Eeek Wedding to plan!

Gonzo1987

and it's all a secret so I have no one to turn to for advise!

My OH and I have decided to get married while on holiday next year.

We're thinking Bruges and then heading to France for a little honeymoon.

So, what tips can anyone give me about getting hitched abroad? Links/websites would be great.

Gonzo1987

aha so Bruges seems ever so complicated...might have to rethink location.

Relocationrelocation

Hello, congratulations! Think about countries and then check the home office website regarding the legalities of it... i.e. in some countries you will need to get you marriage certificate certified after wedding & present a letter from the solicitor at home confirming your single status (very easy to sort). Also research in to how many days you need to be in the country you wish to marry in, beforehand - France requires 40 days residency or the equivalent paperwork, etc.

There is a section on the home office website with advice on getting married abroad which is really useful, I also emailed the embassy of the country we're going to and they responded within 10 mins.

Think about the language barrier, if there will be one in the country - this is why a lot of people use wedding planners. We looked in to this but the fee for a few was around 15% of the total cost of the wedding, so out of budget for us.

A lot of larger resorts do wedding packages which take care of all the details for you.

Also think about witnesses - will you take some friends with you or just use some people you meet?

We are doing a similar thing, I have told my close family as they are going to help me choose an outfit and family member has helped us with flights too.

Also ensure you have the right level of insurance, both for the wedding and holiday abroad.

Good luck - hope that helps.

Relocationrelocation

Hello, congratulations! Think about countries and then check the home office website regarding the legalities of it... i.e. in some countries you will need to get you marriage certificate certified after wedding & present a letter from the solicitor at home confirming your single status (very easy to sort). Also research in to how many days you need to be in the country you wish to marry in, beforehand - France requires 40 days residency or the equivalent paperwork, etc.

There is a section on the home office website with advice on getting married abroad which is really useful, I also emailed the embassy of the country we're going to and they responded within 10 mins.

Think about the language barrier, if there will be one in the country - this is why a lot of people use wedding planners. We looked in to this but the fee for a few was around 15% of the total cost of the wedding, so out of budget for us.

A lot of larger resorts do wedding packages which take care of all the details for you.

Also think about witnesses - will you take some friends with you or just use some people you meet?

We are doing a similar thing, I have told my close family as they are going to help me choose an outfit and family member has helped us with flights too.

Also ensure you have the right level of insurance, both for the wedding and holiday abroad.

Good luck - hope that helps.

Gonzo1987

Looking into it (as in today only) I think i'd like to go down the route of marrying at a resort and having a wedding planner, I'd like to do as little as possible!

We're not telling anyone, so will find witnesses there I guess! Pretty sure our families/friends won't be best pleased about being kept in the dark, but it's what we both want so tough!

minniemaus1970

Las Vegas is $65 and all you need is passports, they also have drive through weddings, themed weddings and any other you can think of. as cheap or expensive as you want :T
Are you sure you do not want anyone familiar there? its a very special day in your life and there could be regrets not sharing it with someone you love.
My friend had a secret wedding and to regrets not telling her parents.

MMx

Gonzo1987

I thought about vegas, but the cost of getting there/staying is ALOT.

We're pretty set on not having anyone there. We're not that close to our families and want the day how we want it, when we get back we're going to hold a surprise party to tell everyone.

duchy

Gonzo1987 wrote: »

I thought about vegas, but the cost of getting there/staying is ALOT.

We're pretty set on not having anyone there. We're not that close to our families and want the day how we want it, when we get back we're going to hold a surprise party to tell everyone.

Honestly Vegas isn't a lot -
I spent so long researching different options (I've holidayed there several times and know how to keep the hotel costs down) that I'm currently putting a website together on the different options as I found no-one has all the info in one place.

It's almost always cheaper to book hotels seperately - you can fly there for around £500 at certain times of year and reasonably nice hotels can be as little as $30-40 per night (try https://www.cheapervegas.com) plus weddings there are really cheap compared with other places (look at the non hotel chapels like Viva Las Vegas and Chapel of the Flowers) so overall you'll get a lower total cost than other places where the flights are cheaper - but the weddings are dearer or you have to pay for legal paperwork which ends up really adding to costs.................or failing that-How about Gretna ?

Gonzo1987

duchy wrote: »

Honestly Vegas isn't a lot -
I spent so long researching different options (I've holidayed there several times and know how to keep the hotel costs down) that I'm currently putting a website together on the different options as I found no-one has all the info in one place.

