Taking your wedding abroad can make for a more intimate occasion, exotic settings and good weather – all for less than you'd pay at home, writes SANDRA O'CONNELL
WHEN CIARA WATT got married, last summer, she did it in style: white flowing dress for her, smart tux for him. Though they had shoes, a quick look at their wedding album and you’ll see they didn’t wear them. They didn’t need to – they got married on the Caribbean island of Antigua.
As the recession bites, getting married abroad is an option more and more couples are likely to consider. Travel agents even have a word for it: the weddingmoon.
“We just knew we wanted something very intimate,” says Watt. “We wanted a wedding that was just about the two of us, where nothing would take away from that focus, and that’s what we got.”
The couple, who had been going out for a number of years, initially considered having their wedding at home. “We started to look at venues and drawing up a guest list. By the time we had reached 250 guests we knew it was turning into something we didn’t want. We also realised we were looking at a bill of around €35,000,” she says.
Being in the process of building their dream home, they decided the money would be much better spent on that.
“To us, getting married at home started to represent nothing but hassle and cost. When we told our family we were thinking of just heading off by ourselves to get married, they said they were happy as long as we were happy.”
More than anything they wanted a wedding that was true to who they are. “We are a couple that is very happy in our own company and we didn’t feel we needed a crowd around us to mark the occasion. In fact, I’m not the kind of person who likes having the focus on me; I’m not comfortable with that kind of attention.”
Which is how, by way of recommendation from a well-travelled friend, they ended up in Antigua.
“We married in a garden gazebo, surrounded by tropical flowers, and the weather was just gorgeous,” says Watt.
The couple stayed at the hotel for two weeks, combining the wedding and honeymoon in one, for a fraction of what they would have paid for a wedding at home.
“I was marrying the man of my dreams and I was having the wedding I had dreamed of – the whole experience was out of this world,” says Watt.
She is not alone, according to Linda Byrne of Strand Travel, in Waterford. “In the last three years we have noticed a definite increase in the number of couples hoping to marry abroad. And whereas traditionally they would have gone to Rome on their own, now they are looking to go to more diverse locations.”
Such is demand that the travel agency has had to train up on global wedding procedures to cope. It now runs overseas- wedding information days for customers.
The main reason people look to marry overseas is financial. “In Ireland any amount can be spent on a wedding; our research indicates that the average cost of a five-star hotel is around €32,000,” says Byrne.
“By contrast we recently organised a wedding for a couple who flew to Italy, stayed in a lovely hotel, had a church wedding, champagne reception and five-course meal in a five-star hotel for 60 guests, including entertainment, for €7,000. That includes the travel and accommodation element for the bridal couple for the week. The savings to be made are staggering.”
Jessica Hanley, wedding co-ordinator with the travel firm Topflight, says its overseas- wedding bookings are up 20 per cent in the past 12 months, seriously bucking the general travel trend.
“I think the recession is actually driving it. People see how much more value you get for your money getting married abroad,” she says.
The company organises wedding packages in Italy, Portugal, Lanzarote and mainland Spain. “There used to be a feeling that if you got married overseas you had to do things the way people do things there. That’s just not the case any more. You can have your traditional Irish wedding exactly as you wanted it, only abroad,” says Hanley.
“The other trend we have noticed is that the parties are also getting bigger this year. Whereas a couple of years ago the typical party travelling would be 30-40, now it’s much more likely to be 100 or so, because people are using it as their summer holiday,” she says.
Rosemarie Meleady runs Theweddingplanner.ie, an online wedding directory, as part of which she has the agency for Weddings Honeymoons, a travel firm that organises weddings in 40 countries around the world.
There are both pros and cons to overseas weddings, she says. “On the plus side you can get luxurious hotels more cheaply, you can get guaranteed good weather – a huge plus – and you can have a choice of outdoor wedding venues,” says Meleady.
“We have had people who dream of a beach wedding or a Robin Hood-style forest wedding. In Ireland, although you can now have a choice of venues approved, it has to be indoors.”
The downside of marrying abroad is that not all your friends or family will be able to afford to go.
“As the average age of marriage rises, and people are more mature doing it, people get around this by having an intimate overseas wedding followed by a big party in the pub when they get back home.”
The trick is to decide whether you want a wedding for two abroad or you really want people to come, she says. “Getting married overseas puts huge pressures on guests, so you have to be careful how you handle it. You have to tell people you would love them to come but that if they can’t you will celebrate with them on your return. If they are coming, always tell them their presence is their present, so they don’t have to fork out twice.”
At the same time, don’t issue invitations in the hope that people won’t come. “We had one couple who invited 100 on the basis that just 10 were likely to come – and of course everyone came, so be careful who you invite. Only invite people you really do want to be there,” says Meleady.
Paperwork can be another downside. Once you are legally married in another country, the marriage is recognised here. There is no registration required when you get back, but different countries have different residency requirements, so you need to check them out in advance.
“Once you’ve picked a location, then pick a hotel with a one-wedding-a-day policy. If not you could arrive to find 20 other brides wandering around the foyer, making it hard to feel special, particularly in the Caribbean,” she says.
“Be aware, too, that if you opt for an all-in package, where, say €200 will get you a cake, boutonnière and flowers and registrar, that’s great, but it means you have no say over what you get.”
Italy remains the most popular destination for Irish couples looking to wed abroad; Amore Weddings, in Wicklow, organises about 30 Irish weddings there each year.
The country is terrific value for money, says founder Lisa Crotty, who expects business to grow by 10 per cent this year.
“You can get a four-star-hotel option from €75 per person, which will include everything from aperitifs and canapes to a four-course wedding meal, half-bottle of wine, Prosecco for the toast, wedding cake, tea and coffee,” says Crotty.
“It means you can bring 40 people and it will cost you €3,000. On top of that you get beautiful weather, gorgeous views and amazing food.”
Because the prices are so good, you can afford to look after the guests a little more.
Crotty typically organises a pizza party for guests the night before the wedding, including wine and beer, for €1,040 for a party of 40 (€26 a head). A barbecue on the beach the day after the wedding costs €28 a head, without wine.
Sinead Keville, a beautician from Enniscorthy, married her beau, carpenter Tomas Hogan, last year in Santa Maria, just south of Naples.
“What we wanted more than anything was a wedding that would give people a holiday to remember, and we did just that,” says Keville.
In all, 57 guests travelled for the wedding, which took place in the Grand Hotel Santa Maria.
“We paid €18,000, and that included everything, from the hairdresser in my room to the band that night,” says Keville. “It was absolutely perfect and such a beautiful setting that everybody who came fell in love with it. We know how much they loved it because not alone are they still talking about it but 25 of them bought the wedding DVD.”
Go plan
Strand Travel. 24 Georges Street, Waterford, 051-872881, www.strandtravel.com.
Topflight. Third floor, Jervis House, Jervis Street, Dublin 1, 01-2401777, www.topflight.ie.
Amore Weddings. Oakdale Lodge, Scarnagh, Inch, Co Wexford, 0402-21839, www.amoreweddings.ie.
The Wedding Planner. Main Street, Shillelagh, Co Wicklow, 053-29679, www.weddingplanner.ie.