10 things you should not do to your wedding planner!

Having a wedding planner for your wedding can reduce the stress levels a lot. This is especially true when it comes to destination weddings. The wedding planner will help you choose the best vendors for you, the venue which will be perfect for you, and help you avoid all those "rookie" mistakes all brides do.

Your wedding planner is a person who knows everything about weddings and will help you and guide you to plan the best wedding you could possibly have. No matter how anxious you might get about your wedding, your wedding planner is there to help you and to reassure you that everything is going to be just like you dreamed about. After all, you are human, and it’s natural for you to worry about one of the most important days of your life.

Even thought wedding planners are quite tolerant people, and most of us don't really mind being bombarded with questions about every little detail of your wedding, still, there are some things that are better to avoid doing to a wedding planner:

1. Hiding information!

Your wedding planner should know everything about your wedding, as this is the main guarantee that you will have a successful wedding. Don't try to arrange different things with your venue or vendors, than what has been already arranged with you planner, as this is a recipe for disaster. Inform your planner about any changes you wish to make or made with your vendors, to avoid misunderstandings on the wedding day.

2. Disregarding your wedding planners expertise!

You want to have your wedding reception outdoors, but your wedding planner is trying in any way possible to convince you to have your reception indoors? Trust your planner's opinion, as he or she probably knows that you will regret your decision for the outdoor dinner, when the time comes. What your wedding planner suggests may not be your dream option, but he or she probably does it to avoid a complete disaster on the wedding day!

3.Not informing your mother or bridesmaids that you have a wedding planner!

It is only natural for your mother, mother-in-law, or maid of honor to want to get involved in the wedding planning. If your wedding planner does not know that though, it can get pretty messy! Inform you mother and bridesmaids that you will be having a wedding planner, and that if they want to have their input at the wedding, they should contact your planner. This way, you wedding planner will make room for that special bridesmaid dance your friends have planned for you, without ruining the whole schedule.

4. Forgetting that your wedding planner is a human!

Yes, your pay good money to your wedding planner, and you expect everything to be top-notch, from the communication between you, to the very wedding day coordination. Still, your wedding planner is a human being, which means that he or she will get tired, sick, go on vacations. Don't get mad if your wedding planner takes longer than usual to reply to you, or some days isn't as excited as most of the time. We all have our bad days, and since wedding planning can get quite stressful, it is normal for your planner to decide to take a day or two off work, to relax a little. Don't get mean when that happens, especially if you want your planner to be in his best form on your wedding day.

5. Not respecting the schedule

Building a perfect schedule for your wedding can be tricky at times. A wedding planner needs to organize the guests' arrivals, the ceremony, the photographer, the entertainers, the food, everything! A planner's job is to keep everyone happy, from the couple, to the guests, to the vendors, and a perfect schedule is the key to that. Deciding to put something extra on the schedule the very last minute, will create a mess, put unnecessary stress on the wedding planner, and as a result end up in a wedding disaster.

6. No surprises!

The only surprises a wedding planners like, are gifts (I personally love chocolate). Don't surprise your wedding planner by adding a sudden 20 minute grandpa speech before dinner, or having 7 surprise guests at the reception. This will mess up pretty much everything, and might have really negative consequences on your wedding. Your wedding planner should know everything concerning your wedding before the wedding day, so keep the surprises for your guests.

7. Not paying in time!

Weddings are costly, we all know that. Still, this is not a reason, not to pay in time your vendors. You may ask how this affects your wedding planner? Directly! Since it is your wedding planner who is making all the arrangements for you, including the payments, it he who will be bothered about the money if you have not made the required payment in time. A wedding planner has enough to think about, to have to chase you with the payments as well.

8. Don't treat your wedding planner as an enemy!

Your wedding planner wants what is best for you. He or she tries to get the best vendors for the best prices, just for you. All the suggestions a wedding planner makes, is for you to have a memorable wedding. Don't treat your wedding planner as an enemy, by not showing trust in his/her suggestions, arguing over everything, and going behind your planner's back. Believe it or not, most of the time your wedding planner knows what is best for you, better than you!  

9. Disrespecting the rules!

Every venue, every vendor, everything has its do's and don’ts. It can be noise policies, food policies, payment policies, children policies, anything! When your wedding planner tells you, that you cannot bring your own food to the venue, don't try to sneak the food in anyway! There is a reason for the policy, and by ignoring it, you not only causing unnecessary trouble to your wedding planner, but might end up ruining the whole wedding.

