Last updated: 6 October 2026.
How I know this: I planned our own Greek Orthodox wedding in Chania, Crete, for May 2024, from abroad, for 96 guests from six continents.
Orthodox Easter is Sunday 2 May 2027, so Greek Orthodox church weddings pause from Clean Monday, 15 March, until Easter; civil and symbolic ceremonies aren’t affected. Guests face new EU border checks, and popular venues often book a year or more ahead.
If you’re marrying in Greece in 2027, the most important date in your planning might not be your own. It’s Sunday 2 May 2027, Orthodox Easter, and if you want a church wedding, it decides which spring Saturdays are even possible.
This article covers the 2027 dates, the deadlines counted back from a 2027 wedding, the new rules your guests will meet, and the 2027 wedding trends worth borrowing. For the questions that don’t change from year to year, like the best month, which island, the full costs and the legal steps, I keep it short and link the article that covers each one. I’ll keep adding to this article as 2027 gets closer. I’m not a planner, and nobody pays to appear in it.
Table of Contents
What changes for a wedding in Greece in 2027?
Six things to know for a 2027 wedding, some new and some newer than most advice you’ll read: one for church weddings, four for your guests’ travel, and one for same-sex couples.
- Easter is late. Orthodox Easter is Sunday 2 May 2027, so couples who want an Orthodox church wedding lose the second half of March, all of April and the first days of May. The full church calendar is in the next section.
- Your guests will be fingerprinted at the border the first time. The EU’s Entry/Exit System has been fully running since April 2026. It replaces passport stamps for visitors from the UK, the US and Australia, and the first crossing takes longer.
- ETIAS is coming, but not yet. It’s a new travel authorization for visa-free visitors, and as of October 2026 it has no official start date.
- Hotels charge a climate fee. It’s per room, per night, and it depends on the hotel’s star rating, so it adds up over a wedding weekend.
- There are new direct flights for summer 2027, including Delta from Detroit to Athens and Jet2 from the UK to Kavala, the airport for the island of Thassos.
- Same-sex couples can marry legally in Greece, as they have since February 2024, and in 2026 Greece’s highest administrative court published its ruling that the law stands. There’s more in same-sex weddings in Greece.
What each of the travel changes means for your guests, with the fees, is further down.
Which 2027 dates can you not marry in a Greek Orthodox church?
In 2027 Greek Orthodox churches traditionally hold no weddings from Clean Monday, 15 March, until Easter on 2 May, on Whit Monday, 21 June, in many dioceses on 27 and 28 June, from 1 to 15 August, on 28 and 29 August, on 13 and 14 September, and in the days before Christmas. Civil and symbolic ceremonies can happen on any of these dates.
Save this part. It’s the conversation you’ll have with your partner, your venue and probably your mother.
Greek Orthodox and public holiday dates that affect weddings in 2027 (last checked 6 October 2026)
| Date (2027) | What it is | Church wedding? |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 15 Mar to Sat 1 May | Great Lent and Holy Week | No |
| Thu 25 Mar | National Day | No |
| Sat 1 May | Holy Saturday | No |
| Sun 2 May | Orthodox Easter | Ask your Metropolis |
| Mon 3 May | Easter Monday | Ask your Metropolis |
| Sun 20 Jun | Pentecost | No |
| Mon 21 Jun | Whit Monday | No |
| Sun 27 and Mon 28 Jun | Apostles’ fast | No, in many dioceses |
| Sun 1 to Sun 15 Aug | Dormition fast | No |
| Sat 28 and Sun 29 Aug | St John the Baptist | No |
| Mon 13 and Tue 14 Sep | Holy Cross | No |
| Thu 28 Oct | Ochi Day | Not restricted |
| 17 or 18 to 25 Dec | Run-up to Christmas | No |
| Wed 5 and Thu 6 Jan 2028 | Epiphany | No |
Civil and symbolic ceremonies aren’t affected by any of these dates. The details behind the short answers:
- Great Lent starts on Clean Monday and runs straight into Holy Week. Independence Day on 25 March, a public holiday, falls inside it.
- Holy Saturday is normally May Day too. When 1 May falls in Holy Week, May Day is usually moved to another day; for 2027 that wasn’t decided as of October 2026.
