BBB in/from Greece

Hello ladies!

I have noticed I am not the only one here who is Greek and/or getting married in Greece so I thought it'd be great to find out a bit more about the wedding plans and each other. So, I'll start...

I am from Greece but have been living in London for almost 8 years now. This is where I met my h2b who is also Greek. We are getting married in Corfu on 11 July, so not long to go now. The wedding is in Corfu (where I come from) and if you are planning a wedding abroad you will probably agree it is quite stressful and you need to be well organised because you have less opportunities to sort things out. And so to relax after the wedding we are going to French Polynesia for our honeymoon Can't wait!

I'd love to hear other plans!

Lilla
xx

Hi Lilla
Am getting married in Greece too, just outside of Athens and I also live in London, I am half greek. I popped out there for the bank holiday break now to arrange things but you can't get much done over a weekend, especially when H2B wants to go to the beach We are also going to French Polynesia for our honeymoon, to Bora Bora
x

Hi GreekLeek!

I know exactly what you mean! There’s so much planning you can do in a couple of days especially when it kind of feels like you’re on holiday. Do you have someone in Athens to help with the planning? We’re going to Greece this weekend to try and do a few things – most importantly try the food! – but I’m not sure we’ll have enough time to do everything on the ever growing list!!

I’m so looking forward to the honeymoon.....after all the stress it would be great to relax in such a lovely place...how long are you staying in Bora Bora? We’re combining three islands and we’ll spend the last part of the honeymoon in Bora Bora. Which resort have you chosen?

Lilla
xx

Hi Lilla
I am going out to Greece as often as I can to organise things but I have a friend in Athens helping me out who wants to become a wedding planner and she has also directed me to this company who arranges all the decoration/ flowers/ music etc . The food is already being taken care of by the venue. Are you going to have sit down or buffet? I'd like a sit down meal but everyone in Greece seems to prefer buffet!
We are in the process of booking our honeymoon now. We are going to spend a few days in LA/ Santa Monica on the way and then we fly to Bora Bora for a week. We have chosen the Four Seasons which is apparently new and looks amazing. Where are you going to stay and which other Islands are you going to?
I hope this weekend goes smoothly for you! We went to visit the church last w/e and our priest seems to have been on the communion wine and has totally forgotten who we are and even that we had booked a wedding, slightly worrying....x

Oh dear your priest is the forgetful type! Apparently that's not very uncommon with Greek priests (or so my sister in low tells me). She told me early on that the most important telephone number I need to get is the priest's mobile! It's a good idea to give the number to the florist as they will be going to the church earlier than anyone else so if they don't find the priest there they can call him !!?!!

We are having a sit down meal - we always knew that's what we wanted although I know everyone in Greece seems to go for the buffet option. We'll try the food for the first time this Saturday - let's hope we like it!

We're going to start our honeymoon in Moorea (near Tahiti) where we'll stay for 4 days. Then we're off to the tiny island of Vahine for 3 days and from there we'll go to Bora Bora. We'll be splitting our stay there in two Intercontinental resorts - 4 nights in each. We decided to spent as much time as we could in French Polynesia and get a flavour of different places as it's a part of the world we're not going to visit again any time soon. The Four Seasons looks amazing!! It is the newest resort in Bora Bora.

The intercontinental looks gorgeous too, the whole island looks amazing! I would have liked to have spent longer in French Polynesia but I hate flying so we thought that we could break up the flying time by spending a few days in LA.
Good idea about giving the florist the priests number, that would be one less thing for us to stress about for sure!!!
Have a great weekend and hope the food tasting goes well, let us know how you get on. I am actually going to a wedding in Corfu the same date as yours! not sure where it is though
x

Hi GreekLeek

What a coincidence! Are the bride and groom locals? I hope you like my home place

My trip last weekend was fairly successful I must say. We tried the food which was quite good although it wasn’t exactly the menu we will be having at our wedding. We need to make our minds up in the next couple of weeks I think. We also discussed a lot of the details with various people which was very useful, ordered the materials for the favours (mil2b will be making those!) and other bits and pieces. It felt really strange because the next trip will actually be one week before the wedding – I hope it’s enough!

I am a bit worried about the amount of luggage we would be carrying with us at the next trip. Mostly about hand luggage as there are so many things I would want to have with me all the time! The dress is going to be the most difficult one (it is quite big!). How are you planning to transport your wedding dress to Greece?

How’s the rest of the planning going for you? I saw your post on venues but I can’t see the pictures from work so I’ll have a look from home!

xx

Hi Lilla and Greek Leek!!

