Weddings Abroad

Emerald Lass · 19-08-2008 10:48AM

but of course, some family members are complaining about the cost

isn't that the way of relatives? there will always be a few who gripe about the cost. If you get married in dublin and there is family in Cork, they will gripe! we all have relatives who complain regardless of how much effort you put into making things nice for them. These are usually the relatives who give the horrible picture of a farmer with his dog, or an ironing board, or a cheap glass vase as a gift (i.e useless and ugly, but either cheap or something they had themselves already! lol)

My advice is do what makes you happy on your big day, do as much as possible to help allieviate the costs (such as getting in touch with a travel agent who will give a special group booking price etc). After that, if they still complain stuff them! They don't consider the time and effort and money you are ploughing into this important day. If you don't mean enough to them to come then their loss. Anyone who really cares about the fact you are getting married will do their best to come. in all reality, if you add up the costs of travelling around Ireland for a wedding, hotel 9if staying in another county), gift, drinks on the day, taxi home etc it prob costs about the same! Once people have plenty of notice and can make it their annual holiday then I think that is fair.

Also, forgot to mention, when marrying abroad I wouldn't expect gifts too, and would let people know this. The effort of travelling and the cost of that would be gift enough.

I am having my wedding in turkey, and as things are quite cheap here I am including a pamper session for the ladies and gents! (small wedding) they will all be treated to a turkish bath, and then hair styling and nails for the ladies and turkish shaves and face massage for the men! It'll be a nice treat for everyone, will cost very little for me, and all my guests will look a million dollars in the photos! lol As my partner is Muslim, not many people (except the Irish prob) will drink very much, so I thought that open bar, and the pampering to thank everyone for coming would be a nice touch.

By marrying abroad you will have a smaller wedding, but at least those who attend will genuinely want to be there to see you on your big day, rather than see it as a chance of a free dinner and an opportunity to get plastered!

Mrs_Doyle · 19-08-2008 03:31PM

Emerald Lass wrote: »

By marrying abroad you will have a smaller wedding, but at least those who attend will genuinely want to be there to see you on your big day!

That's the main reason me and my OH decided to get married abroad.
Just hate the idea of having to ask some distant relation I don't see from one end of the year to the other, out of some sort of unwritten family obligation.

Lgray · 13-01-2010 10:21PM

Hey guys,
I'm just starting to plan for getting married in Lanzarote, around september time 2011 so plenty of time( i think). I just don't know where to start! any tips, advice and suggestions welcomed

Thanks,

Lorna

bubbledoll · 23-02-2010 12:41PM

Hi,

I am at the planning stages for my wedding in Septermber 2011 and am undecided on the location - I am between getting married home or abroad. I like the idea of both for very different reasons. I find the prices being charged here for weddings are huge. A lot of people talk about the savings they make when they get married abroad - can anyone give me some more information on this. Its hard to weigh up my options with such little information. Thanks

hunnymonster · 23-02-2010 01:08PM

it's hard to compare like with like for weddings abroad and at home. We're getting married in Portugal in April. Some things are cheaper and some (the meal in particular) is a lot more expensive. I reckon overall it's costing slightly more to get married in Portugal than here but you can't buy good weather and a beach wedding which is why we chose to go away.

Cheetara · 24-02-2010 09:54PM

bubbledoll wrote: »

Hi,

I am at the planning stages for my wedding in Septermber 2011 and am undecided on the location - I am between getting married home or abroad. I like the idea of both for very different reasons.

Am in a similar position. I really want to keep the wedding to a small number of people but already its beginning to spiral out of control. I love the idea of a Tuscan wedding but am not really sure about how to go about organizing this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

dreais · 12-03-2010 03:04PM

hunnymonster wrote: »

it's hard to compare like with like for weddings abroad and at home. We're getting married in Portugal in April. Some things are cheaper and some (the meal in particular) is a lot more expensive. I reckon overall it's costing slightly more to get married in Portugal than here but you can't buy good weather and a beach wedding which is why we chose to go away.

Hunnymonster, I'd love to get married on a beach too - I think it's so romantic! Have you come across any issues in particular, e.g. having to have a civil cermony here first? Do you have a wedding planner?

I havn't decided fully decided what country to get married in yet as I'm not getting married until summer 2012. I'd be grateful for any advise you could give me

yungwan · 03-06-2010 12:24PM

Myself and boyfriend have recently started to consider getting married abroad. Mainly because the only thing keeping us from getting married at the moment is the sheer cost of getting married in Ireland.

I understand that you can get away cheaply in Ireland by cutting out some unneccessary costs, but that would mean going for an average location with a meal every single wedding has. Soup, Vol a Vont, Beef or Salmon, bla bla bla. Its all so boring when you think about it.