10. Panicking over nothing.

It is true, almost every wedding will have a detail that won't go as planned. Either the cake topper will break, a guest will run late, a song will not play. It is fine!! This is why you have a wedding planner: to take care of those things and make any mishaps magically disappear! By running behind your planner all the time, and not letting him to do his job, you are just making things worse. Don't panic unless you see your wedding planner panic!. If you wedding planner is calm, it means everything is under control. Relax, and enjoy your wedding day!

Remember, you wedding planner wants a perfect wedding as much as you do, and the calmer the wedding planner is, the higher the chances that nothing will go wrong on your wedding day. Keep calm and trust in your wedding planner!

Thank you very much for reading and I hope I was helpful!

I wish you a lovely day!

<-- Previous || next -->

Random Saturday #10: Feeling like a Marshmallow…

Hello my dear Readers,

How are you? How have you been? Is February treating you nice (you can reply in comments… don't be shy ;).

Ah… I feel terrible for not posting anything on Thursday, even though I said in the socials that I would… I really was out of ideas for the blog and was terribly tired to think of anything good. I didn't post anything on Friday either, which I mentioned in the socials as well, because I had the chance to spend some time with my beloved

boyfriend… and frankly, I wanted that more than writing a blog.

I've been tired lately, because I had to find a job until summer season would begin, which I did. I run out of funds to support myself…so now I'm temporary working at a bakery!

No, I don't bake anything. I sell everything! I also make coffee, clean, etc. etc. It is both fun and exhausting!! The plus side is that I lost some weight while working there, something I wanted to do anyway, because I'm too tired and too busy to eat anything, and because I'm standing all day. Also, I finally learned how to make coffee!! Woohoo…

It's a job for a month or two, still I kind of wish for it to end already. I cannot focus on things that I like the most, like promoting Cardoon Events, think about weddings and events, and on horses.

The fact that I don't have enough time to prepare the blog posts makes me nervous. This, combined with my efforts to train a horse I really like, and have some personal life, have sucked all the energy out of me. This is why I feel like a marshmallow… and I don't like marshmallows!

I have some really interesting articles for the future I can't wait to write, and I'm really disappointed that I don't have the time or energy, or both, to sit and work on them down. I want to write about some amazing wedding venues Santorini has, make 4 blog posts dedicated to wedding photography and two good photographers of Santorini, wedding flowers, and so much more!

I also want very much to start my research on weddings in Kefalonia. It is such a beautiful island, more people need to know about it! It has some amazing places for weddings and events, it’s a pity that it is not another cool place for a destination wedding. Kefalonia also has really good prices for weddings, like amazingly good! You could actually have there a wedding for more than a 100 persons for less than 20.000 euro!!!

Have you ever wished for the day to have 48 hours? Or to be able to leave without sleep without going insane? I know I have, and this what I wish for now. Sometimes it feels that the 24 daily hours are not enough to complete all the tasks I have set for the day. This feeling gets even stronger when you are working without any days off, which often happens in Santorini.

But, it is just temporary, and at least I know how to make all kinds of coffee now J Always look at the bright side, right?

Thank you very much for reading and I wish you a great day!

PS: I'm starting a new thing on Random Saturday, which will be the song of the week :) 

Random Saturday #9 || Random Saturday #11

Ideas for Wedding Favors!

cake pops favors
picture from sandyssignatures.blogspot.ca

Wedding favors are not only a great way to thank your guests for attending your wedding, but also a way to make your guests remember your wedding. Although your guests won't think bad of you if you won't have favors for them, they will most certainly appreciate a small gift from you, should you have one.

What can you offer as a favor to your guests? Anything! It can be an edible favor, a drinkable favor, a practical favor, a fun favor, anything that comes to mind. It is nice to have favors, which will match the main wedding theme. For example, if you are having a travel themed wedding, then you could have customized suitcase tags for each guest.

Here are some detailed description on what you could offer them:

Edible Favors:

Everybody loves candy, so having a small bag of candies for your guests, is always a good idea. You could have small candy bars or something more sophisticated, like a personalized cupcake or cake-pop. To make it even more fun, prepare a candy favor station, so that you guests could prepare their own favors.

If you and your guests are not into sweets, then prepare a mix of spices. All of us cook, at some point in our lives, and those spices could be of great inspiration for those moments. This wedding favor is even better if you are having a destination wedding, as it will be a way for your guests to take with them a flavor of the country your are marrying in.

