While the average wedding planning timeline is around 12-18 months for weddings at home and abroad, it doesn’t mean that you can’t organise an incredible wedding day in a short amount of time. Last-minute weddings are hugely popular with busy couples who just want to celebrate their big day without a year of planning. Naturally, a last-minute destination wedding requires some serious organisation and – most importantly – flexibility, but it’s absolutely possible. At Le Ciel, our luxurious Santorini wedding venue, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting many destination weddings organised at short notice. We still have some availability for dates in 2024, so if you’re interested in planning a last-minute destination wedding on our beautiful Greek island, or elsewhere, here are our top tips on making it as easy as possible.
Be flexible with your date
When it comes to planning a last-minute destination wedding, one of the biggest factors is that you need to be flexible on the date. Of course it’s helpful to approach a venue with a date in mind, but most wedding venues will only have limited availability for the current year, so be open to alternative dates rather than fixed on just one.
Book the venue quick
Once you’ve found a venue you love that can host your wedding on a date that works for you, book it quickly! While couples who are working with a traditional planning timeline of 12 months+ have the freedom to take their time when it comes to booking, for those planning a last-minute destination wedding you need to get your venue confirmed as quickly as possible. You want to give yourselves enough time to plan the details of the day.
Give your ‘must have’ guests plenty of notice
Can’t imagine getting married without certain family members or friends by your side? Let them know you’re planning a big day at short notice to make sure they are going to be able to make it.
Check local accommodation options and travel
As soon as a date and venue is confirmed, check flights to your destination and the availability of local accommodation. Again, flexibility is key, and you may have to consider flying out earlier than you would typically if flights are limited. If local hotels are already booked up, consider alternative accommodation like private villa or apartment hires and Airbnb rentals.
Get the invites out ASAP
You want to give guests the best chance of securing those flights and the right kind of accommodation, so once the date is sorted get those invitations out. Yes, it’s not traditional, but an email or text with the date and location is an immediate way of conveying the essential information so they can get booking. You can just follow up with your beautifully designed card invitations, filled with all the details of your amazing destination wedding, in the post shortly afterwards. With a tight timeline to work to it pays to be practical.
Use a wedding planner
This one is crucial. There really is no way to organise a last-minute destination wedding without the help of a professional wedding planner. Talk to your venue who should be able to suggest some excellent local planners (Le Ciel has great links with Santorini’s very best wedding planners to help create the wedding day of your dreams, even at very short notice). An experienced local planner will have all the essential contacts to help arrange every aspect of your day, without you having to worry about a thing.
Think about your non-negotiables
As we’ve mentioned before, organising a last-minute destination wedding will require a level of flexibility, but it doesn’t mean you won’t end up with your dream big day. It’s important to think about the absolute non-negotiables, whether that’s your wedding flowers, entertainment, food or something else. If there is one detail of your day that’s really important to you both as a couple, let your wedding planner known at the very early stages so they can focus their skills on making sure it happens for you.
Credit: Dreamodd
Make everyone feel involved
The nature of a destination wedding means you may not be able to have everyone you want there. This is particularly true for those planned at short notice. Whether guests are unable to travel due to age or illness, or struggle to get time off work to fly out, chances are some of those who are important to you won’t be able to make it, so it’s helpful to think of alternative ways they can join in the celebrations. Talk to your venue and wedding planner about setting up a live-stream of the ceremony or hire a videographer to capture the day and share with family and friends once you’re home.
Booking a last-minute destination wedding at Le Ciel
Santorini is the most breath-taking setting for a truly romantic wedding day, and Le Ciel has to be the island’s best venue, boasting knock-out panoramic views across the Aegean Sea. We have hosted hundreds of spectacular wedding days and still have some availability and exclusive offers for 2024. If you’d like to find out more about booking a last-minute destination wedding, or would like to talk about dates for 2025 and beyond, just click here and we’ll get straight back to you.