Getting Married at Lake Vouliagmeni

Lake Vouliagmeni is unlike any other wedding setting in Athens. I photographed a wedding there that ended up being one of my favourites of the year. These are my notes from behind the camera — the setting, the light and the way the evening unfolded — for couples thinking about getting married at the lake.

The setting

A thermal lake set inside a rock cliff at Vouliagmeni, on the Athens Riviera, south of the city. The pale limestone wraps around the water, and the lawn beside the lake holds the ceremony and the dinner. The light bouncing off the water at sunset is unusual — nothing else in Athens looks like it.

What makes it work for photographs is the contrast: still water, pale rock and open sky in the same frame — and, after dark, the cliff lit up behind the tables.

The ceremony on the lawn

At the wedding I photographed, the ceremony was on the lakeside lawn: white chairs in rows, a mirror aisle lined with white flowers, and the groom and his groomsmen in white waiting at the end of it with the lake behind them. The mirror aisle doubled everything — the couple, the flowers, the sky.

The vows were read in the open air, with the cliff starting to glow behind the altar as the sun went down. For a ceremony here, that is the hour to plan around: the light softens, the rock warms up, and the water does the rest.

Cocktails in the late sun

After the ceremony the guests moved into the late sun with rosé and spritz, around trees wrapped in lights. This is also the moment I would take the two of you away for twenty minutes: the light is still good, the guests are busy, and nobody misses you.

Dinner under the cliff

Dinner was on the lawn beneath the cliff — white chairs, white roses and candles — with the floodlights coming on over the rock. The groom’s speech came at dusk, from the candlelit head table. It is the best moment for speeches here: there is still colour in the sky, and the cliff is already lit.

The first dance and the night

The first dance was at night under the lit cliff, and then the party took over — coloured lights, haze from the smoke machine, everyone on the dance floor. At night the lake becomes a completely different place from the one you saw at the ceremony, and the gallery should show both.

Planning notes from a photographer

Build the timeline around sunset

In Athens from June to September the hour before sunset is an actual hour — warm without being orange, soft without being flat. Sunset is around 8:50 in June and around 7:30 in September. Put the ceremony in that hour and keep twenty minutes after it for the two of you.

Plan the night as carefully as the day

Dinner, the speeches and the first dance all happen under the lit cliff. The evening timeline matters as much as the ceremony time.

Ask the venue the practical questions

Dates, guest numbers and what is possible on the lawn are questions for the venue itself. I can tell you how the place photographs and how I would approach your day.

The pre-wedding session

The pre-wedding session is part of how I photograph every wedding. I’ll always propose it, and nearly every couple says yes — because it gives us time to get to know each other before the wedding day. Before a lake wedding we can photograph it along the Riviera, in the old streets of Athens or near the Acropolis.

Quick answers

Can you get married at Lake Vouliagmeni?

Yes. I photographed a wedding there, with the ceremony on the lakeside lawn and dinner beneath the cliff. For dates and details, ask the venue directly.

When is the best light at Lake Vouliagmeni?

The hour before sunset, when the cliff warms up and the light bounces off the water. After dark, the floodlit cliff behind the tables.

Where is Lake Vouliagmeni?

At Vouliagmeni, on the Athens Riviera, south of the city centre.

Do you photograph other venues on the Athens Riviera?

Yes — Ktima 48 in Anavyssos and Island Art & Taste in Varkiza among them. More on the Athens Riviera page.

→ See the full Lake Vouliagmeni wedding

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