A Vegan Wedding in Crete & a Dramatic Kitten Rescue | Adam and Bethany

Link for the show notes

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Adam and Bethany Mulcahy-Stephenson, content creators and passionate animal rescuers behind the Instagram account @heretodayvegantomorrow.

Adam and Bethany share their incredible journey of planning an intimate vegan destination wedding in Crete, Greece, why they chose to keep their celebration small and meaningful, and what it was really like navigating the legal and logistical side of getting married abroad.

We also talk about their deep involvement in animal rescue, including a powerful and emotional story about rescuing kittens while traveling — and the unexpected challenges that followed when bringing them home.

There are so many places, experiences, and important takeaways in this conversation, so be sure to check out the show notes and the blog post for this episode for all the details and links.

Let’s dive in and chat with Adam and Bethany.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to The World Vegan Travel Podcast. 

Thank you for having us. 

Hello. 

I'm thrilled to have you joining us today because you recently got married and you're going to be telling us all about what it's like to have a destination wedding outside of the country where you live. But before we get into that, can you tell us a little bit about yourselves and what it is that you do in the vegan space? 

Yeah. I am a veterinary nurse, and I also work with rescues. We both work with rescues now. We, sort of, take in mainly cats for the time being, but we are open to anyone that needs help. We started our Instagram page, coming up to two years. Isn't that right, Adam? 

Two years in November. 

Yeah, the beginning of November will be two years. 

That was just something that we started [00:01:00] because we felt like we weren't being very creative with meals, and we needed something that forced us to sort of like, try new things, and delve a bit deeper into cooking and things like that. It's definitely done that. So we are coming up with all sorts of different weird and wacky combinations. 

But we wanted it to just be a bit about us. It wasn't necessarily supposed to be just a food page. We wanted to incorporate travel, and you know, also our music tastes, animal rescue, but so far, so good. 

I love it. Do you want to add to that, Adam? 

Yeah, pretty much what Bethany said. Yeah, we weren't entirely sure where to go with it. We started it as mainly just somewhere to give us a little bit, and gain inspiration from others as well when we started following accounts and things like that. For some reason people seem to like what we're posting and we've done quite well. 

I think we're very proud of it. We've got a decent little following, and we enjoy the interactions, and it's a really [00:02:00] friendly space to be involved in. We often get direct messages and comments, and everyone's just so lovely. We've had very little hate, which is very nice, so far, anyway. 

Fantastic. And what is your Instagram handle? 

It is at heretodayvegantomorrow. 

I love it. Fabulous. So you recently got married. What made you decide to choose a destination wedding rather than something more local? 

We both had the same idea. It wasn't one of us wanted one thing and the other compromise, we both had it in mind, that we didn't want anything huge. So we just thought, when it's local, you end up in that sort of, 'I've got to invite her and if I'm inviting her, then I've got to invite him, and then she'll need to come.' Andbefore you know it, you've got 150, 200 people and costs spiraling. 

And yeah, we just thought, you know what, we'd like something a little bit more [00:03:00] intimate. We had six guests and that was it. It was very small. We just wanted something small.  

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We just got to remember, it's easy to get, lost in pleasing other people. And we just loved this place where we got married. We got married in a place called Elounda in Crete. We holidayed there a couple years ago. Absolutely fell in love with the place. 

It's such a beautiful little friendly town. And we always just said it, if we get married, then we'd like to do it here. We didn't understand whether that would be realistic or not, but it turned out we could. We made a few inquiries and managed to make it happen. It gives you the weather. You've got almost guaranteed weather in Crete, and there's lots of cats and things like that. 

And did you employ the services of a full, like an event planner, or did you just want to keep it really low key, in terms of like logistics and organization? 

We did, we did get [00:04:00] involved with an event planner. It's the easiest way. They handle all the paperwork and the legal side of it, and things like that, but we managed to maintain a lot of control. The company we used were very good, weren't they? They were very helpful. Got us into an amazing venue. 

