Weddings abroad? Lots of questions

[FortyFacedFuckers]

I have been engaged for 8 years and always wanted to get married abroad but there is something stopping me, so I am looking for other peoples experiences.
If you got married abroad can you answer some questions for me? And if you want to add anything else on that I don’t ask about that would be great.
Thanks so much.

Where did you get married?
Who did you book it with?
Had you already been to the place?
Did anyone go with you?
What was your actual wedding day like?
Did you wear a wedding dress?
Did you get hair/make up etc done? (if yes did you go for a trial)?
Would you get married abroad again or do you regret it?

[ThisIsMeNow]

Sorry I can't help but I need the answers to these too!

[CooEeeEldridge]

I didn't get married abroad but was bridesmaid for friend who did.

They got married in Cyprus, booked via Thomson. Not sure I would recommend Thomson but the bride probably would. They hadn't visited that particular resort before, had about 50 guests that stayed either 1 week, 10 days or 2 weeks. They were there for 2 weeks.

Sounds silly as obvious, but it was horribly hot on the day! Everyone wanted to get outside pics done v v quick!! She wore a big, traditional dress. We had hair and make up done via a Thomson contact, would not recommend this!!! Hotels had salons would have been much better to book into there.

Hope that's some help for now...

[Perfectlypurple]

I got married in kenya. Booked with first choice, wedding package included apart from photos/video. Think we paid 700 dollars for the photo package there. We got married on a rooftop overlooking the sea. I did wear a wedding dress. Got hair and makeup done at hotel and there was a trial run. We didn't have any guests. Wedding day was nice but I never really wanted a big wedding. It was just something I had to do to start my marriage.

I hadn't been there before. And I don't regret it. Although I did have a few tears the morning of the wedding because my mum and dad weren't there.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Thanks for the answers so far. Given me lots to think about.

[Hulababy]

Ooh, its a long time ago for me, but Dh and myself got married abroad, some 15.5 years ag now.

Where did you get married? Kenya, at Shimba Hills reserve
Who did you book it with? Somak
Had you already been to the place? No
Did anyone go with you? Just me and DH
What was your actual wedding day like? Lovely, quiet and calm. It was a smallish reserve so we didn't have loads of other people staring at us, and it wasn't a place with loads of weddings, so production line feeling.
Did you wear a wedding dress? Yes, took it with us. DH had mourning suit too.
Did you get hair/make up etc done? (if yes did you go for a trial)? No, I did my own
Would you get married abroad again or do you regret it? Yes, it was lovely. We did however have a church blessing and reception fortnight later back in the UK for 100+ guests.

[Hulababy]

And for my younger sister, who mrried abroad about 3 years ago


Where did you get married? Las Vegas
Who did you book it with? Virgin
Had you already been to the place? Sister hadn't, BIL had on a lads holiday previously
Did anyone go with you? Sister and BIL (bride and groom) and then our parents, my brother, me DH and DD (then 8y, was bridesmaid), nd 4 friends
What was your actual wedding day like? Again it was a lovely day - busy in morning sorting hair and makeup, then private ceremony, nice meal, etc. Not manic and no big show for other guests etc
Did you wear a wedding dress? Yes, she did.
Did you get hair/make up etc done? (if yes did you go for a trial)? Yes, no trial but did speak to them beforehand
Would you get married abroad again or do you regret it? She syas she loved it

Sister and BIL had a reception party on return a month later.

[Pickles79]

I got married in Jamaica which we booked through Thomson. We'd never been before. We had we had 12 family members come with us. It was a nice day, had my hair done locally (redid it myself when I got back to the hotel lol) I wore a big wedding dress. I don't regret it as we had a reception at home also. BUT if I married again I'd want it at home. I don't, to me I just think weddings abroad are more suitable for second weddings. Something felt missing for me.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Thanks for all the answers I love hearing of people's weddings and all of the answers are so far positive no disasters or regrets.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Anyone else want to share?

[Tory79]

We got married in Florida, 5 years ago.
Booked through a company called Florida Brides.
We'd been to Florida before a few times as we are disney addicts! but never been to the actual wedding venue (which luckily was just as stunning as the photos!)
We had about 14 people with us, mix of friends and family. It felt like a lovely number actually. We all stayed together for a week, then after the wedding everyone went home (or some went somewhere else in America) and we stayed on for another 2 weeks for our honeymoon.
Actual wedding day was fab, we got married at 1 so it was very hot, but after that we went back to our villas for a bit, lazed round the pool etc, then got back into our wedding gear to go to our evening do, which was at the Hard Rock Cafe at universal studios! I will never forget the feeling of walking through a theme park in my wedding dress
I wore a proper wedding dress, I'd had it in my head that I would get a very light simple one as it would be hot, but once I'd tried on some 'proper' dresses I knew that would never happen!
My bridesmaid did my hair and make up for me.
I LOVED our wedding, it was just right for us and I would absolutely do it again. No regrets at all. We did have a blessing and an evening do after we got back to the UK though, so still got to celebrate with everyone else.

