Island weddings: what to know about the flowers

An island wedding is the loveliest version of a Greek summer and, at the same time, the most demanding work we do. Not because the design changes — but because everything around it does.

If you are planning a wedding in the Cyclades, the Ionian or on any Greek island, these are the five things that actually matter.

1. Wind is not a detail

The meltemi blows through July and August and can reach force 7. A tall arrangement that stands perfectly in the studio becomes a hazard on a terrace with a view.

So for island weddings we design low and heavy: stone or ceramic vessels rather than glass, arrangements with their centre of gravity close to the table, and height only where there is shelter. Arches are anchored, never simply stood up.

This is not a limitation. It is why the photographs come back with the flowers still upright.

2. Heat dictates the schedule

On an island we do not install at dawn for an evening ceremony. Material stays in cold storage until the last possible moment and comes out in stages.

In practice this means our team arrives the day before, not on the morning of the wedding. A delayed ferry should never stand between your flowers and your ceremony.

3. Everything travels, and the fragile things travel twice

Blooms, vessels, bases, tools, and at some venues even water — all of it goes on a boat. And the delicate items travel in double quantity, because on an island there is no second florist to cover a loss.

This is the main reason an island wedding costs more than the identical wedding on the mainland. It is not the flowers; it is the supply chain around them.

On an island you are not only designing what the guest will see. You are designing what happens if something breaks — because there is no second chance.

4. The landscape is already half the design

The greatest trap in an island wedding is excess. You already have the Aegean, whitewashed walls, light that changes by the hour and bougainvillea growing by itself.

Our work there is mostly subtractive. Whites and creams, olive green, texture instead of colour — and the landscape stays the protagonist. A crowded scheme on an island competes with the view, and loses.

5. Visit the site, or send us video

If you cannot get there in person — and most of our international couples cannot — send us video of the venue at three different times of day. We want to see where the sun falls at six in the evening, where the wind arrives from, and how dark it is at nine.

Those three clips tell us more than twenty photographs.

Where we work

We travel across Greece fully equipped — the Cyclades, the Ionian, the Sporades, mainland estates and the Athens Riviera. If you are planning an island wedding, talk to us early: summer availability goes first.