It was absolutely stunning, wasn't it? It was just another world. 

Yes. Quite. Yes it was, yeah, to the point where the guy on the door asked us if we were lost when we first drove in. But one look at us and said, 'You must be lost?' And I said, 'Actually, no, we getting married.' And he's like,'Oh, I'm so sorry.' 

Fabulous. Okay, so I'm curious, like, how much time did it take to organize a wedding, and what were the challenges that you had for organizing like a vegan wedding? Like just in terms of the food, but let's just start with the food. 

We got engaged in the March of 2024, and then the wedding was May, 2025. Within that time, it [00:05:00] was all done and dusted. So we started reaching out to companies, probably around about, maybe, May,of the year before. So it was probably 12 months that it took, just from very first initial inquiries to the day itself. 

I'll be honest, it was simple for us, but I think that's partly due to the fact that we didn't have a sit down meal at the actual wedding. We chose to have the wedding, and then we said we're going to go away and have our sort of reception, elsewhere. But the hotel was so accommodating. 

They knew what veganism was because sometimes there's a little bit of a breakdown of communication, where a lot of places think vegetarian is including fish, and there's just not a whole wealth of knowledge surrounding specifically, veganism. So we were very clear about that. The wedding breakfast in the morning, we had an [00:06:00] amazing fresh fruit platter. All of the buffet breakfast, buffet options, were clearly marked vegan or vegetarian, gluten free, et cetera. So it was fantastic. The reception was great, wasn't it, Adam? 

Yeah. When we holidayed there a few years ago, this little Creten bar in Mavrikiano. There it was run by a lovely couple who just went above and beyond for us, didn't they? 

They really went to town on providing us with this beautiful, beautiful spread kind of thing. Not just finger food, it was multiple dishes, multiple really tasty dishes.  

All Greek food, traditional Greek food, but made vegan, and exactly what we wanted. And they went above and beyond, like I say, and they were absolutely amazing. And just give us the best few hours, didn't they? Give us the entire balcony overlooking the harbor, and it was just perfect. We couldn't have asked more. 

That sounds like a real highlight of the day. Were there any special, unique, parts of the day or memories that [00:07:00] will stay with you forever from that day? 

The actual little ceremony itself was just amazing. It was on a jetty that went right out into the water. So we were surrounded by water. It was just a few chairs with our closest friends and family. People were sort of milling around on the beach, and they were looking on, and everyone was so congratulatory. 

It was just, it was really just so special. That particular part, we did the vows, and then we'd written our own. We got to stand there and exchange our own personal vows to each other, which was just so special. 

Yeah, and it was right in the shadow of Spinalonga. I don't know if you know of Spinalonga? It is quite a famous island, isn't it? 

Yeah, it's where , the Greek government sent the lepers. It's now a historic site where you can go and visit. It's very famous, and it was a stones throwaway. it was just a very special place. 

Beautiful. 

What tips you give [00:08:00] for vegan couples that were thinking of doing some sort of destination wedding or anyone doing a destination, come to that? Like what are the kinds of things they need to be mindful of? 

Probably the legalities. It was daunting looking at it. We did entertain the idea of doing it all ourselves. At first, we thought, the cost of translators and things like that. For all we know, we could have a ceremony and come back and we're not even legally married. 

Even the wedding company themself, the organizers, they would go quiet on us, and we wouldn't hear anything for a while. So it was pretty worrying at times. The lack of interaction we were having with them. 

We obviously organize other people's weddings as well. We have a lot on. And they just kept reassuring us, when we did reach out to them, that everything was in hand. And don't worry about the thing. Everything's sorted. You feel out of control, but you've just got to roll with it and hope that they know what they're doing, which they clearly do. 

You pay them a decent sum of money, and they look after you. They really do. 

Yeah, I would say, use a company or at least reach out [00:09:00] to a company because we didn't feel like we were out of control. It wasn't completely structured from start to finish. They just found us. The hotel, we could then choose if we wanted the chapel or the pier. We told them how many people were coming. 

