Anyone get married abroad?

Cherry_Bomb

I need some inspiration!

I finally got engaged on Friday and have already got my bridezilla hat on
I'm not really into the traditional church style wedding but at the same time don't want anything too different.

I definitely want to get married abroad I just don't know where! I don't have any family abroad so I'm not drawn to a particular country either.
Budget I'm not 100% sure of yet but I know I don't want a budget wedding nor do I want a huge extravagant affair. In the middle somewhere would be good!

I'm just after some ideas so would love to hear what other people have done

Thanks!

Flamingo_2

First of all....congratulations!!!

Hubby & i got married in Las Vegas 4 years ago. We had an outdoor wedding @ The Flamingo Hotel - couldn't have asked for anything more perfect There were 18 of us all together.

When planning our wedding we also considered getting married in Cyprus, Malta & Hawaii.

If you have any questions about Vegas, ask away!

missrlr

Cyprus on a pier at sunset, not expensive not cheap https://www.cyprusweddings.com , only bit I was unhappy with was €600 wedding fee as not on site the registry office but worth it

missrlr

Should clarify we diy'd it didn't do the wedding planners thing :cool:

aneres

I'm getting married in September at the Sensatori in Crete. We would've liked to have gone further afield but we compromised on Europe as more people would come.

Oldernotwiser

Bear in mind the fact that, if you're having guests at your wedding, you should choose somewhere they can afford to visit, unless you're funding their expenses as well as your own.

angelil

I got married in France last year, but have lived there since 2008 (I'm British, FYI) so my situation was a little different to yours.

A few things you'll need to check:
a) Residency requirements. Some countries, like France, require you to have lived in the country for a certain period of time before marrying there, so you can't always rock up and get married in a foreign country for the fun of it. Some countries have no such restrictions.
b) What paperwork you need to arrange. I not only needed copies of my birth certificate, and translations of them, but also something called a "certificat de c!libat" (proving I was single) and a "certificat de coutume" (detailing the marriage laws in the UK and stating that I was permitted to marry legally in France). Not to mention passport, proof of residency, copies of your witnesses' passports, etc. You need all of this in France to even book your wedding date.
c) And how far in advance you need to do this...The above needed to be done 3 months in advance as a maximum, as the documents need to be quite recent. This caused problems as of course you want to have the date confirmed by the town hall before you book anything else (like the reception, family flights etc). My mother wanted to do this further in advance than 3 months, so we did it all 6 months ahead, and then renewed it all again 3 months before the wedding.
d) And how much all this paperwork will cost you...Even translating one sheet of paper (my birth certificate) was €60 a go (multiply by 2 - one for the 6 months prior to the wedding and once for the 3 months prior). The certificat de c!libat, iirc, was about €80. And so on, and so forth.
e) How will your dress/wedding periphery travel? My parents drove to France and brought my dress and all extra wedding outfits/decorations etc with them in the car, but it isn't this easy for everyone. How will you take all of this stuff with you safely in a way you're comfortable with?
f) How likely is it that all of the loved ones you want will attend? I was really upset that my paternal gran didn't attend (firstly, she couldn't be bothered to get a passport, and secondly, even when offered door to door transport in the car with my parents and sister, she refused on the grounds that her husband, who I don't care for, wouldn't be able to come with her) and that my stepgrandmother followed suit (basically on the basis that she couldn't be bothered to travel, and not without her daughter, who again I don't really know or care for). We also ended up with a really small wedding in the end as the number of aunts/uncles/cousins/friends etc just got ridiculous in terms of the cost, so we were really brutal and cut everyone except parents, siblings, one aunt and uncle, and one grandparent. You may have to be prepared to do this yourselves, or to find a plan B to enable you to invite everyone you want (our 'plan B' was a boat party in the UK 3 months after the wedding).

I hope this helps a bit in finding a location that's realistic for you x

claire16c

I got married in Hawaii, there was just over 30 of us, was very easy to plan with the company I chose, they were very well organised and made the whole thing stress free. Is there really no where you are drawn to though? The reason we got married there, was because we have had family holidays there before, and we all love it, its my favourite place over anywhere else Ive ever been - therefore why we chose it. I also had some friends who had either been there before, or wanted to visit etc.. Also I always wanted to get married outside.

So I dont think personally I would pick somewhere that I had never visited before. Maybe you could have a holiday at the place this year, and then if you like it plan it for the next year? It would also make it easier to visualise what places would look like when choosing venues etc.

Getting married there was very straight foward, you just apply for a licence when you get there at an office (which was someones house lol) and pay them $60 I think it was. Then you get married, sign the papers, and youre done. Your marriage certificate gets posted to you in the UK a few weeks later. Easy peasy.

Oh another advantage is that in the US you dont have to have a religious or civil wedding as such, there arent strict rules like there are here, so you can make it as religious or non-religious as you like.

Make-it-3

Firstly, as this is a money-saving forum - is this just going to be you and your OH or are you expecting others to attend? If the latter, then are you budgeting to pay for their costs?

You'll get flamed by some on here if organising an extravagant event and expecting others to pay to be there.

If it's just the two of you or you are paying for your nearest and dearest to attend then I would decide based on somewhere special you have previously visited. That's what we did. I wouldn't just pick somewhere never having been unless you just want a generic wedding on a beach type thing.

If you want a lot of people around you and are hoping they will be willing to cough up then think of somewhere easy to get to, cheap flights, lots of accommodation options to suit all budgets etc etc.

Cherry_Bomb

We're definitely not expecting people to pay to come to our wedding! We also won't be paying for anyone else.

It's just going to be me, OH and DS and then we'll have a reception type party when we come home so all friends and family can be invited.

I like the idea of going on holiday beforehand but there's so many places I've been looking at I don't know how I'll fund all these trips
Hawaii looks amazing and I do like the idea of a beach wedding but then I looked at Central Park in New York and the idea of that is equally wonderful!

Becles

Make sure you check it out fully before you book the wedding.

The hotel we stayed at in Mexico did weddings on the beach. The beach was quite narrow and when they did a wedding, they just shoved the sun loungers along a bit, stuck an arch covered in silk flowers up and put the chairs from the restaurant next to it. The couple were married just a few feet away from oily people on laying on sun loungers and children playing sandcastles, plus all the background noise from the pool next to the beach which played loud music all day, the kids club and general noise from everyone on the beach. It didn't seem special and I wouldn't have liked it at all if it had been my wedding.

However some people in a hotel we stayed at in Turkey married here:
http://www.thesugarbeachclub.com
They said it was fantastic as they close the beach and it's for the sole use of your wedding party. All the sun loungers are cleared away and they dress up a pergola that sort of floats on the edge of the water. They got married at sunset and their photo's looked fabulous.