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Mr. Scarvelis, who graduated from U.C.L.A. with a bachelor’s degree in English, is a track and field coach specializing in throwing events for the University of California San Diego. Ms. Zappia, who graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor’s degree in history, is a senior systems analyst for the nonprofit Accessity, which provides capital to small business owners facing barriers.
On May 28, 2023, next to a reflective pool filled with lily pads at El Encanto, a hotel in Santa Barbara, Calif., Mr. Scarvelis proposed to Ms. Zappia. That summer, while vacationing on Samos, they started planning for their island wedding.
On Sept. 4, 2024, Mr. Scarvelis and Ms. Zappia greeted 60 friends and family members who made the trip to Samos. Doryssa Seaside Resort was the home base for the wedding festivities. That evening they hosted a rehearsal dinner at Blue Chairs in Vourliotis on the island’s northern, more rugged part. “We wanted our guests to see both sides of Samos, not just the beautiful beaches,” Ms. Zappia said. Wedding favors passed out that evening included Muscat wine from grapes grown there. “Nick picked the grapes the summer before,” she said.
Because Mr. Scarvelis holds dual citizenship, the couple were able to legally marry in Greece on Sept. 5 at the Holy Church of St. John Chrysostom Smyrna, where the Rev. Ioannis Vouros performed a Greek Orthodox ceremony at sunset. The wedding party included the bride’s sister, Angela Zappia, and Mr. Scarvelis’s sister, Stamatia Scarvelis, who represented Greece in Tokyo and Paris in the Olympic hammer throw. Guests returned to the resort’s Asteria restaurant, where many generations of family and friends celebrated until 4 a.m., when they all jumped in the ocean before heading to bed.
The couple will honeymoon in England. “We wanted something opposite of the trips we usually take where we enjoy the beaches of places like Greece and Sicily,” Ms. Zappia said. “We’re big lovers of English literature and history. We both have this romantic notion of the English countryside.”
