Getting Married In Skiathos - June 2024
Have you been looking at getting married in Skiathos? We had our wedding day in June 2024 and I have been so excited to share all the details, reviews and tips from the day. This post is going over the general details of our wedding day, as well as our favourite suppliers, travel tips and places to visit to help you make your decision.
The planning
If you’re looking at getting married in Skiathos, you’re probably wondering how the planning will go with being so far away. There are a lot of wedding planners in Skiathos, there’s also a Facebook group called ‘Skiathos Brides’ which I found super helpful for any questions I had.
We were lucky enough to have family in Skiathos, so a lot of our small things were planned alongside them. We also went out for a few days the year before to get a feel for the town (and fell in love with it!). This is a good way to meet all of your suppliers, view venues and try out some amazing Greek food. The main things you want to arrange out there really are the venues, as the rest is quite easy to do over email. Our venue was our families stunning villa, it was truly breathtaking but sadly they wont be hiring it out, we were just extremely lucky! The Bourtzi or Skiathos Princess hotel were our next favourites, personally I loved the beachfront ceremony area of the Skiathos Princess Hotel.
For our wedding planner, we went with George from Skiathos wedding co-ordinations. He helped to ensure that the legalisation of the marriage went smoothly, and directed us to suppliers, like the translator, as well as booking the entertainment for us.
Documentation
You will need to get your birth certificates translated into Greek, you’ll need the long form versions which can be ordered for around £11 off the gov website. We went with Androullas Veliotou who was recommended to us by George, it cost around £600 so it’s definitely a price to keep in mind when planning. There are lots of places you can get this done online for around £30 per document, so there are definitely options however we went with the recommendation just to ensure it was all correct. The turnaround was very quick. After the wedding, we collected our certificates from the town hall 2 days after. I don’t know about everyone else but I always expected a Wedding Certificate to be this super fancy, luxurious certificate but they actually are just pieces of printer paper! We received 5 copies. You’ll also need to get your wedding certificate translated back into English after the wedding if you wish to change your name. We went with Language Reach for this.
Flying out
Flying out to your wedding is so much fun. I really enjoyed this, I of course went with my bride bow on, my wedding dress box and bouquet in hand! I made mine and my bridesmaids bouquets with some luxury faux flowers (browse them here) We flew with Jet2, and I was able to take my wedding dress box as my hand luggage, as well as a small handbag and my bouquet. My Husband took a hand luggage and his suit with him and they didn’t bat an eyelid, just said congratulations! Taking the dress and suits out there was something we stressed about for a while, worrying we wouldn’t be allowed to take it all with us.
Hotels
There are a lot of lovely hotels in Skiathos, located all over the island. We stayed at the Punta hotel as it was closest to the villa, and it was a nice place to stay. We have 4 young children and the location was good. Our room came out straight onto the pool which was really handy, although the pool didn’t open until 10am so we did have to try keep them away until then!
Our families stayed at the Elivi which was stunning and the Skiathos Princess.
Decor
This section isn’t necessarily related to a Skiathos wedding only, however I wanted to show what sort of things you should be able to take with you in terms of decor. The island is so beautiful it really doesn’t need much, but the little touches did make a difference. A lot of our wedding was DIY in terms of decor. We hired the white archway again from George and decorated it ourselves with tulle and faux eucalyptus. How stunning?! You can hire lots of wedding and event props from the florist Messagros, she has a beautiful range of things too.
We had fans on the seats for each guest as well as a pair of sunglasses. These are the fans on Etsy. As we got married in early June, the heat wasn’t unbearable but it was still very hot in direct sunlight. All of our guests loved these and I would highly recommend them! This venue was in the sun until around 8pm, I’m not sure if it’s different elsewhere but it’s definitely something to think about! We had gorgeous flowers from the florist ‘Messagros’ laid in single vases down the aisle. We brought the vases over, I got a pack of 20 online and they were beautiful! However Messagros do hire out loads of different wedding props which is really useful.
