Getting Help with your Destination Wedding
Whether it is held at home or overseas, everyone wants a wedding day that they will remember as truly one of the most special days of their life.
A destination wedding will certainly be memorable, because it is different, but to ensure it is remembered for being perfect also don't be slow to look for help. There is lots of it available out there, after all just about every tourist board in the world is keen to attract wedding and honeymoon business!
Any of the following can be great ways to get help and advice when you are planning a wedding in a foreign country.
1. Hire a Wedding Planner
When planning an event in a foreign country, however small or large, having the experts on the job is a huge help.
The expert you chose may be a wedding planner based in the location you have chosen for your wedding or one based in Ireland but with expertise in and knowledge of planning weddings in the destination country.
Yes, there will be a cost, but it will save you countless hours of hassle and the responsibility of ensuring that all the i's are dotted and the t's crossed is taken from your plate.
Remember too that many of the hotels and resorts that regularly hold weddings will have in-house wedding coordinators who have really good local knowledge and whose assistance often comes as part of the package.
2. Use a Package from a Hotel or Resort
This really is the hassle free way to do things, everything is organised at once and you will have the help of the hotel staff on the ground. Really all you have to do is show up!
Maybe you feel this is cop out and too easy, but do you really want the hassle of being thrown back on your own devices in a foreign country if things, however small, go wrong?
More and more resorts, even small ones in quite exotic locations, offer a full wedding service, often with room upgrades thrown in free, and if you browse though the wedding venue pages in our destination listings you may be surprised at the range and variety that is available.
3. Get a Local Contact
Do you know anyone who lives in the country where you will marry? Or even anyone who knows anyone who lives there?
These sort of contacts can be immensely helpful if you are organising all or part of the wedding yourself. For example they may be able to direct you to a good photographer or florist, know wonderful musicians or singers. You can also run the various cost quotations you get by them to see if they are in the region they would expect locally.
Often asking a local contact to get quotes will result in lower prices - some places see every tourist as a rich one and inflate their quotes accordingly.
4. Find Someone who has Been There
Ask around - when you mention to people where you are planning to marry ask them if they have heard of anyone who married there before.
Someone who has already been down the route you are just starting out on will have invaluable tips (and warnings!) to pass on. An offer to treat such a couple to dinner and just talk about how their wedding went can be the best spent time imaginable.