Getting Married Abroad-How Much?

shopaholicno1

We are looking to marry abroad on a budget.
Anyone got married abroad that can offer any advice on saving money?

becciboop

we are doing it for around 5k. Its with exquisite weddings Rhodes that includes a week all inclusive in a lovely hotel and flights.
Its not including my dress though or the grooms suit which are being bought by a family member.

MrsC....tobe

It all depends on where you want to get married and how you want to plan it. Are you wanting to use a wedding planner, travel agent or DIY?
We're getting married in Italy in June. I'd advise checking out the pages on https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad to see the paperwork requirement for getting married at your chosen location. This can have an impact on finances (we had to pay for the certificate of no impediment at our local registry office, then statutory declarations in front of a solicitor, then send them off to the legalisation office to get legalised at £30 per document, then send the lot out to Italy by courier and pay for translation of the CONI and putting docs before the courts). The cost of the wedding itself can also vary so check with your chosen destination regarding the type of the wedding you want and the costs involved. There may also be localised paperwork to complete. I think it was about £340 for all the paperwork side for us and we got good deals because a friend it doing a lot of the legwork in Italy and I know a solicitor and someone with courier accounts
Our wedding itself is 363 euros, and then there is flowers (not having, I'm making my own bouquet), hair (30 euros), make up (doing my own), transport if required, food, cake, photographer etc.
Are there any guests going with you that you may need to plan for?
It may be worth checking travel agents for advice to get a rough figure, or contacting one of the many wedding planners that you can find through google to see roughly how much it may cost for your chosen location as their packages may be worth the money. We just did it all ourselves so that its exactly what we want!

It can be as expensive or cheap as you want it to be but there will be some costs that will be unavoidable.

Good luck with the planning

duchy

Depends where in the world- size of wedding etc-what you are asking is like saying "I want to buy a house abroad - how much can I expect to pay?"

You can get married in Vegas for about £120 for a basic wedding in a wedding chapel -no frills -or pay about £500 and include a limo to get there from your hotel , your bouquet, groom's buttonhole and some photos (and Elvis if you want him lol)....or pay a few grand with a posh location and a nice reception. So a Vegas wedding can with flights, hotel and wedding cost under two grand at the right time of year and double as a honeymoon too.... or cost as much or more than a wedding at home. Just as an example.

A few things to consider -do you want a location that family and friends can attend or is the point that it is just the two of you.
How much red tape is involved -do you need to be there for a week before you can marry-will you need to pay for translation of documents when you get home to register the marriage (all add to cost).
What's the weather like -hot is lovely but too hot makes for sweaty wedding photos !
If you don't speak the language and how comfortable are you about planning "remotely" (even if you do speak it or it's English speaking ).

Sicillia

Mrs C...to be!

Can I ask who you booked your wedding with please? My partner and I are wanting to get married in Northern Italy next summer and are finding it difficult to get a travel agent to plan it for us! I can't believe how uninterested they have been and we've been fobbed off left right and centre, not returning calls when promised etc. So far we have tried our local Thomson's and Thomas Cooke. We have been trying to book it since December 2012 and have got nowhere!

yellowcrocus

Hi

I am getting married in Tuscany in August 2014. We have gone the DIY route and hired a villa that we can stay in with our guests for a week. I am finding it to be a really budget friendly option as obviously our guest list is limited to our closest friends and most things seem cheaper than in the UK. We are planning a really fancy seven course meal for 25. With belinnis, wine, dessert wine, prosecco for toasting, coffee and food for a further 7 children this is costing us about 2k. This is a lot but we are choosing to ditch any frills like favours and stationary and sink the money into a really memorable dinner instead...there were may cheaper options available. Because our location is so beautiful I am spending almost nothing on decoration and I plan to pick my flowers from the woods on the morning of the wedding. We are having a symbolic ceremony in Italy and having the legal bit back here, this saves several hundred pounds and means no transportation costs on the day.

I have found everything so easy to arrange so far, everyone is so lovely and friendly and so accommodating to our wishes. I would seriously recommend the DIY route, not only has it not been a hassle but our wedding will be completely tailored to our needs.

All in all I expect our wedding to come in at about 6k, this includes all clothes, rings and a weeks holiday for 4 with flights and spending money. If we went for a standard 3 course wedding menu this would be almost 1k less and I'm sure it would still be delicious...unlike many vendors over here the Italians seem to take a real pride in their customer service. I really would recommend Italy, we had never been when we chose it as our location but now I have been out there I am so happy with our choice and I can't wait to go back!

Good luck and enjoy your planning

Sicillia

Thank you for getting back to me about this.

Your option sounds perfect and stress-free which is what we are after! We really want to avoid all of the stress of a traditional wedding. I will start to look in to the DIY route. I had not thought of that before, so it's nice to know that you're finding this to be a good option.

Thank you again and best wishes for your big day.

MrsC....tobe

Hi Sicillia. We are getting married in Cortina D'Ampezzo.
We are lucky enough that we travel to there once a year and we have a friend out there who has been doing all the leg work for us. I also did some research online and there are quite a few wedding planners in the area (which is stunning by the way) who can help you out without using a travel agent. Many of them are British aswell.
The website I gave you above gives clear steps as to what you do need in relation to the paperwork, we only need to do one more thing and that is send a copy of our passports which I will do in Monday then we are all set to go. The whole process took about six weeks from start to finish.
We were lucky hat our friend knew someone that could officially translate docs and we didn't need to use the ones on the gov.uk website or it could have cost more, a wedding planner may be able to do this for you.

Research the area when and where you want to get married thoroughly, and contact some of the wedding planners to see who can give you the best deal.
On top of what we normally spend on our holiday there I think we are spending about £1500 max including my dress and rings, all paperwork etc.

If I can help out in any way then please don't hesitate to get in touch and I will do as much as I can x

MrsE_2

Lots of Carribean hotels offer free basic weddings