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Australian & American - Location help

teatree78teatree78 member
First Comment
in Interracial Weddings
Hello everyone,

My name is Whitney and I'm new to the board. My fiancee and I just recently got engaged. We are both close to our family and we want to make sure everyone can come to our wedding. He is Aussie and I'm from the USA. Travel between the two places is really expensive and we don't want to ask half the guests to pay 3000+ in just airfare per person. We are thinking about going half way and doing a destination wedding in Hawaii so everyone has to travel but then there are other costs that the guests have to deal with.

Anyone else have a aussie/usa partnership? Or does anyone have any good ideas to make the wedding accessible to everyone?

Hope everyone's planning is going well!
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Re: Australian & American - Location help

  • RyansBelovedBrideRyansBelovedBride member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I'm American and he's Indian. We've decided two weddings makes the most sense. If we can afford it we'll have two modest weddings, a nonofficial one in the US and the legal one in India (we're going to live in India).  If we had a wedding in one place or the other, then one of us would only have one or two people tops on 'our side'. 

    If we can't swing two, our back up plan is one in India, with a vow renewal in the US down the line.

    It really depends on what you want, but honestly Hawaii may or may not be much cheaper in flight costs, especially since Hawaii is always a desirable destination (airfare prices change depending on supply and demand).  Probably what you'll have is if let's say 5 people could have afforded to travel to Australia or your home in the US, you might get 15 coming to Hawaii (the 5 from each side, plus a handful of others who can afford Hawaii).

    Basically you pretty much have to decide if you're willing to have a large bash with mainly his people in Australia, a large bash with mainly yours in America, or a very small intimate one in Hawaii. You could also have two modest weddings like me, but you didn't mention that as a possiblity and I don't know if that's because you've rejected it or if it's because you've not considered it. I'm not trying to pressure you to do it like me. Tongue out

    Two weddings isn't uncommon at all for international couples, but international couples aren't common, so you don't hear much of it. But I've found many other couples like that elsewhere and it made me feel so much better.
    My blog
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    "I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." -Isaiah 61:10 NKJV
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  • littleluckypennylittleluckypenny member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I didn't vote, but I think you may want to get a rough price estimate for each location (Hawaii, Cali and Australia).  Love knows no distance, but distance really sucks when trying to celebrate with everyone. 

    There could be a couple of options:

    1.  See which one would be more cost effective (airfare, hotel, etc) not necessarily for you, but for your guest.

    2.  Push your wedding day back.  I saw in your bio it's next July.  One of my friends gave her Swedish guests a year to get prepared for her wedding in VA Beach (her husband is from Sweden, as his entire family and friends).

    3.  Consider having the wedding in the location that you will not be permantely residing after marriage.  I may not have the same distance as you (FI is from NY and I'm from FL), but since FI agreed live in FL after we get married (we live in NY now), we're having the wedding in NY.  That way, his family doesn't feel like too left out.  If I decided to stay permanently in NY, the wedding would have been in FL to include my family.

    Hope that helps.
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  • wishingstar4jmwishingstar4jm
    First Comment
    iim in a similar predicament. im US he's British! but we have decided to have the wedding here in Vegas! which leaves me to plan on my own...at least for now. wedding in October.

    meeting in the middle somewhere would work. just be mindful of your guests pockets.

    i hope everything works out for you.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker MRS WRIGHT TO BE :)
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  • ckumar89ckumar89 member
    First Comment First Anniversary
    I'm in the exact same situation as you! I am from USA and my fiancee is from Australia! We both have big families and want to share our wedding with both sides, but the cost of travel for one side or both sides if we had a destination wedding was not something we wanted. We have finally decided on having two ceremonies, one in California and the other in Sydney. We knew that if we had a wedding in one location only one side would show up.

    I agree with you though, flight costs from here to Australia are outrageously expensive!

    Good luck and I hop everything works out for you! Smile
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