{"id":124816,"date":"2025-05-23T08:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T08:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/124816\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T08:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T08:51:08","slug":"folkestone-groom-to-be-falls-down-100ft-cliff-days-before-wedding-in-greece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/124816\/","title":{"rendered":"Folkestone groom-to-be falls down 100ft cliff days before wedding in Greece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emma Dunn<\/strong><\/p>\n

A groom-to-be almost lost his life after he slipped and fell down a 100ft cliff in Greece two days before his destination wedding – and had to cancel his \u00a345k nuptials.<\/p>\n

Jake Elliot, 41, from Folkestone, was walking back to his hotel in Santorini, Greece, after a meal with his friends when he jumped onto the coastal wall to avoid some passers-by.<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Elliot in hospital with Robyn Stanley on what would have been their wedding day. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n

He lost his footing and tumbled down the 30-metre drop and had to be rushed to Santorini Hospital with a broken back and legs and seven broken ribs.<\/p>\n

His bride-to-be, Robyn Stanley, 39, was terrified she was going to lose Jake – and he was airlifted to Athens hospital the following day.<\/p>\n

Jake had surgery to drain fluid from his lungs before being flown by air ambulance to the UK two weeks later. He spent a further nine days in the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford before coming home.<\/p>\n

The pair were unable to wed as intended in May 2023, in Santorini – surrounded by the 52 guests who had flown out to attend – but finally tied the knot a year and \u00a360k later in Greece and say it was an “incredible” and “emotional” day.<\/p>\n

Robyn, a full-time content creator, said of the day of the accident: “He was a few feet from getting home [to the hotel].<\/p>\n

“There was a small wall and over the wall was a sheer drop. We’d all made jokes about how dangerous we thought it was.<\/p>\n

“It’s a single path. They were walking back and people were walking towards them.<\/p>\n

“He jumped on the wall and slipped off.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t think he’d be alive.”<\/p>\n

Jake, a senior construction manager, said: “I remember falling and trying to grab the cliff on the way down.<\/p>\n

“I could hear one of my groomsmen shouting \u2018Jake\u2019. I remember trying to shout back but I couldn’t. When I fell it collapsed my lung.<\/p>\n

“Once I realised the wedding wasn’t going to happen the guilt kicked in.<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Elliot, 41, was walking back to his hotel in Santorini, Greece, after a meal with his friends when he jumped onto the coastal wall to avoid some passers-by and lost his footing. Picture: SWNS\"JakeJake Elliot being air lifted following the accident. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n

“I was blessed I hadn’t died but I had ruined the wedding.”<\/p>\n

Jake and Robyn were in Santorini for their destination wedding with all their family and friends and their two children – Cannon, 11, and Cass, eight.<\/p>\n

The couple, who have been together for 18 years, had spent \u00a345k on their big day.<\/p>\n

Jake was on his way back to the hotel on May 25, 2023 when he slipped. His friends rushed back to the hotel and told Robyn the news.<\/p>\n

She said: “It was an out-of-body experience – I just started screaming.”<\/p>\n

Jake was taken to Santorini Hospital and Robyn had to wait outside for several hours before she could see him.<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Elliot and Robyn Stanley with kids Cannon and Cass. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n

She said: “The police had turned up – I thought he was dead.<\/p>\n

“When I saw him he was talking. He’d broken his back and didn’t know if he could walk.<\/p>\n

“I remember being gutted [that we couldn’t get married].”<\/p>\n

But when Jake’s spleen ruptured he had to be rushed to a hospital in Athens to be treated. He was airlifted on May 26.<\/p>\n

Robyn said: “When that happened I thought ‘I don’t care about that stupid wedding now – I don’t want him to die’.”<\/p>\n

Robyn was desperate to get Jake home to the UK for treatment but they were waiting for their insurance and he wasn’t fit to fly.<\/p>\n

Jake had too much fluid on his lungs so doctors in Athens had to operate and put lung drains on him.<\/p>\n

He was also treated for a broken left leg, back and broken ribs.<\/p>\n

He was in hospital for two weeks before flying home when he was stable on June 11, 2023.<\/p>\n

While at the William Harvey, doctors discovered he had also shattered his right ankle.<\/p>\n

\"JakeJake Elliot from Folkestone nearly lost his life after he slipped and fell down a 100ft cliff in Greece two days before his destination wedding. Picture: SWNS<\/p>\n

He had bolts put in and came home to his family on June 20, 2023.<\/p>\n

He spent the next year regaining strength – and still has physiotherapy now – but was back to work after three months.<\/p>\n

Luckily the couple were able to move their wedding to another date – but had to fork out a further \u00a315k for vendors.<\/p>\n

They finally tied the knot just over a year later, on June, 5 2024.<\/p>\n

Robyn said: “Me and Jake went back on our own for four days in October.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t want the first time we went back to be the wedding.<\/p>\n

“We put the demons to rest.<\/p>\n

“Our wedding was incredible.<\/p>\n

“It was a journey to get there for sure.”<\/p>\n

Jake said: “Pretty much everyone who came the year before was there.<\/p>\n

“It was very emotional.<\/p>\n

“The day was magical.<\/p>\n

“The whole thing gives you a new perspective on life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Emma Dunn A groom-to-be almost lost his life after he slipped and fell down a 100ft cliff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8502,2418,609,49585,495,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-124816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-accidents","9":"tag-folkestone","10":"tag-human-interest","11":"tag-hythe","12":"tag-kent","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114556297891658910","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}