Plan your magical wedding

Have you dreamt of a special wedding day for you and your partner? Would you like to get married on a beach, a yacht, by the pool or in a tiny chapel on a rock above the sea? Do you want magical things in your wedding, let's say 200 candles floating in the sea or a fly of 250 butterflies at the end of the ceremony, but you don't know how to organize all these? We talked to a wedding planner in Halkidiki, northern Greece, and asked him to give us some ideas about lovely wedding locations or advice on how to plan this important ceremony. Stephane Lioussanne is at the business of organizing weddings for the last 10 years. He has organized weddings in the most exclusive places, like castles, 5 star hotels, luxury restaurants, yachts and traditional Greek churches. Amazed by the beauty of the sea and the blue sky when he first came to Greece, Stephane believes that Halkidiki is a really unique place, nothing to be jealous of the exotic destinations. With his wife, they decided to move there, start a business and promote Halkidiki as a unique wedding destination. Stephane, when did you open your company "Step by Steph"? Very inspired name by the way... Thanks! Well, the company opened officially in 2009, but I was already working in 5 stars resorts as a F&B Manager and my task included the whole organization of a wedding. I finally decided to offer my services and my knowledge to a bigger number of people. A large part of our guests are Greeks, but we also have clients from Europe, such as Romania, Russia, France or the UK… we are open for any nationality, any religion!! Which is the busiest season to get married in Halkidiki and which are the most popular spots? The busiest season to get married in Halkidiki is from May until October. We prefer to suggest May/June or September, when the weather is still very good and the prices are not so high. Of course, our most popular spots are weddings on the beach. It's only in the second peninsula of Halkidiki that the mayor can make official weddings in any venues, anytime. We like also the venue on a yacht, it's very exclusive, and our mayor is keen on coming as well. How long does it take to plan a wedding in Halkidiki? We are able to plan a wedding in one month, but the best is to have between 6 and 12 months. This is the normal procedure to get to know and understand the wishes of our clients, to propose the best offer, and then to make a tour of the area according to the request they have. What papers are required for a wedding ceremony in Greece? The documents needed for a Greek Orthodox marriage are a photocopy of passport, birth certificate, copy of the divorce if any, certificate of No Impediment and copy of the news paper where the wedding has been noticed. All those papers have to be translated in Greek with the official Apostille Stamp. For a Civil Wedding, the documents are also the same with some small differences that we inform our clients each time according to nationality and religion.