I see another poster has said you dont actually save anything by going abroad? Is this actually true? We dont know where we want to get abroad but I fancy the idea of getting married on a beach and Mauritus looks beautiful. I expect this would be very expensive though as flights would be costly. Has anyone got married in Mauritus? I would be open to Italy or somewhere in the Caribean too?

We would probably pay for parents and maybe wedding party but perhaps not the latter. I like the idea of providing a meal for everyone the night before, an open bar and meal on the day and a BBQ or something the next day like another poster suggested. This would really help them out financially.

Any costs anyone could add would be grateful. Ball park figures for your wedding abroad including everything just so I can measure it against an Irish one. If you want to PM me do!!

Also, my sister is getting married in Summer 2012 which is holding me and my boyfriend up BIG TIME as she has asked us to wait until they get married before me do. How soon after their wedding would be appropriate to plan ours? I assume it would be too cheeky to plan it the same summer because of the expense on our family? Its annoying me having to wait so long though

hunnymonster · 03-06-2010 03:25PM

dreais wrote: »

Hunnymonster, I'd love to get married on a beach too - I think it's so romantic! Have you come across any issues in particular, e.g. having to have a civil cermony here first? Do you have a wedding planner?

I havn't decided fully decided what country to get married in yet as I'm not getting married until summer 2012. I'd be grateful for any advise you could give me

Sorry I only saw this question now. We had no issues at all. The wedding planners we used (algarve wedding planners) organised a solicitor for us and it was a 10 minute trip to the court house to do the legal stuff out there and then the Christian ceremony at the beach. The cost of the solicitor was similar to the registry office fees in Ireland so it was nice to do it all at once in Portugal.

H8GHOTI · 03-06-2010 05:50PM

yungwan wrote: »

Myself and boyfriend have recently started to consider getting married abroad. Mainly because the only thing keeping us from getting married at the moment is the sheer cost of getting married in Ireland.

I understand that you can get away cheaply in Ireland by cutting out some unneccessary costs, but that would mean going for an average location with a meal every single wedding has. Soup, Vol a Vont, Beef or Salmon, bla bla bla. Its all so boring when you think about it.

I see another poster has said you dont actually save anything by going abroad? Is this actually true? We dont know where we want to get abroad but I fancy the idea of getting married on a beach and Mauritus looks beautiful. I expect this would be very expensive though as flights would be costly. Has anyone got married in Mauritus? I would be open to Italy or somewhere in the Caribean too?

We would probably pay for parents and maybe wedding party but perhaps not the latter. I like the idea of providing a meal for everyone the night before, an open bar and meal on the day and a BBQ or something the next day like another poster suggested. This would really help them out financially.

Any costs anyone could add would be grateful. Ball park figures for your wedding abroad including everything just so I can measure it against an Irish one. If you want to PM me do!!

We're only in the early stages of planning our wedding but from what I can see the main reason getting married abroad is cheaper is because there will be less people at it. You might only have 30-40 at it abroad, whereas it could be 100+ here. The price per head might not be much different. The hotel we're looking at, 5 star in Gran Canaria, the meal will cost between €55 - €80 depending on what options we go for.

Some costs will be the same as here. Your dress, bridesmaid dress, his suit, rings etc.... You might save a bit on photos, hair/make-up, flowers etc...... But not sure how much. It won't be €1000's anyway.
We're going over for a week soon on holiday & we're going to meet with a planner while we're there. We'll have a better idea after that.

On Mauritius/Caribbean - it's more a thing you'd do if there's only a very small group going over for it. You can't expect many friends to be able to afford to travel over for that. I'd save somewhere like that for the honeymoon.

yungwan wrote: »

Also, my sister is getting married in Summer 2012 which is holding me and my boyfriend up BIG TIME as she has asked us to wait until they get married before me do. How soon after their wedding would be appropriate to plan ours? I assume it would be too cheeky to plan it the same summer because of the expense on our family? Its annoying me having to wait so long though

Why does she want ye to wait? Is she getting married here or abroad? Two weddings in the same summer might be a bit much alright. Even if people can afford it, if you have your wedding so close after hers, then you'll be taking some of the spotlight off her.

yungwan · 04-06-2010 10:28AM

H8GHOTI wrote: »

We're only in the early stages of planning our wedding but from what I can see the main reason getting married abroad is cheaper is because there will be less people at it. You might only have 30-40 at it abroad, whereas it could be 100+ here. The price per head might not be much different. The hotel we're looking at, 5 star in Gran Canaria, the meal will cost between €55 - €80 depending on what options we go for.

