Oyster Residences, Blue Lagoon, Turkey Elopement Photo Story Award

I was with Angie and James at a beach wedding at Fethiye Blue Lagoon. They are one of the most natural and coolest couple that I have ever seen. They met in a bar in London about 5 years ago and they got married at an amazing destination wedding location in Turkey.

The reason they decided to get married in Oludeniz was due to a variety of reasons that made Turkey their first choice. They traveled to Olympus on the Lycian Coast the previous year for both of their birthdays (which are within the same week) and enjoyed everything Turkey has to offer. The beautiful weather, the majestic wilderness, immense history and culture, incredibly friendly people, and the food! Given the obvious contrasts with Britain, they thought getting married in Turkey would provide a perfect excuse to holiday away with their friends and family and then have a big party of a wedding too.

Angie says: "James remembers the proposal differently to how I do. He probably remembers himself as stoic and manly whilst I will remember things went like this: The proposal happened when we were walking in a quiet park and enjoying the scenery. James suddenly grabbed my shoulder and casually said, ‘Let’s get married.’ He was still looking at the trees at this point but my heart leapt with joy nonetheless for such an important moment. Yet I was also confused at how casually he conducted himself. Was this it? I thought all men have been taught from a young age to kneel for such a grand request on a lady. So, instead of screaming a tearful YES! straight away, I turned to him and said, ‘Where’s my ring, bitch?’ James’ reply was also typical of him, ‘So that’s a “yes” then.’

James says: "We took things slowly and had a full week in Fethiye and Oludeniz before the wedding day so that we could finalize things and still have plenty of time to hang out with friends and family and do lots of fun things together. And on a similar note, I think destination weddings are always difficult to organize when you cannot be there in person and have to do it from hundreds of miles away. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if everything is not perfect and doesn’t go according to the plan. Because years later no one will ever remember the color of the napkins being in the right shade of blue, only how much fun they were having. So, if you are having the time of your life, it is most likely that your relatives will too.

In the preparation room, the bride's close friend helped with her hair and Angie did her make-up by herself.

The ceremony was at the Blue Lagoon. The bride and groom came to the ceremony place together.

After the ceremony, James' dad approached Angie, all red eyes, tears still streaming, and gave her a big bear hug. Angie started to cry too, for about the millionth time that day.

The reception was held at Oyster Residences' Restaurant. The wedding shoe game was super fun. I guess the hard question was "Who's the best driver?".