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Weddings abroad?

  • 18-01-2021 9:14pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 97 ✭✭


    I just got engaged in December and myself and my fiancé are considering maybe a wedding abroad Spain portugal maybe.
    In 2022 June maybe.
    Any advice on locations/hotels or wedding planners etc?

    Pretty clueless here!!


Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 837 ✭✭✭Sir_Name


    I posted the below on another thread pre Covid so you might find it helpful. :)

    Similar to a wedding in Ireland, a wedding abroad can probably be as cheap or as expensive as you can afford. Maybe because I got married abroad its a bugbear of mine that people always suggest it was because you wanted it cheaper and impose the cost on guests. That is not always the case.

    I have been to a few, and also had my own in France this yr as we wanted to keep it about the 100ppl mark which would have been impossible at home. Some things were astronomically expensive and others were more reasonable so if you are looking for cheaper it might not work out as such. A few things to note that we took into account when planning ours.

    -Transport. Where would you like to get married. Will everyone be flying from Dublin/Cork/Shannon and are there direct flights. We chose a place that did to make it easier. Also, as taxi's/buses can be expensive or unreliable abroad, we provided a bus for passengers who weren't making a holiday out of it/renting their own car to transport people to their accommodation. We also hired a mini bus to collect/drop off people during the weekend so no one had to worry about that. [Our location was more rural so perhaps wouldn't apply if you were getting married in a town lets say - but ease of transport is definitely something to look into]

    -Make sure there is suitable accommodation either on site or within an easy distance of the celebrations. We were lucky we were able to accommodate a large number of our guests on site, which also helped make the trip cheaper for them.

    - Family - are there children in the family. The time of year you have the ceremony would impact whether they can attend (due to schooling/costs etc) and if it has to be the peak time in summer it can make it more expensive for the families (flight costs) but also venue hire.

    -Wedding planner is essential especially if you are not able to speak the local language. Yes its an added cost, but more than worth it in my opinion and often they can save you money with their knowledge too. Look for recommendations, facebook groups etc.

    -We were lucky enough to be in a position to try ensure that once guests were at the location, that we would try ensure everyone was well looked after for the few days, from food to booze to entertainment. That was also the case for the other weddings I was at abroad so possibly something to factor in if you are in a position to do so.

    If abroad if was you decide on, you'll need a good website, detailing all information as possible. Flight options/car hire/accommodation/RSVP's (easier to track), local contacts ie if someone wants a hairdresser etc. The main thing is that you and your fiance sit down and work out what are the important things. We made a list of what we 100% wanted, what we would compromise on and what we weren't fussed about and that helped even down to the spend.

    Also, as Faith said before some people may not be able to attend for a multitude of reasons and if there are a few you cannot contemplate getting married without their presence maybe chat about it. Otherwise, there will be some who can't and be prepared for such.

    Best of luck with the planning/decision making, it is a little overwhelming at the start and remember its the one day that is about you two. Doesn't matter if you have it at home or abroad you'll never please 100% of people anyway!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 97 ✭✭clo1


    Sir_Name wrote: »
    I posted the below on another thread pre Covid so you might find it helpful. :)

    Similar to a wedding in Ireland, a wedding abroad can probably be as cheap or as expensive as you can afford. Maybe because I got married abroad its a bugbear of mine that people always suggest it was because you wanted it cheaper and impose the cost on guests. That is not always the case.

    I have been to a few, and also had my own in France this yr as we wanted to keep it about the 100ppl mark which would have been impossible at home. Some things were astronomically expensive and others were more reasonable so if you are looking for cheaper it might not work out as such. A few things to note that we took into account when planning ours.

    -Transport. Where would you like to get married. Will everyone be flying from Dublin/Cork/Shannon and are there direct flights. We chose a place that did to make it easier. Also, as taxi's/buses can be expensive or unreliable abroad, we provided a bus for passengers who weren't making a holiday out of it/renting their own car to transport people to their accommodation. We also hired a mini bus to collect/drop off people during the weekend so no one had to worry about that. [Our location was more rural so perhaps wouldn't apply if you were getting married in a town lets say - but ease of transport is definitely something to look into]

    -Make sure there is suitable accommodation either on site or within an easy distance of the celebrations. We were lucky we were able to accommodate a large number of our guests on site, which also helped make the trip cheaper for them.

    - Family - are there children in the family. The time of year you have the ceremony would impact whether they can attend (due to schooling/costs etc) and if it has to be the peak time in summer it can make it more expensive for the families (flight costs) but also venue hire.

    -Wedding planner is essential especially if you are not able to speak the local language. Yes its an added cost, but more than worth it in my opinion and often they can save you money with their knowledge too. Look for recommendations, facebook groups etc.

    -We were lucky enough to be in a position to try ensure that once guests were at the location, that we would try ensure everyone was well looked after for the few days, from food to booze to entertainment. That was also the case for the other weddings I was at abroad so possibly something to factor in if you are in a position to do so.

