We tune into Million Dollar Listing New York to ogle over Manhattan apartments we can only dream of calling home someday. But, we also tune in because we love watching Ryan Serhant and Emilia Bechrakis’ adorable relationship. And on July 7th, the two said “I do” on the picture-perfect Greek isle of Pontikonisi and we’ve got a sneak peek for you right now. And for the whole thing, don’t miss “Million Dollar Listing New York: Ryan’s Wedding” premieres on Thursday, September 22 at 9PM ET/PT.
What was your vision for the wedding?
E: I was definitely the opposite of the girl who dreams of her wedding. I had no idea about weddings. I had no idea what I needed to do. I had no idea of timelines and how much work actually goes into planning a wedding. I never envisioned something in particular, but I definitely had in mind, when Ryan proposed, that I would want to get married surrounded by our close family and close friends and the ideal at the time would have been to be married in Greece, but we considered getting married in the states, but getting married in Greece was just a dream come true.
What was it like planning a wedding with cameras around?
E: For me it was terrible, for Ryan, it was great. A wedding is stressful in and of itself, a destination wedding adds a layer to that and the cameras elevate that to I don’t even know what difficulty. It’s very stressful, it’s a lot of work. And you’re very conscious of your guests and your family and everyone around you because they don’t really ask to be filmed, but they are inevitably because we were televising the wedding. So you think about a lot of aspects of it because it is very stressful process. But, it’s fun because now we can look back and have that memory.
What advice would you give to couples who are planning their own destination weddings?
E: Plan well in advance. Simplify your life. The planners can say things like, “wedding charger plates” or whatever they’re called and linens and fly them in. And, I just wanted to simplify everything and source everything locally and I think that makes a massive difference. The only thing we did source locally, well part of it we did, was the flowers. So, we had local flowers and obviously because the flowers we chose were not in season at the time or on the island, we also flew in flowers from Holland. So that was the only thing we outsourced in terms of vendors, but everything we wanted locally. But I definitely advise that for couples, because you’re also giving jobs to the community that you’re getting married in. It’s quicker and easier and fresher and makes life a lot better.
R: And I would say it’s great to have a wedding planner that’s local with you, but a wedding planner on the ground wherever it is that you’re going. Our destination wedding was on the other side of the world and in a foreign country. I don’t mean like if you’re from New York and getting married in the Hamptons. It made a big difference when we finally brought those two pieces together because we spent a lot of wasted energy working with just one wedding planner here who promised us that they knew how to do destination weddings and they do weddings all over the world and when it really came down to it, things just got way too complicated and they hadn’t done a destination wedding in that specific location, in that specific church with those specific vendors. It’s like me trying to sell a house in Greece, I would work on it from Greece.
Looking back on the wedding now, what was the highlight of the day for both of you?
R: It’s a tie. Actually, it’s, aw man, I don’t know. There were so many highlights. It was all pretty awesome. I distinctly remember Emilia finally showing up and walking up the steps — apparently it’s a big tradition for the bride to be really late and drive around the church on a boat honking a horn blowing sirens and pretending not to show up. So when she finally got off the boat and was walking up those steps with her dad and her brother, looking beautiful, I will never forget that moment. That, and, I got to take a pirate ship. We got married on Corfu, and Corfu is an island off of Greece and where we actually got married is on another island off of Corfu called Pontikonisi that the whole island is just this insanely magnificent church and the peacock and so we got married there and everyone had to come over by boat and so I and my men, my brothers and my best friends, from our villa, got on a pirate ship and took a pirate ship over there.
E: Definitely — all of the stress of the wedding was overwhelming, but when I put on my dress and then got in the car and got on the boat and had my dad and my brother with me and then arriving on the island, I just was so giddy and happy and couldn’t contain my happiness and the whole wedding ceremony was just amazing, and definitely when I walked up the steps and saw Ryan and he looked so cute. It’s a Greek tradition that the Groom holds the bouquet and the bride is given to the groom by the father and typically the brothers and then the groom will give the bouquet to the bride and then they will walk to the altar together and he looked so cute and nervous and hot and tired, relieved that I walked up the steps. But, I was so, so happy that anything that had gone wrong or was about to go wrong, I did not care about, so that was the highlight. That, and the fireworks. We were surprised by fireworks when we danced our first dance. We didn’t realize the fireworks were going to go off so that was definitely a highlight.
What’s the best part about being married?
E: The best part about being married is, as cliche as it sounds, it really is the beginning of your life, the rest of your life, and to start a family and that whole thing. I think it’s beautiful that I no longer, you’re no longer alone. You’re a family. So I think that’s the most beautiful part, is that we’re a family now.
R: It’s very funny, but the minute you get married, you stop planning, it’s not like when you’re dating and you’re planning weekends and you’re planning dates and the wedding and this that and everything. But now that we’re married, we’re planning the next five years, the next ten years, the next 20 years and I don’t know, there’s something inherently comforting and exciting about that at the same time. With your best friend, obviously.
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Photography: Dimitrios Kambouris
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