If you have your heart set on getting married abroad, then the chances are that nothing will change your mind now! But if you do want your family and friends to be involved on the big day, then you need to think about the impact that this could have on you and them (and you) financially.
Getting married abroad because your partner lives or is from there
If you fell for someone whilst on your travels, or your loved one was living abroad at the time you met, then you may have no choice but to consider both of your homes as potential wedding locations. The sad truth, however, is that one of you is going to be up against it when your family finds out that you are getting married abroad…
Depending on your budget and how much you really want these family members to be a part of the day, you may need to factor in, from the start, the cost of flying them out to the city where you will be married before narrowing down wedding venues and making important decisions about other factors that will impact you financially.
You may also want to consider the cost implications of different locations. For example, return flights between the UK and lesser known European cities will no doubt work out cheaper than shipping people over from more exotic locations from across the globe. However, if your in-laws do happen to be from another continent, like the Bahamas, for instance, then you might need to weigh up the cost of flights for them to come over here against the cost of flights of sending your family out there and having a whole different style of wedding to arrange.
When it comes down to it, your family are going to more understanding about having to contribute or even pay up for travel if they know that it is for good reason, i.e. because you have a connection to the place or because it somewhere that you can all enjoy as a special holiday either before or after the big date.
Choosing to get wed away from home as a retreat
For some, the idea of a traditional wedding is a bit boring, and they therefore want to go against conventions and get married barefoot on an island beach. This is all fair enough if you and your partner love to travel and know enough about the area, but you simply cannot expect all of your nearest and dearest to flock to the destination with you. At least, not happily.
Some elderly relatives may not be in good enough health to travel to a remote location, whilst others may simply not have the money to spend on getting there (let alone accommodation, food and drinks, etc…). Even if you offer to cater for everyone on the big day, this may not be enough of an incentive for people to shell out on flights and hotels (because bear in mind that they cannot travel across the globe for just one day or weekend, and may not have the holiday allowance or funds to stay longer!).
Most weddings that take place abroad in remote, jungle-like places such as Indonesia will save the couple money due to weddings being less commercial out there, catering being cheaper and the fact that their wedding doubles up as their honeymoon too.
On the flipside, they may have to accept that, by keeping certain costs down, they may wind up sacrificing a lot more than just money when they come to realise that they cannot share their wedding day with everyone they’d like to.
In a bid to keep everyone happy and to include as many people as possible in your nuptials, why not think about holding an additional, small celebration in one of our exquisite reception rooms?