Drinkable Favors:

Small bottles of alcoholic drinks is also one good idea for guests' favors, especially if your friends like to party. Find small bottles of the alcoholic beverages that your friends like, and give everyone their favorite drink. Want to make it even more fun? Prepare mini cocktail kits.

As with the spices, when having a destination wedding, you could have small bottles of the local alcoholic beverage as a favor. When it comes to weddings in Greece, you could have small ouzo bottles.

Hangover Kit Favors:

picture from bridedsupnorth.com

The morning after a wedding party can be rough… you know, hangover and stuff. I always found hangover kits, or emergency kits, as guests' favors a brilliant idea! Have some aspirin, some band-aids, a lip balm, chewing gums, a night mask, and anything else you find useful for a hangover or an emergency. Practical, and with a sense of humor.

Practical Favors:

It is always nice to be practical, even when it comes to gifts. But how to be practical with favors? This is really easy. Just think about what your guests might need for your wedding, that they wouldn't think about brining themselves. For example, if you are having a beach wedding, you could have flip-flops and swimming suites as favors for your guests. Everyone will enjoy the party even more!

Souvenir Favors:

When having a destination wedding, a souvenir will serve as the best memorabilia from your wedding. For your wedding in Santorini, for example, you could have small donkeys or miniature blue dome churches. To make it even more memorable, have them pre-ordered with your wedding date on them.

If you and your significant other like to travel, then you could bring souvenirs from the places that you have been. This will make the wedding favors feel more personal, more you. You will also give your guests a taste of the places you've been.

Handmade Favors:

Homemade Jam for your guests
picture from unitedlove.com

Handmade gifts are always a great idea, so are handmade wedding favors. Handmade crafts take a lot of your time to make, and by having handmade favors on your wedding, will show your guests how much they mean to you. Your guests will appreciate that you took so much time to prepare their favors, and will cherish them forever.  

I can go on and on about what your wedding favors can be. Whatever your choice of favors will be, don't forget to include a detail, which will remind your guests of your wedding. Don't be afraid to use your imagination and think outside the box. Your wedding favors, should be as unique as you are!

As always, thank you very much for reading! I wish you a lovely day and an amazing life!

<-- Previous || next -->

Sweet Sweet Table for a Sweet Sweet Life!

Sweet tables are a great addition to every wedding. Sweet tables are both beautiful and practical, as they provide a great decoration piece for the reception area, as well as a nice way to keep your guests' sweet tooth satisfied.

What is a sweet table? A sweet table is a table full of sweets… obviously. Sweet tables are usually used in the reception area, and have on them various kinds of candies, for your guests to treat themselves with. They can also have some jars with juices or punch, which can be used for both decorative purposes and for drinking. Besides the candies and the drink, the table can also be decorated with candles and flowers, which will match the wedding's main decoration theme.

Sweet tables can be placed anywhere in the reception room, although it is a good idea to have them in the corner which looked empty. and you didn't know how to fill otherwise. Another nice idea, is to place the sweet table at the dance floor, to "lure" your guests to dance. Just make sure that the table is in a place where it won't get knocked down during the wild dancing!

You can set your sweet table and wish table together. If you wonder why do that, here is a explanation. From my experience, not all guests remember to write in the wish book, which can feel a bit disappointing at the end. Having the wish book next or at the sweet table, is a practical way to remind your guests about the wish book, and in a way reward them for writing in the guest book.

Sweet tables can also be really helpful when you cannot find any good ideas for favors, as you can transform them into a favor station for your guests. Place small bags and spatulas at the sweet table, along with a variety of different candies, and let your guests prepare their own favors!

A sweet table could as well be used to display your wedding cake. Place the cake in middle of the table, on a beautiful cake base, once the cutting of the cake is finished, and let your guests enjoy that piece of art.

picture taken from happywedd.com

When is the right time to have the sweet table out? This really depends on the purpose of the sweet table. If you wish for the table to be used as a guests' favor station, or to remind them of your guest book, then it is a good idea to have it ready for the cocktail hour. If, on the other hand, you wish for it to be a reason for the guests to go to the dance floor, have it ready just as the dinner is over. It is better though, to avoid having the table ready from the very beginning, as you don't want your guests to be staffed with sweets before dinner, or for the sweets to go bad.

