Getting married abroad.........

I got married in Santorini in 2009 - was fantastic! Loved every minute of it!

I thought it would be easier (as I've been married before and didn't want the fuss of a big wedding) but I'm so worried as to how it will turn out as I feel I have less control. Wish I could speak to the wedding co-ordinator now but its not until September so may be a bit soon - started having nightmares about it now! xx

Wow your me lol, Im getting married in Cyprus next year and very excited but also abit nervous about not being in full control. Try not to worry im sure everything will be perfect for you x

Hey, im getting married in Jamaica this month and booked in april last year. I have been in touch with the hotel wedding coordinator since then. We are having 18 guests come with us and are having a party the evening of the wedding. I have been sending thousands of questions back and forth to her and pictures to ask if they can do this and that. We are taking candles, favours etc with us and they are supplying flowers and sorting out the setting up of things and the food etc. If you have any queries at the moment i would email the wedding coord and ask her to answer any of your questions. You might not need to do alot more arranging for now apart from looking into what you want and then once you have decided what you would like then contact her again and start confirming things with them..... sorry for blabbing on x

Ah thanks girls, I'm so worried as my father-in-law to be hasn't booked to come yet and we chose Turkey as it would be a shorter flight compared with Mexico etc my OH wants his dad to be his best man, also waiting for my OH's sister to book and her daughter's meant to be a bridesmaid - so stressed as I want to order the dresses soon so I can get accessories etc and switch off before I go back to work(as I'm on maternity leave at the mo so have more time to get things sorted - and to worry about things!)

Noticed you're wedding ring is the same as mine! Can't wait to wear it! Just wish people were more organised as the hotel is booking up quickly xx

Hope everything goes smoothly for you i know how you mean about wanting to get things sorted, i was exactly the same. Are any of the travel agents offering low deposits that could maybe sway you relatives to book now? Did you mean the same ring as mine? i just picked it up today, i love it! i wanna wear it now!! hehe x

Yep it looks identical to yours (in your pic) and I love it! You have good taste! We're having a nightmare as I found out today that another wedding party is flying out on the same day as us and getting married at the same hotel as us but the following day, so any spare rooms that were there would be taken up with the other wedding. I'm more than happy for our guests to stay in another hotel as we'd get more peace but its £40 per head for them to come to the wedding so there'll be no party when we get home!

You're so lucky to have 18 guests, thats a lovely number. So far we have a grand total of 5 adults and 3 children coming plus ourselves! We were thinking of Cuba or Mexico but thought we'd have problems getting family to travel out so far (as not cheap) so chose Turkey and we're still having problems, wished we'd booked further afield now!

Hope you have a fantastic day, would love to see pics! Got my dress and my shoes but deliberating on whether to have a veil? xx

Yea i know what you mean. I am glad we went for jamaica. We originally wanted to go to beaches turks and caicos which looks amaaazing! but it was extremely expensive so knew noone would come. So decided on jamaica as we knew we wanted caribbean but it was one of the cheapest (even though still alot!)

maybe people will book soon, have you been booked for long? Do the people know that you want them to be bridesmaids etc or are you waiting until they book to ask them? it might sway them if you hint that you would like them to be apart of the wedding....sorry for the hunderd questions! lol.

you obviosuly have good taste too! hehe! i just tried on my ring, its so sparkly i didnt want to take it off! Im going to get my dress fitting on wednesday and i have a side tiara. I was thinking about a veil but i dont think i will because i was hoping to go for the beachy kind of look (a little) Good look with it all xx

My best friend and her two girls are bridesmaids and my daughter will be one too, but waiting for my OH's sister to book as her daughter/his neice is meant to be a bridesmaid. I might just get the dresses for the ones who have booked so far as I doubt she'll come.

Do you know much about your table decorations, cake, how many photos you get etc? I've been pulling my hair out trying to find things out. Might be because we have 6 months to go but I'm on maternity leave at the moment and once I go back to work I won't have much time to sort things out!

Seen our rings, we're going to get those about a month before we go as we're saving like mad to pay for the wedding and all the extras which seem to be popping up! We have to pay for the guests who aren't staying at the hotel to come for the day and not sure exactly what's included in our package x

I managed to find alot of info on the wedding through their own website but if you contact the wedding coord actually in the hotel (not the one from the travel agents you booked with) they should be able to start arranging things with you. We had quite a few options on where to hold the ceremony and evening do, which is one of the reasons we booked at that hotel. But if you email the coord then she should be able to tell you where you can hold the ceremony and times etc if you have not already sorted that out. I know most people that get married abroad tend to arrange everything when they get there but because we wanted an evening party its def best to arrange things before hand just incase things are booked up or you cant get what you want when you get there. I found photos online of things i liked and emailed them and they came back to say if they could do it and how much it would cost. We have arranged with them - flowers, bbq, dj, flower arch for the ceremony, flowers for the table centerpeices, steel drum for ceremony and a few other bits. We are taking candles, candle holders, favours, table runners, name place cards, cake topper with us. Im fortunate in the way that i have a little girl so i dont have to work at the moment either so i have managed to sort out alot of it during the day when she is napping etc. So i would def reccommend trying to sort out as much as possible before you go back to work lemme know if you need any advice on anything tho xx

Aww steel drums :-) I love steel drums! I saw a wedding photo at our hotel and they had a balloon arch, I have a balloon fobia which I'm embarrassed to say so have told the hotel I have a latex allergy as there's no way I'm walking under a load of balloons! I'm hoping to have a flower walkway. I've just messaged a lady who got married at our hotel and have asked her a million questions poor thing! I was told that they play the wedding march and I don't want that, I'd rather take a cd along I like Jason Mraz I'm Yours.

I rang Thomas Cook weddings section and the co-ordinator gets in touch with us about 13 weeks before the wedding. I was thinking about candles but worried incase they got broke thinking maybe taking tea lights? I'd love to get a cake topper of us but also worried incase the heads break off or something! I'm such a worrier, maybe I'll just stick them in my handbag! x

I took loads in my hand luggage - dress, tiara, crystals - I was terrified that my dress would go missing and my tiara would break!

Then when I was at the airport I was paranoid someone would spill something on my dress!

And to top it all....I had to pay £80 excess luggage to get everything out there - dunno how considering most of it was in my hand luggage!

I was such a worrier!

I would e-mail your wedding co-ordinater with all your questions - Novermber isn't that long away now. Also start threatening your guests that if they don't book now they'll be sleeping on the beach lol

I'm going to take my dress and my daughter's bridesmaids dress as handluggage in a suit carrier if I can. I think I'll take fabric rose petals, name cards, tea lights, favours and a cake topper (all lightweight stuff!) in my hand luggage as well as our rings. My hubby to be can keep both my son's outfits with his in another suit carrier and hopefully take them as hand luggage.

Can't believe its just over 6 months away! Anyone taken out wedding insurance as well as their travel insurance? x

No i havent got any wedding insurance.

dont know if your interested but i got a special box through my dress shop to take my dress on theplane with and it comes in hand luggage restriction sizes. Its also nice to be able to keep it in afterwards. its from.... https://www.emptybox.co.uk/

xx

Thank you so much - I'm def going to buy one such a brilliant idea! x