We are thinking of getting married in Halkidiki (or maybe skiathos) next year. I'm just wondering if anyone could recommend someone to arrange this for us. We'd like a pretty little wedding - not the big expensive hotels and then a lively reception at a traditional greek taverna. Can anyone recommend a venue? I've looked at kasandria town hall on here and it looks really nice. I've never been to Halkidiki before but I'm going to Polichrono in 2 weeks time for a week so I can look at a few places while I'm there. Does anyone know how far Kassandria is from there?
Would really appreciate it if anyone can suggest a few things!
Thanks!

Hi Bex

We got married at Kassandria in May. There are some photos in my album (Roydsio) and the wedding album.

It is a beautiful intimate place to get married. We stayed at the Oceania Club which is a large hotel They arranged our reception on a private terrace just for 21 guests overlooking the sea. I can't praise them enough it was a really special day. We booked through first choice and their wedding co-ordinator Pearl was also very good.

If I was to do it all again I wouldn't change a thing.

Regards

Sharon

Hello,

Would anyone be able to tell me if you have to wear a particular kind of dress when getting married in Kassandria Town Hall?? I have in mind a dress I would like to wear it's nothing fancy just a very simple dress. Or does Greece expect you to cover arms etc.....

Can anyone help....

Thanks
Vicc

Hi Vicc

I got married at Kassandria Town Hall and I wore a gown as you would wear here. It was a bodice type with no straps and no one frowned at me - you can see the pictures in my album or in the wedding section under Roydsio. I don't think it matters what you wear if you are marrying in the Town Hall as it is not a religious place. Don't forget, depending on when you get married it will be quite hot so you need to bear that in mind

Good luck

Sharon



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 18/03/2009 06:39PM by roydsio.

Hi Bex,

Sorry for the late reply!

We got married in Halkidiki 18 months ago, and we organised it all ourselves... It was very easy, and a fraction of the cost! Not many people know it's actually free to get married in Greece, and the translation of the paperwork all costs about £500, and our registrar in Greece checked all the paperwork for us 3 months before we left home, so there was plenty of time ot fix anything that might have been wrong.

Email me if you're interested and I'll give you all the info...

If not and you do go with a tour operator, please make sure they know what they're doing! I've spoken to many people who's rep didn't know the rules about where you can and can't get married (it has to be in the place local to where you are staying - like your parish church or registry office), what the paperwork needs to say (the full address - the UK registry guidelines that the office staff check when writing your 'cert of no impediment' tell them to write the wrong address - they don't include a vital line - and if the Greek authorities take issue, you could be hot footing it to Athens to try and get in sorted in the days leading up to your wedding), how long you have to be there before you can get married (the tour operators tell you a week, but that's just so you book and extra week's holiday; in Halkidiki you can get married as soon as you step off the plane!) etc.

Good luck!

Kind Regards

Louise

Hi Louise,


I had no idea that you could get married as soon as you get there, we have been told 8 days!! We have booked our wedding date but not the accomadation and flights as prices for 2010 are not available yet. If you don't mind me asking how did your wedding go, where did you get married? How did you start to arrange it yourself, did you find it quite easy to get everything you wanted?

Look forward to hearing from you.
Mariesa

hi, would it be possible to let me have the info on getting married in greece,
thank u

Hi Marie,

What information would you like to know? We are getting married on friday 14th May 2010 at Kassandra town hall and then back to the Sani Resort in Halkidiki. I can give you info on documents and cost and other wedding details, just let me know what you need and i'll be happy to help.

Mariesa x

Hi

Can anyone tell me what you have to do to get married if you live in Greece/ Thessaloniki, the local registrars here in UK said we wouldn't have to give notice as we would be living in Greece any info would be great!

Jane & Jack

hi mariesa

we looking 2011, when was you able to book & have you book through travel agent to get a def date, aiming for hanioti

kind regards

Hi Marie

Beware of Thomas Cook, they have been most unhelpful for us. And we've been told by them that we wont get our actual wedding date until we arrive in the resort. We are currently having lots of trouble with our wedding documentation which we may have to have re-done at approx cost of £300!!

We are getting married this year in hanioti, actually flying out on 16th May, hopefully it will all be sorted before then!

Good luck anyway.

Lynette xxxx

Hi Marie,

We have booked through a company called Travel Counsellors, my partner got in touch with a woman called Karen Smith who is an independent travel agent, she has been really helpful, she came out to see us in our home as we were local to her. She found out all the information we wanted and more, she left with a very long list of questions which we had asked her about Greece, the hotel, weddings, and she got back to us via e-mail with all the answers. We have booked our wedding day and recieved our confirmation, we are still waiting to book the holiday, prices for 2010 are only being realeased towards the end of April maybe early May so we have to wait until then. We were told that in Halkidiki you have to get married at the town hall and they only allow wedding ceremonys on Fridays from 11.30am-2.00pm, thats it. We can and have requested a preferred time but we only get our exact time when we arrive in resort.

Hope this helps, if you need any more info just ask,

Mariesa x
P.S just in case you wanted to give them a call just to get some info for yourself, www.travelcounsellors.co.uk/karen.smith 08450588020

Hi Lynette

Sorry to hear of your trouble's with thomas cook, you must be having a nightmare with it being so close to your wedding, if you don't mind me asking what's been happening with your paperwork? I hope you manage to get it sorted and maybe Thomas Cook will reimburse you!!
How come you've not been given a date for your wedding yet, is that just something Thomas Cook can't gaurantee until you get there?