Some costs will be the same as here. Your dress, bridesmaid dress, his suit, rings etc.... You might save a bit on photos, hair/make-up, flowers etc...... But not sure how much. It won't be €1000's anyway.
We're going over for a week soon on holiday & we're going to meet with a planner while we're there. We'll have a better idea after that.

On Mauritius/Caribbean - it's more a thing you'd do if there's only a very small group going over for it. You can't expect many friends to be able to afford to travel over for that. I'd save somewhere like that for the honeymoon.

Why does she want ye to wait? Is she getting married here or abroad? Two weddings in the same summer might be a bit much alright. Even if people can afford it, if you have your wedding so close after hers, then you'll be taking some of the spotlight off her.

Yes this is exactly what we were thinking on all of the above. I know we would have to take into account that some people wouldnt be able to go etc which would be a little disappointing but on the flip side only the important people would be there. Its definately something we will consider. Good idea on visiting the area first - that way you can really get a good feel for the area and hotels etc.

I was looking at prices on sunworld website and they are a little more pricey than I thought - I was looking and Sicily in particular. But I guess a certain percentage of this is going to the tour operators - hiring a wedding planner abroad would probably be a lot cheaper. Flights and accommodation also have to be factored in, so from my research its not going to be that much cheaper than at home.

I think the surroundings, the romantic settings and the weather will really tempt us to take the plunge and have this different wedding abroad. Unfortunately its along way off, more than likey May 2013.

In reponse to your last question - she got engaged first and despite having an annoyingly long 2.5 year engagement they want us to wait until after them which adds at least 12 months on theirs as I also want a summer wedding. She will be getting married at home. Oh well :rolleyes:

EnglishPollop · 04-06-2010 09:43PM

yungwan wrote: »

In reponse to your last question - she got engaged first and despite having an annoyingly long 2.5 year engagement they want us to wait until after them which adds at least 12 months on theirs as I also want a summer wedding. She will be getting married at home. Oh well :rolleyes:

That sounds very selfish of her...I'd understand if she were getting married pretty soon, but she's making you wait a long time! You poor thing.

Just my opinion!

tinkerbell · 04-06-2010 10:52PM

yungwan wrote: »

Also, my sister is getting married in Summer 2012 which is holding me and my boyfriend up BIG TIME as she has asked us to wait until they get married before me do. How soon after their wedding would be appropriate to plan ours? I assume it would be too cheeky to plan it the same summer because of the expense on our family? Its annoying me having to wait so long though

Err ..... excuse me but your sister cannot dictate when you decide to get married. It's her decision that she wanted to have a 2.5 yr engagement. Can you not get married late summer 2011 instead if you still want a summer wedding? Or maybe october 2011 / April 2012 as the weather will prob still be ok then and you won't be in the winter months?

iguana · 04-06-2010 11:12PM

Yungwan, there are a lot of reasons to get married, legal reasons relating to your relationship. For example when my husband was seriously ill last year it was only as his wife that I could stay in the ICU with him and have his doctors tell me about his condition, as his girlfriend I would have been kept away and told nothing. The wedding is only a tiny, near insignificant part of a marriage. It's completely unfair of your sister to expect you to put your life on hold for two and a half years because she wants to wait. If you want to get married sooner then simply explain to her that you in no way want to "upstage" her, but you want to move forward with your life.

ABajaninCork · 07-06-2010 02:58PM

Although I'm English, I got married 'abroad', i.e. here in Ireland. Our guests did pay their own flights and accomodation, although we gave them a list of cheap hotels/B & B's to work from. I did feel a bit funny about inviting my English guests as I was worried about the expense; but do you know - They ALL came!!!

I paid for my parents, my husband paid his family's accomodation costs. My brothers paid their own way.

I would give as much notice as possible, and make up a little fact sheet giving the hotel and flight info in advance of the formal invitation.

Hope this helps!

yungwan · 10-06-2010 10:02PM

Yeah its true that she has been very selfish about it all. Everyone ive said it to has agreed, and I havent even said I was annoyed, they've all just looked at me and said "why do ye have to wait"??!

Recently a family member asked them when they getting married and they were like "oh PROBABLY Summer 2012" and my boyfriend and I were like "huh? wouldnt you think they''d get a frigging move on like!!

Anywho myself and my boyf have decided we are going to give them until Christmas 2010 to set a final date and get a move on or we are going to wade in. We are not in a MAD rush but I dont really appreciate being made wait and being dictated to. But we will hold off for now.

We have nearly certainly made the decision to get married abroad. We think it would be so different and nice. So watch this space!!

Thanks for advice guys,

Weddings Abroad

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