I'm half Greek and have lived in London for almost 10 years now. My partner is English. We're getting married in August 2010 in Glyfada. It is a bit of a stress being so far away but we're pushing ahead getting things sorted ASAP. We've chosen church (need to book) and reception venue (need to go home for food tasting). MrT is getting all his docs translated, suits made and I bought my dress this week (antique so had to buy it when I saw it). Anyway, am super excited!!!!

Plus, my mum and dad live in Athens and are turning out to be wedding planners supremo.

Our honeymoon will be South Africa (for a friend's wedding) and Seychelles.

[Modified by: Trickster on June 05, 2009 11:13 AM]

Welcome Trickster, another greekie!!! Where abouts in Glyfada are you getting married? My parents live in Voula, so right next door I think if you're getting married in August 2010 you have HEAPS of time to get stuff sorted for Greece. We started planning from about January this year for our wedding in September, we still have quite a few things to do though......
Lilla sounds like you got loads done back in Corfu! The wedding I am going- the bride is local but they both live in Athens.
I need to speak to the airlines to find out about taking the wedding dress on board, apparently they can hang it up for you but I want to make sure. Also we may be taking a cake with us, because I don't really like the 'fake cakes' they have in Greece so I need to find out about that also. Otherwise planning is going ok, i haven't sorted out the favours yet, I've found one I like but not sure if it will go down well with the greek guests because it's a bit unusual!
x

Hi Girls, me again......
just found this website for weddings in greece thought it may be of useful to you: http://www.weddings-greece.com/index.php
it has cars, cakes etc
Trickster- I just saw on the other post you're having your reception at Notos Bay- gorgeous I love Akrotiri, it will be amazing!
x

Hello! Welcome Trickster! As GL said you have plenty of time for wedding plans. I started almost a year before the wedding but we struggled to find a reception venue – the combination of wanting to get married in the summer and the rather limited options in Corfu. It felt like we were not moving forward for a long time as you can’t plan properly without venue and a confirmed date!

I will call the airline to see what they say about the dress although I have a feeling it will depend more on the attendants on board on the day. Carrying a wedding cake!?! Very brave! I know what you mean about the ‘fake’ cakes though. We were warned twice already that we’re not suppose to cut any other tier – only the top one! At least the cake we tried last Saturday was really fresh with nice flavours for a Greek cake, although I’m not sure if the English guest will enjoy it as it’s very reach.....

We’re having very traditional favours. But they are really pretty with bright pink ribbons!

xx

Lilla, your favours sound gorgeous. A friend of mine has offered to make me some in a similar fabric as my dress but I really like these ones; http://www.lovelyfavours.co.uk/produse/weeding_favours/bomboniers/product15.html
I had a sample made and the ribbon is the same fabric as the bridesmaids dresses , I thought they could double up as place name card holders. However I think my 'yiayia' would disapprove as she says they have to have at least 12 almonds inside although noone else seems to know of this tradition.......
I did sample a few cake places in Athens and I found one in Glyfada that was quite good but we totally fell in love with the Peggy P cakes here in London. I still have to convince my father, he thinks that english wedding cakes are made of bread!!!! and that the greek guests won't eat it but then as you said the greek cakes are very rich, either way I can't win!!!!
I know what you mean about the flight attendants and the dress, especially if you're travelling with Olympic!!!!! I'm definately going to look into it as I would rather sit in the hold myself than put my dress in there!!!!!
x

Thanks ladies!! I know there's plenty of time but I think we're just too enthusiastic for our own good. We're also a bit short on money and time to be toing and froing to much.

I love Akrotiri too - many summers spent dancing the night away around there. Lots of good memories.

I'm confused about the cake issue? What do you mean fake? I love good Greek cream cakes and so do all my friends who come and stay with us...

Greek Leek - do you have a photo of your favours?

Also, if you speak/read/write greek the forum "teleios gamos" is really useful and the girls on there are really nice.

GL - those favours are very pretty. I think tradition is that as long as it's an odd number of almonds/sweets/chocolates it doesn't matter (odd to as odd numbers are indivisible - symbolizing how the newlyweds will remain undivided...apparently) . 3, 5 etc. 5 is the most common still. The more you have the more money you show you've spent (love the Greeks) but that seems to be the pattern. We'll have 5 which traditionally symbolise health, wealth, happiness, fertility and long life.

[Modified by: Trickster on June 05, 2009 05:59 PM]



[Modified by: Trickster on June 05, 2009 06:01 PM]

We're going to ask my MIL2B to make something like these for us:

http://www.lovelyfavours.co.uk/produse/weeding_favours/bomboniers/product16.html

Traditional but pretty.