- For Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, ask your Metropolis for the first open date after Easter. Easter Monday is a public holiday and a long weekend for Greek guests and vendors.
- Whit Monday (Holy Spirit Monday) is a public holiday and a long weekend in Greece, so book ferries and hotels early.
- The short Apostles’ fast runs from All Saints’ Sunday to the eve of Saints Peter and Paul. Many dioceses pause church weddings for it, so ask yours.
- The Dormition fast ends on the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, a public holiday, on 15 August.
- The two-day rows in August, September and January are each an eve and its feast: the Beheading of St John the Baptist, the Elevation of the Holy Cross and Epiphany.
- Ochi Day is a public holiday, not a church restriction, and falls around the end of the season on many islands.
- The run-up to Christmas starts on about 17 or 18 December and runs to Saturday 25 December; the start date varies by diocese.
Each Metropolis (the local diocese) sets its own exact dates, some start the Lent pause a day earlier on Sunday 14 March, and the bishop can make exceptions. So treat this table as the traditional pattern, not the final word for your church.
If you like a date with a pattern, Saturday 17 July 2027 (17.7.27) sits outside every church restriction above, though it’s the middle of peak summer.
Why is Orthodox Easter so late in 2027?
Because the Orthodox Church still calculates Easter with the old Julian calendar, which in 2027 puts it on Sunday 2 May, five weeks after Western Easter on Sunday 28 March. If your family celebrates both, they won’t clash this year.
What the 2027 calendar means for your wedding
Civil or symbolic ceremony? None of the church dates apply to you. Any date in the season works.
Orthodox church wedding? For a Greek Orthodox church wedding in 2027, your realistic windows are from early May, once your Metropolis confirms the first date after Easter, to the end of July (except 20, 21, 27 and 28 June), then 16 to 27 August, 30 August to 12 September, and 15 September into October. Confirm your date with the local Metropolis, or ask your priest to, before you pay a single euro of venue deposit.
Choosing your 2027 month and island
For 2027, the months that work best are May (from the first date your Metropolis confirms after Easter on 2 May, if you want a church wedding), June, September and early October: warm, not scorching, and cheaper than high summer. July and August can hit 40°C, so if you choose them, hold the ceremony late, around 19:00 to 20:00 as many summer weddings in Greece do, plan shade and water for your guests, and ask your venue about its wildfire plan.
We chose a long weekend in May. Warm enough to swim, cool enough that nobody melted in their suit, and our guests turned the wedding into a real holiday. I’d make the same choice again. The full month-by-month detail, with weather and prices, is in best time to get married in Greece.
For the place, pick what fits your guest count, your budget and how your guests will get there. If most of them are flying in from the US, the UK or Australia, a direct international airport can save them a whole ferry day. And Crete is bigger than it looks: four to five hours by road from one end to the other, so keep everyone in one area. I compare them all in the best Greek islands to get married, and planning a wedding in Crete goes deep on the island we chose.
When should you book a 2027 wedding in Greece?
Book your venue the usual 12 to 18 months ahead for a peak-season date, or 10 to 14 months ahead for spring and autumn. For a June 2027 wedding that means now, and for October 2027 by about the end of 2026.
Our own numbers say couples already plan that far out. Of the 132 couples who filled in our budget calculator over ten weeks in summer 2026, the median was 13.7 months from their wedding, and 68 percent were a year or more out.
Here’s how the stages look counted back from two 2027 dates:
| Stage (months before) | June 2027 | October 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Big decisions (18 to 12) | Dec 2025 to Jun 2026 | Apr to Oct 2026 |
| The people (12 to 9) | Jun to Sep 2026 | Oct 2026 to Jan 2027 |
| Your guests (9 to 6) | Sep to Dec 2026 | Jan to Apr 2027 |
| Documents (ask at 6) | Ask by Dec 2026 | Ask by Apr 2027 |
| The last month (1) | May 2027 | Sep 2027 |
A few notes on each stage:
- The big decisions. Guest count first, then budget, then a date range (not a date), then the region, then the venue. Let the venue tell you which dates are free. Our venue directory lists them by island.
