Short answer
Fly guests to the airport nearest the island, or onto the island itself if it has one, and put them on a sailing the day before the wedding, never on the day. Take the timetable from the operator or the port authority, not from a reseller, book the crossing as soon as the date is fixed, and name a later sailing as the fallback. Wind can cancel departures in both countries, and a spare day is the only insurance that always pays out.
Of the 22 couples who have written to us about Greece, 15 named an island: Crete, Mykonos or Santorini. An island wedding adds a leg that a mainland wedding does not have, the sea, and it is the leg your guests know least about. This guide follows the whole chain from the plane to the venue door. If you are still choosing the place, start with what a wedding in Greece costs or Split or Dubrovnik as a base in Croatia.
1. The nearest airport
Start from the island and work backwards. Some islands have their own airport, and then the boat may not be needed at all.
Greece. Fraport Greece runs fourteen regional airports, and eleven of them are on islands: Corfu, Kefalonia, Kos, Mitilini on Lesvos, Mykonos, Rhodes, Samos, Santorini, Skiathos, Zakynthos and Chania on Crete. An island without its own airport is reached by flying to the mainland or to a neighbouring island and taking the boat from there.
Croatia. Most island weddings start at Split or Dubrovnik airport on the mainland. Brač has its own small airport at Gornji Humac; check its flight timetable for the current season before you count on it.
We give no flight times here, because they depend entirely on where your guests start. Send each guest the name of the airport and let them search from home.
2. The boat: who runs it and where the real timetable is
Greece. The routes are sailed by several companies. The national tourism organisation's sea transport page says the Aegean, Saronic and Cretan lines leave mainly from Piraeus and Rafina, and that the Ionian islands are served from Patras, Kyllini, Igoumenitsa and Astakos. Blue Star Ferries and Minoan Lines, which sails Piraeus-Heraklion among other routes, are two operators with their own timetables and online booking. The Port of Piraeus publishes an arrivals and departures board.
Croatia. The state coastal lines are put out to tender by the Coastal Line Transport Agency in Split (Agencija za obalni linijski pomorski promet). It publishes the 2026 timetables and price lists for every state ferry, passenger and fast line, and also lists commercial fast lines such as TP Line and Kapetan Luka (Krilo). Jadrolinija has its own timetable and ticket shop, and the Port of Dubrovnik has an arrivals and departures page.
Use these, not a booking reseller, as the source for the plan you send guests. Jadrolinija itself states that its sailing schedule is subject to change, so check again in the week before the wedding.
| What you need | Greece | Croatia |
|---|---|---|
| Timetable | The operator's own site; the Piraeus arrivals and departures board | The agency's 2026 timetables; Jadrolinija |
| Tickets | Online, on the operator's site | Jadrolinija's web shop, or the operator of the fast line |
| Disruptions | The operator's notices | Jadrolinija's traffic situation; HAK maritime traffic |
3. Booking ahead in high season
Book the crossing as soon as the date and the guest list are firm, not when the trip is close. On some Croatian lines a ticket is more than a ticket: Jadrolinija lists the lines where a vehicle ticket books a place on a specific departure, among them Split-Stari Grad (Hvar), Split-Vis, Split-Rogač (Šolta) and Split-Vela Luka (Korčula). If guests drive and the island is on one of those lines, the booked departure is the one they can count on. On any other line, ask the operator how boarding works on the day.
In Greece, Blue Star Ferries and Minoan Lines both sell tickets online. At Piraeus, the port authority's coastal terminals page says drivers should be at the waiting area one hour before departure, and that a passenger who arrives too late to board gets no refund.
Two rules for what you send guests: the exact departure, not "the morning boat", and a named second departure the same day.
4. When the wind cancels a sailing
It happens in both countries. In the week this guide was written, Blue Star Ferries carried a notice on its home page about itinerary changes due to bad weather. Jadrolinija posts interrupted lines on its traffic situation page, and the Croatian automobile club HAK keeps a maritime section on its traffic conditions page.
What guests are owed is set by EU rules for sea passengers, summarised on Your Europe. If a departure is cancelled, or delayed by more than 90 minutes, they choose between a refund within 7 days and re-routing at the earliest opportunity. But there is no right to accommodation when severe weather caused the cancellation or the delay. In plain terms: the money comes back, the bed for the night does not, and nobody owes you a ceremony on time.
That is why the day plan below puts the crossing on the day before. A missed sailing then costs an evening, not the wedding.
5. From the port to the venue
The last few kilometres are where groups come apart. Public transport exists but is not built around your boat. Split Airport lists an airport shuttle and public bus lines to Split and Trogir. On Santorini, KTEL Santorini runs the island's buses, which serve the airport and start from Fira. Inside the Port of Piraeus, the port bus is free.
For a group, book a transfer from the port to the venue or the hotels, timed to the booked sailing, through the venue or a local transport company. Give the driver the vessel and the departure, not just a time, so that a late boat is still met. Name one person, a coordinator or a reliable friend, who holds the list of who is on which sailing.
6. Matching rooms to the guest list
On an island the rooms decide how many can come. Everyone who sleeps off the island has to cross on the wedding day, which is exactly what this plan tries to avoid. So aim for every guest sleeping on the island the night before, and if that is impossible, keep the mainland group small and give them an early departure with a second one as the fallback. Count beds before you send save-the-dates, not after.
Put guests with small children, older guests and anyone with reduced mobility closest to the venue. Decide early whether you pay for the rooms or guests book their own; the options are in who pays for the guests' accommodation. For invitations, timing and etiquette, see the guest guide for destination weddings.
7. A simple day plan
| Day | Guests | You |
|---|---|---|
| Two days before | Fly to the airport nearest the port. Sleep near the port, or on the island if it has its own airport. | Check the operator's notices and the forecast for the next day. |
| The day before | Take the booked morning sailing. The transfer meets the boat. Check in. | Keep the later sailing in reserve. A welcome drink in the evening shows you who has arrived. |
| Wedding day | No travel. Transfer from the hotels to the venue. | Nothing to do with boats. |
| The day after | Return sailing. Book the flight home with a margin, not on the first departure after the boat. | Check the notices again in the morning. |
If the island has its own airport, the first two rows merge: guests fly in the day before at the latest. When you send the plan, put everything in one message: the operator's link, the port, the departure, the fallback sailing and the transfer contact.
Sources, checked in October 2026: Fraport Greece, Visit Greece, the Port of Piraeus, Blue Star Ferries, Minoan Lines, Agencija za obalni linijski pomorski promet, Jadrolinija, HAK, Split Airport, Dubrovnik Airport, Brač Airport, the Port of Dubrovnik, KTEL Santorini and the European Commission's Your Europe page on ship passenger rights. The brief figure counts couples who wrote to us about Greece up to October 2026, each couple once and demo entries excluded.