Last updated: 27 October 2026.
How I know this: I planned our own Greek Orthodox wedding in Chania, Crete, in May 2024, from abroad, for 96 guests from six continents. Now I help couples plan theirs through Big Fat Greek Day, which is on track for around 45,000 visits a year.
Check your Pinterest board against a venue’s real wedding photos, not its marketing, then plan around your month’s heat and wind. Put your money into lighting and the details guests hold, and use what the venue and caterer already own.
We had practically chosen a venue from its photos before we ever saw it. Then we drove up, and there was a busy road out front, building work on the estate that they weren’t sure would finish in time, a construction site on the plot next door, and dirt trucks rumbling past. None of that was in the pictures. Not one frame.
We walked away, and visiting in person turned out to be one of the best decisions we made. It also gave me the most useful decor check I know, and it starts with the board you’ve probably already made.
I’m Greek, my husband isn’t, and we planned our wedding from abroad. Most couples I talk to find their look on Pinterest long before they find a venue, and that’s the right order. Greece doesn’t ask you to change your look. It asks you to plan it for the venue, the month and the weather you’re actually marrying in. If you’re after the 2027 looks themselves (the beach club, plum and olive, single-flower installations), I’ve gone through how each one works here in the 2027 article.
Table of Contents
How do you check a venue against your Pinterest board?
Put the venue’s real wedding photos next to your board and compare the edges, not the middle. This is the test I’d run on every venue on your shortlist:
- Find the venue’s real weddings, not its marketing. On Instagram, look at the photos other people have tagged the venue in: couples, guests and photographers. A styled shoot shows the venue at its best hour on its best day. Real weddings show it at full guest count, in real weather.
- Put them next to your board. Open them side by side on one screen.
- Look at the edges. Check the light at the time your ceremony would actually be, whether hair, veils and napkins are blowing sideways, and what sits behind the tables: a road, a parking lot, the neighbors.
- Decide. If the gap is small, wonderful. If it’s big, either change the venue or change the expectation, and make that call before you sign. If what you love most is the setting itself, change the venue. If it’s a few details, keep the venue and adapt those details.
Some lovely venues have almost no online presence. Ours, Metohi Istoria, was one of them: we found it by asking locals for venues that were rustic and elegant but hard to find online. If there’s nothing tagged, ask the venue for full galleries from two or three real weddings in your month, and visit in person if you possibly can. My checklist on what to look for when you tour a venue in Greece covers the visit itself.
What Greek wedding decor is worth spending on?
Spend on the things that change how the evening looks and what your guests pick up: lighting and the paper details. Your board does the most good when you turn it into a brief.
Send your board to every vendor
We had a mood board that we sent to every vendor we spoke to, plus separate ones for my hair and makeup and for the lighting. It meant nobody had to guess what we meant by rustic and elegant, and it made every quote easier to compare.
Put the money into lighting
Lighting is where we chose to spend more. Summer ceremonies in Greece usually start in the evening, and our guests were still dancing at two in the morning, so most of our wedding happened after dark. Our lighting upgrade came to €4,092, one of the biggest lines in our budget, and we did it on purpose. We sat down with our lighting engineer, who locals had recommended, five or six times before the wedding, and you could see that time on the night. If you’re marrying somewhere windy, my article on the meltemi wind and your wedding covers keeping the glow when candles won’t stay lit.
Design the paper details, then print them properly
The quotes I got for designing and printing our stationery ran into the thousands. So I designed the table cards, the seating chart, the other signs and the chair tags myself, and had them professionally printed on good paper. Our A1 seating chart cost €50 to print, against €550 from wedding vendors. I worked the same way on the invitations, with a printing shop in Greece, choosing the materials together. If you’re comfortable with a design tool, this is one of the easiest savings on the list.
Which traditional Greek details belong in your wedding decor?
Koufeta (sugared almonds, the traditional Greek wedding favor) and stefana (the crowns used in a Greek Orthodox ceremony) are the two I’d start with, and to my family they mattered more than anything else. We bought our koufeta from The Smile of the Child, a Greek children’s charity, and our stefana came from the same charity. Koufeta go in odd numbers for luck: we wanted seven per guest, and it became five. My mom even took some back to Thessaloniki and had more made for her friends. What I’d do differently is explain them. We never told our guests what koufeta mean, and nobody took theirs home, so put a small card beside them. My article on stefana crowns and my Greek wedding traditions article explain both.