A great thing about sweet tables, is that you can use any kind of candies you wish. It can be sugared almonds in beautiful vases, small candy bars such as Twix, Mars, Snickers etc., doughnuts , cupcakes, macaroons, lollipops, anything your heart desires. You can choose sweets, that will have the color theme of your wedding, so that the sweet table will match perfectly with the main decoration theme. You can even prepare homemade sweets, if you love cooking, to make it even more personal. In this case, don't forget to ask your venue if they allow food from outside to be brought to their premises.

picture taken from modeliceblog.com

If you are getting married in Santorini, Kefalonia, or any other part of Greece, it is a nice idea to use tradition Greek candies for the sweet table, to add that Greek flavor everybody loves! Arrange with your wedding planner to have small Kataifia, Mpaklavades, Saragli, Touloumpakia and other Greek sweets for your sweet table. Your guests, and you of course, will love them! Keep in mind though, that a lot of Greek sweets contain nuts, so inform your nut allergic friends about that, to avoid any allergic incidents.

Make your wedding even better, by adding a sweet corner to your wedding reception. After all, it is not just kids who love treats!

As always, thank you very much for reading and I wish you a lovely day! 

<-- Previous || next -->

The magnificent island of Kefalonia!

Today, I decided to take you away from Santorini, and offer a to a trip to Kefalonia instead! Kefalonia, or Cephalonia, as you can otherwise spell it, is the largest island of the Ionian sea. It is an extremely beautiful, green island, the views of each are equally breathtaking, as the views of Santorini. The island has beautiful landscapes and mesmerizing natural formations, such as the Melissani lake cave.

Wild horse of Kefalonia on Mount Ainos

The highest mountain of Kefalonia is the Mount Ainos, which is at 1.628 meters high (5.341 feet). The mountain is covered in Greek Fir and in Black Pine (pinus negra), which is a protected tree species. Mount Ainos is also home to the wild horses of Kefalonia. They are short, sturdy horses, living in large herds. The legend goes, that during the Venetian rule of the island, due to the high taxation, people left their horses free in the mountain. The domesticated horses survived, evolved to better fit the conditions of the island, and are still roaming the mountain after 400 years of freedom.

Beside the mountain, Kefalonia has amazing beaches with white sand and turquoise waters. It has shallow beaches, perfect for families with children, such as the Xi beach, and deep water beaches, such as the Myrtos beach. By the way, Myrtos Beach has been voted as the best beach of Europe, and is one of the top 10 beaches of the world! For those of you, who prefer less crowded beaches, you can find a number of those in Kefalonia, and enjoy a quite day in the sun combined with amazing scenery.

The capital of Kefalonia is Argostoli, and the second biggest town is Lixouri. Both are beautiful small towns, prefect for walks, food, shopping and night life. You certainly shouldn’t miss visiting the countless traditional villages of Kefalonia. The architecture of the island is something worth noting. It is a mixture of Italian influenced architecture, due to its past occupation from the Venetians, and the Ionian style traditional houses, which were build after the catastrophic earthquake of 1953.

Kefalonia has been occupied by the Franks, the Venetians and the British in the past, and has been part of Greece only for the past 140 years. This has resulted in Kefalonia's culture being a combination of the cultures from the countries mentioned above, which greatly shows in the islands' food and traditions. For example, foxtrot is considered a traditional Kefalonian dance, so don't get confused if after a Zorba, you see them doing the three step figure.

Melissani Lake Cave

As if the landscapes, the beautiful towns and villages, and the culture is not enough reason to visit Kefalonia, the local food is incredibly delicious! All the local products of the island are fresh: fresh fish, fresh meat, fresh vegetables! Everything that Kefalonia produces is indescribably tasty. One of the best traditional dishes, you should definitely try when visiting the island, is the Kefalonian meat pie! Yum!!

The people of Kefalonia are fun and welcoming, open-minded and open-hearted. They are also really loud. You, probably, already know that Greeks are considered to be loud people… well Kefalonians took it to a whole new level! The locals have an amazing cultural education, and almost everyone has a love for music. Prepare yourself for a lot of music and dancing, when going there. Interestingly, the patron of the island is St. Gerasimos, the protector of the crazy… which isn't a coincidence…

To summaries, Kefalonia is an island absolutely worth visiting, and you should definitely put this location on your map, the next time you come to Greece. I personally adore this place, and can't wait

Emblisi beach

for my next vacation there.

To close, I would like to note, that Kefalonia is also a great place to host weddings and events, but we will talk about it in more detail in the near future!

Thank you very much for reading, and if you have visited Kefalonia, I'd be happy to learn about your experience from the island. 

<-- Previous