We invited around 40 suppliers to a beach bar in Paphos. One person turned up — and she turned out to be one of the best things to happen to this business.

Part two of our Cyprus business trip: the suppliers, the venues, and the man who appeared out of the rocks halfway through a yoga shoot.

In this one:

– Cloud 9 Dream Events — why Lorraine bins the decor brochure and video-calls you round the warehouse instead– Musan, the underwater sculpture museum in Ayia Napa — dive it, don't swim it– Vasilias Nikoklis Inn — Christina and Nina's venue, and the aisle Kate got married on a year to the day earlier– The bespoke ring maker we found by accident over lunch — send him a photo of your engagement ring, get back a 3D design of the band that'll actually sit with it– Ktima Vikis — the view to Limassol, a bridal suite on site, and a living room with no telly because "it poisons the mind"– Vanessa's sunrise yoga at Coral Bay — our first ever supplier meeting in the flesh, a £1,000 camera we couldn't work, and a man watching us from the rocks– Sandy Beach Club — the meet-up nobody came to, except Gail from Sew Essential Dresses– Agios Dimitrianos — the community-owned village venue with a panoramic view over the whole of Paphos– Sheridan on the legals — it starts exactly three months before your date, not a day sooner. And you need photocopies of your witnesses' passports

Plus Sam the guitarist and the table of women who weren't happy about the camera, why Kate spent her wedding cake budget on wine, one Volkswagen Polo with four adults and six suitcases in it, and the family debate about whether 12am is the morning or the afternoon.

Suppliers in this episode(🤍 = on the Wedding Besties dashboard — message them free)🤍Cloud 9 Dream Events (Lorraine) — decor, Ayia Napa · @cloud9dreamevents🤍Vasilias Nikoklis Inn — venue · @vasiliasnikoklisinn🤍Ktima Vikis — venue https://www.instagram.com/ktima_vikis/🤍Agios Dimitrianos — venueVanessa Morton — yoga & meditation · @vanessa_morton_yoga_escapesSam — acoustic guitarist · @samuelrobinsonhadrowPhil's Bar & Grill — restaurant & parties, Paphos · @philsbargrillLove Island Cakes & Deli (Jo) — cakes & grazing carts · @loveislandcakesSew Essential Dresses (Gail) — alterations, hire, tailoring https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064751526428Sheridan — wedding planning & legals https://www.facebook.com/groups/432925336492773/user/61578684896203/Andria Elia — photography · @andriaeliaphotography🤍Happy Images (Alexander) — photography & video · @happyimagescyprus🤍Prop & Paint Studio — live wedding illustrations · @propandpaint_studioSandy Beach Club — beach club & parties · @sandybeach_paphos

Wedding Besties is free for couples — browse Cyprus venues and suppliers, see real prices and message them direct: https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbesties

📩 Got a wedding horror story? [email protected] — anonymous welcome.

New episodes every week.

We gatecrashed a Cypriot wedding for content… and it went about as well as you'd expect.

Welcome to Part 1 of our Cyprus Business Trip series. Kate and Charlotte are back in the (very hot) bungalow, running through their last scouting trip to Cyprus — the venues, the vineyards, the village barbecues, and the buffet mistake Kate will genuinely never recover from.

What's in this one:

– We crashed a wedding (for work) — invited back to the Legacy venue, we turned up to a full Cypriot wedding for content. Waterfall walls, a pool lined with endless tables, lifeguards in suits, and a 300-person buffet queue – The buffet regret that haunts Charl to this day — she got the content, missed the food, and ended up at McDonald's at 4am – George's village barbecue — the priest father-in-law, Cypriot potatoes, lemons off the tree, and zivania (stronger than ouzo) – The winery that stole Charlotte's heart — a venue above the vineyard with the cellars underneath. "I never wanted to get married. This is my wedding venue" – What a real Cypriot wedding is like — the whole village invited, and a party that doesn't start till 1am – The village cottages we want to buy — traditional outside, modern inside – Supplier feedback that stung in the best way — "it's not a no forever, it's a not yet" – Charlotte's Vegas wedding dream (no ring, just a watch) – The yellow submarine slide incident — a bend, six foot of water, and a belly flop. "Netflix and jellyfish"

This is Part 1 of 3 — the stories continue next week.

Find our venues and suppliers on the Wedding Besties dashboard: https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbesties

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

📩 Got a wedding horror story? [email protected] — anonymous welcome.

New episodes every week.

Our mum genuinely thought Charlotte had lost the plot. Grab a glass of wine — this one got deep. 🍷

This week Kate and Charlotte go all in on manifestation. We talk 15 years of reading The Secret, an attic full of journals, and the very specific list Charl wrote that manifested her partner (his name had to begin with a D…). Then it gets honest — self-doubt, impostor syndrome, and how to hand the thoughts you don't want back to the universe.