- The people. Photographer first, because the good ones shoot dozens of weddings a season, then caterer, then everyone else (the first five vendors to book has the order). This is also when to negotiate a hotel block.
- Your guests. Save-the-dates go first, then the wedding website with travel, where to stay, what to wear and the weekend schedule. The Invitation Timeline Calculator works out your send dates.
- Your documents. Ask your town hall or priest early which day they check your papers, because that date, not your wedding day, sets your window: count back from it (the next section shows how). If your country or your church is slow, start sooner: the clock starts on the date a document is issued, not the day you ask.
- The last month. Final numbers, transport, schedules, and one person in charge of registering the marriage after the wedding.
A timing tip most people miss: Greek vendors work weddings all summer, so their inboxes go quiet. When we emailed in peak season, we heard nothing. The same vendors replied when we tried again in September and October. If you’re marrying in 2027, send your inquiries now. Include your date range, guest count and one specific question. And notice how they reply. A vendor who answers instantly in July may simply have fewer bookings.
Already inside 12 months? You’re still in time. You’ll have fewer choices, so give venues a range of dates rather than one, and decide within days when something fits.
Who should plan it with you?
There are three ways to do it, and none of them is wrong:
- A full planner. Worth it if you have no time to chase vendors in another language. Choose someone based where you’re marrying, who knows the vendors personally. Start with our planner directory or Christina’s Picks for planners.
- A venue team plus a day-of coordinator. Many Greek venues work with vendors they trust. Add someone to run the timeline on the day.
- You manage the vendors yourself, plus a day-of coordinator. Very doable from abroad, with a spreadsheet, an inbox and a little nerve, and the coordinator means you’re not the one running the timeline on your own wedding day.
We hired our first planner online, without ever meeting her. It didn’t work out, we let her go, and we lost about €600 of the deposit. Then we did it venue first, and for everyone else we went the Greek way: when the same name came up from people who didn’t know each other, that was the one. Choose the venue first, then decide how much help you need.
Booking vendors from abroad, safely
Here’s what I’d do now, before signing with anyone:
- Ask for couples who planned from abroad, and actually speak to one or two of them.
- Trust names that come up twice, from people who don’t know each other. My husband calls this the Greegle: the network of relationships Greeks build over a lifetime, and the trust that travels along it. You can borrow it. Start with your venue owner, ask who they trust, and follow the names that keep coming back. More in how the Greegle works.
- Meet more than once before you sign, in person or on a video call. Make the first conversation about getting to know each other, not logistics.
- Ask if they’ve worked at your venue before. Vendors who know the place, and the people who run it, make the day so much smoother.
- Get the final price in writing, with VAT and any service charge spelled out.
- Know what your deposit covers, and what happens to it if plans change.
Still not sure what to actually book first?
In one hour on a call, I’ll help you map what to book and in what order, with no vendor commissions. You keep the whole plan in writing.
Founding rate, 15% off. Full refund if the hour doesn’t give you a clear way forward.
When should you request your documents for a 2027 wedding?
Request them so they’re issued inside the window your town hall or priest accepts, usually three to six months depending on the document, counted back from the day they check your papers, not from your wedding day.
Count back from the day your papers are checked
That last part is the one people get wrong. For our May wedding, the documents had to be valid and fresh on the day the priest reviewed them, and that was in late January, almost four months before the wedding. So ask your town hall, or your priest, two things first: on what date will they check your documents, and how recent must each one be on that date? Then count back. For an October 2027 wedding where the town hall checks your papers in early September, a document that must be under three months old has to be issued after early June 2027, and a six-month one after early March 2027.
What you’ll need, in short
The good news: you don’t need to live in Greece to marry here. You both need to be 18 or over, you need two witnesses, and a civil wedding and a church wedding are each a full legal marriage on their own. Many international couples marry legally at home and hold a symbolic ceremony in Greece instead, with none of this paperwork.
