May 27, 2017, Santorini, Aegean island (Greece).
I am about to go down the magnificent stone stairs holding my father's arm, to participate in the wedding I have been waiting for, and preparing for a year and a half. The guests are seated. The weather is capricious. However, this ceremony is special, the groom is not here. He left the marital ship three months before, and I took the decision to marry without him, to marry myself!
"A wonderfully honest story of a woman marrying herself and finding joy in life.
A FINALIST and highly recommended."
-The Wishing Shelf Book Awards UK
|
|
Pour l' édition FRANCAISE : cliquez ICI
ORDER YOUR COPY NOW
English Edition
For other countries, check your local Amazon or order from the ones above.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK, KINDLE & KINDLE UNLIMITED.
Description of my book in the video below:
MY SOLO WEDDING IN SANTORINI:
Or How I Saved My Life
by Laëtitia Nguyen
Chapter Santorini, excerpt:
All the year after, I kept telling myself how lucky I was to go back to Santorini. This island had bewitched me, so magical and majestic. I had not been able to discover everything, and I was happy to be able to see more this time. But also, to visit Santorini with the man I loved, the one who would become my husband. No doubt he would fall in love with this island just as I had been. The photos of our wedding were going to be stunning and we were going to spend an absolute unforgettable week.
To be unforgettable, it has been, for sure. I was destroyed, my life was broken, and this island made me reborn.
No, I will not change the place of my solo wedding. My decision was made. Santorini was waiting for me, it was calling me. I had spent a year waiting to visit it again, the excitement of our reunion, E would not take away this happiness, not that one. He had already taken too much, stripped my heart of its essence, I will go to the end of this dream, alone certainly, but determined.
I arrived in Santorini to try to forget the love of my life and to recover from the saddest moment of my existence. I did not expect to find love, quite ironic. I first fell in love with this beautiful island, so peaceful and extraordinary. All its sunrises, sunsets, landscapes, sea, caldera, everything there is a postcard. Then I fell in love with its people, I met incredible friends, a fantastic support to be able to reconnect with life and regain self-confidence. Mostly, I discovered an unconditional love for myself. Feeling my heart beating again was fantastic, although it was scary too. I will never forget all these beautiful moments that I spent there ... Thank you all for having made me live again!
Santorini has given me the strength to accept who I am, the courage to rebuild myself, the energy of living in the present and reconsidering my future. I became stronger, more authentic, with different priorities. My rebirth was here. This island is nothing but a volcanic rock, we think it is dead but there is life underneath and great treasures grow under its surface, such as a volcano, tomatoes or vines ... I am like Santorini, I am a rock, and while I thought I was dead inside, my heart was beating again, and great things could still happen.
Why a Book?
Too much sadness, anger, frustration had accumulated. I couldn’t express what this destructive fire had consumed in me.
And yet, I knew it had to come out for my own survival.
We can’t move on and rebuild ourselves on a pile of ashes. We must clean up first.
So, I washed it with a lot of grammar and typography.
It was my therapy, I didn’t plan to publish it, but so many people encouraged me to share my story, the blog was just the beginning of this adventure.
It was a long and difficult path, remembering while I must forget.
All our story from the beginning, from the birth of love to the preparation of our wedding.
Then, the unacceptable breakup. Remembering everything in its smallest details, remembering moments that I would have liked to bury deep in my mind, repress as they say in psychology.
It’s nevertheless the path of healing, the one I chose.
To accept to move forward, to accept the reality but also all the emotions that accompany it. I smiled, laughed, cried while writing this book. I poured my flood of love and disappointment into each of its pages. Sometimes, my feelings were too intense and took control, and nothing could come out. Other times, I couldn’t stop writing, although it was 3am.
I always liked writing, but I had never finished a book. One of my dreams came true in unusual circumstances. A mixture of bitterness and pride.
I wanted to share with you already, the fruit of my therapy!
Lots of excerpts below.
And my book is available on Amazon worldwide in English and in French.
Again, thank you for your love and support, I couldn’t have done all of that without you.
Happy reading to all!
Love & Dream,
Laëtitia Nguyen
And yet, I knew it had to come out for my own survival.
We can’t move on and rebuild ourselves on a pile of ashes. We must clean up first.
So, I washed it with a lot of grammar and typography.
It was my therapy, I didn’t plan to publish it, but so many people encouraged me to share my story, the blog was just the beginning of this adventure.
It was a long and difficult path, remembering while I must forget.
All our story from the beginning, from the birth of love to the preparation of our wedding.
Then, the unacceptable breakup. Remembering everything in its smallest details, remembering moments that I would have liked to bury deep in my mind, repress as they say in psychology.
It’s nevertheless the path of healing, the one I chose.
To accept to move forward, to accept the reality but also all the emotions that accompany it. I smiled, laughed, cried while writing this book. I poured my flood of love and disappointment into each of its pages. Sometimes, my feelings were too intense and took control, and nothing could come out. Other times, I couldn’t stop writing, although it was 3am.
I always liked writing, but I had never finished a book. One of my dreams came true in unusual circumstances. A mixture of bitterness and pride.
I wanted to share with you already, the fruit of my therapy!
Lots of excerpts below.
And my book is available on Amazon worldwide in English and in French.
Again, thank you for your love and support, I couldn’t have done all of that without you.
Happy reading to all!
Love & Dream,
Laëtitia Nguyen
ARTICLES
(with excerpts from the book)
MUSIC
Music is essential in my life and it has been even more in the past two years. So, you noticed that many of my articles end with a song. This week, I would like to go deeper into the subject and talk about its incredible healing power...
|
ONCE UPON A TIMEOnce upon a time, a romantic woman, in love with the wrong man, who decided to abandon her three months before the wedding ceremony. Once upon a time, there was chaos. Once upon a time, this rage in the heart of deserving better, of knowing to be worthy. Once upon a time there was my solo wedding.
|
MY WEDDING GOWNThe delicacy of the lace, the fragility of embroidery, all the little beads and rhinestones sewn by hand, the femininity of the cut and the size of its train, that's what made me fall in love with this dress...
|
|
WEDDING HOTELIt was therefore at Ampelonas Apartments at Imerovigli that my guests and I stayed for several days. And I’ve been there many times in the past 3 years.
And anyway, we always like seeing photos of Santorini. Thank you to all the old Ampelonas team, more than a hotel, you were my refuge in the storm, the cradle of my rebirth... |