What's in this one:

– How Charlotte found The Secret in a WH Smith 15 years ago and never looked back
– The journal list that manifested a partner — and how oddly specific it was
– "How do the plants know to come back?" — birds, animals, and believing in something bigger
– Self-doubt and impostor syndrome, and what actually helps
– Why we'd both wish abundance for everyone else before ourselves
– Our 5 and 10 year vision: Cyprus villas, a team of Besties, an app, and breaking down the walls of the wedding industry
– A full vision board reveal — health, charity, fairy lights, and Cyprus September 2026

Wedding Besties is the Cyprus wedding planning platform built by sisters Kate and Charlotte. Couples use it free.

Join the platform: https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbesties
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

📩 Got a wedding horror story? [email protected] — anonymous welcome.

New episodes every week.

A bride lost her engagement ring mid-appointment. Four months on, they're STILL searching. And that's before we even got started.

This week is a big one — our first ever guests. We sat down with Jess and Jacob, the couple behind Say Oui, the bespoke bridal shop in a converted barn at School Farm in Sandbach, Cheshire. (Yes — Say Oui *we*. Like Say Yes to the Dress. Not Say Oy. We're begging you.)

What's in this one:

– The lost engagement ring: gone mid-appointment, a metal detector in the car park for two hours, and a bride so chill she made everyone else panic for her– Why "Say Oui" is the best bridal shop name you've never pronounced right– Jez and Jacob's story: the All Saints menswear designer and the people-person who turned their own wedding frustrations into a shop– What no one warns you about running a bridal shop — the cost of a single appointment, the emotions you carry, and how much the way people shop has changed– The Mother of the Bride from Hell — two brides, back-to-back appointments, and a mum who quietly weaponised a dress– The complaint that cut deep — accused of not understanding same-sex couples, when they ARE one– The lesson that's now a non-negotiable: it's never a failure, it's a lesson– Why a bridal shop owned by two grooms sees the whole thing differently– Their honest advice to every bride: buy with confidence, come with an open mind, and try on everything– How they met (spoiler: Tinder, a ghosting, and a first date that was supposed to be a shopping trip) — the proposal story needs its own episode, we cover it!

Supplier Spotlight 🤍

Say Oui — bespoke, made-to-measure wedding dresses in Sandbach, Cheshire. Every dress made to measure as standard, mix the top of one dress with the bottom of another, and a real catwalk in a converted barn. New Business Award winners and two of the loveliest humans we've met. They're on the Wedding Besties dashboard — send them your dress questions. https://www.instagram.com/sayoui.co.uk/

Find them on the Wedding Besties dashboard: https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbestiesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

📩 Got a wedding horror story? [email protected] — anonymous welcome.

£770 for ONE plug socket. Two days. One plug. Reader, we did not pay it.Welcome to this week's episode of The Wedding Whine — WEDDING FAIRS: are they actually worth it?Kate and Charlotte disagree on this one, so we've gone right back to the beginning: our first ever wedding fair at the NEC in Birmingham, funded by our mum's £2 coin jar she'd been saving since 2019. Brand new business, no money, no experience, and we booked the biggest wedding fair in the UK. We dove head first into a pool with no water.What we get into:– The NEC in Birmingham — the sheer scale of it, the shuttle buses, the 15-minute unload slot in torrential rai,. and Kates pincurls!– Charlotte's chest infection cure: a jar of honey with onion and garlic in it (it stunk, it worked, she stands by it)– The £770 electricity quote for a single plug– A 2m x 1m stand, a neon sign from AliExpress that couldn't be PAT tested, and an Etsy sign that arrived with none of the letters stuck on– Rigging the backdrop with curtain poles and hair socks because the walls wouldn't take the weight – The £3.99 Home Bargains storage box that did NOT hold Kate's weight– The stolen chair — the man on the next stand standing on our brand new black velvet chairs — and the conversation about our dad that turned the whole thing around– The sunbeam through the crack in the warehouse roof that landed on our stand at 9:50am, ten minutes before doors opened. We know what that was.– The 91-year-old woman, the trolley, and the great trip hazard standoff of the final day– Why we now do smaller local fairs instead — home in 10 minutes, a fraction of the cost, and honestly better conversationsPlus: the case for a proper DESTINATION wedding fair — because if you're getting married abroad, which fair are you actually supposed to go to? Exactly. Nobody's doing it. So we might.And: manifestation, the "maybe for you — not for me" theory, breathwork, women's circles, and why building a business out of pain means it always succeeds.Supplier Spotlight 🤍Say Oui — bespoke wedding dresses, Sandbach, Cheshire. Made-to-measure, mix the top of one dress with the bottom of another, and a catwalk in a converted barn so you can actually walk down the aisle in it. Recent New Business Award winners and genuinely two of the loveliest humans we've met. They're on the Wedding Besties dashboard — and they're coming on the podcast, so send us your wedding dress [email protected] On A Rainy Day — Grace's bespoke bridal, another one for the mix-and-match brides.@evenonarainydaybridalMelissa — bespoke cover-ups, bridal party outfits and hen do pieces, all made to measure. Perfect for a destination wedding.@theglambassadorsJenny — live wedding music. UK-based, has performed at a destination wedding in Cyprus, absolutely incredible. @jenny.christine.musicKelsey — yoga, breathwork, sound baths and women's circles. The best we've ever done. We're planning a manifestation + breathwork day for brides with her, so watch this [email protected] Wedding Besties is the Cyprus wedding planning platform built by sisters Kate and Charlotte. Couples use it free — message vetted venues and suppliers, see real prices, build your inspiration board, join the community chat, and get the weekly newsletter with supplier and venue spotlights.Join the platform (free for couples): https://weddingbesties.co.ukCome say hi on socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbestiesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/📩 Got a wedding horror story? Send it over — anonymously if you like — and we'll read it on the pod. Email: [email protected]