We created a Polaroid guestbook using an Instax Mini and created the sign too. If you’re planning on doing a Polaroid guestbook I would recommend getting a *lot* of film as you go through it quickly, but the images are just so beatiful and vintage feeling! Our guestbook is from here.
I had made individual place cards for each guest, with a ‘time capsule’ year on them. So for each year we would have messages to open from our guests. I loved this idea, although I forgot to bring any pens so a lot of them didn’t get filled out!
We travelled with 3 cases, 1 for the children, 1 for us and 1 for decor. We used Olive branches from the trees for the centrepieces.
The day
Now onto the best bit - how the wedding day went!
We had been looking forward to our wedding for over 5 years, after multiple cancelled weddings due to Covid and then the venue sadly going bust. We booked Skiathos and knew it had all happened for a reason as it was the most beautiful setting and just magical.
Our day started separately (we wanted to be traditional for this part!) and we got ready in separate villas. Brides - I was told to be ready in my dress an hour before the ceremony began and I didn’t listen as I really thought that was just too much time. But I was so wrong! I ended up running around super stressed as I couldn’t find anything, and we had to rush the Bridal portraits and first looks. Looking back, I didn’t have to go down the aisle on time, so I could definitely have allowed myself more time, but if you can I would suggest being ready early! We used Beautique Salon Skiathos for the hair, my daughters hair and my mother in laws makeup. They did a lovely job and it stayed all day! I did my own makeup, having spent months creating the perfect skin and base routine, which I will do a separate blog post on soon because if you’re doing your own too, you absolutely need them!
A picture of the dress just because I *love* her and she deserves a space. Knowing that it was going to be a hot day, I designed with that in mind. Keeping the back opening as a corset meant that I got fresh air to my back, and the sheer panels made the bodice so breathable, as well as the silk lining. The skirt had a 3 metre long train and lining but due to the slit in the leg it felt really lightweight.
Our photographer was Ntaras Ioannis ( weddingphotographercy on Instagram) and he was great. He was absolutely amazing at getting beautiful shots from the day (like the ones in this post). We had a lot of posed shots in one space to make sure we got images with everyone and then had a few candid ones downstairs. Again something to consider is adding into your timeline if you’d like to have planned shots and equally, writing down who you want to get images with as I forgot to hand this over! Ntaras also had a videographer with him which we will receive back in December.
The ceremony was beautiful, George helped to set up the chairs and let everyone know when it was time to begin. The ceremony itself was mostly in English, with one Greek passage also read. You have the option to read their standard vows which are lovely, or to read your own. We read the standard ones during the ceremony and had set a table upstairs to read our personal ones to each other in private, after the ceremony. Neither of us are great at public speaking so this was a really nice way to take a moment together after the chaos of the morning!
Once the ceremony was finished, we had the Sax player from Groom Therapy Band for 2 hours. He was amazing and played a good mixture of songs. We started with some more chilled vibes whilst everyone was having a drink and we were taking photos, and once they were done he switched it up to be more upbeat.
After the Sax had finished, we sat for dinner. I had been carefully curating a playlist for this dinner with the perfect romantic beach wedding vibes, I’ll link that here because honestly it was such a vibe and needs to be shared!
Our food was catered by The Little Balcony and it was the most delicious food ever! We had lamb and chicken souvlaki, Greek salad, couscous, breads, all the traditional Greek food. It was an excellent price for the amount of people we had too. Looking at this photo makes me want to go back just to order more! They also make the best Gyros for when you’re out and about too. We bought all of our drinks at the local wholesaler.
After dinner, we had the speeches. These were amazing and so full of love!
Once speeches were over, the DJ had arrived from Groom Therapy Band and we had our first dance during the most beautiful sunset. We danced to ‘You are the best thing’ by Ray LaMontagne. With the DJ, you send them a few examples of songs that you’d like played during the evening as well as your first dance song prior to the wedding. The music was great and he changed it up when he realised people weren’t enjoying a song so much. We booked the Silver package I believe, and instead of having an hour during the dinner we were able to use all 4 hours for the evening.
