would - their first dance, on a cliffside in Santorini, with eight people watching who had known them long enough to understand what that meant.
The reception was a three-course dinner by Spicy Bites, a champagne tower where a wedding cake might have been, and a night that Janet says she and Anthony both want to relive. Behind it all were planners Julia and Evita - a mother-daughter duo who, as Janet puts it, “were with us from the beginning to the day we checked into our villa to greet us, to setting up on the day. They went above and beyond.” The photographers from The Duo Photography - a husband-and-wife team - had called before the wedding to discuss their vision and concerns, an act of care that Janet says eased everything. “I call them our fairy godmothers. My dream wedding came true because of them.” Videographer Iraklis Rigas completed a team that didn’t just capture the day - they held it together.
Wedding Team
- Photographer The Duo
- Planning and Design @juliaandevita
- Venue @aenaonvillassantorini
- Videography @iraklisrigas
- Florist @bettyflowerssantorini
- Rentals and Fabrics @maisontrilogie
- Lighting @santorinievents
- Food @spicy_bites_catering_rentals
- Makeup @bridenificientofficial
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