For a civil wedding you’ll typically need your birth certificate with an apostille and an official Greek translation, plus proof that nothing stops you from marrying. The UK has one detail that catches people: a birth certificate can’t take the cheaper e-Apostille, so budget for the £45 paper apostille and up to 25 working days. Once your papers are in, the town hall usually issues the marriage license about a week later, and it’s valid for six months. Some town halls also want a notice of your marriage in a local daily newspaper. Fees are set locally too: the €18 license fee you’ll see online is for people who live in Greece, and some town halls charge a separate ceremony fee (€70 in Rhodes, for example). Ask your town hall about the notice and both fees.
After the wedding, the marriage has to be declared at the civil registry (the Lixiarcheio) within 40 days. A late declaration is still accepted with a fine, but put one person in charge of it before you fly home.
Marrying in an Orthodox church
Add baptism certificates and the church’s own paperwork, and start earlier. A church wedding is possible when only one of you is Orthodox, as long as the other was baptized a Christian: my husband isn’t Orthodox, and we had the full Orthodox ceremony. His baptism certificate came from Poland and arrived with one week to spare, and I still think about it. So ask the local Metropolis early exactly what they need from the partner who isn’t Orthodox. Our full story is in can a Catholic marry in a Greek Orthodox church. Your koumbaro or koumbara, the sponsor who exchanges the crowns, must be Orthodox and, if married, married in the Orthodox Church, though some churches are more flexible on that last point, so check early.
The document lists, step by step, are in how to get married in Greece and in the country articles for the UK, the US and Australia.
What will a wedding in Greece cost in 2027?
Plan on 2026 prices until vendors send their 2027 quotes: about €20,000 to €40,000 all in for 100 guests on Crete or the mainland, and €40,000 to €70,000 on Santorini, with venue hire alone from about €3,500 on the mainland to €14,000 on the Santorini caldera. Then ask every vendor for their 2027 rate in writing. The full breakdown, line by line, is in what a wedding in Greece really costs, with our €37,933 breakdown.
Ask every vendor one more question: is this price with VAT or without? Greek VAT is 24% on most wedding services, including drinks with or without alcohol, and 13% on catering food, hotel rooms and guest transport, and quotes don’t always say which they include.
Our own number: we set a hard budget of €20,000 and spent €37,933 all in, for 96 guests. It wasn’t one reckless splurge. We went over mainly on two choices we made on purpose: a lighting upgrade, and rooms for certain close friends and family members. We’d make the same choices again. Decide in advance the one or two things you’ll happily go over budget for, then hold the line everywhere else. Planning something smaller? Start with small and intimate weddings in Greece or eloping in Greece.
Run your own numbers: the free Wedding Cost Calculator gives you a range from 14 quick questions, based on real Greek vendor prices.
I built a free calculator using real vendor quotes from across Greece. Enter your guest count and preferences and it builds a full estimate, VAT included.
What do your guests need to know about traveling to Greece in 2027?
Your guests need to know about three new things at the border and the hotel desk: fingerprints under the EU’s Entry/Exit System, ETIAS (not running yet), and a per-night climate fee at every hotel and holiday rental. Copy the next three parts straight onto your wedding website.
At the border: the Entry/Exit System
The EU Entry/Exit System has been live at every external Schengen border since 10 April 2026. UK, US and Australian visitors have their fingerprints and a photo taken the first time they enter, instead of a passport stamp. Allow extra time at the airport on arrival.
ETIAS: coming, but not yet
ETIAS is a new travel authorization for visitors who don’t need a visa. It will cost €20 (free for under-18s and over-70s) and last three years, or until the passport expires if that comes first. As of October 2026 it isn’t running and there’s no official start date, so guests should check the official EU travel site a few weeks before they fly.
The hotel climate fee
Hotels and holiday rentals in Greece charge a climate crisis resilience fee, per room and per night, on top of the room rate. These are the April to October rates for 2026; 2027 rates hadn’t been published as of October 2026.
| Where they stay | Per room, per night |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 star hotel | €2 |
| 3 star hotel | €5 |
| 4 star hotel | €10 |
| 5 star hotel | €15 |
| Holiday rental | €8 |
| Rental over 80 m², or a villa | €15 |
New flights for summer 2027
Delta flies from Detroit to Athens from 8 June 2027, three times a week until 28 October. Jet2 adds Kavala, the airport for the island of Thassos, from London Stansted and Manchester from 11 May 2027 and from Birmingham from 12 May. The main international island airports are Santorini, Mykonos, Heraklion and Chania on Crete, Corfu and Rhodes. Naxos and Paros are reached by ferry or a domestic flight.
