201601
Mavrodaphne & curry
Mavrodaphne before, curry after — a very odd combination on paper, and so were they. It worked anyway. Vasiliki fell asleep on Tom's sofa and he still asked her out again.
01From a homemade meal
From a homemade meal
in Tom’s kitchen to a Greek hill.
Vasiliki grew up in Aigaleo, Athens. Tom grew up in Spring View, Lower Ince, Wigan. They met in Manchester and fell for each other somewhere between a home-cooked dinner and a very long playlist.
What followed was long dinners, good wine, and any excuse to be back in Greece. On 28 May 2027 they are gathering everyone they love under the olive trees — and they cannot imagine doing it without you.
Interlude
The long way
round to here.
A first date over a pan on the hob. A thousand late nights. A first house, a renovation, a ring, and finally a hill under the Greek sun. Here is the story in the years that carried them here.
2016 — 2027
03
Chapters
Scroll
a decade in six frames
20162027
2016
201702
Manchester nights
Dark bars, bad photos, permanent grins. The beginning of the in-joke that never ended.
201803
Airport hacks
2018 was the year Greece stopped being a wish and became a boarding pass. Hand-luggage Tetris, a pizza wrap at the gate, and a routine so well drilled we have never once been late for a flight.
201904
First flat, same house
In 2019 we moved into our first home together — the very same house where it all began, just one floor up from Tom's curry kitchen. No sofa, no table, no Wi-Fi, no problem. We ate pizza cross-legged on the floor and called it fine dining. It was perfect.
2020
05
The year of the masks
Covid couldn't stop us having a Greek summer — Vasiliki was determined, and the suitcase was packed before anyone said the word 'restrictions'.
2021
06
Just the two of us
We tried to have as much fun as we could while Covid was still hanging around — small rooms, big plans, and dressing up with nowhere much to go.
202207
Exploring the UK
A year of getting in the car and going: lakes, coastlines and little towns all over the UK. A frozen lake, two alpacas, and proof they'll try anything once.
202308
Number 17
Keys in hand. First house, first doorstep photo, first proper home.
202409
Snow in Greece
Tom saw snow in Greece for the first time, on Mount Helmos — then went snowboarding for the first time and, annoyingly for everyone else, absolutely nailed it.
202510
Knocking the house about
They survived the extension and built the kitchen of their dreams — held together by moral support from each other and from very patient friends.
202611
The ring
The evening we finished the back garden, standing there talking about how proud we were of the home we'd built — and Tom popped the question. One enormous smile, and a very long yes.
202712
Sinterina
Under the olive trees in Attica on 28 May. Long tables, too much food, Greek and English toasts, and a big fat party that carries on until the early hours. Bring shoes you can dance in — we're not planning an early night, and we can't imagine any of it without you.
