Organize the perfect wedding in Santorini
A Santorini wedding needs three things booked before anything else: a venue, a date outside the wind, and a way to move your guests around an island with thirty licensed taxis. Santorini Tours handles the third. The island of Santorini is the most romantic place in Greece, and that is why many couples decide to get married there. Whether you choose a traditional wedding or a romantic one near the sea, you can do it on this island.
The ceremony on the island of Santorini is a wonderful way to celebrate your true love and imagine your future together. The breathtaking view, the colors of the sea, and the romantic atmosphere are some of the elements that create this unique scene for your wedding day.
If you have dreamt of getting married on an island, make the dream come true in Santorini. This island is the best destination for your honeymoon as it combines the sea with the perfect sunset. On this island, you can find many wedding planners to organize your wedding, including the church, the photographer, the decoration, and whatever you want.
All the details will be as you have dreamed. Find your other half, choose the bridal gown, the costume, and the church, and this scenery will be unforgettable. Whether you have been planning this ceremony for a very long time or just for a few days, your wedding will be one of the most beautiful days of your life.
Weddings in Santorini are a truly unforgettable experience for everyone!
Enjoy a tour in Santorini after the wedding!
After the wedding ceremony, you can choose a private tours in Santorini for the couple or even the guests. Trust Santorinitours to enjoy the day after the wedding with your family or friends.
Visit all the island’s highlights and meet the culture and the history of the best island in Greece. See the traditional villages and churches and take wedding photographs in the narrow streets in front of the sea and the unforgettable sunset.
If you are looking for a private tour in this island book now and this experience you will be very memorable!
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Santorini Wedding: What It Actually Takes
A Santorini wedding needs three things booked before anything else: a venue, a date outside the wind, and a way to move your guests around an island with thirty licensed taxis. Everything else – the flowers, the photographer, the dress – can be arranged in the last three months. Those three cannot.
Most couples book the venue nine to twelve months ahead for a summer date. Paperwork for a civil ceremony takes about six weeks to clear. Guest transport is the part almost everybody leaves until last, and it is the part that decides whether the day runs on time.
Where Can You Get Married?
A Santorini wedding happens in one of three kinds of place, and they behave very differently on the day.
The caldera rim
Imerovigli, Firostefani and Oia. This is the view everybody comes for, and the reason a Santorini wedding costs what it does. The problem is access: most of these venues sit at the bottom of stepped lanes with no vehicle access, so guests walk the last stretch. Tell your driver which lane, and tell your guests which shoes.
Inland and clifftop estates
Pyrgos, Megalochori, Vothonas and the wineries. Wide-open views over the whole island rather than straight down the caldera, level ground, room to park, and roughly half the venue cost. Under-used, and our honest recommendation for a Santorini wedding of more than forty people. Pyrgos · Megalochori.
Beach and seaside
Vlychada, Perivolos and the south coast. Flat, easy to reach, and the cheapest of the three. Wind is the variable: the meltemi is at its worst on this coast in July and August. Vlychada · Perivolos.
Churches
A church Santorini wedding is slower. Orthodox ceremonies need the parish’s agreement and, for non-Orthodox partners, documentation from your own church. Catholic weddings are possible at the cathedral in Fira. Start this early: it is the slowest paperwork on the island.
What Paperwork Do You Need?
For a civil Santorini wedding at the town hall in Fira, foreign couples generally need birth certificates, certificates of no impediment, passports, and official translations with an apostille. Divorced or widowed applicants need the decree or death certificate as well.
Allow six weeks from filing to the ceremony, longer in August. Almost every couple uses a local wedding planner for this, and it is money well spent – the documents are submitted in Greek and the office does not chase you.
A symbolic Santorini wedding has no paperwork at all. Many couples marry legally at home and hold the real celebration here, which removes the entire problem.
What Does a Santorini Wedding Cost?
Santorini wedding budgets vary more than almost anything else on this page. Ranges, not quotes, and they move with the season.
Elopement, two people. A symbolic ceremony, a photographer and a table for two. The cheapest real version of a Santorini wedding, and often the best one.
Small wedding, up to thirty. Venue, catering, flowers, music, photography and transport. The bracket most couples land in.
Full caldera wedding, sixty or more. Several times that, driven almost entirely by the venue and the catering.
Venue hire. The largest single line, and a caldera-rim terrace is roughly double an inland estate.
Photography. The second largest, and the one couples regret economising on.
Planner. Typically a percentage or a flat fee, and it buys you the paperwork and the local suppliers.
Guest transport. Priced per vehicle. A minibus moving twenty guests costs less than the taxis they will not be able to find.
When Is the Best Time of Year?
May and early June. The best window for a Santorini wedding. Warm, green, the light is soft, and the island is not yet full. Venue availability is better and so are the prices.
Late June to August. The most booked and the most difficult time for a Santorini wedding. Thirty-five degrees in an outdoor ceremony, the meltemi at its strongest, and every hotel on the island at capacity. If you marry in August, do it at seven in the evening.
September and early October. The other good Santorini wedding window, and many planners’ first choice. Warm sea, softer light, thinner crowds.
