Getting married in the UK VS Married Abroad??

We're getting married abroad and it's been the easiest thing to plan for the most part. BUT it's just OH and I that are going.

We're having a reception back in England 6 weeks after we get back.

We've got a wedding co-ordinator who's organised everything for us, and all we have to do now is get married!

How exciting!

Who did you organise it through?

I am getting married in the UK my best friend is getting married abroad. There's pros and cons to both really.

Firstly if you choose to get married in a hot country then you are almost guaranteed amazing weather but in the UK it's really luck of the dice with regards to the weather!
A lot of people think it is cheaper to get married abroad but that depends what you want! I suppose you do get your honeymoon sort of included but there are some great packages available in the UK.

The biggest issue my friend had was so many people straight away said they couldn't come and she was quite upset. I struggled to get the money and time off work to attend but I've managed it. it's not been easy and it's put a bit of a strain on our friendship but it's all ok now!

Personally I would always pick a UK wedding but just make sure you do some serious research before you make any decisions xx

We've booked our through Thomson, we've got a 7 night all inclusive holiday and our wedding is 2 days after we arrive so we have a sort of mini-moon afterwards. We paid our deposit and they sent us all the paperwork that needed to be completed and they're making sure the legal side of things are sorted, we now just have to turn up at the resort!

It's worked for us, because we're essentially eloping, so we've not had to worry about people attending, infact we didn't invite anyone. If you want people to share the day with you, I think a UK wedding would realistically be easier to organise.

We are getting married in SW France, cannot wait!

We have invited all of our closest friends / family and expect to have about 60+guests. It is stressful in that we are booking a holiday for 60 people with a wedding in the middle! Finding the right venue was by far the toughest bit. After that everything else has been a joy to plan.

I am really looking forward to spending some proper time with our guests, most will be staying for 5 nights and some for 3 nights. We don't get to see our family very often as we live in Manc and our families are dotted around the county in Kent, Yorkshire, South Wales and the New Forest, as well as OH parents and sister now living in SW France!!

It certainly hasn't been anymore expensive booking abroad. They don't seem to have cottoned on to charging for absolutely everything yet!! The exclusivity fee for the venue includes hire of the barn, bar, courtyard and tables, chairs, table linen, candles, lanterns, setting up / decorating the tables and the bar staying open until everyone goes to bed! This obviously isn't the case for all venues abroad, but from what I discovered they appear to be a lot more relaxed!

The only downside (as I see it) is you have to be prepared for guests to be unable to make it. But I guess that would still be the case for some in the UK. Logistically it can be tricky too, if you have certain venue decorations in mind for example, they can be tricky to source in other countries.

Those marrying abroad - who have you booked through? I've googled for days and I am not seeing a stand out wedding planning team?

We have booked directly with the venue, and they gave us a list of recommended suppliers for things they cannot provide (florist, DJ/band, photographer, celebrant etc). There is a wedding planner they can also recommend but we haven't needed to use one as it has been pretty straightforward booking it all ourselves so pointless paying someone else to do it. We also have a co-ordinator at the venue who will help make sure everything runs to plan

Hopefully 2016. My partner is studying until June 2015 - so I want him to be clear of stress and not worrying about saving!

Abroad options sound lovely!

However, for me personally I couldnt do it. I want my nan at my wedding and she's a frail old dear as it is without asking her to jump on a plane for the 1st time in her life!

Good luck with the planning!

I really wanted to elope but I'd be sad without my closest family there too so I think so we've compromised and are having a small wedding here in the UK for 15 people and then we're going off to have an amazing honeymoon.

I really like the overseas option for the ease of setting up the wedding and guaranteed better weather etc if it was just me and OH I'd definitely do it!

For me it comes down to one thing, who do you really want there (bare minimum even) and will they be able to make it if you go.

Here are some options:

Chalkidiki in Northern Greece has nice locations for a wedding in Greece with decent prices and the best beaches in the country. Check out Afytos. Thessaloniki is the main city close by and it’s perfect for a city wedding next to the water.

We got married in July 2012 in a small village in Northern Greece. After checking other locations with a local wedding planner [Marina Charitopoulou @ www.concept-events.gr] we decided on the small village for sentimental reasons (family origin).

You can find low cost direct flights from the UK to Thessaloniki airport. Aegean Airlines has seasonal direct flights to Thessaloniki. Halkidiki is an hour from Thessaloniki by car.

You'll get better prices during May/October and during weekdays. It also depends how far in advance you'll book everything.

Good luck with everything!

