Are you planning a destination wedding in Greece?
Having chosen your venue, and gone through and researched a few possible wedding planners now may well be the time to start to think about your ceremony in Greece! Do you want the standard civil ceremony at a recognised venue or would you prefer a celebrant led unique ceremony written just for you. Now of course there are many wedding planners in Greece who know all about celebrant led ceremonies and promote them and offer them as an option to their couples, but on the other hand there are many who are not fully aware of this type of bespoke ceremony.
Photo credit Savvas Argirou
No stressful paperwork if you choose a celebrant led ceremony.
My advice to anyone having a destination wedding in Greece is to separate the legal part from the ceremony itself and ideally do the official bit back home, no problems then with documents, translations, or any paperwork at all, a stress free option! Of course it is possible to have a legal civil ceremony in Greece, but nine times out of ten this will be held at the local town hall in front of the official registrar a day or so after your destination wedding.
The planning process.
As a couple, having chosen to have your ceremony abroad,a lot of your time will be spent making all the special arrangements for your family and friends who will be travelling with you. You will feel that it is a priority to ensure that they have a great time and that they have all the information they need to enjoy your chosen venue. How to entertain everyone and make sure that all the programme runs smoothly will be a large part of the planning process.
Photo credit Savvas Argirou
It is time to start thinking about your ceremony.
Now it’s the time to sit down and decide on something incredibly important; your ceremony, your moment in time; the way that you decide to commit to your other half on the day. It’s not only the flowers, the food, the drinks and the music that need to be considered but high up on the list of ‘to dos’ should be the ceremony itself, how you will stand up in front of your family and friends and say your vows to each other, exchange your wedding bands and move forward as a fully committed couple.
If there are children, let them be involved, perhaps the Mums would like to take part in a flower ceremony, or you would like to have a signing ceremony with your witnesses, that’s the great thing about having a unique celebrant led wedding there are absolutely no restrictions.
You may be dealing with a guest relations team at a hotel, they are probably used to a ten minute quickie ceremony using the local hotel wedding planning team, where your ceremony will be a standard script and the wording is pretty much set in stone, you may be making your arrangements via a large tour operator and the same applies, but there is no reason why you cannot have the ceremony of your dreams led by a celebrant; a professional officiant who is trained to present your ceremony on the day. The focus must be on you and the ceremony itself, it is, by the way your day!
Working with your celebrant to create the perfect ceremony.
It takes time to create the perfect ceremony, we need to get to know each other, and by bouncing ideas to and fro, we can make your ceremony a day to remember.
Did you know that colours are symbolic and so are fruits and flowers? In Greece we have the olive tree, a symbol of peace and fertility so important to the local Greeks. Here, the olive tree is sacred, central to family life, a resilient tree, which bears delicate fruits and flavourful oil. The humble olive can be the focal point of any Greek style ceremony and is there to symbolise the bringing together of the couple and their family and friends and its resilience in all weathers over hundreds of years represents the ups and downs of married life so it really is the perfect choice.
There are still wedding planners in Greece who need educating about a celebrant ceremony, but once they get to see their first one, they will be converted, it also makes the life of the wedding planner a whole lot easier if there is a trained celebrant performing the ceremony.
Do you have ideas of your own about your destination wedding in Greece?
If you want to be non traditional, go for it! If you prefer traditions then we can make the ceremony as classical as you like! Do you want to say your vows on a hillside overlooking the beautiful blue waters? Do you want to get dressed up and have a special theme? What about a ceremony on a yacht? If you choose a symbolic ceremony in Greece led by a celebrant then almost anything is possible and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise!
It is possible to make your ceremony as simple or as elaborate as you like, you can walk down the aisle, or you can run barefooted towards the sea maybe you have something else, totally unique in mind!
For any further information contact me via e mail info@grecianceremonies.gr
Grecian Ceremonies-Sarah Hatjipavlis-Celebrant in Greece
