Planning a wedding across the globe — how to stay sane

By Diana Elliott

Sure it’s romantic but planning a destination wedding in a foreign country can also be stressful if you don’t enlist the right support.

Wedding planners or consultants who specialise in organising destination weddings can be a worthwhile investment. If they speak the local language, and you don’t, it will be a great help. They will usually know a lot about the area and can help you choose officiants and beauty salons as well as arrange accommodation and the necessary paperwork.

Many hotels in exotic locations offer ‘weddingmoon’ packages, which can include everything from booking the chapel and officiant to a range of other wedding services. Enquire with local hotels or chat to your travel agent. You can usually get all-inclusive packages when doing this but the downside is that it can be a one-size-fits-all approach.
 There are a number of things you need to consider when planning a destination wedding. Firstly, you’d better find out if the country you’ve chosen allows foreign marriages. Find out what the requirements are. These can include residency, paperwork and tests; do your research to avoid messy bureaucratic nightmares on the day or afterwards. In Italy, for example, getting married is a relatively easy process but in France it is very difficult for foreigners to arrange.

Think about what resources you will need. If you’re getting married in a remote setting it might be difficult and expensive to persuade your officiant to get there. Also think about whether your destination will allow you to have a good hairdresser, make-up artist, suit-hirer and other wedding services.

Get advice on how to pack your dress from your designer, dressmaker or from staff at the shop you bought it from. Make arrangements with the airline in advance so you can store your gown in first class cabins, which have large coat closets.

Choose a place with interesting things to do and suitable accommodation for you and your guests. It’s a good idea to plan some activities in the local area so you can make the most of time with family and friends.

Having a destination wedding means you have to give your guests as much notice as possible if you want them to make it. Send ‘save the date’ cards as soon as you know where you’ll be getting married. These are simply cards telling people the date and location of your wedding so they can begin planning and saving as early as possible.