[Trills]

Sorry to say this but I would really think seriously about what is "the thing that is stopping you".

If it's something to do with the wedding (rather than with being married), you still need to figure out what aspect of a wedding you don't want to have.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Tory thanks it's Florida I really want to go to sounds perfect.

Trills that's why I have spent 8 years deciding I think it's not feeling that I can control things the way I could with a wedding here.

[gamerchick]

if you get married abroad.. get duplicates of your wedding certificate in case you lose it... some are a pain in the arse to replace.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Thanks for the tip gamerchic

[Tory79]

Forty if you want to ask me any questions feel free!

[Tory79]

This is where we got married and it was gorgeous here

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Tory that's gorgeous. Thank you

[Michaela0216]

We're getting married in Cyprus in May so just thought i'd add where were up to so far:
Were getting married in Paphos a beautiful location, outdoors under shade. Ive arranged the reception myself at a traditional restaurant nearby.
We booked with Thompson, they've been okay so far.
No we've never been but heard great things from people we know who have been to weddings there etc.
Yes some close family are coming over to stay for a week were staying for 2.
Im wearing a wedding dress, a light, floaty Jenny Packham one
I am doing my hair/makeup myself as I do this anyway and want to look very natural and feel like myself, hair is going to be loosely curled with a delicate flowered crown.
Me and dp have been together for 10 years have 2 ds and have put of getting married for a long time due to the cost and being sensible. I did always dream about having a huge amazing wedding but now I am older I realise that a fancy wedding costing 25k plus would be ridiculous and tbh i am quite shy anyway so wouldnt like all the attention and all the planning that goes into doing that. For me the most important thing is being married to dp and tbh i wouldn't be bothered if it was just us and our 2 ds there as this is all i want and I can't wait to marry him.

[FortyFacedFuckers]

Sounds lovely michaela hope it goes well

[Notsoskinnyminny]

Where did yo get married? Italy
Who did you book it with? we knew we wanted the Italian Lakes but not somewhere touristy so we got a map, googled some of the smaller lakes, narrowed it down to 2 and then googled wedding planners
Had you already been to the place? No
Did anyone go with you? No - it was great not having to worry about keeping others happy or them having to pay a fortune to come to our wedding. DHs family prefer Benidorm so they would've hated where we got married.
What was your actual wedding day like? Fantastic, all about us and we didn't miss anyone. Our witnesses were our planner's spouse and one of their neighbours. We married off season and were lucky with the weather, everyone says our photos look like a film set.
Did you wear a wedding dress? Yes
Did you get hair/make up etc done? (if yes did you go for a trial)? Had my hair done and went for a chat the day before (planner interpreted) so she knew what I wanted. I wasn't too fussed with how she did it but it didn't ruin my day and I never like how my regular hairdresser does my hair. It looks ok on the photos.
Would you get married abroad again or do you regret it? Yes and no regrets

[MsAspreyDiamonds]

Please don't do what the couple in this thread have done:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1978639-Aibu-to-find-this-very-cheeky

[ElBombero]

Hi fortyfaced. Engaged for 7trs here and we just booked tonight. Getting married in Greece next May.

Thousands of questions too just or sure what they are!!

I was gonna book with Thomson but then decided against as reviews said service was poor so booked a wedding planner separately which had worked out cheaper as yet

[sooperdooper]

Where did you get married? Paphos, Cyprus
Who did you book it with? We used an independent planner for the wedding and booked our holiday separately
Had you already been to the place? Yep, we'd been the year before and viewed venues
Did anyone go with you? About 40 family and friends
What was your actual wedding day like? Very relaxed, ceremony at 4pm, followed by drinks, a meal, kids magician, Dj, singer :)
Did you wear a wedding dress? Yes but it was light and floaty, from House of Fraser
Did you get hair/make up etc done? (if yes did you go for a trial)? Yes but I only got to have my trial the day before, which was ok but did worry me incase I didn't like it!! It was all fine in the end though
Would you get married abroad again or do you regret it? No regrets whatsoever, it was gorgeous, so much fun and we had an amazing time

The only other thing I'd add is don't get involved in your guests travel and Accomodation, we found that lots of people wanted to do their own thing which was totally fine with us and I'm glad we didn't try and arrange a huge villa for everyone

[MaxDeronto]

Its really a cool idea as well as very excited to marry in abroad as if we are planning to do wedding there than we have to do all arrangements over there and that will be challenging as well as very costly so that's why most of the couple avoid this but from my point of view its really amazing.

[iamthedanger]

Kefalonia here. Found a local wedding coordinator who was beyond brilliant. Very hot day (Aug) but lovely breeze, ceremony outside hilltop chapel and reception in a large waterfront venue, perfect for a nearly all night party and room for the kids to belt around. Food and drink and levels of service impeccable. Most amazing day that I will treasure forever knowing I didn't have to remortgage for it. Pm if you want more details.