FAQ concerning wedding organisation in Greece

You can organize 3 types of wedding ceremonies in Greece:

• Official wedding.
• Symbolic wedding.
• Church ceremony.

Symbolic ceremony is not recognized by the state but it allows the couple to experience their wedding as they would if they were being married legally. It is perfect for the couples, who are dreaming of a wedding fairytale in Greece, and it does not matter if the couple is married or just preparing for this event. Symbolic ceremony will allow you to keep only the sweetest memories. It is hard to imagine a more suitable option for the first step on a long path of a family life.

The company offers standard packages that allow you to save time and money. The information about the services that are included in a standard package you can get in the section “Wedding Packages”. The section “Make Your Own Wedding” is especially designed for those who prefer individual touches in the ceremony. You can calculate yourself the cost of any wedding ceremony. The final calculations will be agreed with the wedding coordinator, which is provided by our company. The final cost will depend on the services chosen.

The organization of weddings in Greece requires:

• Your choice of a ceremony type (a civil wedding, a church ceremony or a symbolic wedding)
• Your choice of a wedding destination in Greece: Rhodes, Kos, Crete, Corfu, Santorini islands or in the mainland Greece like Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Athens, Peloponnese

The success of your wedding is defined by the choice of a reliable partner, who will assist you in the following:

• The type of a ceremony
• Collecting and preparing the necessary documents
• Selecting of a location for the ceremony
• Preparing the program of the event
• Photo and video shooting
• Booking a wedding car and a shuttle for guests
• Assistance to choose a wedding dress, a suit for the groom, the bride’s bouquet, wedding rings etc.
• Making reservation for a hairdresser and stylist
• Selecting a suitable hotel

Your application is sent to the email address wedding@beleontours.com. Our qualified wedding coordinators will take fully responsibility for your wedding organization. Our experts of the company during the whole process are constantly in contact with the customers in order to get the final result according to their wishes.

Our wedding coordinators who specialize in providing VIP services are in charge of the ceremony. The official ceremony is conducted by the mayor. The priest will perform the church ceremony in a Greek Orthodox Church. Symbolic wedding is performed by a qualified employee from our wedding department.

The company Beleon Tours makes an individual approach to each client and is ready to make adjustments, taking into account the necessary time left before the ceremony. We strive to do everything for the maximum satisfaction of customer requirements.

Yes, without a doubt! Guests have a possibility to choose their accommodation.

There is no reason for any concern. All the issues concerning a dress for a bride, a groom’s suit and other necessary items can be bought or rented directly on the spot.

The choices are unlimited concerning the wedding venue. All the choices are offered in the section “Wedding Locations in Greece”. It depends on your preferences (a hotel venue, a seacoast, an olive grove or aboard of a yacht). Our experts will arrange everything in the best possible way.

You can have a look at various stylistic packages that our company has prepared for you. For example, it can be a wedding among roses, which will decorate a room, a wedding table and guests with rose petals scattered everywhere. Wedding in a marine style is also popular and offers white tablecloths and blue napkins, a helm of a ship which serves as a chandelier, sea stars, shells and other items symbolizing sea romance. Strawberry lovers can have a strawberry wedding. For music fans we have prepared live music of their favorite tunes. Do not limit your imagination and share with us your dreams, and we will turn them into reality.

The scenario according to the ancient Greek wedding traditions can be prepared by our wedding coordinators. All you have to do is to make a list with the rest of the wishes.

In fact, many people prefer to rent wedding dresses. You can rent a brand new dress, but the cost will be much higher than the price of a dress that has been used during ceremonies.

Believers usually consult their confessor first. A church ceremony is a very important event and it is recommended before travelling to Greece to learn some details about the ceremony, get advice and the blessing from your spiritual mentor, who would never refuse to discuss a wedding ceremony.

People throw rice at the newlyweds, and it is associated with fertility, which must accompany the couple.

Bomboniere is a small, beautifully designed symbolic gift with sweets and a souvenir inside that every guest will receive during the ceremony. There is a tradition that an unmarried girl can see her future husband by putting a bomboniere under her pillow during bedtime.

The bride’s parents play a major role in the preparation of the wedding. Earlier it was due to the fact that it was supposed to give a dowry, therefore most of the wedding costs were covered by the family of a bride. Her parents had to finish the apartment of the couple; the groom had to purchase all the furniture for the bedroom. In Greece even today there is an engagement ritual before the wedding, during which two families meet each other. The groom’s parents usually make a gift to a future daughter-in-law like gold jewelry that is passed through the female line to the next generations. The bride’s parents give to a future son-in-law something like a watch or gold jewelry.

The week before the wedding is usually full of anxiety. There is a special ceremony “krevati” when in a fully furnished house, the guests throw money on a marriage bed with a wish for the couple to be well-to-do in their life. They lay a little boy on a bed, that symbolizes the wish for the couple to have a boy as their first-born. It is not allowed for a groom to see the bride’s wedding dress, and the night before the wedding itself the future couple spends apart from each other.

It is possible. Christening in Greece is a really unforgettable event.

Please send a request to the email wedding@beleontours.com to get the answer to this question. The specialists of our company depending on your wishes will calculate the cost of the ceremony and will explain any further issues.

In order to baptize a child in Greece you will need:

• The original of the birth certificate of a child
• A copy of birth certificate and its notarized translation
• Parents’ passports
• Passports’ data of a godfather or godmother
• A baptismal certificate from the Orthodox Church, that a godfather or godmother was baptized, that should be translated into Greek by an accredited translator

In Greece a child is named by a godfather. For example, there is a tradition on Northern Sporades that parents are not present at the rite of baptism. Firstly, the child is named by his/her godfather, and then other children go out of the church and call a baby name and invite the parents to the church. The parents need to thank the children and give them money.

Yes, there are specialized in christenings shops in Greece. They are nicely decorated and look more like a magical baby kingdom than commercial shops. Be sure you will find the most beautiful things for christening in such shops. In ordinary shops there are special sections for christenings. In Greece you can find local and international brands.

• Cross
• Clothes selected according to the season
• Underwear for baptizing
• Large baptismal candle-lampada, decorated with souvenirs and tied with a colored ribbon (pink for girls and blue for boys)
• Shoes. Since children are baptized very early, then it is assumed that a godfather gives a first pair of shoes. It is very symbolic, as there is a belief that if a child loses a shoe and you find it, it will bring happiness for you.
• Oil
• Soap
• Large bath towel
• Hand towel
• Three white candles for the font
• A big decorated box where all the attributes for christening will be kept in the future
• Special gifts for guests like crosses with a bow in the form of brooches that symbolize that they are taking part in the sacrament of baptism.
• Bonbonniere
• Typically, the cost for clothes, a cross, and other attributes for the baptism is covered by a godfather. Bonbonnieres and refreshments for the guests after the ceremony are paid by the parents.

It is assumed that the witnesses at the wedding baptize the first child of the couple. It is believed in Greece that the first 7 qualities of a character a baby inherits from his/her godfather, so people choose a suitable godfather very carefully.

Yes, it is a custom to make expensive gifts for a godfather like jewelry, silverware, icons etc. Usually in Greece there is one person who baptizes. If it is a married couple, then only one of them becomes a godfather/godmother, but it does not mean that the second person has no relation to the sacrament of baptism.

For Greeks baptism is a very important event with great symbolic value. It is comparable with a wedding. That’s why there are numerous guests at the celebration where wine flows like water.