How much does a wedding in Athens cost?
There is no single answer, because the same wedding at forty guests and at a hundred and forty is a different wedding. What there is: a small number of things that decide most of the cost, and a way to see how your own budget stretches.
What drives the cost
Six things decide
most of it.
Guest count comes first because almost everything else is counted per head. Settle it before comparing a single quote.
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01
Guest count
Food, drink, tables, chairs, transfers, favors — most of the budget is per head. Every ten guests you add or remove moves the total more than any single vendor decision.
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02
Venue
A venue that includes the catering, the furniture and the staff is a different proposition from a beautiful empty space you have to fill. Ask what a quote includes before comparing two.
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03
Season and day
Summer Saturdays are asked for most and priced accordingly. A Friday, a Sunday, or a date in May, June or late September often changes the venue's price and opens up who is available.
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04
Food and drink
The menu format — a seated dinner, a long-table feast, stations — and whether the bar is open or by consumption. The per-head figure hides both.
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05
Vendor choices
Photographers, bands and florists each have a range that spans several times over. The top of each range is a choice, not a requirement.
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06
Production
Lighting, a dance floor, a tent, a generator, sound for an outdoor ceremony. Small individually, and easy to leave off a first estimate.
Where the money goes
The budget,
category by category.
The split below is a starting point most couples recognise, not a price list. Move the guests and the budget to see how your own would divide, then adjust each line in the budget calculator.
Eleven lines, one budget
At €50,000 for 100 guests- Venue, food & drink Usually half of the budget or more. The venue's own fee, the meal, the bar, the cake and the staff; often one quote, sometimes three. €25,000 50%
- Photography A day rate for one or two photographers, and what the delivery includes. €5,000 10%
- Video A film of the day, from a highlights reel to the full ceremony. €2,500 5%
- Music A DJ or a band for the party; often a separate musician for the ceremony and the dinner. €3,000 6%
- Flowers & styling The ceremony, the tables, the bouquet, and the pieces that move between them. €4,000 8%
- Hair The trial and the day, for the couple and whoever else is getting ready with you. €500 1%
- Make-up The trial and the day, for the couple and whoever else is getting ready with you. €500 1%
- Attire & rings The dress, the suit, the alterations, the shoes, and the rings. €3,000 6%
- Transport The couple's car, and the coaches or minibuses that move guests between the hotel and the venue. €1,500 3%
- Invitations & website Save-the-dates, invitations, the printed pieces on the day, and the website guests use. €1,000 2%
- Rentals & production Lighting, furniture, a dance floor, a tent — whatever the venue does not already own. €1,500 3%
- Everything else Favours, the welcome dinner, the next-day lunch, tips, a contingency for what nobody planned. €2,500 5%
Where couples underestimate
The lines that are not
on the first estimate.
Eight costs that rarely appear on a first quote. Add them to the plan early and they stop being surprises.
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The days around the day
A welcome dinner on the Friday and a lunch on the Sunday are normal for a destination wedding, and each is a second, smaller event with its own venue and catering.
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Moving the guests
Coaches from the hotels to the venue and back, late in the night. On the Riviera this is not optional, and a return trip for a hundred guests is several vehicles.
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What the venue does not include
Furniture, lighting, sound, a dance floor, a generator, extra staff, a cleaning fee, a fee for bringing your own caterer. Ask for the list.
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Tax and service
Whether a quote includes VAT and service is not always obvious. Ask every vendor to quote the final figure, and compare those.
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The people getting ready with you
Hair and make-up for the wedding party, their rooms the night before, their transport in the morning.
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Overtime
Every hour the party runs past the plan is an hour of the band, the bar, the venue staff and the photographer.
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Paying from abroad
Transfer fees, exchange rates and deposits in a currency you do not earn in. Small on one payment; noticeable across fifteen vendors.
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A contingency
Ten percent that is nobody's yet. If it is still there in the last month, it becomes the better wine.
Questions
Asked often.
Answered plainly.
01 What is the biggest single cost of a wedding in Athens?
The venue together with the food and drink — for most weddings, half the budget or more. It is also the line that moves most with the guest count, which is why the count is the first number to settle.
02 Is a wedding on the Athens Riviera more expensive than in the city?
Not as a rule. The coast has a wider range of venues at both ends, and a seaside estate in June and a city rooftop in June can cost very different amounts either way. The transfers for guests are the extra the coast reliably adds.
03 How do we get quotes that we can compare?
Ask every vendor for the same things — the date, the guest count, the hours, and a final figure including tax and service. Two quotes that include different things are not comparable, and the difference is usually in what is left out.
04 Does Aemeli show vendor prices?
Not yet. When a venue sends you an offer through Aemeli it is itemised, and the total lands in your plan; a directory of prices is not something we publish until we can stand behind the figures.
Keep reading
More on a wedding
in Athens.
Five guides, one destination. Each one answers a question every couple asks first.
The destination
Athens
The hub: venues on the coast, the two faces of Athens, and the short answers.
Checklist
Your Athens wedding planning checklist
When to marry
Best time of year for a wedding in Athens
Marrying in Greece
Legal requirements for a wedding in Greece
Guests from abroad
Planning an Athens wedding for guests coming from abroad
Start planning
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