DOMESTIC VS DESTINATION WEDDING

Ok, I admit it, we may have fought about this topic before, but with the benefit of having actually now had our wedding abroad we reckon we have a fresh new perspective on things! So although we both absolutely loved our wedding abroad and wouldn’t have changed it, there are DEFINITELY difficulties with the planning stages that you need to consider before taking the plunge. So, as always we’ll each pick a side and battle it out to present you with all the facts… and the odd bit of nonsense… quite a lot of nonsense actually but hopefully some useful stuff too! Anyway enough of this nonsense, let’s

FIGHT!!!

In the Red Corner, she loved it but by heck was some of it stressful! So fighting this week to keep your wedding in your home country, it’s Dom “The Tog” Wifey!

In the Blue Corner, having spent a lot of his time in the run up to the wedding complaining about the difficulties of planning a wedding abroad he’s now fighting on its behalf, it’s Matt “The Gormless” ex-groom now husband!

Round 1 DING DING!!

Dom: If you’re heading abroad for a holiday in the sun just remember that good weather is not guaranteed! Despite not raining for two years previously in La Palma our wedding took place in an actual storm with bad weather nearly all week! In fact it also rained at Matt’s brother’s destination wedding in Mauritius… hang on maybe it’s just a Thompson thing!! …hmm

Matt: Ok so yes it could still be bad weather, but even in the rain it was still really hot at our wedding, and if we’d been in the UK it was apparently snowing on the same day so we were still better off than being in the UK! Chances are though if you go to a hot climate it probably will be sunny unless, like us, you have some sort of crazy curse on your heads!


Dom: If you want to put your stamp on the wedding and have your own decorations etc. it’s almost impossible to do so abroad unless like us you have somewhere to store things locally or perhaps if you’re wealthy enough to be able to hire a wedding planner to look after things for you, although even then it’s still more difficult than just being able to sort it yourself back home.

Matt: But it is always possible to hire storage abroad, and we found that a lot of the stuff was cheaper over there… we probably wouldn’t have actually bought anywhere near as many decorations in the UK as we did because they’d just be too expensive!

Dom: If you’re planning on inviting guests it can be hugely expensive for them to get over to a wedding abroad and is generally much more practical for them to travel a shorter distance where they can get there and back in a day or just a single overnight stay.

Matt: But if people can do it it’s so much cooler having people around for the whole week and make a holiday of it! My friends and I have always talked about going on holiday together and had never done it, but one of my favourite things about our wedding was that we all got to spend some time together all week. It also meant we had lots of barbecues and meals together that felt like an extension of the wedding… if we’d done it in the UK it would just have been one day and that’d be it, everyone would go home.

Dom: If you are trying to plan it yourself and have your own style decorations and have the vintage car and everything then any language barriers can be an absolute nightmare!! We only managed to get what we needed because my parents had friends on the Island that could translate for us, and even then a couple of things we were after proved too difficult!

Matt: I agree it is more difficult but people speak english in most countries and if you can pull it off the rewards are huge! It’s also easier to do something different from the classic English wedding when you’re abroad because the environment is so different! We went for a bright, multicoloured theme which worked fantastically well in La Palma but wouldn’t have had the same effect at all in the UK!

Dom: Cultural differences can sometimes make things difficult… wedding traditions are different in other countries, even the little things can make a difference in the planning stages like local suppliers refusing to take deposits or even full payment until after the day and only accepting cash!

Matt: Sometimes the little cultural differences are what makes the wedding though! Incorporating those ideas and different traditions makes it all a little different and makes it feel more like a destination wedding rather than just a UK wedding in the sun!

FINAL REMARKS:

Dom: Destination weddings really are great, but unless you’re just looking for something small and simple which can be organised as a package deal at a hotel they are very difficult to organise! If you think organising a domestic wedding is difficult then try throwing language barriers, cultural differences, accommodation woes, flights to book and lack of local knowledge into the mix!

Matt: A destination wedding is a chance to get away from everything and make the wedding into a holiday and a bigger event. It’s a chance to get away with all your friends and loved ones and have more or less a week long wedding! Chances are you can get better (or at least warmer) weather and you can choose a setting that might not be possible in your native land!

So where do you stand? Domestic or Destination wedding? Leave your comment below or catch us on twitter!