Across the Aegean: A Love Story Between Cultures

A story of finding home, bridging cultures, and the journey that changed La Fleur

For most of my career, I have believed that the most memorable celebrations are about far more than beautiful flowers, extraordinary food or an unforgettable setting. They are about connection.

A wedding brings people together in a way few other occasions can. Families meet. Traditions are shared. Sometimes languages, religions and cultures come together around the same table for the very first time.

Perhaps that is why I have always been especially drawn to celebrations that bridge worlds.

My career began in California, where for many years I have had the privilege of creating weddings and celebrations in Santa Barbara and destinations around the world. But over time, my own life began taking me somewhere I never could have predicted, across the Aegean.

Falling in Love with Alaçatı

I was introduced to Türkiye when I married the most incredible Turkish man. From the moment I first arrived, I was captivated by its beauty, warmth and hospitality, its incredible diversity, its rich history, and the fascinating way the country bridges East and West. There is something so extraordinary about being in a place where those two worlds meet, and nowhere is that more evident than Istanbul, the only city in the world that spans two continents, Europe and Asia.

Istanbul is fascinating, vibrant and endlessly captivating, and certainly a place I believe everyone should experience. But it was Alaçatı and the Çeşme Peninsula where I truly fell in love with Türkiye.

I remember walking into the center of the village and sat inside the lovely corner cafe, Köşe Kahve, listening to French music play and immediately feeling something I could not quite put into words. Time slowed. My nervous system reset. And there was a creative, elevated and cultured energy to the place and the people who gathered there. It felt sophisticated but never pretentious, beautiful but completely at ease. There was a calmness mixed with the common energy of creatives that I found incredibly appealing.

Then there was the setting. The sea breeze moving through the narrow cobblestone streets. Beautiful historic stone homes covered in bougainvillea. Turquoise water along the coast. The thermal waters. The vineyards of nearby Urla. Long summer evenings that seemed to stretch on without anywhere else to be.

It felt familiar in a way I never expected.

In many ways, Alaçatı brought together pieces of the places I have loved throughout my life. I grew up mostly in Santa Barbara's wine country, so the vineyards, olive groves, and relaxed sophistication of the Aegean felt wonderfully familiar. Maui gave me my love of warm water, wind, surf, tropical beauty, and the feeling of being close to nature. And throughout my life, I have always been drawn to Europe, its architecture, history, food, design, and the way people gather and linger.

Alaçatı somehow brought all of those things together.

It was a mix of worlds I already loved, yet it had an identity all its own.

Over time, Alaçatı became part of the rhythm of our lives and eventually, our home.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped experiencing this part of the world simply as a visitor.

I began finding my way into the community here, forming genuine friendships with people who welcomed me into their businesses, their homes and their lives.

As a destination wedding planner, I could not help but imagine what might happen if I brought the world I knew together with the world I had come to love.

The Places That Change Us

What has changed me most, though, is not simply the beauty of these places. It is the people I have come to know and the relationships that have grown from living between different cultures.

Learning another language, understanding traditions that were once unfamiliar to me, being welcomed into homes and celebrations, and slowly becoming part of communities very different from the one I came from has changed the way I see the world. I believe it has changed me for the better.

These are places where someone might knock on your door with homemade olive oil or freshly baked bread, invite you to an impromptu party at their home, a book club, a lecture or an art exhibit, or simply ask if you need anything from the market because they are going anyway. Some neighbors leave bouquets of flowers in your window, while others water the plants on your doorstep when you are away. It is the kind of community I had always longed for.

Over the years, my world here has filled with an extraordinary mix of people including surfers and artists, hoteliers and florists, fashion designers, chefs, winemakers, authors, musicians, and families who have called these places home for generations.

Those friendships and connections matter deeply to me. They have taught me that the most meaningful way to experience a place is not simply to visit it, but to know its people, to listen, learn, participate and allow yourself to be changed by it.

Perhaps that is why I feel so strongly about bringing cultures together through the weddings I plan. I love creating celebrations where different traditions, people and places can come together naturally, without one having to give way to the other.

That has become one of the most meaningful parts of what I do, and something I hope La Fleur will always be known for.

Just Across the Water

And then there was Greece.

From the Çeşme peninsula, the Greek island of Chios sits just across the Aegean. The journey between the two countries is remarkably short (just a 15 minute ferry ride), yet each side of the water has its own unmistakable identity, traditions and history.

The more time I spent moving between them, the more fascinated I became by both their differences and their familiarities.

Long tables overflowing with fresh, local seafood, olives, and Aegean herbs. Olive trees, Mastic trees, ancient ruins, endless clear blue water and beautiful hidden beaches around every corner, and quiet fishing villages. Music that eventually brings everyone to their feet. Recipes handed down through generations. Coffee that is never simply coffee, but an invitation to sit for a while.

