The 12 Week Scan

 Our 12 Week Scan – A Milestone Full of Emotion

Twelve weeks rolled around faster than I ever expected. Between planning a wedding abroad, making multiple trips to TDR Bridal in Halesowen for dress fittings (sorry again to my brilliant seamstress — those perfectly timed alterations didn’t quite anticipate a growing bump!), and ensuring we had all the necessary legal documents sorted, time really did fly.

In fact, it flew so fast that I didn’t even realise how far along I was. I walked into our scan on the 19th May 20205 expecting to be 11 weeks pregnant — but to my surprise, the sonographer let us know I was already 12 weeks. Baby had been busy growing away in there, and they even brought our due date forward from the 8th December 2025 to the 29th November 2025. A whole nine days earlier! That small change somehow made it all feel even more real.

We arrived at Evesham Community Hospital, and Graham met me in the car park. Hand in hand, we walked in together. I thought I felt calm. I told myself I felt calm. And I really believed it — until we sat down in the waiting room.

Even as I lay back and Baby Carter flickered onto the screen, I told myself I was chill. But the truth is, these scans will never just be scans for me. They will always come wrapped in layers of fear, anticipation, and hope. I envy people who can walk into a scan room and see it simply as a glimpse into their growing baby — without the weight of past grief lingering in the background.

As our little one appeared on the screen, I immediately noticed how much he’d grown since our 8-week scan (I say hebecause I have the strongest feeling we’re having a boy!). He was wiggling around, completely oblivious to the big moment unfolding for us.

The sonographer started with all the usual checks and measurements, and while everything looked okay, the dread crept in as she moved up to the baby’s head. That’s when the nerves truly kicked in. I remember saying aloud, “This is the part I was worried about,” and Graham instinctively squeezed my hand tighter.

Even though he isn’t Louis’s dad, Graham was there with me through everything in 2020. He was my friend through the darkest days, and he gets it. He understands why these moments come with so much weight. As I lay there, I felt a single tear slide down my cheek. Silent, but full of emotion.

Then came the words I didn’t realise I’d been holding my breath for: “The nuchal translucency measurement is 1.7mm — completely normal.” I’d been watching, trying to read the screen, trying to interpret what I saw — but I’m no expert. Hearing those words out loud was like music. I was over the moon. So was Graham. He cried with me. After that, I could barely speak without dissolving into a blubbering mess — happy tears, but relentless all the same.

The sonographers knew my story with Louis and his Nuchal Translucancy, they were visibly moved. They reassured me that, from everything they could see, Baby Carter was growing exactly as they should be. Those words brought the kind of relief that can only be understood by someone who has known the opposite.

We left, still hand in hand, clutching our 12-week scan photos like the most precious treasure. To celebrate, we popped into town for some lunch — just the two of us, and our tiny, wriggling miracle.

This was our final scan before we were due to fly out to Santorini for a week, where we’d be getting married on Tuesday 27th May 2025. The next three weeks became our wedding bubble — and armed with the incredible news that our baby was healthy, we made the decision to share their impending arrival with our loved ones at the wedding. Which is exactly what we did.

You can read all about our wedding here — it was truly the most beautiful day.

Following the wedding, we flew back to London on the 30th May where we spent one last night soaking it all in before jetting straight off to San Francisco the very next day to begin our absolutely fabulous honeymoon. More on that very soon…

Planning a Wedding in Santorini

There’s a kind of magic in Santorini that you just can’t find anywhere else. Maybe it’s the way the sun sets in blazing orange over the caldera, or how the whitewashed buildings and blue domes feel like something out of a dream. When I first imagined my wedding, I wanted it to feel timeless, intimate, and full of soul—and Santorini delivered all of that and more. But planning a wedding on a Greek island? That’s a whole story in itself.

Why Santorini?

I’d always been drawn to Santorini for its natural beauty and romantic atmosphere. The idea of exchanging vows with the Aegean Sea as our backdrop felt surreal. We didn’t want a massive wedding; we wanted something personal, where every guest felt part of our love story. Santorini felt like the perfect blend of elegance and escape.

The Planning Process: What I Wish I Knew

Planning a destination wedding isn’t for the faint of heart—especially when you’re doing it across time zones. Here are some things I learned along the way:

Hire a Local Wedding Planner

Many of the venues in Santorini will require you to have a wedding planner regardless. We hired one before we flew out to scout out the venues in July 2024. This was a practical decision decision as we knew that on the day we would be thankful to have someone else who wasn't emotinally involved steering our ship. 

Our planner knew the ins and outs of the island—what paperwork we needed, which vendors were reliable, and even the best time of day to schedule the ceremony based on lighting (yes, that’s a thing!). Communication was key, and having someone on the ground saved us from so many logistical headaches.

That being said, yes our planner had a great wealth of knowledge that was incredibly valuable to us as a couple booking a wedding abroad, but don't be fooled into thinking that they will give you prefrential rates  when it comes to booking suppliers. When I recieved those very first quotes detailing how much the lighting would cost and how much decorations would be, I grew very worried. I worried we had bitten off more than we could chew.