We told them we know we didn't want any food. We would like a vegan cake. So we were very much in control. It just meant that the paperwork side of things, definitely. We had to be taken to the town hall and the next town over. Sign a lot of documents. Things had to be translated, and I think we would've struggled without somebody organizing that for us. 

So that would be my tip. You can be as involved or you can let them do everything if you want, but at least, just make that contact and get them to do the sort of legal side of things, for sure. 

It's really tricky, this legal side of things. A friend of mine, she is from Finland, and she recently,it ended up working at fine, but she was getting married to her [00:10:00] Australian partner who had been divorced, and they wanted to get married in Finland. The kind of paperwork that the Finnish authorities wanted, that would reassure the Finnish authorities that were no impediments to being married, that he was in fact divorced, that they didn't accept it. 

And then the Australian government was like, this is what we produce. And it required a lot of work. I definitely think you probably should allow a lot of time for these kinds of things. Especially if, you know, both, each of you, are from different places or had previous marriages or getting married in a different place. 

It was really touch and go there, that they might not get that paperwork in time. It was pretty terrifying for them. 

Yeah, definitely give yourself enough time. Things that we had to do on our side. So we had to go and get certain documents notarized. We had to have original or copy of birth certificates of the full certificate, that had to be [00:11:00] printed within the last six weeks. 

It was very specific, and there's a lot of, just little bits that you just need to tie up. So just give yourself as much time as possible, because you send something off to be notarized and you are hoping it comes back in the next 10 days, but might get lost in the post. There are a lot of variables. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. 

I'm curious, Adam, after the wedding, did you have your honeymoon in Crete as well? Did you stay in that same hotel or did you do some other exploring? 

We stayed there for a couple of days, which was part of the package, what we paid for. Absolutely amazing. And then we traveled across Crete. We hired a car and we traveled across Crete. We absolutely adore Crete, such friendly people. Pretty much guaranteed weather, like we say, and just a lovely place. And yeah, so we just spent a little bit of time on the island. I think we're there about, just shy of two weeks, overall. Again, you have to be there a few days before you actually get married as well. That's something you also have to [00:12:00] remember, that you have to be in the country for a few days, crap people out. 

I bet it does. And were you alone for that honeymoon period? Or did your family and friends also join you in summer or all of the post wedding celebrations. 

We managed to shake them off after a few days. They stayed with us for a couple of nights after the wedding, just to relax, because the buildup, everyone's a little bit jittery. and so we did have a couple of days. But after that we then went onto the rest of the island on our own to just to have a bit of a mini honeymoon, and relax and enjoy the first few days being married. 

During that time that you were in Crete, you had a little bit of animal drama while you were there, that was extremely upsetting. When I read about it, I was very upset about it. Would you mind telling us the story because I'm sure there's a lot of things that listeners could learn from this [00:13:00] experience. 

Yeah. Walk around with your eyes closed. It's probably a bit if you're an animal lover. Yeah. It's actually a familiar story for us because the last time we were in Crete, we came back with a cat as well. So we have a cat who lives with us now, who we found on our second to last day in Chania. When we were there, we found it was too young to be away from his mom, in a car engine. So us being us, we couldn't leave him there. We contacted a local rescuer, who was absolutely amazing and absolutely amazing woman. What she does is incredible for not only cats, just animals in general, over there. 

She went and caught him for us, and when she sent us the pictures, we decided we can't leave it there. We went through the rigmarole of getting him to us. We're already familiar with the adoption of cats from abroad. And then again, it was second to last day, we were just having a wander. We actually remembered this one cat from the last time [00:14:00] we were there, who was very friendly. She was lovely and she was very distinctive. She had a very odd looking eye, enlarged eye. Clearly, she was uncomfortable with it. That was about 18 months prior. 

