Simple ceremony 4 February 2016 at 12:52PM in Weddings & anniversaries 4 replies 1K views

tab1967

Hi all, me and my partner have decided that we would like to get married abroad next year. We don't want a formal wedding we just want a ceremony for us and our grown up children. No reception or flowers or any of the usual just the ceremony then all go off for a nice meal in a restaurant. We just want a nice holiday with a ceremony thrown in. Has anybody done this ? if so how do we start, many thanks x

*~Zephyr~*

Sorry, I can't help, but I wanted to say congratulations and that that sounds absolutely lovely. Exactly what I would do if the OH and I tied the knot.

DigForVictory

My first thought was Vegas, but that may not offer the simplicity you seek.

The Americans do make it straightforward-ish, if you love paperwork, or are prepared to so serious inter-state research. I found this site riveting reading.

Then this site is admirably clear on visitors marrying, if a bit short on location detail.

Finally, if you are looking at a holiday, ask travel agents what the local requirements at the holiday destination for marriage are. If they start getting too excited (*and* the prices float up), Leave!

It *may* be simpler to get married midweek in a UK registry office then fly out & have a ceremony or blessing of some kind on holiday. Saves on paperwork & you can holiday wherever you want, enjoy it *&* have a wedding photo album that is a joy forever.

All the very best of luck!

Vikki_74

I got married back in 2010 in Lake Tahoe, California - on the border between California and Nevada.

We used this company and it was very straightforward:

http://highmountainweddings.com

The cost was $850 including the ceremony, limo to the location we got married in and back to a restaurant afterwards for dinner, my bouquet, mens buttonholes, a bottle of champagne to toast afterwards and the photography (with all pics on a disk delivered to our hotel the following day).

They sorted out all the paperwork, the marriage licence etc for us on the day. That may be very specific to California (even state by state I think the rules vary on how that needs to be dealt with) but it really couldn't have been more straightforward!

We got a small cake (there were only 8 guests - immediate family) the day before from a local supermarket and went for dinner afterwards at a lovely restaurant on the lake for about $50 per head.

Even if you have no interest in that particular location, my suggestion would be if you want to keep it simple, look for somewhere the paperwork is easy to administer and you can get one person / company to arrange all or at least most of the day for you then you're not having to correspond with half a dozen different suppliers to organise everything.

Hope that helps?

Full disclosure - I'm since divorced and on here looking for tips for wedding number 2, but that was nothing to do with the wedding which even now I think was beautiful!

tab1967

Hi thanks for replies, should have said my daughter has health issues that mean she cant fly for more than a couple of hours so really looking at Europe, I do like the look of Majorca or somewhere else in Spain x