CYPRUS is ranked in the top three wedding destinations for British couples marrying abroad with around five thousand British couples getting married here each year. Paphos has scooped up nearly 40 per cent of those weddings, and despite the financial downturn, bookings have so far held reasonably steady for 2009.
Wedding planners, however, say that customers are trying to cut the cost of their big day in various ways, such as reducing their guest lists and ordering fewer flowers.
The four municipalities of Paphos all perform civil weddings, which are particularly geared towards the British market. Lia Costi, of Paphos municipality said she expected figures to hold steady for this year. ”I would say the bookings for 2010 are down slightly on previous years, but I think this will pick up after April,” she said.
Costi believes most people won’t consider the crisis when they’re getting married.
“It’s a special day for them, whatever else is going on in the world, “she said. The municipality marries people at the town hall, but a new area close to the castle and lighthouse in Kato Paphos is being prepared now and should be ready by June. In 2008 Paphos municipality made half a million euros from weddings.
“This is an important income for us,” Costi said. The municipality wedding officers will be attending wedding exhibitions in September, in both London and Birmingham to drum up more custom.
The municipality of Peyia has five councillors who perform the marriage ceremonies, and they work on a rotation system during the summer.
“At the height of summer, I do about 20 weddings a week. These are usually between the months of May and September,” said local councillor, Linda Leblanc.
Peyia performs up to 800 weddings a year. The legal cost of a marriage licence is €282, but couples may incur additional costs if the wedding officers have to travel to a venue.
“We can now marry people almost anywhere,” said Leblanc, “but my favourite place is at the traditional water springs of Peyia, the Vrissi.”
Leblanc said that she had expected bookings to drop due to the global financial crisis, but confirmed that in Peyia booking numbers, so far, are holding.
“We already have 550 booked for this year, and I expect bookings to reach 600. This year’s figures may be slightly down, but not a lot. We marry mostly British nationals, and we earned €190,000, which is a substantial amount, from last year’s ceremonies,” said Maria Yiangou, who looks after bookings at the municipality.
Marina Polydiou of Yeroskipou municipality said that 90 per cent of couples that married in Yeroskipou last year were British. She admitted that there have been a few cancellations for 2009 to date, but added that the figures were no cause for concern.
“We’re going to an exhibition this month in Birmingham, and we find these things always help with business,” she said.
The municipality of Polis Chrysochous has been in the business of promoting weddings for foreigners since 1986.
“We have performed up to 70 weddings a year. Last year we did 50, and we already have 20 booked for this year,” said Voulla Savva from Polis municipality. “We’ve only had one cancellation. I can’t say how we will be affected in 2010, but I hope numbers will be constant.”
Lakis Neofitou, of Cyprus dream weddings, has been organising weddings in Paphos for the last decade.
“Most of my clients are British, and we did about two hundred weddings in Paphos in 2008. I’m expecting to do around the same figure this year,” he said.
Neofitou confirmed six cancellations for this year, but three of them have rescheduled for 2010.
“I think if the problem does affect us, it will be next year. People usually book weddings a year in advance, and I think we could see up to a 20 per cent decrease for next year.”
He added,” wedding bookings are coming in, but people seem to have a lower budget, and fewer guests. They’re cutting back on the extras.”
Because of the financial crunch in the UK, Neofitou plans to examine other international markets, such as Eastern Europe and Russia.
“This is a new market,” he said,” and as we would be adding to existing custom, it’s a plus for us. We’ll provide promotional material in their language.”
Kim and Alex Koniotes moved to Peyia seven years ago. Kim Koniotes had a background as a hospitality manager and VIP Chef at Asprey and Garrard, the crown jewellers, and her husband was Greene King’s business manager of the year in 2001, responsible for setting up gastro-bars in London. They were well placed to open a new restaurant, Zucchinis, within six weeks of arriving on the island.
After being the chosen venue for a couple of weddings during their first year, they decided to concentrate on this side of the business and hosted 60 weddings in their second year of operation. They specialise in offering the whole wedding service from organising the actual wedding ceremony to the flowers and the cake. Zucchini hosted around 85 weddings in 2008, and there are already 80 booked for this year and Koniotes is hoping to total similar figures to last year.
They have just turned their second restaurant in Coral Bay, the Blue Olive, into a wedding venue, catering for the middle market.
“At Zucchini, we cater for the top end of the market, and our new venue will still provide good service and quality, but it will appeal to those working on a tighter budget. I think this will also help couples during leaner times,” she said.
Koniotes said that wedding bookings for this year have only seen a slight drop, and 2010 is already looking busy.
She said that couples spend, on average, between €6,000 and €7,000 at Zucchinis for a wedding party of 30.
“We have 25 paid deposits for next year. We have around six enquires a day, and I don’t think people are cutting back on their weddings. They save for them, in some cases for years, but perhaps a few people are cutting back on extras,” she said. “For example one booking of flowers for 40 buttonholes, is now only for the immediate family.”
For further information: Paphos municipality 26822353,Peyia Municipality 26621113,
www.geroskipou-municipality.com,
www.polis-municipality-cyprus.com
www.cyprusdreamweddings.com
www.zucchiniweddings.com
