Everyone dreams to have a big fat Greek wedding. There is nothing like celebrating the tying of the wedding knot in Greek. Greek has been the land of love and religion for several centuries. It is a land of mythology and the town of Thira and the Santorini is an integral part of this culture. Santorini has a solid cultural background for centuries. The town got devastated with earthquakes and volcanic eruption, yet people of Santorini took it as a blessing and converted this into a place of love and worship. The place is famous for its religious culture with 400 churches of which 12 churches are famous for the religious weddings. Santorini is one of the exotic locations surrounded by sea with beautiful scenery making the wedding more and more romantic for couples.
Why Santorini?
Santorini has a big culture of celebrating the marriage ceremony. There are 12 major churches and lot of international tourism wedding packages available for marriage in Santorini. The land is believed to be blessed with Goddess of love. Local people have this notion that marrying in Santorini makes the couple united for the eternity. However, if you do not believe in local myths then the reason to marry in Greece is sufficient. Santorini is equipped with handling of big wedding ceremonies. Many of the celebrities and politicians have chosen it as a place to celebrate their love. German magazine GALA also recognized the island as celebrity hideaway destination.
The Santorini is blessed with exotic flora, ancient architecture, and moist oceanic atmosphere of bluish Aegean Sea. It has sugar cube villages, beautiful sandy beaches, old medieval monasteries, and beautiful renaissance modeled churches with classical sites marking the tragic yet spectacular event of destruction of the island. It even has an active volcano that makes the land of love more vibrant and lively. However, the sunset of the island makes the land stand apart from all the old cities and town. The Island was even voted in the ‘Ask Men’ Wedding Destinations among the top 10 preferred destination in 2005, a feat that is itself a great recognition.
Wedding types you can opt at Santorini
a. Civil weddings: The cheapest and popular wedding option can happen anywhere in the island. There are 400 churches in the island but only few of them handles wedding. However, recently many wedding planners are providing different churches for the venue of the civil wedding. You can even request your wedding planner to host your wedding in the private view areas of your hotel for a nominal fee that gives you the spectacular background of the sunset of island. You can also opt for wedding in a private mansion for celebrating it in privacy yet with big blast among your friends.
b. Religious orthodox wedding: Many of the Greek and religious Christian believes the marriage to be a sacred event that needs tremendous amount of religious precision and rituals. Santorini is equipped to handle these types of marriages too. 12 major churches handle these religious weddings with utmost sanctity and love.
Where to marry?
You can marry anywhere is Santorini. There are churches and chapels in every part of the town. People are very helpful and the view is exotic from almost all the part of the land. You can choose from 400 churches, several wineries, hundreds of hotels, dozens of exotic mansions and numerous ruins that mark the beauty of the island of Santorini. Apart from that, 12 other churches handle the religious wedding with religious sanctity. Anastasi Imerovigli, Agios Markos Imerovigli, Profitis Ilias Imerovigli are few of the exotic and most preferred wedding venues. Almost all the major churches are covered under wedding planning packages. Here are few of the noted venues for wedding Santorini.
1. Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral located in Fira, the capital of Santorini is the preferred choice for religious wedding.
2. Saint Irene Chapel located at the borders of the Capital Fira is the cheaper yet exotic venue to be married.
3. Profitis Elias Chapel, Imerovigli is an active church with orthodox religious services. However, being active, the service often creates last minute changes in this venue. Therefore, mostly the noon venues are permitted.
4. Ira in Firostefaniis is another preferred wedding location that is situated halfway between Fira and Imerovigli.
5. Antoniou Winery and Suites of the God are alternate location for the civil wedding with beautiful view. They are little costly but the view of the sunset with the wedding is priceless.
