Finding that perfect wedding venue can sometimes feel daunting, stressful and exciting at all the same time. Gareth proposed to me 2 years ago over in South Africa. It was a beautiful location just outside Cape Town.
If you didn’t already know, I was born in the UK and raised in the Canary Islands, whilst Gareth is from South Africa. We had a little thinking to do on where we would both like to get married. If I am totally honest I have always known deep down that I wanted to get married abroad. I do like the thought of the UK, however, I find it extremely expensive and I knew that I could get my dream location at a cheaper price abroad, plus I wanted the nice weather (although I know that is never guaranteed).
We decided that we were going to get married in South Africa, which I have touched upon on previous posts. We found an incredible venue in Stellenbosch, Cape Town. It was a beautiful venue called Hudsons with exceptional views and at a perfect price – in fact half the price it would have been to get married in the UK.
Gareth and I booked the venue and our wedding date was going to be on the 23rd February 2019, woo hooo so exciting! I really was so excited to get married in South Africa, however the whole process of organising the wedding was starting to become very stressful and not enjoyable at all. Wedding planning is meant to be fun and exciting and we started to realise that we jumped in head first without seeing the venue. Adding up the cost of the flights and accommodation as well as advising on what everyone should do whilst out in Africa was all becoming a bit too much and it started to feel like we were planning a huge holiday rather than our wedding day.
We are very relaxed and chilled people so we both decided to not get married in South Africa and start looking at different options and countries. We decided on Europe, I know what you’re all thinking, Europe is huge: where do you even start? I am not going to say it was easy finding a country that we both wanted to get married in, as it wasn’t due to the endless list of beautiful countries. But, with the joys of Social Media and an amazing group on Facebook called Weddings Abroad Community, it started to become easier – there was light at the end of the tunnel!
From all the advice I received in the Facebook group, which I am extremely thankful for, we decided to go and have a look at some venues in Greece, despite neither of us visiting Greece before. As we jumped in a little quick on booking the first venue, we thought it would be a great idea to head on over to Greece and have a look at some venues before we booked. The people so far have been super friendly and have answered the millions of questions that we have had.
My advice to anyone looking to get married abroad weather your budget is low or high, have a look at the Facebook group as you receive endless support and advice from brides in general and previous brides who might have got married in the venue you are looking at. Here’s a few tips that I can share with you from my experience so far:
Take your time in finding your perfect venue, there is no rush!
Find out your budget and how many guests you would like to have there
Find out if you can legally get married in the country you have chosen, as it’s not a big deal if you need to get the legal side of getting married in your home country first
It’s not about anyone else, it’s about you and your future husband or wife. Always remember that!
Guaranteed you will not please everyone and you may have fall outs along the way
Join the Facebook group I mentioned above, they will answer all of your questions for you
And…..if you are wondering why am I not get married in the Canaries, seeing as I grew up over there: we thought it would be a cool idea to get married somewhere that neither one of us has a connection to.
Are you getting married soon? Do you have any advice for me? If you have any questions for me then feel free to comment down below and please subscribe if you haven’t already.
I’ve always thought it’d be amazing getting married overseas. It’d be such a great experience! I have been looking at this place in Kent that I visited when I lived in England, but it’s really expensive. It’s so beautiful though! I’m not actually engaged, but I like organising events 😀
Author
I honestly can’t wait, I always knew that I would have a destination wedding. Where do you live now? Kent is a beautiful part of England that’s for sure. I also like organising events, although I feel it’s stressful organising your own, especially overseas so I hired a wedding planner. xxxx