It's almost always cheaper to book hotels seperately - you can fly there for around £500 at certain times of year and reasonably nice hotels can be as little as $30-40 per night (try www.cheapervegas.com) plus weddings there are really cheap compared with other places (look at the non hotel chapels like Viva Las Vegas and Chapel of the Flowers) so overall you'll get a lower total cost than other places where the flights are cheaper - but the weddings are dearer or you have to pay for legal paperwork which ends up really adding to costs.................or failing that-How about Gretna ?

See I'd like to budget the whole thing for under £2k if possible, If vegas is possible for that, it's definitely something to look into, but, I feel if we tell people we're going to vegas, they'll either expect us to get married, or thing we did it on a whim when we were there. I'm thinking a 10 day holiday and I don't know if that's possible on our budget?

Do you need your birth certificate and all that malarkey for a vegas wedding? Is it still legally binding in the UK?

Failing all this, I am considering a UK wedding, with my sister and a best trusted best man as witnesses, then off on holiday to celebrate.

duchy

Seem to have double posted ...flights quoted are for most months except June/July/August and are not direct - a direct flight would add another £200 pp and put you over budger- indirect is no big deal-I usual fly that way unless I can find an absolute bargain on a direct flight.

Everything else is in the next post -if you've got any questions-just ask

EDIT I quoted for 7 nights and have now corrected the hotel rates to 10 nights -it still works but you need to look at departing on a Tuesday so you have only one Friday/Saturday in the stay (as Fri/Sat the rates double)

Extra bits and pieces-cab from the airport to the Strip on arrival is $20 inc tip-shuttle bus is cheaper-you'd also need to budget for cab to and from downtown twice-once to do the paperwork and for the ceremony itself....carhire is very reasonable if you preferred to hire a car it'd probably pay for itself and you could use it for trips out of Vegas eg Grand Canyon, Red Rock etc......if you had a car you could consider staying just off Strip (parking is free at all hotels on and off Strip except Fremont Street and that's no really a first timers area to stay anyway)) and reducing the hotel bill.

duchy

OK
Flights at £550 pp total ££1100 -leaving £900 in your budget
Wedding ceremony with Viva Las Vegas (not Elvis themed just a short but sweet ceremony) $250/£166 plus tip to celebrant another £40 -leaving £694 in your budget for a week's hotel so I looked at the Flamingo- central hotel - with a great pool for the first week in April $834/£556 for 10 nights. (I used https://www.smartervegas.com for rates)

Wedding package includes a basic bouquet and a few professional photos (i'll paste what is included below) so yes Vegas is definitely in your budget ....and you can always lie about where you're going on holiday There are cheaper options -like a drive through wedding and of course much more expensive ones. I went for inexpensive and tasteful for you though

There are videos on youtube of Vivalasvegas weddings to give you an idea. My own wedding package is coming in at £600 as we wanted a hotel location and found a sweet Italian style chapel -our package has a bigger bouquet and more photos too though.

I think it's a good deal as we won't need to budget for a honeymoon on top of the wedding costs.

Oh Vegas has no paperwork-you go to the govt office downtown-show your passports pay $60 and licence is issued-no birth certs or divorce papers etc just the passport. You can also do the initial registration online before you go to make it even quicker.

Package Features Include:
Three Rose Presentation
Boutonniere
20 Poses & Proofs Viewed Online
6 Candid Photos (taken during ceremony)
Free Wedding Website / Wedding “Invitation”
Wedding Wish List Registry
Candelit Chapel
Music
Wedding Coordinator
Wedding Chapel Fee
Your Names In Lights on Our Marquee
Wedding is Limited to 30 Wedding Guests or Less
Price $245.00 (plus $50 for a DVD of the ceremony if you want one to show family when you get home)

You don't have to have a traditional wedding dress unless you want one - people get married in anything from shorts to the full works. Tux hire is about $150-not sure if the £2000 was meant to include your dress too (I bought mine on ebay I posted a pic on a thread further down -it fits your budget LOL)

If you don't want people to think it's a whim -the day you leave give your nearest and dearest an invite or post it from the airport .....you can watch weddings from most chapels on the web (some packages include it -I think it's about an extra £50 on the package above)

So there you have it - wedding and honeymoon for less than some people pay for the dress LOL