Affordable pre wedding shoot in Santorini

As promised, I will be writing down how did we manage to travel to 3 different countries for our preweddingmoon and managed to do our photoshoot without burning a hole in our pocket.

In fact, we were so pleased with ourselves because everything turned out well and definitely within budget. Firstly, I had to do a lot of research. I knew Santorini is a dream if I get to take my pre wedding photoshoot there. But the cost scares me. Also, I did not want to be paying for a photographer from Malaysia because I had to fly him over plus his assistant and a makeup artist. I don't want to be spending on that photographer's accommodation and food as well. I felt  all that costs could go into our travel instead hehe.

So, what I did was to find whether we can hire a photographer from Santorini with a reasonable price. I was looking through the net and then I found Studio Kristo! It was like Bingo! Kristo's website showed that he had photographed many Asians in Santorini and he's a freelance photographer so there was no super expensive fancy packages as offered like those huge renowned photography companies. We also wanted a simple shoot, nothing extravagant and we loved his pictures and his style of photography.

And so I dropped him an enquiry. The rest, as they said, is history haha And also I guess we had the wedding luck because we were just in time when Kristo had a promotion on his website. He was offering a free photoshoot at any of our desired destination within Europe if we took the 'Gold Package'. FYI, we think the Gold Package of 600Euro was reasonable enough just for the photoshoot in Santorini. And now there's a free photoshoot somewhere else? What a steal!! We were super lucky to be able to grab that promotion. Just be a bit patient during exchange of emails because Kristo is a busy guy and can only reply a few days later.

So we decided to search for neighbouring countries which has nice sceneries. I saw that some flights from Malaysia stopped at Zurich before reaching Santorini so I thought maybe we could check out Switzerland. My fiance, on the other hand, saw that Turkey was pretty nearby Greece and that it is quite affordable to travel to Turkey. So we asked Kristo first whether Switzerland was a good idea. However, he mentioned that it was a bit too expensive for him but Turkey was okay. So, it was set! We decided that since we will be travelling by ourselves in Switzerland, we would just carry a tripod with us and snap our own pre wedding photoshoot hehehe We had a lot of fun doing that by the way. Some even said my Switzerland sceneries were nicer LOL

Now that the photography has been settled. The next headache was the gown. I knew I wanted to wear a nice white gown for the shoot but the thought of bringing a big ass gown all the way to Europe gave me a bit to think. I didn't want to bring the gown on carry on because it'll be too messy and heavy. So I decided maybe a simple mermaid one will do instead of the puffy princess type. Something that I can at least fold and squash into my bag yet not crease when it arrives and still looks bridal-ish. I know, I'm a fussy pot hehe. I found a very nice one from Simply Gorgeous, Kota Damansara. However, I thought renting the dress will stress me a bit because I had to take very good care of it overseas. I decided to browse online instead LOL And guess what? I managed to find 3 white ones from it! And coming from me who is not much of an online dress shopper because I needed to feel the quality. But I thought I would just wear the gowns and throw them there because I would not bring them back. Because first, I am never going to re-use it. Second, I can't be lugging my gown around with me in Europe. That's just taking up too much luggage space haha

I found a short and simple white dress which is super cute and nice and casual for a day out in Switzerland. 

And left the rest of the luggage for this mermaid one to fulfil my mermaid dream because nothing mermaid-y looks nice for the actual day. Even this mermaid one was kinda too loose for me LOL

  And lastly a long dress for a change of dress in Santorini.
The result? Let's just say that the pictures looked good yo! Whether or not it was bought online HAHAHAH

And luckily I bought it and threw them there. Because my dresses got so dirty after sweeping through sands and soils in Santorini to get the perfect picture. Imagined if I rented one. How much do I need to pay for cleaning them?

When the day finally came for our photoshoot in Santorini, it was super exciting. Kristo was very friendly. His friendliness was already exuded during our exchange of emails. He was funny and he clicked very well with my fiance. They joked a lot and Kristo even said my fiance was a funny guy LOL *whatever* He made us feel very comfortable and drove us around in his humble car. He brought us to 4 shooting locations which was quite private as only he knew the secret locations hehe So there was no one really around to disturb us. The pictures were amazingggg!

Oh, I also hired a makeup artist through Kristo. Doris came to my hotel to do my hair and makeup and it looked so beautiful in pictures. So Kristo practially arranged everything. And when he brought us around Santorini for photoshoot, we have kinda seen all the picturesque view and didn't even need to venture ourselves the next day. We had such a fun time only that the sun was kinda merciless that day and we got sunburnt thereafter LOL 

He was also very professional and wanted the best shots. We even wanted to treat him to lunch but he had to rush for another shoot. He even went to Istanbul one day earlier than us just to scout for locations nearby our hotel. That was a level of professionalism I loved. So after the shoot in Santorini, we rested while he left to Istanbul.

We met Kristo again 3 days later and did another fun shoot in Topkapi and the areas around the Blue Mosque.

The pictures turned out amazing and we couldn't have asked for more. Again, because of the photoshoot, we were already brought to the many touristy places and didn't need to venture much ourselves as well. That's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone haha

Once we came back to Malaysia, the pictures were sent to us via WeTransfer 2-3 weeks later and the moment I opened the folder, my heart was filled with so much happiness. The blue skies, our happy faces, the amazing views and it was all picture perfect. We also received sooo many edited pictures unlike those packages where they limit to only a few best photographs and the rest need to be paid extra.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and Kristo was great to work with. I totally cannot believe we actually went to my dream place and came back with beautiful wedding pictures. Sometimes, I still feel like pinching myself.

If you're like me and on the lookout for a reasonable priced photography in Santorini, please visit Studio Kristo!