Hope your wedding goes well.

Mariesa x

Hi all

We had the same problem with First Choice not being able to confirm the day & time even though we had booked 12 months earlier. I think they provisionaly book with the town hall and then only finalise things in April once they get their reps out in Greece. As far as your documents are concerned we used a translator called Androulla who was fantastic. She arranged all our docs before and after the wedding and was fantastic. Her contact details are on the forum somewhere but if anyone needs them let me know. Another useful contact is Anna Wolfhart, she is the wedding co-ordinator at Sani.

Regards

Sharon

Hi Sharon

What month did you get married, just wondering what the weather was like, on your photo's the weather looks beautiful, we are getting married 14th may next year, we have read that it is warm in the daytime but cool in the evening and they do get rain!!

Mariesa x

P.S your photo's look stunning, i looked at them a while ago, but i showed them to my partner just the other day and he said how beautiful it all looks, the town hall, the scenery, and your wedding party. Did you get your wedding flowers in Greece, i've been wondering whether to take an artificial bouquet with me !!

Hi Mariesa

We got married on 23rd May last year and the weather was lovely. We went out the week before and the temp was about 24oc and steadily got warmer over the two weeks. There was no rain and it wasn't cold in the evenings, maybe take a wrap just incase.

Kassandria town hall is in a lovely setting and has a nice square in front of it which is shaded by trees - it's really lovely. Inside is also very nice. The town hall is up quite a narrow street - ok for cars but my guests arrived by coach and had to walk up the hill to the town hall. It's no problem though.

I got my flowers out there and they where all fresh. This was arranged through our wedding co-ordinator. I got my flowers in with my package and I think I paid about £15 each for the bridesmaids flowers. We didn't bother with buttonholes for the guests as there was loads of flower beds in the gardens of our hotel so the men just picked their own in the morning. Did I read you where staying at Sani? If you are email Anna as she will have all the conatcts for flowers etc. She was very good with us.

We had beach shots after the ceremony and I found it really hot in my dress down on the beach. We then had our reception on an outside terrace at the hotel but we where shaded by big parasols so this was ok.

I only posted a couple of pictures on the forum but can have a look through my other pics to see if we have any better pictures of the town hall if you like. If you pm me your email address I can send some to you.

Regards

Sharon

Hi Sharon

Yes we are staying at the Sani Beach club, i can't wait, just seems ages off yet, we have just recieved our confirmation of our wedding day fot the 14th May, but we won't be given a time until we arrive in resort. What time did you get married? Did you find you had enough time and you and your guests weren't hanging around your hotel? What did you do for your reception, did you have a meal? Can you remember how much your coach was to take your guests to and from the town hall? I would love to see more of your photographs, this is my e -mail address.... mariesa.gaskell@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks,
Mariesa x

Hi Mariesa

We got married at 11.30 - first ones in. I was up at 7.00am for breakfast and then to the hairdressers in the hotel (150.00 euro for 3 x practices and hair done on the day). We stayed at Oceania (same group as Sani) and the travelling time was half an hour to Kassandria. It's nearer for you from Sani. The guests left about 10.50 and got there in plenty of time on the coach. I got a car which was about £80 but it also took us to the beach for the photos and back to the hotel afterwards. I can't remember how much the coach was exactly. I had a clear out the other week and got rid of all my docs with the prices on or I could have emailed it to you. I think the coach may have been about £250 but it all should be cheaper for you as you are a lot nearer to Kassandria.

The Sani wedding co-ordinator arranged our reception on a private terrace in our hotel. It was expensive at 45 euro per person as we where all guests at the hotel all inclusive so in a way had already paid!. Another couple at our hotel used their all inclusive for their reception and just ate in the main dining room with the wedding party sectioned off. I wouldn't do anything different though as it was really special.

We arrived a week before our guests who arrived the day before the wedding. I would have liked them to have had a few days to relax first but it was just the way the flights worked out and they then had a full week to enjoy the rest of the holiday. We had 21 guests altogether.

I'll dig my photos out to email you and see if I can find some info on the prices we paid for things. If you want to know anything else just get in touch.

Speak to you soon

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for that, it really helps to hear about your day to get ideas and advice. We have between 20 and 30 guests coming with us a mixture of family and friends from both sides, some for 2weeks and some just for the week. We were told by our wedding/holiday person over at our end that a coach for our guests would cost around £300, so thats what were expecting to pay, car is included in our wedding package i think. We recieved some sample menu's from the wedding co-ordinator at Sani and we are eating in the main restaurant and hoping that we can reseerve a table on the terrace for our wedding party, we had looked at a set menu which is within our all inc but my partner would prefer to have a buffet or just help ourselves as we would normally do for the evening meal and i don't mind either way. Aslong as we can all sit together and the table can be decorated with a few balloons or flowers. I'm glad you mentioned the hairdressers i can tell some of my guests so they can give me a break from doing their hair, I'll probably do my own with a little help from my sister in law.

Look forward to seeing some more of your photo's.

Thank You
Mariesa x

Hi Louise could you send me any info you have on doing all this yourself as there are some horror stories here concerning travel agents and I feel more confident knowing I am in control of things especially for such an important day! my email is lou15ez@aol.com and anything you coul send would be grately appreciatedx x