written by Flanaganak291 on 14/09/2022
Be very careful with this company!!!! They're ultimately just after your money and sales people. They will clearly say anything to get you across the line. We were promised our deposit was secure and refundable given we give them ample notice of cancellation of our wedding. Due to severe difficulties felt by family members and a future inability to fly due to Covid we wanted to cancel (this is our parents), they had our deposit for less than 3 months and we were over 2 years away from the planned wedding date. I was assured on several occasions that given circumstances and ample notice (2 years!!) we would be fine for our full deposit back, the paperwork was just a formality. This was May 2021, we rang the number and emailed the woman we were dealing with on so many occasions. We were ignored, phone calls and voicemails went unanswered. Completely ghosted by the company Fast forward to Yesterday (12th September 2022) i get an email from a new wedding planner stating they're looking forward to working with us for our upcoming wedding. The original date was to be in 7 months May 2023, so as a word of caution if you want to feel like you'd enjoy being involved with your wedding you certainly will not. No correspondence for 15 months! Turns out the woman we was dealing with has left there company (this was after a contacted them so poor excuse), they no longer have access to her emails (Which they should keep all correspondence due to GDPR for as long as required, this would be required as the contract is not fullfilled). So our wedding planner left there company, nobody told us or communicated with us for 15 months about this and ignored all contact with us and then forgot about it 15 months later. We told them we were taking legal action against them within the next few months, they've asked for records of our communication which we provided and they still refuse to honor it. We have email and phone data to prove that we were being ignored completely!
written by SuzanneKennedy on 03/01/2020
We got married earlier this year in Sorrento, Italy and I couldn’t recommend Ionian Weddings enough. They were so helpful from the beginning, very organised and full of knowledge. There was plenty of choice for decorations for the venue and I loved my little vintage car that took me to the Cloisters. Everything on our wedding day was perfect and the whole day went so smoothly, our pictures are amazing with lovely views in the background. I can’t thank the team enough for all they did for us to organise our special day it was perfect!
written by danajongens on 18/07/2019
From confirming the wrong island/ceremony/timings 3 months prior to the wedding, to charging significantly more than local suppliers, unclear invoices and all over poor communications – my experience with Ionian Weddings was very disappointing. We ended up doing all the paperwork and booking most of the suppliers directly ourselves. Based on my experience, I highly recommend to avoid this wedding planner and to go through the local planners and suppliers of Skiathos.
written by LiliannaWoodward on 29/12/2017
Me and my husband did a tour of Italy and fell in love with the country. We got engaged in Sorrento and decided that was where we wanted to get married. We researched different companies who organised weddings abroad but we were most impressed with Ionian Weddings. The Ionian Weddings website was very helpful and explained everything we needed to know. Im so glad we decided on Ionian Weddings. The whole process was perfect, our UK wedding planner helped us plan our whole wedding and nothing was too much trouble. Our wedding planner in Italy was also fantastic. Everything on the day was perfect and we couldn't of asked for a better day. Thank you so much Ionian Weddings
written by 334Scott on 18/12/2017
Me and my now husband got married in June at the traditional Inn Cyprus... And omg it was one of the best days of my life!! We did not stop smiling!! Everything was absolutely perfect .. our contact here in London was just amazing and couldn't do enough for us... our contact in Cyprus was absolutely amazing too!! I could not fault the service we got.. everything I'd planned all the way from England to happen in Cyprus actually all happened.. it was a truly amazing day.. we are still on cloud nine .. thank you thank you thank you all at Ionian Weddings and over the team in Cyprus and all at the Inn you were all fantastic I couldn't have wished for anything more, we are so happy!!!
written by on 12/11/2017
Absolutely delighted with just how beautiful our day was. The whole experience from booking the wedding all the way through until leaving the venue was handled impeccably. All of the team in the UK made the process of dealing with matters abroad exceptionally easy and stress free. All of the team over in Malta were highly professional and passionate about ensuring our day went as perfectly as it did. We honestly couldn't have asked the day to go any more perfectly.
