weddings abroad

katty_3

i spend most of my time on here looking at the thread started by Mrs Thrift (which is fantastic), always end up on here for hours with great ideas but there is never much about getting married abroad.

i have finally convinced my OH to get married in Thailand (much to his families disappointment and my families joy - along with very happy thailand holiday going friends!).

The plan is for August 2008 - no budge on the 2008 as we haven't started saving yet and family need time to save (about 30 people have said they'll go too!). August is due to me just finishing teacher training, was initially going for May 2008 but rainfall is heavier in May than August apparently!

anyway enough rambling...
has anyone got married in thailand?
what's the cheapest way to do it? through travel agent? independently?
can anyone reccommend anywhere to book through?

We have looked online and it seems really expensive to do independently, although hard to tell as nowhere has prices etc for 2008 yet!
thinking probably Phuket so there's lots for all family and friends to choose from in terms of eating out etc (not much all inclusive - which i wouldn't want anyway as its sooooo cheap!)

finally should probably point out that OH is (wannabe) mr luxury (works for Marriott hotels - think this is where it comes from) whereas i am miss find-a-bargain from cheapsville. don't get me wrong i want it to be the best ever but all that money for 1 day?
i'm thinking car, deposit, new kitchen, new wardrobe for the next 2 years, 3 holidays, crumbly walls plastered......


kate x

Callisto

I don't have prices for Thailand, but you will probably find it works out loads cheaper than a UK wedding. I wanted to get married in Cyprus, but OH's Mum refuses to fly, so we are now staying in the UK to get married and current estimates vary between £5000 and £7000 and this doesn't include the honeymoon, and that is with quite strict budgeting... it would probably be more like £10000 if I wanted an expensive dress, live band, vintage cars, expensive cake, lots of flowers etc...

A friend got married last year in Cyprus and it cost £5000 including wedding ceremony, reception food and drink and two weeks honeymoon in an upmarket hotel. I'd be happy to pay £5k if I got the honeymoon included for that price as well... may have to consider drugging OH's Mum to get her on the plane... (evil grin!)

katty_3

its nice to know that someone else is experiencing similar troubles! we both discussed getting married here after i found out the OH's mum, dad and brother tried to convince him to get married here whilst i wasn't there!!! very annoyed at that anyway...
based on what we have budgetted so far its looking similar cost to going abroad (ok abroad is a bit less) but then, like you say, its not including the honeymoon where, regardless of how OTT or not we go with the wedding, OH will still want (and so will i, i suppose) want super nice flight, super nice hotel blah blah blah!!!

my god, i just feel like i'm complaining all the time!!!
good job on your wedding savings callisto, bout time we started saving - joint account here we come!

kate x

Callisto

We're still a loooong way off our savings target, and have had to postpone our wedding until 2008, we were originally going for next June, but I haven't been able to get a permanent job yet (have done temping, but need steady income now), so we haven't really been able to save anything since January.

I didn't realise the families would be so outspoken when we announced our wedding plans... have had grandparents asking why we're not getting married in a church (neither of us are Christians!), my Mum telling me to hurry up and book everything (when we've hardly got any money saved and would have to stick it all on a credit card!) and OH's Mum refusing to fly and saying you should only marry in a church and wear a white dress if you are 'pure'!? How rude, times have moved on somewhat... and I was planning on having a coloured dress anyway!

I'm now sick of family interference and we have decided on a 'handfasting' ceremony in a country house or (cheap!) castle in Scotland, we're hopefully going to view some venues later on this year... and we're only going to tell people when it is booked, cue everyone moaning about having to travel to Scotland! Just remember you can only compromise so far and eventually just have to tell everyone, like it or lump it - this is where we're getting married!

Hope your wedding saving goes well and no matter how much they moan, I'm sure your OH's parents wouldn't miss it for the world!

By the way, have you checked out https://www.confetti.co.uk Most people on the forums there are really helpful and you might be able to get more accurate costings for weddings abroad from someone who's getting married abroad this year or next.

knithappens

I got married April 13th in the states. We were planning the big wedding and got so much ear ache from each side of our families, that in the end I flew over to the states ( my husband is a US MArine) and we ended up getting married without our families, alot cheeper, and actually i would not change it for the world, there was minimal stress.

JUst make sure you find out what you will need to bring, whether they have a waiting period to get married, and whther your marriage is recongnised back in the UK. Good luck with all the plans.

hilstep2000

We went to St Lucia in April. We stayed at the Rendezvous hotel, and they include weddings as part of the holiday. The only extras are if you want a steel band, or cake. There were loads of people getting married while we were there. Check out the website on https://www.theromanticholiday.com
It's for couples only though, no children. You only have to be there for three days. The website will tell you what you need to bring. One young couple we spoke to said that it had cost them £4000, and that of course included the honeymoon!