Make it a wedding weekend, not a day
Guests at a destination wedding in Greece typically stay around four nights, so your guests are already planning a holiday. What worked for us:
- Everyone staying close together, so they bumped into each other from Thursday onward
- A shuttle every 30 minutes, so nobody had to drive
- One WhatsApp group for announcements and arrival tips (and a flood of the best guest photos)
- A printed weekend schedule in every room
Work out your real headcount next: the free Guest Attendance Calculator estimates how many of your invited guests are likely to come. And when they ask what to wear, send them the Greek wedding attire guide.
Who pays for what?
At most destination weddings, guests cover their own flights and rooms, and you host the wedding itself. Where you help beyond that is a choice, not a rule. We paid for rooms for certain close friends and family members, including a couple of nights for close family, and I’d do it again. The full story, with the numbers, is in who pays for guest accommodation at a wedding abroad.
A group hotel rate helps everyone, even the guests you’re not paying for. We guaranteed a block of rooms in shoulder season and got around 15% off, with a booking code any guest could use.
Kids and older guests
Kids. The kids were with us for the whole wedding, the ceremony included, and they had their own table, their own menu and an entertainer (not a babysitter). It cost a couple of hundred euros and was one of the best decisions we made. Parents thanked us all night, and they still mention how much they appreciated the gesture. There’s more in bringing children to a wedding in Greece.
Older guests. Ask every venue about steps, slopes, the walk from where the bus drops people off, and shade. Shuttles help too, so nobody has to drive or walk far at night.
The Greek traditions your guests will meet
A one-page card explaining what’s happening goes a long way, especially for guests who’ve never been to a Greek wedding. Tell them that guests say Na zisete (“may you live”) to the couple instead of “congratulations”, what the stefana (the two crowns joined by one ribbon) mean, and that plate smashing is rare at weddings now, so guests throw napkins or flowers instead (why Greeks smash plates). Explain the koufeta too, the sugared almonds given in odd numbers for luck. Nobody took ours home, because our guests didn’t know what they were. The rest are in Greek wedding traditions.
What are the 2027 wedding trends, and how do they work in Greece?
The 2027 wedding trends that suit Greece best are the multi-day wedding weekend, spritz bars, food stations, garden-style and single-flower arrangements and drapery, plus plum and olive colors and Juliet caps, which rose on Pinterest in 2026. Each one needs a small adjustment for Greek wind, heat and what grows here.
You’ll find your look on Pinterest, and you should. What a board can’t tell you is how it holds up in a Greek May, or on a windy island in August. Here’s how the wedding trends for 2027 work in Greece.
The wedding weekend, and the setting
Multi-day weddings are one of the headline trends for 2027: welcome drinks, the wedding, a goodbye brunch. In Greece this is already the natural shape, because your guests have flown in and want a holiday around it. It’s exactly what we did.
The coastal “beach club” look (spritz bars, striped cabanas, lemons on the table) translates to a seaside taverna or a beach venue, with lemon and olive branches instead of a florist’s whole stockroom. The green, garden-style wedding becomes an olive-grove estate, on the mainland or an island, where the setting does half the decorating. Marrying in the Cyclades in summer? Santorini, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos and Ios get the meltemi, a strong northerly wind that peaks in July and August, so cabanas, candles and arches all need a plan for staying put.
2027 wedding colors
Deeper colors are climbing: merlot, plum, powder blue and moss, and plum-and-olive palettes rose fast on Pinterest in 2026. In Greece, olive branches and leaves are part of the landscape, so the green half of that palette is already around you, and plum or merlot linens do the rest.
Flowers and decor
Three flower trends travel well. One flower in volume, with installations built from a single bloom or greenery rather than mixed bouquets everywhere. Looser, garden-picked arrangements, with poppies named as a 2027 favorite. And flower bars, where guests build their own little bunch, which rose fast on Pinterest in 2026. Drapery backdrops, soft fabric behind the ceremony or the head table, are rising too. On a windy island, ask how it will be weighted down.