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.
Where can you save on Greek wedding decorations?
You can save on rented furniture, on small styled pieces and on extras a decorator offers. Those are the three places our board met reality, all at May 2024 prices.
Furniture. We’d planned to rent tables and chairs. The rental price was reasonable, but transport to Chania alone was €500, because few vendors rent wedding furniture there and the ones who do bring it in from other cities. Our caterer already had the tables and chairs we wanted, so we used those and paid nothing extra.
The small pieces. We were being charged a lot for the little easels that held our table cards. I bought them plain instead and painted them myself in the shade we wanted, to match everything else.
The styled extras. We wanted water out for guests at the ceremony, because it was warm, the ceremony could run 45 minutes to an hour, and we had a lot of kids with us. The decorator quoted €350 plus VAT for three jars of flavored water: lemon, cucumber and watermelon. We politely said no and bought bottled water from a local grocery store instead.
Before you accept any decor quote, ask what the venue or caterer already has, and whether you could make or print it yourself for less. I’ve put the rest of what’s worth making yourself, and what isn’t, in what to DIY for your wedding.
Do heat and wind change Greek wedding decor?
Yes, if your board leans on tall candles, floaty fabric or anything freestanding. In July and August the meltemi wind peaks in the Cyclades and summer heat can hit 40C, so I’ve covered the fixes in my article on the meltemi wind and your wedding, and choosing your month in the best time to get married in Greece.
What should you ask your venue before you plan the decor?
Ask for proof of how the venue looks at a wedding like yours, not at its best. These are the questions I’d send:
- Can you send full galleries from two or three real weddings in my month, ideally at my guest count?
- Where does the ceremony spot sit at 19:00: sun, shade or wind?
- What’s the covered plan B, and has it ever actually been used?
- What tables, chairs and linens do you or your caterer already have?
- Is there a transport fee for anything rented from elsewhere?
For your florist, the questions are about what’s local in your month and what holds up in the heat, and they’re in my article on wedding flowers in Greece. If you’d like the full set of checks I’d run before signing, my Venue Vetting Guide is a paid guide that walks you through them.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions About Greek Wedding Decor
Can I recreate a Pinterest wedding in Greece?
Yes, usually. Keep the two or three details that are really you, choose flowers that are local in your month, and pick a venue whose real wedding photos already look close to your board, so you aren’t fighting the setting.
Is Greek wedding decor the same as a Greek-themed wedding?
No. A Greek-themed wedding at home tends to borrow columns and Grecian gold. A wedding in Greece doesn’t need the props, because the olive trees, the stone and the sea are already there. Put that budget into lighting and the details your guests hold.
Is it cheaper to bring decor from home?
For small pieces, it can be. We bought our little table-card easels at €1 each, gave them the shade we wanted, and packed them in a suitcase. The more on that is in my article on what to DIY for your wedding. Flowers are different, and I cover them in my article on wedding flowers in Greece.
More Greek wedding resources
If you want to see what your own decor, lighting and furniture choices do to the total, try my free Greece wedding budget calculator. For dates, costs and deadlines around all of this, start with the 2027 article.
Sources
- Our own wedding, Chania, May 2024: furniture transport quote (€500), water-jar quote (€350 plus VAT) from the quotes we received, and lighting upgrade (€4,092), from our wedding budget records. The A1 seating chart figures (€50 against €550) are as published in our DIY article.
- Summer heat “can hit 40C”: a heatwave figure, not an average. Hellenic National Meteorological Service climate normals put August mean maximums at 27 to 34C; the National Observatory of Athens recorded up to 45.8C during the July 2025 heatwave.
- Meltemi strongest in July and August in the Cyclades: Hellenic National Meteorological Service.
- Evening ceremonies in summer: Weddings in Crete (wedding company), FAQ, summer ceremonies “at either 7.00 pm or even 8.00 pm”.
