Weddings Abroad

CaseyElectrical

Hi all

Im sure this has been discussed before but here goes anyway
Me and my future wife are thinking of going abroad to get married
Is there anyone else doing/thinking about doing same?
What are the pros/cons of doing such

barbiegirl

Pros
cost can be greatly reduced
can generally be more tailored to your needs
can reduce guest numbers as no-one expects the parents neighbours, work mates etc. to be invited.
depending on country food and wine can be better, and at the very least different.
because you are away most guests expect the food to be different, whereas different food at an Irish wedding tends to draw moans and groans.
you can generally control the weather, better than Irish chance of getting the weather you want.
can be combined with a holiday meaning you get to spend a lot more time with your friends and family before and after the event

Cons
Family on one side or the other could cause hassles.
Not everyone you want to come can come particularly older relatives, cash and holiday strapped people.
Guests make a bigger commitment both time and finance wise, so pick somewhere that can be combined with a good holiday and is near a Ryan Air route with good transport infrastructure and a wide range of accomodation types and prices
You need to have trust in the organiser abroad and be able to make decisions based on the best information available
You need to give up control and be willing to accept that something will probably go wrong and be relaxed about it
You need to give the guests a lot of information to enable them to make decisions and give it early

Overall I think the Pros outway the cons, we're getting married in Italy nine weeks from tomorrow, we have a great organiser, are both relaxed, and are getting a wedding that would easily cost us €70-€80K here, for €22K, and most everyone we wanted is flying, 140 guests, the area has everything from five star hotels to a holiday park with mobiles incldsing a/c and kids clubs, it's 2 hours from Rome and 1.5 from Florence and is on the train network. It is touristy but the tourism is based on water sports, horse riding and hill trekking and there's a lake for swimming. Plenty of historical stuff nearby, on border of Tuscany so lots of wine. Everyone found somewhere they wanted to go and some are staying for 2 weeks.
But beware another mate of mine planning to marry in Seville has had huge difficulties with his family. Standard family weddings on his side are in the region of 400 guests, they want to reduce this to 60 and his mum and dad are far from happy, a lot of agro, but still it's their day and they look to be coming around.
My lot were just happy I was finally getting married ;-) and his lot that one of their brood had decided to get married instead of living together, which his sisters have all done :-) So we were on a win either way.

sillysocks

As Barbiegirl says there are pros and cons - we have lots of people say its a great idea and they can't wait but there's always one or two will complain (suppose you'll have that no matter where you choose, even in Ireland!)

We are getting married in La Vinuela (www.hotelvinuela.com) in Spain - its about half an hour from Malaga airport so very accessible with flights from Dublin, Cork & Shannon. The nearest major town is Nerja so thats where we'll be based and hope to have a few nights out there with guests before the wedding.

Prices aren't hugely cheaper (although you get a lot more included for the money) but a big part of the savings is that you won't have as many people as you have here. The menus at our hotel start at around 60 eur which sounds dear but it includes wine/beer/soft drinks when people arrive at hotel, canapes during drinks reception, 5 course dinner and wine with dinner. We can have a 4 hour free bar then for 14eur per person.

esharknz

Anyone just run off overseas to get married, just the two of you? We are attempting to plan a wedding for two families on opposite sides of the globe but there always seem to be huge problems and more and more keep on cropping up. Is running off a good option? We really are at our wits end.

kizzyr

esharknz wrote: »

Anyone just run off overseas to get married, just the two of you? We are attempting to plan a wedding for two families on opposite sides of the globe but there always seem to be huge problems and more and more keep on cropping up. Is running off a good option? We really are at our wits end.

I think thats a great idea! Or at least you could turn around to those who will be guests at your wedding that you are paying for that if they don't shut up and back off you'll go to Vegas and get married by Elvis.
Myself and my OH have spoken about how we'd deal with planning a wedding and we're both agreed that we'd only tell people we were getting married when we had everything booked and there was no room for change. We'll also be going away and immediate family only will be invited.