WEDDING AT SEA

larissawinkler

My husband-to-be and I are wanting a destination wedding and love the idea of a cruise. Any suggestions or tips? 

ootmother2

not from me.  I'm  sailor, not a cruiser.

Try the Destination Wedding board

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Good luck!

DramaGeek

My cousin was married on a cruise. They had to be married in port, before they left, and then they were able to cruise. I think it was a legal thing that they couldn't be married actually during the cruise. The good part is that anyone who doesn't want to go on the cruise itself can still attend the wedding - they bring you on before everyone else, have the wedding, then your guests who aren't cruising leave before the ship departs. The bad thing, to me, is that your options for catering, photography, etc are very limited.

ootmother2

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_ceremony-ideas_wedding-at-sea?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:10Discussion:d32bceee-5360-488c-b084-b28dee93c13bPost:323d432f-8dfd-4616-9ff1-f2a669526634">Re: WEDDING AT SEA</a>:
[QUOTE]Princess Cruises (The Love Boats) do weddings.  Their ships have special chapels used for the ceremony, sort of like Vegas.  You must be married while the ship is in port.  The cruiseline will take care of everything for you - at a price.  There won't be a lot of options, but this is part of the convenience.
Posted by CMGr[/QUOTE]

IMO,  now where the cost of convenience..  Convenience is a big word

Peledreamsofrain

I think it has something to do with the legality of the union.  Marriage licenses must recieved a seal from the soveriegn nation or government or state in order to be considered valid.  And most ships are captained and manned by non-Americans (USA dock workers are unionized and expensive). 

The cruiselines probably got tired of people getting angry when they found out that they were legally married in Greece.

Just a guess, might be way off base.  But if it's not that, then I'd still put down a lot of money on a legal issue of some sort.

DramaGeek

I found this - there's some interesting information

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=4

Mingatobinks

Actually Princess cruises will perform weddings while at sea or at port. I had looked into it but it is real expensive so we are getting married at the beach then taking a cruise for our honeymoon

nicholsjm

We had the same idea originally, but then I got quickly frustrated at what a day would look like if I didn't want to get married at the original port.  Realizing I'd have to run off the boat, go to the court house to get documents, then run to the ceremony site before heading back to the boat just seemed chaotic.  We decided to do a destination wedding instead, figuring I can have more of the flexibility of the day the way we want it while still having everyone come on vacation with us.