Don't be Afraid to Get Independant Quotes

With the wedding planners quotes in hand, I took to Instagram to see if I could obtain some independent quotes. I spoke to companies providing flowers, Musicians, Wedding Cakes, DJ set ups, Fireworks... You name it, I had it quoted.

With the independent quotes in hand, I could see that there was a very substantial mark up on many of the services which catagorically ruled them out. In some instances, delivery fees were added for items that just didn't need it... For example Greek dancers coming to perform and provide plate smashing. Dancers who were coming to our wedding anyway wanted €80 to deliver the plates to the wedding venue, after we were already being charged €6 a person for the plate smashing.

My own research found me the most fantastic company, Santorini Entertainment and the owner Dimitris Diamantis. He has sourced our DJ set up, Lighing, Greek dancing - with complimentary plates and NO delivery fee, fireworks, ground fireworks and big Mr and Mrs Carter letters. He was incredibly priced and his personal, friendly service on the run up to the wedding has been absolutely fabulous. I highly recommend Dimitris and will provide a full review once we are married!

This additonal bang for buck popped up a number of times during the planning process, and I very quickly booked up everything myself. With the suppliers booked with a deposit, I then provided all of the details back to our wedding planner so that she could communicate with them and finalise the details.

Initially we were concerened this may be an issue, but we have got on very well with our wedding planner and she has been super. We just had to accept that she would be adding a % on to the hire fee.

Start Early—But Be Flexible

Things in Santorini run on “island time.” Venues book up fast, especially during peak wedding season (May to September), so by the time we started planning our wedding in July 2024... We were already behind the curve. Our wedding has come together in 11 months, when many people plan for years ahead of their date! 

We were lucky in regards to available dates, as we opted for a new venue that had not yet done it's first season. This gave us the pick of the dates. I talk more about the venues in this post - How to choose a Wedding Venue in Santorini.

Trust the Local Aesthetic

When it came to planning our wedding in Santorini, we knew one thing for sure: the island itself would be the main character. With the breathtaking caldera views, whitewashed buildings, and that endless blue sea, it didn’t take much to make the setting feel magical. But we still wanted to add personal touches—something that felt like “us.”

So we struck a balance: minimal but meaningful, romantic but unfussy. Here’s how we approached our wedding décor in Santorini and why we wouldn’t change a thing.

As the sun dips and the sky turns pink and gold on May 27th 2025, our fairy lights will begin to glow. We will have them strung across the reception space, creating a canopy of twinkling light that make the evening feel intimate and almost otherworldly. There’s something about warm lights swaying gently in the breeze that makes everything feel a little softer, a little slower, a little more special.

At night, those lights will transform the space. It won't just be pretty—it will feel enchanted.

A Few Practical Tips

Legal Ceremony or Symbolic? We opted for a legal ceremony in Santorini and handled the legal paperwork at home on the run up to the big day. Considerations that must be allowed for are needing to go to your local registry office to obtain a CNI (Certificate of No Impediment) which costs around £42.00. This has to be dated within 3 months of your wedding date.

Once you obtain the CNI, which will take around a month due to the 'cooling off period' where the document is kept in the public domain, should someone wish to object to your marriage. After this period you will have another appointment to collect your document. With your CNI in hand, you must now send it off to be Apostille Stamped.

Apostille Stamps legalise documents, and we had to have a birth certificate each and a CNI each. If you allow enough time, you can use the goverments standard service. However with our wedding at the end of May, and only getting our CNI's back at the begining of May... We were running out of time. We opted to spend £410 to have a next day service with a company called 2E Apostille. 

We sent our documents off on Wednesday 7th May 2025 and had them back Apostille Stamped and ready to be sent to our wedding planner for translation into Greek on Saturday 10th May 2025.

Accommodations: Our wedding planner advised us to instruct all of our guests to book accomadation in Kamari. That plan quickly went out of the window, with both of our families booking Pygros and Vourvoulos, while we were heading to Akrotiri. It became clear that we would need our guests to organise their own transport to and from the wedding venue. We laid this out ahead of time, to allow everyone time to get transport organised. 

Don’t Skip the Food Tasting: Greek cuisine is amazing, and most venues will let you sample ahead of time. We did however skip the food tasting, as we didn't make it back out to Santorini as we hoped to taste the cake and the food choices we had made. However we have read very good things about both of our selections, Marios Catering and Petranart. I will update post wedding!

Would I Do It Again?

Absolutely. Planning a wedding in Santorini took patience, flexibility, and trust—but it also gives us a celebration beyond our wildest dreams. There’s nothing quite like watching the people you love fall under the island’s spell right alongside you.

If you’re considering a Santorini wedding, take a deep breath, embrace the adventure, and prepare for a celebration that’s every bit as magical as the island itself.