This is what’s in bloom around you in Greece, the backdrop your photos get for free rather than what a florist stocks:
| When | What you’ll see |
|---|---|
| March to early June | Hillside wildflowers |
| May | Olive trees in flower, jasmine starting |
| Late spring through summer | Bougainvillea and oleander |
The wildflowers are at their best in April and May, with poppies and anemones among them.
Many florist flowers aren’t local: in 2025 Greece imported about US$35 million of cut flowers from the Netherlands. So ask your florist what’s in season locally for your month, because out-of-season choices can cost more. Flowers and decor together typically run €700 to €3,000 at 2026 prices.
My advice: spend on the few things your guests see up close, and let the place do the rest. We used our caterer’s own tables and chairs and hand-painted our own signs, and nobody missed a thing.
Food and drink
- Spritz bars and a long aperitivo hour. Instead of a formal wait before dinner, a slow, golden hour of drinks and small plates. In Greece, add a few mezze (small shared plates) and you’re already there, and it fills the hottest part of a summer evening before dinner.
- Food you can play with. Interactive food and drink stations are on the 2027 lists. A grill or a souvla (spit-roast) station feels completely natural at a Greek wedding.
- A menu that tells your story. Menus built around the couple’s heritage. A Greek mezze table next to a dish from home says more about you than any canapé.
- Good drinks without alcohol. Mocktail menus are joining the bar. We had a mocktail bar for the kids, and it’s an easy one to open to everyone.
- A signature drink. We served mastiha shots instead of ouzo or vodka. Mastiha is a Greek spirit from the island of Chios, about half the strength, so everyone was still dancing at two in the morning. Our bartender told his assistant to pack hundreds of glasses, and he was right.
What to wear in the Greek heat and wind
Antique lace is back for dresses and veils; in a Greek summer, look for the lightest weight you can find. Juliet caps climbed on Pinterest in 2026, and a short veil won’t turn into a sail in the meltemi. And more couples change into a second, lighter look for the reception, which makes sense on a warm Greek evening with a lot of dancing ahead.
Music, dancing and the guest experience
Couples want guests who join in, and in Greece the circle dances do this for you: within a few songs, everyone is in. My article on Greek wedding dances and music has 138 songs, hour by hour.
Pop-up moments are replacing favors, like an espresso martini service or a bouquet bar instead of a trinket. A Greek coffee station would fit beautifully. We did custom coffees at our goodbye brunch.
Our secret weapon was a friend whose only job was to refill the dance floor whenever it emptied.
For two real weddings that show how this looks in practice, see Garanfil and Roman at Pyrgos Petreza and Kendall and Taylor on Sifnos.
What do couples ask me most about a 2027 wedding in Greece?
Mostly whether it’s too late, whether April works for a church wedding, whether guests need ETIAS, and what it all costs. Here are the short answers.
No, but don’t wait. A summer 2027 date is already closer than the 12 to 18 months peak-season venues are usually booked, and spring 2027 is closer still, so book your venue now and be flexible on the exact date. An autumn 2027 date still sits inside the usual 10 to 14 months, which gives you more choice.
No, not in April. Orthodox Easter is Sunday 2 May 2027, and Greek Orthodox churches traditionally hold no weddings from Clean Monday, 15 March 2027, until Easter. Aim for the first date your Metropolis confirms after Easter on 2 May. A civil or symbolic ceremony in April 2027 isn’t affected.
Not yet. As of October 2026, ETIAS isn’t running and has no official start date. When it starts, it will cost €20 per traveler (free for under-18s and over-70s) and last three years. The Entry/Exit System is already live, so first-time arrivals give fingerprints and a photo at the border.
Until 2027 quotes arrive, plan on 2026 prices: about €20,000 to €40,000 all in for 100 guests on Crete or the mainland, and €40,000 to €70,000 on Santorini. Our own 96-guest wedding in Crete came to €37,933 all in. The wedding cost breakdown has every line.
More Greek wedding resources
- What a wedding in Greece really costs
- How to get married in Greece: the legal steps
- Best time to get married in Greece
- The best Greek islands to get married
- Can a Catholic marry in a Greek Orthodox church?