written by on 10/11/2017
Absolutely delighted with just how beautiful our day was. The whole experience from booking the wedding all the way through until leaving the venue was handled impeccably. All of the team in the UK made the process of dealing with matters abroad exceptionally easy and stress free. All of the team over in Malta were highly professional and passionate about ensuring our day went as perfectly as it did. We honestly couldn't have asked the day to go any more perfectly.
written by LillianaAndersen412 on 17/10/2017
Thank you to everyone at Ionian Weddings! It really felt so easy and relaxed from the beginning, nothing ever seemed a problem at all. We were always kept informed throughout the whole process. The staff at Ionian Weddings were all really helpful and really easy to work with. They made our wedding experience straightforward and enjoyable. Ilaria was amazing, she was always so helpful and answered all your questions and always made sure she had a response or answer for you. We had the best day. Thank you so much!
written by lfNorris478 on 10/10/2017
We had the most amazing day- everything we ever dreamed it would be and we can't thank Ionian Weddings enough. When we booked our wedding I was expecting a very stressful few months of planning but right up until the moment we said "I do" I didn't feel any at all. The Ionian Weddings team made it all run so smoothly and nothing I asked was ever too much trouble. We will definitely be recommending Ionian Weddings to others that want to get married abroad. There is now only one problem..... we want to do the day all over again....and again....and again!
written by Lennonp1948 on 06/10/2017
We had an absolutely amazing time. Better than we could ever have imagined. We cannot thank you all enough. On arrival in Kefalonia, any fears we had were completely calmed by Demitra and the celebrant. Totally fantastic from start to finish. Multiply perfect by infinity and that was our day in a nutshell. Thank you sooo much everyone at Ionian Weddings
written by Marco325 on 22/08/2017
We have been talking with Ionian weddings since June and we have all our money saved and want to book asap. The responses from the person I dealt with were slow and incomplete. We wanted to know more about the resorts seeing as guests would be coming as a holiday. They refused to tell us the resort names only allowing us to review venue details. I managed to find the resorts through some research and we planned to visit. They wanted to charge £150 just to view a venue. We have found the venues with other companies much cheaper and their correspondence is much better.
Written on: 29/09/2017
Hello Marco325, thank you for your review. If you look at reviews on other sites you will see that our customers frequently say that the reason for booking with us is because we respond much faster than other companies. I’m really sorry to hear that you felt the responses you received were slow. Based on the information you’ve given I’ve been unable to trace your enquiry with us so I can’t comment further however I do need to point out that the £150 covers the cost of visits to multiple venues and the time for our local team to set up appointments and show you around. Most importantly, it is fully refunded when you book with us and this is made clear in our correspondence. If you have any further feedback do contact us directly and I’ll be happy to look into it in more detail. We wish you all the best with your wedding planning and thank you for your valuable feedback.
Written on: 29/09/2017
I was asked if my details could be passed to you by review centre of which I agreed as she asked me to send over the emails that I’d had with yourselves as you’d challenged the review to try and get it taken down but as I was able to provide what they asked for it was reinstated.
I haven’t heard anything from you directly, only this response on a public website. Another email of the service to be received.
Written on: 02/10/2017
Dear Niknox, I'm sorry but I am not sure what this about. I have asked Reviewcentre to contact you about this as at no point have we asked for anyone's details.
written by Bride2016 on 19/01/2017
She was our wedding planner at Ionian Weddings and she was fantastic! From start to finish she answered any questions we had putting our minds at ease and made planning our wedding not only a stress free experience but also an enjoyable one :-) I can honestly say that there is nothing that we would change about our day, it really was perfect and the best day ever!
written by anaf23 on 17/11/2016
They really help you plan your wedding and are very dedicated in working with you. The prices for the service you are receiving is great and I highly recommend them.
