hi all,
we have been looking for peoples experiences organising and having a wedding in halkidiki,nobody seems able to help so we thought we would start our own page and give any future couples planning a wedding an insight of what to expect.
firstly, the only 2 tour operators we found in our area [nottingham uk] were first choice and thomas cook that actually organise weddings in halkidki. [we chose first choice]
we are 3 weeks into booking, the paperwork took 2 weeks to come through and they want the booking forms back within 7 days.apparently, weddings take place at kassandra town hall on a friday betweem 10am & 2pm, [not sure about hanioti town hall].
secondly, the paperwork, it seems like a nightmare, you have to get the picture pages of pasports copied and certified by a solicitor, [any solicitor will do] ours did it for free!!
first choice need copies of all paperwork to check b4 you send it off for legalisation, £27 per document at present,
DOCUMENTS WE NEEDED
2 FULL BIRTH CERTS
1 ADOPTION CERT
1 SHORT BIRTH CERT
2 DECREE ABSOLUTES
2 COPIES OF CERTIFIED PASSPORTS
£216 before we start
we are now goin to send these off and will keep this post updated
mandy & andy

Don't see the point in ruining a perfectly good holiday by getting hitched!




















GOTCHA 'All the Best' !

first mistake!!!! make sure solicitor signs it in their own signatue [not the receptionist] and puts all the relevant info correctly!!! hopefully its right this time !!!!

Hiya,

Yes please keep us posted as am looking to book a wedding in Hanioti through First Choice for next year.

Any help, advice or info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Laura

hi laura,

I am getting married in hanioti in september .You have to get a non impediment certificate from the registry office .Then you must get a copies of the picture page of your passport certified by a solicitor. When this is done you send them and your full birth certificate to the commenwealth to be stamped.Then you must get them translated into greek then send to the greek embassy .Hope this helps

kerry x

Hi Laura,
When are you thinking of getting married? weve booked early may.
We just sent off 1st lot of paperwork to be legalised [£27 per document] The certificate of no impediment that Kerry was talking about has to be dated within 13 weeks of when you return from your holiday, we cant apply for ours until 15 feb 08.we are going down to london to get that legalised in person as we then have to send it off to be translated[legalisation can take up to 5 weeks] its a very tight timescale to get that last bit done, as far as we can see that is about the last bit of paperwork to be done, and the holiday will already be paid for.
I am goin to keep this post updated as we get things done so keep an eye out for it.
Any questions please feel free to ask.



mandy xx

hi

Me and my partner are doing it the cheaper version

Registry Office here to get Marriage Certified

then off to Fourka to get Marriage blessed by the Mayor of Fourka

Costs are

£70 for certificates
£30 for registra
£120 each for return flight to Thessaloniki
£0 for transport to Fourka from Seloniki
£280 for 1 weeks honeymoon
£0 for Blessing

and were still married at the end .

hi mandy ,

when your docs have been translated you then have to have them stamped at the greek embassy in london.we,re using a translater who takes your docs to the commonwealth gets them stamped ,then translates them takes them to the greek embassy to be stamped and returns them to you within 2 weeks .

kerry

hi Kerry,
we thought we had to do it all seperatley! can you send us the name and number of who you are using please, and how much they charge?
We have already sent the docs off to be legalised, so they would only need to do the translation and the embassy bit, but it would also be useful for the no impediment docs.
many thanks


mandy xx

hi mandy
Here,s the name and number of the lady we,re using( Androulla Veliotou 020 8337 6093 )she charges a courier fee of £90 sounds alot but she,s saving me 2 trips to london .She gives you plenty of info very helpful.hope this helps .

kerry x

Hi Kerry,
Thanks a lot, will give her a ring when we eventually get our docs back from legalisation.
Keep us posted on how things are going with yours.

mandy xx

hi mandy
i get my impediment certificate back on 29th june then ill be sending everything off .will keep you posted on how things go .

kerry x

Hi Kerry
thanks a lot, can i ask how many will be in your wedding party, and what are you doin for a reception whilst over there?
We got reception booked for when we get back but stuck for ideas as to what to do for about 14 of us after the ceremony, any ideas much appreciated.

mandy xx

hi mandy

Have looked into having the reception at a bar out there the owner amanda will do ,buffet or sit down meal .There,s 21 of us going so i,m thinking of waiting till we get there and then organising the reception .But i,ve been told there are plenty of places that will cater for wedding parties.

kerry x

Thanks for the info everyone, we are thinking of August or September next year. It all sounds very complicated not sure where to start going to get really stuck in to the arrangements now and really research.

Hey Jeff, thanks for your suggestion, it has definately given me something else to think about, please can you tell me how you arranged the blessing.

Please keep us posted everyone.

Laura x

Hi laura,
We found its not as complicated as it all sounds as long as you give yourself time to do things, we not going till next may and have started the paperwork already [still waiting for it to come back from F C O.]
Kerry gave us the name of a translator which i think we will be using.
We just found it easier to break timescales down into months rather than weeks to give us plenty of time.
We only having the basic package from first choice, sorting out photographer, reception etc ourselves is half the fun.
Regarding photos, have you checked out nics site, @#$%&.com? wicked photos, we hoping hes gonna start doing wedding photography soon.
Will keep you posted as thing progress.

mandy xx

Re: Wedding

If you require any information contact me. I worked for First Choice as a wedding co-ordinator in 2005-2006. I live in Kassandria and can help you in any information needed. I also know of an excellent photographer in Kassandria who has his own photography studio, First Choice have used him since they started doing weddings in Halkidiki. He has available in his studio albums t look through and many photos of passed weddings on tens of CDs.

Juliayummymummy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hiya,
>
> Yes please keep us posted as am looking to book a
> wedding in Hanioti through First Choice for next
> year.
>
> Any help, advice or info would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks
>
> Laura

Hi all,
I'm Mandys son
she's missing the bits out where she is on the phone every day to the travel agents (her Daughter in law!!!!) I got married in Jamacia a lot nicer and a lot less hassle.

HI,

i was married to my Albanian Husband in Sept 2002. i lived out there for a few years too. I found everything to be reasonably easy, but at the last moment the Registrar there changed our date to a day later!! This happened to be fine but was a worry when we were told a week before. We had the registrar to marry us in front of the chapel in the square in Pefkohori. Then had photos over at the monastry. We had a reception at the three brothers restaurant which is on the way to Chorruso which was fantastic, with a traditional orchestra. The whole wedding including dresses, flowers, photos, video and reception for 70 cost under £3000 and we had a fantastic time.

The paperwork was a little tricky as my mum had to do the running around as i was in Greece.

If you have any questions you can email me. i will be in halkidiki in May to visit our family over there.

regards
christine allko

And is his name vullnet?