- Who pays for guest accommodation at a wedding abroad?
- Wedding planners in Greece
Sources
- 2027 Easter dates: calculated with the standard Orthodox (Julian) and Western (Gregorian) Easter rules.
- Church wedding restrictions: Holy Metropolis of Hydra, Spetses and Aegina, Holy Mystery of Marriage (Lent and Holy Week, 1 to 14 August, 28 and 29 August, 13 and 14 September, 17 to 25 December, 5 and 6 January); University of Athens, guidance on when weddings are held (Lent from Cheesefare Sunday; 18 to 24 December and Christmas Day); Vima Orthodoxias, December and weddings (18 to 25 December); Vima Orthodoxias and newsit (Holy Spirit Monday, the Apostles’ fast, 1 to 15 August; the Metropolitan can grant exceptions).
- Greek public holidays 2027: the statutory calendar as listed by Radio Evros.
- May Day 2027: iefimerida and Parapolitika: the labor ministry may move it when it falls in Holy Week; Tuesday 4 May 2027 has been discussed; not decided as of October 2026.
- Entry/Exit System: European Commission, fully operational since 10 April 2026, 27 July 2026; EU travel site.
- ETIAS: European Commission, ETIAS (fee €20; not yet in operation, start date to be announced several months ahead); age exemptions and three-year validity (or until the passport expires) per Regulation (EU) 2018/1240.
- Hotel climate crisis resilience fee: Law 5177/2025, 2026 rates as tabled by TaxRevenue.
- Same-sex civil marriage: Law 5089/2024 (in force February 2024); Council of State plenary decision 392/2026, published March 2026 (Greek Reporter, 20 March 2026).
- New flights: Delta (Detroit to Athens from 8 June 2027, three a week to 28 October); Jet2 (Kavala from Stansted and Manchester from 11 May 2027, Birmingham from 12 May), March 2026.
- Summer heat: Reuters and Al Jazeera, 8 July 2025 (Acropolis closed midday, outdoor work stopped, forecast 41°C).
- Crete driving times: OpenStreetMap routing (OSRM): Chania to Sitia 273 km, about 4.7 hours; Kissamos to Sitia 306 km, about 5.2 hours.
- UK apostille: GOV.UK, Get a document legalised: £45 paper, £35 e-Apostille, which isn’t available for birth, death or marriage certificates; usually up to 25 working days.
- Marriage license and fees: City of Athens, issuance of a civil marriage license (issued seven days after the documents are submitted and checked, valid six months); Municipality of Rhodes, documents for a marriage license (€18 fee for residents of Greece; €70 ceremony fee).
- 40-day registration: Municipality of Central Corfu, declaring a marriage at the registry (40 calendar days; €30 after 40 days, a further €60 after 90).
- Documents and proof of freedom to marry: US Embassy Athens; Australian Embassy Athens.
- Length of stay: Focus Bari, “Saying Yes to Greece”, presented at the Destination Weddings Tourism Forum, Athens, April 2026, a survey of wedding planners (GTP, 29 April 2026). Guests stay around four nights.
- Booking lead time, our own data: BigFatGreekDay.com budget calculator, 132 couples over ten weeks in summer 2026: median 13.7 months from the wedding, 68 percent a year or more out. A ten-week summer sample, so it shows the direction rather than a precise figure.
- 2027 wedding trends: The Knot, 2027 wedding trends (September 2026); Zola First Look Report 2026; Pinterest 2026 wedding trends, reported by Yahoo Creators. These are US trend reports; how each one works in Greece is mine.
- Cut flower imports: UN Comtrade via Trading Economics: Greece imported US$35.17 million of cut flowers from the Netherlands in 2025.
- Costs and VAT: BigFatGreekDay.com 2026 cost research, published on our wedding cost page; Greek VAT rates: Greek Ministry of Finance and AADE.
- Our own wedding: Chania, Crete, May 2024: €20,000 budget, €37,933 all in, 96 guests.
Photo Credit: Lighthouse Photography, M. Theol Photography, JCEdmonds Photography, Ak3fotografia studio, Manousopoulos Photography, White Stories Event Planning and Chrysovalantis Symeonidis.
