The cost of getting married abroad

Did you know that one in six couples are getting married abroad those days? I had no idea the proportion was that big. I have had a few friends decide to do it, but since I live a special lifestyle where many friends are digital nomads or expats marrying someone from another country, deciding to have their wedding half way between the two families, or in their country of residence seems normal.

But having a destination wedding when you are both homebodies? I only heard about it once, when my cousins thought about chartering a plane and taking 200 friends and family members abroad for their wedding. The plane may sound fancy but actually it is cheaper than if you all fly commercial. And their point was that the cost of things where they were thinking about getting married was much lower, so the couple hundreds in flights would be the same cost as attending a national wedding, where you have to drive there anyway and pay for a hotel night.

If I get married in Guatemala, I have no idea how I would deal with it. An idea would be to have a very small ceremony and offer to fly over my closest family members and maybe a couple of friends. I wouldn’t like to see them struggle to pay for a transatlantic flight!

Another idea could be to get married in Dominican Republic or Cuba, so anyone who want to come from Europe can get a much cheaper all inclusive package and get a one week holiday for half the price of a ticket to Guatemala. That would be more complicated to organize, although the hotel probably have options for a venue and caterer.

Then there is the legal side of it. I think the easiest is just to have a city hall ceremony where you live, then have a festive wedding abroad, otherwise you may have a lot of paperwork to deal with.

And if you stay there for your honeymoon, you would have had to pay for those flights anyway, so it could even save you money.

In this infographic from Debenhams, you will find a few fun facts about weddings abroad. Enjoy!