G.

We are getting marrIed in Rhodes in September and it has all been organised by our wedding coordinator. You need to decide where you want to get married as each country had it's own dedicated coordinators.

Pros

My wedding will be full of the people I really love and I won't look at the photos in a few years time and think "who on earth is that ..."

The weather is guaranteed to be hot

I can get married in a beautiful outside space. I am not religious so church was a no go and didn't want a registry office or hotel.

It is pretty much stress free as most things are done by our wedding coordinators. We just went on their EShop and picked things like flowers, decor and cake

We can travel to our reception venue via a champagne boat cruise where our guests have the option to have a swim

Cons

As mentioned before, a dearly loved elderly family member can't make the trip as well as some of our bestest friends

Unless you are careful, your wedding may not be personal to you. We are making sure we bring in lots of bits that are us.

You will need to compromise as you don't have control of all choices which may be an issue for brides who like to control all aspects

Hope this helps x

We are Marrying in Antigua, with about 30 guests and 90% are staying for the 2 weeks... its going to be amazing.

We booked through virgin, so far so good. Have a wedding planner here and a planner there, the majority of the planning will be done a few days before we actually get wed. I think if you are going to do it abroad you really have to be quite relaxed about the whole thing. I know if we were to marry here I would be a proper bridezilla however knowing that a lot of it is out of my control until the last minute means I have had o chill out, so now I'm just rolling with it and it feels great, no stress.. nothing.

X

Also check out Santorini..... its beautiful, for us it was a toss up between the Caribbean and santorini... Antigua won!

X

I would have loved to get married abroad with just close family, a lovely weekend in New York but OH is an only child and his Dad won't fly. Our wedding planning has been incredibly stressful so far! Many rows mainly involving other people or money. Would have loved to avoid all that. At the same time I'm really excited about our day and can't wait to get all dresses up and celebrate with everybody.

Think about the people who are most important to you, the people you HAVE to have at your wedding.....would they be able to come? My two best friends both have kids and wouldn't have been able to go to a wedding abroad which both they and I would have been upset about. My brother got married in Cyprus last year and it was lovely but we struggled to pay for the trip a little bit x

I'd say that you need to figure out who you want and need at your wedding, and take it from there. Can they physically get to the wedding location, can they financially afford the location, will they have the time off work to get to the location, and will they have the desire to attend?

This applies to a UK location too, but obviously more so to weddings abroad.

Think of your guest list before making the decision.

I'm afraid that the early response that you got from Coralcrush rang a lot of bells for me regarding problems that other people I know have also faced.

We have been looking at venues directly and a lot of them have wedding planners on site. Depends what country you would like to get married in . I know for sure that a lot of venues in France will do everything for you. Good luck! :-)

We are getting married abroad - in Italy. We booked with Ionian Weddings and this is our package www.ionianweddings.co.uk/packages/italy-wedding-packages/sorrento-san-francesco-cloisters-wedding-lemon-garden-reception/ (there are lots of options available on their website).

We have a planner in the UK and one in Italy but all our communication is through the UK based one. We are also having a party in the UK after the wedding for those who can't come to Italy - we have a guest list of 50 for the actual wedding.

Best of all we are spending less than £15k on both celebrations! Hope this is helpful but I am always happy to chat if you want more info/advice/ideas

We originally wanted to get married abroad. But I knew my family would want to come and they were offering money towards wedding so I felt I couldn't exclude them. OH wanted to get married abroad so he can avoid divorced parents politics but if my parents were going to come we couldn't not invite his and we thought his mom would struggle to afford it and I pointed out them being stuck abroad together for a few days to a week is probably worse than them being together in the UK for one day.

We really wanted to get married in Santorini. My OH's family is mostly in Poland and mine are in the UK/Jamaica, we're getting married in July so fares and accommodation would be pricey and we knew not everyone we wanted there would be able/afford to come.

We're both now really pleased we decided to get married in London. It's where we met, it's where we live and we both love the Shoreditch/Stoke Newington area

x

Oooooh this is such a touch question huh.......what......I'm in the same boat, If I am ever luckily enough to be swept off my feet and get married I would love to go to Italy or somewhere. Then again my mum has planned a traditional norfolk church wedding. Ah. I guess depends how many friends/fam you want there?! You can always do an abroad thing to renew your vows after say 10yrs?! Thats my dream Good luck. Life tough decisions!

Hi could i ask how youre doing your small wedding?

Lynne

Ho coul i ask how youve done your small wedding please?

Lynne