When couples research where to host the perfect island wedding many opt for a villa wedding in Mykonos.

Greece’s beautiful island scenery has proven to be the perfect backdrop for a wedding event. Think of the elegant whitewashed historic walls of the old town or the idyllic pristine beaches.

The one issue that we explained in the first part of our “Planning a Villa Wedding in Mykonos” blog series is that many optimistic couples run into bureaucratic headaches.  Total control of a wedding event is possible, however, at a beautiful spacious whitewashed traditional Mykonian villa. It has proven to be a simple yet elegant solution. If the wedding party is small enough, friends and family can stay in the same luxurious place but with enough privacy and freedom to do what each group wants. Furthermore, staying at a lovely spacious villa gives even more precious time for the bride and groom to mingle with loved ones that have traveled near and far to be with them on their big day. 

In preparation for the wedding day, many guests have reached out to local wedding expert Margarita Samanoglou of Dream Weddings Mykonos. She offers consulting, planning and coordinating services.  This interview is the second in our special blog series called “Planning a Mykonos Wedding.” She sat down to talk to us about social media, budgets and how much time you need to plan your Mykonos wedding from abroad.

How is social media changing the way customers approach their wedding planning? Are customers turning a lot to social media channels such as Pinterest for example to design the wedding of their dreams? 

These tools have become essential to our work.  From the planner perspective, we can present and promote our work. From the bride’s perspective, she has a way to easily gather all the elements of decoration on a Pinterest board. Also, we have found that a “mood” board is a good guideline for the decoration process. Through social media channels a bride can research her preferred decoration style and garner ideas she might not have found otherwise.

Many brides need to plan their Mykonos dream wedding from abroad. Give us some tips on what a bride should consider.

-Try and plan an additional visit to the island a long time prior to the wedding day.  We suggest a scouting trip to see the locations.

-Come a few days prior to the wedding day and leave some days after the big event.

-Don’t forget to arrange for a relaxing vacation after the big day. No matter how well ahead things are planned, it is stressful and tiring to entertain guests.

How far in advance should the wedding planning process start?

To ensure the availability of venues and the rest we propose starting the process six months to one year in advance. That would be a very good time to plan. However, nothing is impossible we can plan a wedding in a month.

How do you figure out the wedding budget?

There are so many elements that can readjust a wedding budget.  Consider the following:

• The date of the event (low vs. high season)
• The number of guests
• The location of the event (villa, hotel, restaurants or tavern)
• The style and decoration theme

The amount of services required including entertainment (DJ or band), photographer, videographer, fireworks, decoration and more. Also consider the emphasis the couple wishes to give to each service.

All these elements are discussed with the couple in a very early stage so we can offer services that are relative to the couple desires and budget at the same time.

Thank you for this insight into planning a villa wedding in Mykonos and more.  Stay tuned next month for our next “Planning a Mykonos Wedding” post. It will take a look at more great tips to planning a perfect island wedding.