Blog Full - Joanna Loukaki

10 Nov 2017

Engage! luxury wedding business summit in Venice

posted in: wedding color palette, wedding locations, wedding tips and ideas | 0

Engage! is the internationally known wedding business summit for selected creative people in the field of luxury events. In total, 200 participants from 25 nations participated and i was lucky to be a part of it. The event took place at the Hotel Belmond Cipriani in Venice an ideal location to meet for luxury weddings: timeless elegance, glamour and romance.

Engage! brings together leaders in the global wedding and event industry from celebrity planners to luxury lifestyle experts to creative entrepreneurs offering unique insights on business strategies and life balance.

venicewedding — Venice was the most beautiful backdrop for Engage! 2017 | Photo: Betsi Ewing

The who’s who of the luxury at Engage! 17wedding industry

Engage! is the ideal place to socialize, meet new colleagues and old friends. This is where the industry’s big names meet, such as celebrity event planner Marcy Blum, internationally acclaimed event planner Mindy Weiss, luxury wedding planner Sarah Haywood, and wedding designer Colin Cowie.
In addition to professional sessions on the latest trends, business strategies and visions were also presented. Furthermore Engage! presents what is currently or very soon announced at weddings.

Trends and inspirations on the Engage! 17

Color, color, color … big statement centerpieces, local products in goodie bags, signature drinks, these are just a few of the trend points that I noticed in the sessions and parties of Engage! 17 Venice thats seams like will be trending next year!

According to Mindy Weiss, glamping, fairy lights and organic florals will be very popular for 2018!

Everything is in the details, Lynn Easton from Easton Events says and we agree. So she thinks of goodie bag or hangover kits for the bridal couple as well as for the guests. A great idea is also a fabric bag embroidered with the couple’s logo. As soon as something does not fit into the clutch, you have the bag as an attentive of course immediately ready. Another funny idea, are branded ice cubes! Or imagine, you’ll find an elegant picture frame with a wedding photo of you at the honeymoon hotel.

After the party

Event planner Bryan Rafanelli, the “Man of the Moment”, as he was once called by the English luxury magazine “Town & Country”, also focuses on details such as follow-up gift about a month after the wedding. These little souvenir gifts are for example: the speech of the bride’s father in a frame or the wedding invitation written on glass!

I loved Venice! And with the participation in the Engage! 17 my trip to the lagoon city was a powerful and enriching experience!

Here are some of my favorite photos from Betsi Ewing and John Cain Sargent.

Enjoy!

9 Dec 2016

Destination wedding planning tips

posted in: destination wedding, wedding locations, wedding tips and ideas | 0

Destination wedding planning tips

A destination wedding is probably the most romantic kind of wedding. Whisking away to an island with your love and your nearest and dearest to tie the knot. But as some of you may have realized, a destination wedding is not all bikinis and mojitos.

Many couples are overwhelmed with the idea of having their wedding away from home so we created this small list of useful tips to assist you start planning your dream wedding!

Give yourself plenty of planning time.

Destination weddings are usually booked well in advance, for example our services booking up around 18 months before the wedding date. So start planning early if you don’t want your choices limited! Send out ‘Save the Date’ cards as soon as you can so that you can allow your guests the chance to incorporate your wedding into their annual leave. You don’t want to leave it too late where all your guests have already booked their holidays and cannot make it to your big day.

Location, location, location.

With your guests needing to travel abroad for your wedding it is important to factor in the travel time and likely costs involved as there is no point in inviting all your friends and family to your fabulous event if it is going to be too difficult for them to get to or too expensive. So check that there are good flight connections for your guests and that there is a wide range of local accommodations to suit all budgets.

Remember to get help!

Planning a wedding at home can be stressful enough so please don’t think planning a wedding abroad will be any easier. Language barriers and lack of knowledge of the area can be a real stumbling block so hire a professional wedding planner who will have a vast knowledge of the area and will provide the very best team of vendors. You shouldn’t have to be worrying about the logistics of your event and whether or not you have chosen a good vendor or if they will even turn up so leave this to the professionals, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Look after your guests.

Your wedding guests will have gone to a lot of effort and expense travelling to your wedding so it is important to make sure they feel this is appreciated and that they are well looked after but you also don’t want to end up being their personal travel agent! It is also nice to provide additional events for your guests as they will usually have travelled for a long weekend or even a week so booking a good restaurant for a welcome meal before the wedding and arranging something the day after such as a relaxed brunch or pool party with a BBQ are always a good idea. A welcome pack or welcome letter for your guests on their arrival to add a personal touch from the Bride & Groom.

7 Nov 2016

Style me Pretty Little Black Book member

posted in: Accolades, destination wedding, greek weddings, style me pretty | 0

So excited to share with you an unexpected email in my inbox a while ago. An invitation to be a Style me Pretty ’s Little Black Book Member! It’s safe to say I’m obsessed with Style Me Pretty and am now very proud to announce we are a part of their exclusive vendor list!

With this invitation, I went back to few years ago when I first saw the Style me Pretty and was absolutely blown away from the amazing photos and ideas. Little did I know then that a few years after I would be a part of it!

A little background from Style me Pretty about the Little Black Book:

The Style me Pretty Little Black Book is a thoughtfully edited listing of only top quality vendors. Because our style-savvy, sophisticated readers deserve a chic resource they can trust, our book is created with them in mind. The Little Black Book is intended to offer our readers a worry-free browsing experience while our Very Important Vendors enjoy a showcase in keeping with our firm commitment to quality vs. quantity. More than simply enjoying elite advertising space, our members are a handpicked community of artistic experts. In an industry saturated with long lists of anybody & everybody, our book is the most thoughtfully edited resource on the planet: a refreshingly couture idea.

Thank you to the Style me Pretty for including Joanna Loukaki Weddings and Events in your amazing Little Black Book!

11 Apr 2016

Santorini weddings

posted in: destination wedding, greek weddings, santorini weddings, wedding locations | 5

Santorini weddings inspiration

The Greek island of Santorini is included in the list of 21 extraordinary destinations that will change your perception of reality, according to buzzfeed.com.
“These incredible man-made and natural spots look like something straight out of Dali’s mind”, the article notes.The island of Santorini, is one of these incredible spots.

Santorini weddings

Santorini may well have conquered a corner of your imagination before you’ve even set eyes on it.
Its cliffs soaring over 300m from a sea-drowned caldera, it rests in the middle of the amazing blue Aegean Archipelagos, looking like a giant slab of layered cake.

The island spoons the vast crater left by one of the biggest volcanic eruptions in history. Smaller islands curl around Santorini, the fragmented western edge of the caldera, but it is the main island of Thira that will take your breath away with its snow-drift of white Cycladic houses lining the cliff tops and, in places, spilling like icy cornices down the terraced rock.

When the sun sets, the reflection on the buildings and the glow of the orange and red in the cliffs can be truly spectacular creating the most amazing backdrop for your Santorini Wedding!

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