Cost of wedding abroad

saoirse88

Sorry for another post,

Just looking for some rough estimates from people who have had their weddings abroad, (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France etc) what were the costs involved.

What were the prices for say a 3 course meal and something in the evening per person?

Was accommodation much more expensive than a hotel after a wedding in Ireland (say €100-€150 per room per night)?

Any other expense I may not be factoring in outside of flights that are specific to a foreign wedding?

Thanks again and sorry for the second post.

lazygal

We attended a wedding in Spain. We had to hire a car and stay 3 nights because of the days of flights to Dublin. Hotel was about €800 and I can't remember car hire but another couple of hundred I'd estimate. Then costs of taxis to and from Dublin Airport, food and drinks (breakfast wasn't included in the hotel room rate) and a few other normal holiday expenses.
In contrast the last wedding we attended in Ireland cost us virtually nothing except petrol. We didn't need to stay overnight, because I didn't drink and drove home. Just had the money in a card expense.

Toots

Depends a lot on location and time of year. We had a Spanish wedding a couple of years ago and the way the flights worked, we had to spend 3 nights there. Cheapest hotel was €200 per room per night and that included a very sparse continental breakfast. We had to also get dinner for the night before and the night after, which was about €70 or so for each night for 2 adults and 1 child. Car hire was around €200 including the insurance and child seat hire. Then car parking in Dublin airport was about €50 or so, plus then food in the airport on the way there and back. Then we also had to put the dog in kennels for 5 nights, which was €20 per night, so that was another €100.

I'd say all in, it cost us the guts of €1500, not including a present or outfits.

Mostly if we're at a wedding in Ireland we won't stay over, unless it's too far to drive home that night. So in the interest of fairness I'll compare it to the most recent one where we did stay over. That one was €180 for the room for the night, and included cooked breakfast next morning. Diesel was probably €30 at the most, then we probably spent about €50 on drinks at the reception (I don't drink alcohol) and then the dog was in kennels for 2 nights, so that was €40.

So the foreign wedding was the best part of €1500, and the one in Ireland was €300. For both we also gave money in a card, and had to buy outfits.

Spanish wedding had a cocktail hour and canapes on arrival, but I had to buy my drinks because there was no non-alcoholic option. Dinner was 3 courses which were kinda big platters of food put on the table and shared around. The food was delicious, although a lot of it was fish based and a good few other guests didn't eat fish. Our table was all fish fans, so the whole lot was savaged! Entertained was a flamenco band, which was great and then a DJ. There was no evening food provided though, and I heard a few guests wondering whether there was going to be anything.

The Irish one had tea, coffee and sambos on arrival. Dinner was 4 courses - choice of 2 starters, vegetable soup, choice of 2 mains and one of those selection of mini desserts - all was lovely although I'm aware with a lot of Irish wedding the food can sometimes be hit or miss. Entertainment was a DJ and then there was evening food of sausages, pizza, goujons, sambos and wedding cake.

saoirse88

Thanks for the responses. I realise it’s a lot of an extra expense on everyone. I’d be prepared to pay for bar etc and I’d be looking at venues close to airport and running a bus, not to mention somewhere where flights are cheap initially and fly daily.

What I’m wondering is what sort of prices are venues charging and what it actually cost people having the wedding?