Late October to April. A winter Santorini wedding is quiet, cheap and genuinely beautiful, but weather is a real risk and a good share of venues close. Have an indoor plan.
The wind. The single most underestimated factor in a Santorini wedding. The meltemi can make a caldera terrace unusable and it does not care what the forecast said yesterday. Ask every venue what their wind plan is before you sign.
How Do Your Guests Get Around?
Guest transport is the part of a Santorini wedding we actually handle, so here is the honest version.
Santorini has around thirty licensed taxis for the whole island. On a July evening, with four cruise ships gone and every restaurant full, your guests will not find one. Buses stop early and every route changes in Fira. Hire cars mean guests driving unlit switchback roads after a wedding dinner, which is exactly what you do not want.
What works at a Santorini wedding is booked vehicles: minibuses from the hotels to the venue and back, timed to the ceremony, with a driver who knows which lane the venue is on and where a vehicle can actually stop. Priced per vehicle, so twenty guests in one minibus costs far less than twenty taxi fares that do not exist.
Airport and port arrivals. Guests land across two or three days. We meet each arrival by name and track the flight or the ferry. Transfers.
The ceremony run. Hotels to venue, then venue to dinner, then back at the end of the night.
The day after. Most Santorini wedding parties want one relaxed day on the island. A private tour of the villages, the wineries or the beaches, with everybody in one vehicle. Personalised tour · Wine tour.
The photo shoot. Couples shooting in Oia at sunrise need a car at five in the morning. That is not a taxi job.
What Do People Get Wrong?
Leaving guest transport until last. The most common mistake in a Santorini wedding, and the one that puts thirty people on a terrace waiting.
Booking a caldera Santorini wedding venue without checking access. Some are 80 steps down from the nearest road.
An outdoor ceremony at four in the afternoon in August. Move it to seven.
No wind plan. Ask the venue directly.
Guests connecting a ferry to a same-day flight. Sailings are cancelled at short notice. Tell them to fly, or to leave a day’s margin.
Assuming Oia is bookable at sunset. It is the most crowded place in Greece at that hour.
Starting the paperwork too late. Six weeks minimum, and August is slower.
Santorini Wedding: Frequently Asked Questions
How far ahead should we book a Santorini wedding? Nine to twelve months for a summer date, and the venue first. Everything else follows it.
Can foreigners legally hold a Santorini wedding? Yes. A civil ceremony at the town hall in Fira needs birth certificates, certificates of no impediment, passports and apostilled translations, filed about six weeks ahead.
What is the cheapest way to do it? A symbolic ceremony with a legal marriage at home, an inland venue and a photographer. No paperwork and a fraction of the cost.
What is the best month for a Santorini wedding? May, early June, September or early October. August is hot, windy and full.
Do we need a Santorini wedding planner? For a legal ceremony, effectively yes – the paperwork is in Greek. For a symbolic one, not necessarily.
How do guests get from the airport? Pre-booked transfers. There are around thirty taxis on the island and no reliable rank at the airport in season.
Is Oia good for a Santorini wedding? Beautiful, expensive, and access is on foot down stepped lanes. Imerovigli gives a similar view with fewer people.
What happens if it is too windy? A good venue has an indoor or sheltered alternative. Confirm it in writing before you book.
Can you move a whole wedding party? Yes – minibuses, priced per vehicle, timed around the ceremony.
What should guests do the day before or after? One private tour with everybody in one vehicle. The villages, the wineries or a beach.
Transport for Your Santorini Wedding
We do not plan weddings. We move the people at them, which on this island is a harder problem than it sounds and the one thing couples consistently underestimate.
Tell us the Santorini wedding venue, the date, the ceremony time and how many guests are staying where, and we will build the vehicle plan around it: arrivals tracked by flight and ferry, hotels to venue and back, and a tour for whoever wants one the next day. Prices are per vehicle rather than per person, and an 80 EUR deposit holds a date.
See the full list of tours, our vehicles, or the FAQ.
Every Village and Site on the Island
Any of these can be built into a private day. Each has its own page with what to see and how long to allow.
Caldera villages: Fira · Firostefani · Imerovigli · Oia · Finikia · Baxedes
Inland villages: Pyrgos · Megalochori · Emporio · Mesaria · Karterados · Vothonas · Vourvoulos · Exo Gonia · Mesa Gonia · Pigadia
Beaches: Perissa · Perivolos · Kamari · Vlychada · Monolithos · Red Beach · White Beach · Agios Georgios · Agia Paraskevi
Sites and landmarks: Akrotiri · Ancient Thira · Akrotiri Lighthouse · Nea Kameni · Palia Kameni · Thirasia · Athinios Port
All our tours: All Santorini tours · Full day tour · Sightseeing tour · Personalised tour · North part tour · Horse riding · South part tour · Sunset tour · Shore excursion · Caldera tour · Food experience · Wine tour · Historical tour · Small group tour
Planning and services: Famous sights tour · Private transfers · Transfers to Oia and Finikia · Transfers to other villages · Villages of Santorini · History of Santorini · Tours near you · Languages we guide in · Food and fun tours · Gay friendly tours · Our tour buses · Daily tours · Day tours · FAQ · Gallery · Tour photo gallery · About us · Contact · Blog