    If abroad if was you decide on, you'll need a good website, detailing all information as possible. Flight options/car hire/accommodation/RSVP's (easier to track), local contacts ie if someone wants a hairdresser etc. The main thing is that you and your fiance sit down and work out what are the important things. We made a list of what we 100% wanted, what we would compromise on and what we weren't fussed about and that helped even down to the spend.

    Also, as Faith said before some people may not be able to attend for a multitude of reasons and if there are a few you cannot contemplate getting married without their presence maybe chat about it. Otherwise, there will be some who can't and be prepared for such.

    Best of luck with the planning/decision making, it is a little overwhelming at the start and remember its the one day that is about you two. Doesn't matter if you have it at home or abroad you'll never please 100% of people anyway!

    Amazing thank you so much for these detailed reply it is extremely
    Helpful. Could I ask what websites/wedding planner did you use for your wedding?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 601 ✭✭✭Magicmatilda


    I'm going to jump on the band wagon her and ask what website or planner you used. We are thinking of France, although closer to 70 ppl.


  • Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,948 Mod ✭✭✭✭Neyite


    I'm going to jump on the band wagon her and ask what website or planner you used. We are thinking of France, although closer to 70 ppl.


    France has residency requirements of 30 days in order to marry there, AFAIK


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 837 ✭✭✭Sir_Name


    Neyite wrote: »
    France has residency requirements of 30 days in order to marry there, AFAIK
    Thats true. Our legal wedding wasnt held in France due to this requirements - I think its even longer than 30 days.

    70 people is fine, we had approx 100 - invited about 120 I think.

    If you are thinking of France, we had ours in a chateau lots of them come with their own planner, but check exactly what they do/how long they'll be available - for the price it seemed not much to us.
    There is also many planners out there in different regions, we had a UK woman who had been living there for a long time and did both planning and decor in packages which suited us down to the ground.

    If I were you I would start with budget and preferred locations/wedding vibe and start whittling it down from there. One fab day is a decent page, dont be afraid to look on Airbnb for locations and also French Wedding Venues and Suppliers groups on fb. We found our planner after hiring the venue but lots do it the other way.
    We got married in the Charante region and happy to answer more questions or via pm if some are more detailed.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 63 ✭✭audman13


    clo1 wrote: »
    I just got engaged in December and myself and my fiancé are considering maybe a wedding abroad Spain portugal maybe.
    In 2022 June maybe.
    Any advice on locations/hotels or wedding planners etc?

    Pretty clueless here!!
    Hi
    We are getting married in nerja in Spain. Its a beautiful Spanish town about 40 min from malaga airport. We have a wedding planner and I honestly can not say enough about her. She is the most organised, reliable, helpful person and not one bit pushy plus she's Irish too so no communication issues. Her Facebook page is nerja weddings by sonya. You should definitely drop her a message if your interested in Spain.
    We flew over for a weekend, met up with her and her husband. We were brought to all the various venues then met up again that evening with sonya to discuss where we liked. We booked there and then and I have to say she has been fantastic since. She liaised with all the suppliers etc and we barely had anything to do.
    Wherever you decide try find somewhere that offers daily flights. Some people may only want to fly over for the weekend, others may want to stay a week, 10 days or longer so it's good to have those options.
    Best of luck


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 97 ✭✭clo1


    audman13 wrote: »
    Hi
    We are getting married in nerja in Spain. Its a beautiful Spanish town about 40 min from malaga airport. We have a wedding planner and I honestly can not say enough about her. She is the most organised, reliable, helpful person and not one bit pushy plus she's Irish too so no communication issues. Her Facebook page is nerja weddings by sonya. You should definitely drop her a message if your interested in Spain.
    We flew over for a weekend, met up with her and her husband. We were brought to all the various venues then met up again that evening with sonya to discuss where we liked. We booked there and then and I have to say she has been fantastic since. She liaised with all the suppliers etc and we barely had anything to do.
    Wherever you decide try find somewhere that offers daily flights. Some people may only want to fly over for the weekend, others may want to stay a week, 10 days or longer so it's good to have those options.
    Best of luck

    Thanks for this I have actually found an amazing wedding planner and have a venue I like however given current restrictions not sure when or if we will be able to fly over and view it. We are hoping to book adm date for summer 2022 but are we mad? Are you getting married next summer also? I’m curious as to how you got to fly over and view places as if love to be able to!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 63 ✭✭audman13


    clo1 wrote: »
    Thanks for this I have actually found an amazing wedding planner and have a venue I like however given current restrictions not sure when or if we will be able to fly over and view it. We are hoping to book adm date for summer 2022 but are we mad? Are you getting married next summer also? I’m curious as to how you got to fly over and view places as if love to be able to!
    Hi so we were due to get married last June but postponed to June 2022. Obviously when we went to view venues covid didn't exist so we were able to fly over the year before. What I will say is the places that I thought I'd like from looking at the venues online I actually didn't end up really liking them and the one place that I thought I wouldn't like we both actually loved. So from that point of view I definitely wouldn't book a venue without seeing it in person first. You do really get a feel fir the places when you visit them as opposed to looking at them on line


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 39 saoirse88


    How were you able to go ahead with your wedding with Covid?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,989 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    He says in his first post that it was a pre-covid wedding.



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