written by 363Schofield on 21/06/2016
We used Ionian Weddings for our wedding in spring 2016. Their service is fine in that you'll get your wedding (it's legit!), and ours really was a dream come true, however this is because of the wedding staff at the destination, not the Ionian staff. Ionian just liaise with the destination staff, who are wedding planners in their own right, but obviously most people (ourselves included) would be anxious about trying to arrange it directly. Ionian were fine, but you have to be on your toes - at the beginning they give you a timeline of when they'll get in touch, however this was not kept to and we often had to ask "should we be doing/submitting such and such now?" when we hadn't heard anything in a while, which led to some panicky situations. There were also differences in the prices quoted and the prices we eventually paid - differences which were not covered by the disclaimer about supplier prices changing year on year. Cheeky, but kind of typical! We also found a number of things that Ionian told us were actually different when we got to the destination - nothing major, but things that made the destination wedding planner say "that's strange, I don't know why they said/didn't tell you that". It just didn't come off as very professional. On the whole, you shouldn't be put off using Ionian (there aren't many alternative options anyway) but just don't rely on them too heavily and do your own research so you're informed. I got the impression that if Ionian employed a couple more staff, gave their standard emails and templates a bit of a refresh and double-checked some of the destination-specific information they give out, then they could be great. I don't regret using Ionian, but they could do much to help reduce the stress levels associated with planning a wedding!
Written on: 01/08/2016
Thank you very much for your review. It’s difficult for us to comment in detail as you don’t mention where you got married. We have planned over 1200 weddings over the last 9 years and if you look at our testimonials on our website and our Facebook page you’ll see that couples mention time and again how stress free the process was and how delighted they are with our service. We are truly sorry that you didn’t feel the same way. We are constantly striving to improve and have taken on board all of your comments. We have recently taken on more staff at our UK office and have looked at our procedures recently to improve them. Should you wish to discuss any of these points in more detail please do get in touch with us. Thank you again for your review and we wish you both all the best.
written by Drainford999 on 23/10/2015
We chose Ionian because of the great impartial advice that Andreas offered when we popped into their stand on a whim during one of the Wedding shows at the NEC. The fact that he was talking to us from a neutral point of view (i.e. Not just trying to get a booking from us, and suggesting alternatives for what we wanted) meant we'd made our decision before we left the show. Ionian were really friendly and helpful, and when we made a mistake on the documents side, the person I dealt with handled it quickly and didn't even charge is the excess charges that we were expecting. The local support was great, the other person I dealt with handled everything. Anyone thinking of "going it alone" and organising things themselves should really talk to Ionian. The fact that we didn't have to stress and could relax and enjoy the week in the run-up to the big day was invaluable and we just sailed through the week and had a magical time. Next time I need a wedding planner (jokes! ) I would definitely use Ionian again. Highly recommended!!
written by Saffron420 on 23/10/2015
I couldn't disagree more with the negative comment below. THE BEST WEDDING EVER!!! Ionian weddings were amazing from start to finish, nothing was too much trouble and every last detail was perfect. Our marriage was same sex, and this was handled in such an open understanding manner across the board. the people I dealt with thought of everything and helped us to create our dream wedding we can not thank them enough! Thank you so much Ionian you are the best!!!
written by Ianclifford88 on 23/10/2015
We choose Santorini & Ionian Weddings for our wedding after doing lots of research on weddings abroad. Santorini, in particular, appealed to us due to its natural beauty and the fantastic looking venue in which we booked (Dana Villas). Since our first contact with Ionian they have been nothing but helpful, informative and friendly and the end result was one of the best days of our lives! - To this day, almost a year on, attendee's of the wedding still say its the best wedding they have ever been to and a handful of friends have chosen to follow our steps in marrying abroad and putting their trust in Ionian Weddings. We cannot thank the team @ Ionian enough for the day they arranged for us and how smooth and stress free they kept the entire process! thank you Ionian!
