If you are flying from the west coast of the U.S. (e.g., LA) to Athens, you will likely connect through another major city, either in the U.S. or Europe (e.g., Atlanta, New York, Paris, or London). Your total flight time will be 16+ hours with layovers (you could opt to stay in your layover location for a night or two to break up the trip). If you are flying from the east coast of the U.S. directly to Athens, the flight time is approx. 9.5 hours.

45 minutes - 1 hour

You will have to fly into Athens initially, and then from Athens into one of the two major airports in Crete, Chania or Heraklion. We recommend flying into Chania, as it is closer to the wedding venue. However, if you are planning on spending an extended amount of time on Crete, you could really fly into either airport (and there are certainly things to see and do in Heraklion, such as Knossos, the Minoan Palace of King Minos).

Yes! There are multiple events associated with the wedding in addition to the ceremony itself. We will be having lunch and a wine tasting at a vineyard in Chania on October 4th, the day before the wedding, as everyone arrives to the island from Athens. We will also be having a brunch and a beach outing the day after the wedding (October 6th). Lastly, for those who will still be on the island, we will be having a drop-in "after party" in Chania on Monday, October 7th at the house we will be staying at for the remainder of our time in Crete. Everyone is invited to all of the events we are hosting (so if you are missing an event from your invite, please let us know as it is an error), However, the wine tasting and lunch on October 4th will have a cut-off based on the maximum capacity of the venue. So, please RSVP early if you know you want to attend. Lastly, please stay tuned for potential events in Athens in the days before the wedding for those of you who will be spending some time in Athens before making your way to Crete.

We think two to three days is a great amount of time to spend in Athens. You could certainly spend a week or more exploring the city and surrounding areas and archaeological sites. However, if it were up to us, we would spend a few days in Athens and most of our time on Crete or one of the other Greek islands. We already have a few suggestions up here on our wedding website, but will likely add more or even an Athens city guide in the coming months.

The only appropriate answer to this question is forever. If we could live on the island of Crete, we would. You could spend weeks and weeks and weeks exploring all of Cretes natural wonders, amazing history, delectable cuisines, and small towns and cities. However, assuming you are not planning on permanently relocating to Crete, we think that you should spend a week at minimum if you are able. Similar to with Athens, we already have quite a few suggestions for things to do on Crete up on our wedding website. We will certainly be adding more and perhaps a more formal guide to Crete if possible. There is truly so much beauty to behold on this island.

The weather in Crete in October should be great (hence us picking it for our wedding), and the tourist season should have mostly died down. That being said, there could be some rain, and the temperature can vary drastically from day to evening, and from lower elevations (like beaches) to higher elevations, like the mountain that Milia Mountain Retreat (our wedding venue) is on top of. Average weather in Vlatos, Crete (the town Milia is in) in early October has a low around 65 F and a high around 76 F, with it getting cooler incrementally as the month progresses.

Whatever you plan on wearing to the wedding, wedding reception, and associated events (e.g., wine tasting, post-wedding brunch, beach outing). Additionally, definitely pack a bathing suit or two, and outfit for a nice dinner or two (if that's your thing - there are plenty of great restaurants for all budgets both in Athens and on Crete), and clothes for outdoors activities, including hiking (if that's your thing), as there are tons of great outdoor activities on Crete, and particularly up at and around Milia Mountain Retreat. Additionally, while it may not rain at all, it would not be a bad idea to pack a rain coat and/or umbrella.

ABSOLUTELY. We have only visited Crete (multiple times - like we said, we are obsessed and could live there if we could) and Athens. However, we have been dying to visit some of the other islands as well as other mainland cities around Greece (and we might following our wedding). We strongly encourage visiting nearby islands either by boat or by quick flight, or even nearby countries (see below).

If you have the time and the budget, then yes - definitely. When we went to Greece to do wedding recon last fall, we added on a four-day trip to Rome, and it was glorious. Athens is less than a 4-hour flight to London, a 3-hour flight to Paris, a 2-hour (or less) flight to Rome, Naples, Milan, or Bari (all in Italy), a 1.5-hour flight to Istanbul, a 2-hour flight to Cairo, Egypt or Tunis, Tunisia and a 4-hour flight to Marrakesh, Morocco. The nearby travel options are truly endless and flights are oftentimes relatively inexpensive.

If you are comfortable driving on windy, narrow roads, then yes. Renting a car in Crete is the ideal way to see the beautiful island. We rent a car every time we visit. A few notes if you do plan on renting a car: (1) Cars will be manual (i.e., stick shift) if you do not specify - they do have automatic vehicles available to rent, but you must ask for automatic. (2) Roads on Crete are often narrow and windy (the highways are perfectly fine). (3) If you are planning on exploring the island and going to visit some of its famous beaches, gorges, and other natural wonders, we high recommend getting a vehicle with some clearance. A small SUV or a wagon would suffice. However, keep in mind, if a car or truck is too large, you might find some of the roads on the island (which, again, are often small, narrow, and windy) too difficult to maneuver (think Suburban, etc.). (3) We usually rent via Avis because they have been dependable, they have had both stick shifts and automatics, a large selection of vehicles, and their prices have been reasonable in the past. However, we are sure there are other great options to rent from as well.

No. Unless we have already discussed you bringing a guest, we are unable to accommodate +1s or additional guests. Space at the wedding venue is very limited.

We recommend wearing "Greek Island Chic." Do with this what you will. The venue for the wedding will be mountainous (about 12-15 miles from a beach on either side), covered in Chestnut and olive trees, surrounded by ruins and buildings from the 1400s and the occasional silky-haired goat. Use your imagination, but be chic :) Additionally, on the wedding day, please bring shoes to walk to and from the parking lot in. It is in easy walk down a gravel path, but we don't need any pre- or post-wedding injuries, so please pack appropriate footwear for the walk from the parking lot to the venue. You can stash your shoes at the venue and change back into them before you walk back up to the parking lot at the end of the night :)

We have a limited number of rooms at the venue for some guests. This will be offered to family first, and then those assisting us with the wedding. If there are any rooms left after that, we will let you know. However, we have also listed additional accommodation options under the accommodations tab on this website (including multiple apartments/villas/bed & breakfasts near Milia, additional hotels and lodging a little farther from Milia, and lastly a hotel block that will be posted soon on/near the beach in Kissamos, about a 30-40 minute drive from the wedding venue). We will be arranging transportation at set times to and from the hotel block and one or two other locations. Again, if you are able to rent a car, great - we highly recommend this to get the most out of the island . There is parking at the venue for those who do choose rent cars.

We recommend flying into Athens no later than Wednesday, October 2nd if you plan on going directly from Athens to Crete. You can fly to Crete the same day that you arrive in Athens if you arrive into the Athens airport earlier in the day. There are multiple direct flights from Athens to both Chania and Heraklion every day on Aegean Airlines (the national Greek airline) for around $250 r/t. The drive from Chania airport to Milia Mountain Retreat is about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The drive from Heraklion airport to Milia Mountain Retreat is about 3 hours. If you would like to spend a few days in Athens before heading to Crete, then we would recommend flying into Athens no later than Monday, September 30th. We (Sebastián & Daedra) will be in Athens until September 28th and then fly to Chania to prepare for the wedding. We recommend flying from Athens to Chania (or Heraklion, depending on your preference) no later than the 3rd or 4th. Keep in mind, we will be having a pre-wedding day event at a winery near Chania on October 4th before we drive up to Milia Mountain Retreat, where we will be staying from October 4th-7th (this is the wedding venue as well). So, if you are RSVPed to attend this event, please plan on being in Chania by late morning on October 4th.

TBD