Few things are more exciting or romantic than the idea of getting married in an exotic location. Who doesn’t like to get away from home every once in a while? And what more perfect occasion than your wedding day?

Are you considering getting married abroad? If so, we’ll be providing you with some food for thought in this week’s blog post. If you’re thinking about holding your wedding ceremony in another country, these are some basic questions you should be asking yourself.

Will Your Guests be Able to Travel?

Before planning a wedding abroad, you should consider how this will affect your guests. A foreign wedding is generally less convenient for your guests, who will need to book time away from work and make travel arrangements. If you have any elderly relatives whom you wish to invite, travelling abroad may be a lot to ask of them. It may be a good idea to discuss the idea of a foreign wedding with your close friends and relatives, before making concrete plans.

If you do decide to go ahead with a wedding abroad, be sure to notify your guests in plenty of time. Send invitations advising your guests of all the details they’ll need to make their travel arrangements. You should also ensure that flights to and from your chosen destination are regular.

Should You Hire a Wedding Planner?

We’ve written in the past that a professional wedding planner is an expense that you might be better off avoiding. However, when planning a wedding abroad, the situation is significantly different.

A wedding planner who is based in your chosen destination will have extensive knowledge of the wedding venues and services available in the area, and is best positioned to get the best prices from local businesses. If you don’t speak the language of your chosen destination, a bilingual wedding planner can help to overcome that difficulty.

That said, it’s not impossible to have your wedding abroad without hiring a wedding planner. Perhaps you’ll be getting married in an area where you’ve holidayed before and are quite familiar with. Perhaps you speak the language. In such cases, your own knowledge of the area may be perfectly adequate to the task.

Have You Packed Sensibly?

There are a number of different things you should consider when packing for a wedding abroad. Some of these tie in to other aspects of the overall planning of the wedding. Perhaps most importantly, when choosing your wedding dress and other wedding outfits, you should make sure to make choices which are appropriate to the climate in your chosen destination.

In fact, figuring out how to pack your wedding wardrobe could be one of the larger headaches associated with travelling abroad to be married. For peace of mind, you may wish to consider booking an extra seat on your flight to accommodate your clothes.

As well as your luggage, there may be some people you should consider bringing with you. Particularly if you’re planning the wedding yourself, bringing your own photographer or beautician might give you more confidence than sourcing these services at the destination. You may also wish to bring a priest or other wedding officiant with you.

What’s the Legal Situation?

Once you’ve decided on your wedding destination, make sure you investigate the legal details of getting married there. In many cases, your foreign marriage certificate will be recognised at home. In other cases, you may need to have a civil wedding at home in addition to your ceremony abroad.

Don’t worry – the legal aspect of being married abroad is unlikely to be a source of any significant inconvenience. However, it is important that you are aware of the situation.

Should You Buy Wedding Insurance?

A wedding can be a big investment, and many people chose to take out insurance for their weddings, whether they take place at home or abroad. However, where foreign travel arrangements are involved, there is greater potential for plans to fall through. For this reason, the question of wedding insurance may be a little more pertinent for those planning to get married abroad.

We’ll do a detailed post about wedding insurance at some point in the future. For now, just remember that it’s available if you need it.