written by trinidecombe on 21/10/2015
To start with, Andreas was great and it seemed like it will all be smooth, however after we have paid the deposit, everything went wrong. He allocated us a lady, very unprofessional and without any experience. He was meant to be the expert on Crete, but nothing we could do about it. We discussed prices for the package, and although we were aware that the initial prices had to be double checked for the time we were getting married, we found extremely bizarre that all the things we wanted to cut out of our package has gone down, however what we wanted to add, had remained the same. Eg. Car: initially EU180, at the time of removing it from the package EU135, and so on. the person I dealt with never acknowledged our emails and took very long to get back to us after chasing. It took her around three months to get us a sample photo/portfolio from the photographer and make up artists, which left us with very little time to make our own arrangements, as the photographer's portfolio was ok for posed photos, but not action shoots. I could go on and on telling you how stressful was to deal with Ionian Weddings, but there is no point.. if I was you, I would so not use them. Luckily, we had some local heroes that saved the day and made everything easy and simple: Kostas and a lady from Crete. The local wedding coordinators were so easy to deal with, nothing was a problem and all the hurdles we faced with Ionian, were promptly resolved locally, so big thanks to Kostas and to the person I dealt with ! We found that locals helped us heaps more than Ionian and also give you a more accurate pricing (the lady in our Villa was amazing! The lady, from Sonia Villas). Eg, for flowers, Ionian cost was 54EU per centre piece. We got the locally for EU8.40!!!. She also recommended us an amazing photographer! Anyhow, we had a great day thanks to the locals, but If we were you, we would not use Ionian.. engage with locals, they have the knowledge and are way more eager to help you (we contacted a few Villas for our family, and all of them offered help.. they either knew a wedding planner, or a florist, or someone who made cakes, etc..)
Written on: 21/06/2016
It's interesting to read your review, it mirrors our own experience with Ionian quite closely! We got married in a different country but were equally impressed with the local staff, they made our wedding the lovely day it was.
Written on: 21/06/2016
they blocked my comment in Facebook but my husband managed to re post it..
sorry to hear they were bad to you too.. but glad to local team came to your rescue!
Written on: 21/06/2016
they blocked my comment in Facebook but my husband managed to re post it..
sorry to hear they were bad to you too.. but glad to local team came to your rescue!
written by Daniel.nick on 19/05/2015
This was a fine little gig and well organised, my only criticism is why not hunt around a little more and find a better one. . . there are so many that it’s not difficult to find, juts go to Venue reservations website, ok they are more about finding venues for big corporate summer party venues and stuff like that but everyone uses them as wedding location planners as well. Other than that we had a great time and the planning was really quite good.
written by lisavenice12345 on 31/03/2015
Our wedding was at the 29.08.14 in Venice. We had a very private ceremony at the Palazzo Cavalli. Just my husband and me. Ionian Weddings made an unforgettable day for us. Everything was cared for and all we had to do was to enjoy OUR day. Venice is beautiful and very romantic especially in a gondola. It is an experience you will never forget. People congratulate you. We took the Vaporettho ( Water bus ) to our dinner location instead of a water taxi, it was pure fun especially in our wedding outfit. Back to our Hotel, Palazzo Paruta, by feet. One hand the bridal bouquet the other hand an Ice cream. Great fun. Ionian Wedding organized this fantastic photographer. We had him for 1 1/2 hrs. He was great. After our Honeymoon we celebrated with our families in Germany and lived this dream again. I strongly recommend Ionian weddings because they make your special day to an unforgettable experience and it doesn't matter if you have a small or a big budget ( we had a small one) her Team are doing everything to make your wedding wonderful. Thank you for that and I send you a big virtual hug.
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Jclarke47's Comment
Written on: 29/08/2017
I have recently returned from getting married in Santorini I had booked through Ionian. After recommending Ionian before flying to Santorini my views changed once I arrived. In my experience it felt like the people advising you in the London office had never been to the venues and the communication with them and the staff on the island is poor. I was also disappointed with the help given by the planner on the day itself
Ionianweddings's Comment
Written on: 29/09/2017
Hello Jclarke47, thank you for your comments and we’re really sorry to hear that your views have changed. Ionian Weddings is proud to be one of the only UK based wedding planning companies that visits all of its venues. In fact in 2017, three different staff members from our UK office have visited your wedding venue (Gem Santorini). As we have a large team I’m sure you can appreciate that not every member of staff can visit every single one of our 300 + venues but you can always ask to speak to someone in the office who has. We’re sorry to hear your feedback on your local co-ordinator, it’s extremely rare we have negative feedback on our local team in Santorini. We didn’t receive any feedback directly from you after your wedding so if you’d like to discuss any specific issues, please do get in touch with us so we can look into it further. Thank you again for your review, your feedback is really valuable to us.