We thought, we'll just have a wander down here, and just see if she's still there. And she was there, but this time she had four kittens with her, one of which, yeah, awful. One of the kittens, in a really bad state, could not see, all bloodied eyes, bumping into walls. No more than maybe, five, six weeks old, perhaps. I spotted him first. I can't believe this. And I pointed him out. So I dived into this dried up riverbed, and I managed to get hold of this tiny little kitten. His face was all bloody, and his eyes were just glued together. And anyway, the mother cat did not take kindly to this at all. The very friendly cat that we went to visit in the first place, she did not take kindly to me, holding her precious kitten. And [00:15:00] she, what I can only describe as, viciously attacked me, left me very bloody and beaten up. But I returned the kitten to her. And she was fine. She forgave me, and she came back for a stroke and some biscuits afterwards. But now we've got a problem because we know how ill this little kitten is. 

And it is just not in our nature to turn a blind eye. We've never turned a blind eye to any animal. I never have in my lifetime, and I know Bethany certainly hasn't. And together, we're just on the same page when it comes to things like that. So it wasn't even a question, it wasn't a conversation we had to have. 

It was just, we know what we've got to do. So we actually contacted the same lady who got the kitten for us last time, and she said, yep, absolutely. I will go and catch them for you, but I have got about 50 cats in my house at the moment, and many of them unwell, many of them are residents, and will be permanent residents with her for their lives, probably because it's so unwell. And we were like, just go get [00:16:00] them, and we'll deal with that later. And she did. 

Yes. So we finally got the kittens. They came in dribs and drabs. So the sickest one she got first, and then there was another one that she found that needed more urgent care. The kittens were being treated. The mom had her eye removed, and everybody was spayed, neutered.We were put in contact with another English lady who was also bringing five kittens over, with her daughter. She was adopting one and adopting the rest out. So the deal was that she would do the trip over to Crete and have a few days there, pick up the kittens with her daughter, and bring them back over to the UK, where we would meet her in France. And then the kittens would come back with us. 

The way it works with airlines, is you can't have more than two animals, two cats, two any animals, in the cabin, at all. That's not per [00:17:00] person. That's just on the entire aircraft. That's the maximum. So this lady had to get a separate flight to her daughter. So she took her two kittens in the cabin, and the three went in the hold, and her daughter took our mama cat, and the almost blind kitten in the cabin. 

And then the other three kittens went in the hold. We set off down, driving about six hours down to Folkestone to get the shuttle across to Calais, and we have breakfast, and we're quite excited. And then as we're driving into the terminal to go and get the train over, just get a message through from our rescue in Greece that just said, 'The airline has lost the box of three kittens.'  

The three kittens that were in the hold? 

Yeah. So we were just, it was pure panic. There were tears, there was just hyperventilating, absolute panic. [00:18:00] And I went straight away on social media, I was just tagging the airline, pictures. Please everybody share this. It blew up. People were sharing it. It had thousands and thousands of views and shares. We didn't know where they were. Adam needed to be back in work the next morning, so we couldn't take the chance of him coming to France as well, and us potentially having to stay there for a few days to wait for these kittens to come. It was pretty intense. Eventually, we got the message that said, 'The kittens have been found.' They've been located, and what had happened was they'd come from Thessaloniki to Paris. And then instead of being loaded at Paris, they had been somehow forgotten in the cargo hold, and the plane had turned around and gone right back to the Thessaloniki without them being seen to, checked, no food, water, no access to a litter tray. And it's [00:19:00] about a three hour flight each way. This was just, this was horrendous. We were very thankful that we knew where they were, but I did not know what state they were going to be in. These kittens are so small, fragile, very skittish, trauma like that could easily result in death. Eventually they arrived in Thessaloniki, Aegean Airlines. Eventually they sent the kittens back in business class with a dedicated handler in the cabin. We'd gotten up about half past three that morning, to drive down, and then by this point, it was close to 2:00 AM the next morning. Eventually we got the kittens, got back on the shuttle, and then I had to drive six hours home. So I was probably awake for close to 40 hours by the time. 

Oh, my goodness. 