After the first dance it was cake cutting time! We had been looking forward to this for over a year, as we had tried out the cake at Mamma Mia bakery (the one in the centre of the town) the year before. We had gone in and explained that we were looking for someone to make a cake for our wedding next year, and explained what we were hoping for. We came back the next day and they had made us a the most beautiful (and delicious) mini cake ever! It was amazing and the cream was so fresh. Over the year, the style we wanted changed and we opted for something topped with fresh fruit which they catered to beautifully. We paid around 60 euros for this and I’m not joking when I say it was the best cake I’ve ever had, we were gutted we couldn’t take it home! The cake stand was from Messagros.
We danced the night away and definitely ended up going into the town centre with some of our family to continue the night on (it was a child free night after all!). The town centre has a great atmosphere and it felt very safe and just good vibes.
We stayed again at the Punta for the night of the wedding (we had a room already but our children were there with my Mum) and they had put a bottle of champagne in the room for us with a lovely note.
Things you should do whilst in Skiathos
The main thing I would recommend everyone to do when in Skiathos is to visit the dog shelter. You can visit all the lovely puppies, give them cuddles and take them for a walk and of course donate to help them keep things running smoothly. They’re very well looked after by the volunteers and, if you’re in the market, you can give them a loving new home.
There’s a gorgeous vineyard on the island with wine and cheese tasting, but I can’t remember the name!
We loved all of the food, I’ve already mentioned the delicious cakes from Mamma Mia bakery and the ice creams from Yumme, pizza from Vesuvio’s, but you should definitely try the Gyros from Mam Souvlaki too! I go over this a little more in the next section.
We got the water taxi to Arkos and ate at their seafood restaurant, attaching a photo here of the food because that was 100% worth the trip. The children loved the boat ride too and it was very safe as they provided life jackets for them.
Overview
If you are looking at getting married in Skiathos, I would highly recommend it! Our Skiathos wedding was a dream come true, I truly don’t think the energy of the day could have been matched here in the UK as the beautiful setting just added a whole other level to the day.
Whilst our day was very much DIY due to the venue not being a ‘venue’, I do think that when booking your Wedding day at the Bourtzi or at the Skiathos Princess for example, things would run so smoothly. I believe that the wedding planners all hold multiple weddings here each season, so they’re really well versed in how to plan for them. Things like the food, drinks etc will all be included already so I think you would only really have to worry about what decor you’d want to bring with you and the documentation. One other thing to remember is that in Skiathos, they are much more laid back in terms of contracts. When you’re booked, you’re booked and unlike in the UK where you get emails, physical contracts and confirmations etc, I found that I didn’t get any of those so it was definitely a shock, but rest assured everything was perfect!
There are so many things to do around Skiathos both before and after the wedding too. Our favourite restaurant with young children was Vesuvio’s on the high street. The food was amazing (specifically the pizzas!) and the staff were excellent with the children. We ended up eating here 3 times during a 7 night stay. There is a lovely ice cream shop in the town centre called ‘yumme’ and in my opinion has the best ice creams. The children also loved the flower swings they have outside the shop! I would definitely recommend booking your stay to be a little longer after the wedding as the days before go so quickly. You do have to arrive early enough (I think it’s 3 days) to be able to get the documentation done and of course flights are only a couple times a week so keep that in mind.
If you’re a couple looking to get married in Skiathos and have any questions for someone who’s also been married there I’d be so happy to answer them for you. Just message me on Instagram!
Suppliers List
Photographer - Ntaras Ioannis
Wedding co-ordinator - George from Skiathos Weddings
Translator - Androullas Veliotou
Aisle Flowers and Cake Stand - Messagros
Cake - Mamma Mia
Catering - The Little Balcony
Hair and Makeup - Beautique Salon Skiathos
Sax and DJ - Groom Therapy Band