Grab a coffee and pull up a chair — this one's a little different.

No proper whining today, just the two of us, two coffees, and a couple of testimonials from our couples that completely set us off. We sat down to read back what Kirsty and Ellie said about planning their weddings with us… and let's just say the mascara didn't survive (maybe it's Maybelline, maybe it's the fact we love these girls).

In between happy tears we get into the real reason we do this: we never wanted couples to just survive the run-up to their wedding. Planning a wedding abroad is stressful enough without feeling like you're doing it alone. We want you to actually enjoy becoming — not just show up on the day. We also wander off into wedding fairs, our tiny two-metre stall, the kindness of strangers, and why it really doesn't take much to change someone's whole day.

It's short, it's soppy, it's us with our guard down. Exactly what a coffee with your besties should be.

🎧 New episodes of The Wedding Whine every week. Planning a wedding in Cyprus? Come say hi — we're Wedding Besties.

You invite 80 people. Forty-five turn up. That's not failure — that's a destination wedding doing its job.

This week on The Wedding Whine, Kate and Charlotte go all-in on the most stressful, opinion-loaded part of wedding planning: the guest list.

What's in this one:

– Why destination weddings naturally cut your guest list in half– Charlotte's Whine of the Week — a £2k hen do bottomless brunch bill, 52 rowdy women, and a mum who went missing on the way to Dream Boys– The Tuesday-night flight booking hack you didn't know you needed– Why ONE extra guest changes everything (buses, food, bar, favours, the lot)– Kate's horror story: the surprise guest who turned up at her Cyprus wedding– Charlotte's horror story: the guest who didn't have a passport 10 days before the flight– Chosen family vs blood family — and why the people who showed up changed everything

Supplier Spotlight 🤍 Vasilias in Paphos — the venue Kate got married at. Up to 120 guests, sleeps 16, multiple ceremony spots, full disabled access, and a Mediterranean buffet people are still talking about. Owned by Christina and Nina, two of the most organised humans on the planet.

Enquire about Vasilias on the dashboard: https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbestiesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

📩 Got a wedding horror story? [email protected] — anonymous welcome.

New episodes every Thursday.

The episode no one wants to record but everyone needs to hear — wedding budgets, honestly.

Kate & Charlotte break down what a real Cyprus wedding costs, how Kate funded hers, the "girl maths" trick that saved her money on suppliers, why cash is king abroad, and the sneaky hidden fees to watch for (yes, hotels can charge your guests to attend).

Plus our free budget dashboard, a supplier spotlight, and a big milestone.

Plan your wedding for free at https://weddingbesties.co.uk/.

Got a horror story? Send it in for next week.

What if your wedding dress went missing the night before the wedding?

It happened to Kate. We get into it.

This week on The Wedding Whine, Kate and Charlotte go all-in on the dress. The shopping, the strangers' opinions, the family pressure, the budget, and the full horror story of losing the wedding dress the night before the big day.

Plus — Kate gets honest about plus-size dress shopping (the bit no one talks about), what actually worked, and what she'd do differently. And the lot of practical Cyprus/destination dress tips that no one tells you until it's too late.

Supplier Spotlight  Jane at Cinderellas (wedding dress cleaning & restoration) and Holly at HK Steaming (pre-wedding dress steaming) — two suppliers you'll want in your contacts.

Join Wedding Besties (free for couples): https://weddingbesties.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbesties 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

New episodes every Monday.

The ring's on your finger less than 10 minutes and someone's already asking to be a bridesmaid. Welcome to being engaged.

In the first proper episode of The Wedding Whine, Kate spills the lot about her £15k Cyprus wedding — the Iceland Blue Lagoon proposal, the booking horror story (she rushed the date and picked shutdown season), the "pick a seat not a side" rule, the open-top bus, the Mediterranean buffet, and her one big regret she wants every newly engaged couple to avoid.

Honest, chatty, and a bit chaotic — exactly what wedding planning actually feels like.

Join Wedding Besties (free for couples): https://weddingbesties.co.ukInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingbesties.co.uk/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@weddingbestiesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Wedding-Besties/61564132786582/

Next week: Supplier Spotlight. New episodes every week.