Back Up Plans.....a must or a waste?

When it comes to planning a wedding, you can agonise over every little detail for days, months or even years, planning, double checking, tweaking, confirming, but when it comes to things going wrong, can you actually control, predict and avoid all the small and large problems that can occur????

Photos by Annie Angelopoulou

Of course when choosing the location of your wedding, in this case sunny Greece, then falling in love with your (99%) outdoor venue, you never think of rain. If you are planning a May or October wedding it is advised that you look into back up plans, the ideal being that your venue has an indoor area that can be used in the event of  rain or high winds on your wedding day. Marquees are easy to source from the mainland, however are very expensive and adding transportation and travel and accommodation of the staff to set it up means this option is ridiculous!

But what about other issues? If your venue is by the sea, I would advise watching the wind and looking at buying LED tealights, especially if your decor emphasis is on candlelight. Ensure that the lanterns that are being used have caps on them and  that the candles used inside vases are quite small to avoid them blowing out quickly! Of course the use of fairy lights, electric bulbs and other sources of lighting are advised to ensure the ambience is retained despite the weather.

Did you know there are thousands of power cuts in Greece every year, especially so in the summer when there is a high demand for electricity? Ensure there are candles on all the tables to avoid sitting in the dark for any period of time. A back up generator is another item to enquire about when choosing your venue.

I love planning wedding receptions in private properties, I believe you can create extremely unique events without the constraints of hotel timelines, quick turnarounds on restaurants and time constraints due to other hotel guests! It is always advised that lighting is put up one day before the wedding and tested in the evening to ensure that the electric circuit can stand all the lighting!

Images from megistihotel.gr & stphoto.gr

Generally my advice is to plan to avoid stressfull situations, however if on the day itself something unpredictable does happen, simply accept it and see it as a situation that will be part of one of the happiest days of your life and possibly something to look back on and laugh at!

SP