We got home, with them all. But that's the story of how we got them. And thankfully, they are all upstairs now. I can hear them absolutely thundering about. But we still haven't received any sort [00:20:00] of apology or explanation from Aegean Airlines. We still haven't received any money back for the extra expenses that we incurred. 

We went to the paper. Our story was in The Guardian. It was in the local newspapers. Daily Mail picked it up, and various outlets have run with this online.  

We would love for them to be able to change their policy. So we don't put animals in the hold anymore because it's not safe. 

Yeah, it's interesting because I have some experience in taking cats on flights, mainly around Asia. You're not allowed animals in the cabin, at all, most Asian flights, which is upsetting, for a lot of reasons. And the last flight that we had to do with our cats, like before they went into retirement, was flying to Canada in 2020. As all of those cancellations were happening with COVID.  

March, 2020. 

Yeah. 

Flights were just being canceled, left, right, and center. And then a lot of airlines were just [00:21:00] not wanting to take animals on flights, partly because they were worried that flights would be canceled and then while the animal was in transit, they wouldn't be able to do anything. But I had to take these flights and it was absolutely nerve wracking, particularly for such a long flight, to put our cats in the hold. The staff were really sweet. I was almost crying boarding the plane. The gate agents very kindly, sent me a picture of the cats on board, so I knew they were boarded. I also, remember, telling the flight attendants, can you please make sure that all of the heating is on. Please make sure the heating is on, because the idea of it not being on, and me not checking, is just too much to bear. I think it would've been almost impossible for you to do in your case, but for other people that are transporting pets, to put like a little air tag or some sort [00:22:00] of locator in, like tape it inside the box or some way, somehow, so that you can know where it is. It's something we with our luggage. If we could do that with animals that we are transporting, it could save a lot of time and heartache, and potentially death of the animal. 

Yeah. 

100%. As far as we're concerned, this is lesson learned. We probably will have more cats at some point. And you're absolutely right, but you just think, this will not happen to us, even though it's in the back of your mind, that the cats are traveling a long way and a lot of people don't see animals the same way we see them. 

But lesson learned, we even said it, if it comes through it again, we will just fly, and bring each cat back individually. 

If we have to take 10 flights to do what we need to do, we'll do it. I would just never do that again. And we were very lucky that the lady who was transporting them for us, who were picking them up in Paris, she was equally as devastated about everything that happened. 

Annoying thing is, we are going crazy on social [00:23:00] media, on Instagram, on Facebook. We've got an army of followers that are just going crazy on our behalf, as well, attacking their Instagram page like there's no tomorrow. And they are just point blank ignoring everybody. 

And then somebody would pop up and say, ' I left my bag on a flight from Madrid to Paris.' And they would be like, 'Oh, send us your baggage number, and we'll look into it for you.' And ignoring and deleting all the comments about the cats. It was very upsetting. 

Yeah, I hope they learn so much from this experience. For sure. So after that wonderful trip followed by a lot of drama, do you have any other exciting travel plans on the horizon? 

We are heading over to Berlin in next month, actually, so well, in a few weeks. We've recruited one of our good friends to come and move in, to look after the army of furry felines in the house. [00:24:00] We're off Berlin. We both listen to heavy metal music, and so there's a festival going on there, that we're going to go and see, for a couple of nights and then have a couple of days, sort of, sight seeing, as well. So that's our next trip. And then the next one we've got booked is, so it was Adam's birthday, a few weeks ago and for his birthday I have gotten us tickets to go to the Belgian Grand Prix. Because we're both big Formula One fans. It's our very first, ever, Grand Prix. We're both very, very excited about that. 

Sounds fabulous. Have a wonderful trip. Thank you both so much for being on the podcast. And before we say goodbye, can you tell us again your Instagram handle, so people can follow your adventures in animal rescue and food creation all of those other things.  

It's heretodayvegantomorrow. 

Lovely. Thank you Adam. Thank you Bethany, so much for taking time to be on the show. 

[00:25:00] Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you. 

Thank you.