And above all, an understanding that gathering together matters.

Chios gradually became much more than an island we visited.

Today, we are beginning to put down roots there as well, purchasing our next home away from home in a traditional stone village just a few minutes from the sea.

There is something deeply meaningful to me about creating a life on both sides of the Aegean. I may not belong to either place in exactly the same way, but I have come to love and learn from both.

More than anything, I have found a beautiful sense of connection between them, sharing cultures, and creating relationships that reach across the sea.

It has made me see the Aegean differently. Not simply as one of the most beautiful parts of the world, but as a place where cultures, histories and people have been meeting for thousands of years and I am so proud to be a part of it all.

The Space Between Cultures

I have always dreamed of living a life that extended beyond one place, but I never could have imagined how much that dream would eventually become a part of who I am.

Today, I am a proud Turkish American, living between the United States and Türkiye, and increasingly making Greece part of my life as well. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to know these places not simply as destinations, but through everyday life - their hospitality, history, food, design, traditions and people.

That perspective has also given new meaning to something I have valued throughout my career: the joy of creating celebrations and moments that bring different worlds together.

This is also what makes the work I do there so exciting to me. I know these destinations intimately. I know the beautiful venues, the tucked-away places, the unforgettable experiences and the trusted partners who make it possible to create something truly special. But beyond knowing the destinations, I understand the people who are drawn to them.

People come from both East and West to travel and to celebrate in Türkiye. And on Chios, I see a particularly beautiful connection for Greek Americans who return to the island to celebrate, reconnect with their heritage and share a place that means something deeply personal to them with the people they love. For many, this is the place their grandparents came from!

So many of the couples I work with are bringing different worlds together in their own way. And I absolutely love being part of that.

I love discovering the traditions that matter to each family, finding beautiful ways to weave them into a celebration, and creating an experience where everyone can see a little bit of themselves in it. Sometimes that happens through a ceremony tradition or a particular dish. Sometimes it is music, the way a table is set, the rhythm of an evening, or a ritual one family has practiced for generations.

And sometimes it is simply the feeling of gathering around the same table.

Perhaps this is why I feel so passionate about the work I am doing in this part of the world. I am not simply planning weddings and curated travel in Türkiye and Greece. I am living between these cultures myself, building relationships in both, learning from both and finding so much joy in the connections between them.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to build a life that bridges East and West, and to bring that perspective, knowledge and genuine love for these places to the couples and families I work with.

That, to me, is one of the most beautiful things travel and weddings can do.

They can become a bridge.

A Different Kind of Destination Wedding

My years here have also changed what I believe a destination wedding should be.

I do not believe people should travel halfway around the world only to recreate the same wedding they could have had at home.

If we ask our guests to come with us to Türkiye or Greece, I want them to experience something of the place itself.

Perhaps that means dinner among the vineyards of Urla, an evening wandering the cobblestone streets of Alaçatı, swimming in the Aegean the following afternoon, taking a Gulet cruise to nearby islands and turquoise coves, or gathering around a table on Chios as freshly caught fish arrives from the harbor.

To me, true luxury isn't simply about how much is spent. It is about authenticity, memorable experiences, and a genuine sense of place.

It is knowing the little restaurant you might never have found on your own. Meeting the winemaker. Discovering the village bakery. Understanding which traditions truly belong to a place rather than simply borrowing its aesthetic.

And perhaps most importantly, it is about slowing down enough to experience the people behind all of it.

Those are the experiences I find myself wanting to create more and more. Not only through weddings, but through the intimate gatherings, journeys and retreats that are becoming another part of the La Fleur story.

California, Türkiye and Greece

Santa Barbara will always be part of my story. It shaped my aesthetic, my career and so much of what La Fleur has become.

But today, my world stretches farther.

Between California, our home in Alaçatı and the roots we are now beginning to put down on Chios, I find myself living and working among places that, on the surface, can seem very different.

Yet they share so many of the things I value most. Natural beauty, extraordinary food, a relationship with the land and sea, and a belief that gathering around a table still matters.

Perhaps most importantly, living between these places has taught me that we do not always have to choose one world over another.

Something beautiful can happen in the space between them.

Whether I am bringing together two families, two traditions, two countries, or simply introducing someone to a corner of the world I have come to love, that is the part of this work that excites me most now.

There is still so much I want to discover.

New villages. New tables. New people. New stories.

And this journal will be a place to share them. Weddings and celebrations, certainly, but also the places, people, food, traditions and discoveries I encounter along the way.

Because after all these years of creating celebrations, I have come to believe something quite simple:

The most beautiful experiences are the ones that bring us closer to one another.