New here and so excited! Destination help please.

Re: New here and so excited! Destination help please.

• Jells2dot0 mod

  

  August 2014

  Welcome and Congrats!
  
  Having a DW in Hawaii will not only be much cheaper, but a lot less red tape will be involved (legal requirements). Also, depending on when you are planning on marrying, you may have issues finding a resort that can accommodate that many guests in Bora Bora, unless you book way in advance or book out the entire resort. There is also the concern with choice in vendors. Hawaii will have many more to choose from.
  
  If you can share (if you even know yet!) budget, time of year, etc, I may be able to assist more. I have been to Hawaii 4 times and Bora Bora 6 times and looked at both for my wedding. We ultimately chose Australia.

   

  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

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• Jells2dot0 mod

  

  August 2014

  Just saw the honeymoon part! Do you know where you are staying in the Maldives yet? We're thinking of going next year and doing a London/Maldives trip. We're looking at splitting our time between the W and either Cocoa Island or maybe Velaa. However, my DH is leaning toward us just staying in Europe the whole time and saving the Maldives for our 5th anniversary. An idea for you- we talked about a Seychelles-Abu Dhabi-Maldives itinerary for that trip. We've been to the Seychelles before and want to go back.

   

  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

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• Jells2dot0 mod

  

  August 2014

  So, I saw your post on the DW board. It looks like you have $100K to cover both the DW (flights, accommodations, meals) and the at home reception. Based on the little you have divulged, you have expensive taste. Nothing wrong with that! But, based on that, I recommend you set aside AT LEAST $100pp for your at home reception. Probably more depending on your vision. That leaves $70K. Average airfare to Hawaii is $800-$1000 from the East Coast. So, 50 people x $900 = $45K in just airfare. Tahiti is even worse- $1200 from LA to Tahiti, $500 from Tahiti to Bora Bora- $85K. Well, just the airfare alone to Tahiti is over your remaining budget. 

  
  

  Your local board will be able to help you find a venue in your area and assist in gauging costs. A travel agent will be able to assist you with finding something in your budget. However, I think you need to decide how you will split your costs first. Maybe your at home reception is only a backyard BBQ, so $30,000 is more than enough. My initial thought is that you may be best to focus on the Caribbean and an all inclusive. Many of them offer free wedding packages when you book a certain number of rooms and since the room rates already include food and drink, your add on costs should be minimal!

   

  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

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• CrazyCatLady3 member

  

  August 2014

  Jells gives good advice, and she is the travel maven so I will defer to her on all that.  My suggestion to you is to hire a wedding planner for your wedding and/or AHR, as you seem to have a whole lot of moving parts here.  Also, she just set out the costs for airfare--are you planning to pay for hotel for everyone too?  That will eat up your whole budget.  

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• Knottie01967484 member

  

  September 2014

  Hi all I would like to get married aboard and thinking where wAs a good place to? I heard Tenerife a nice place. Any advice? Thanks

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• Jells2dot0 mod

  

  September 2014

  @knottie01967484 I recommend getting some ideas on the destination weddings board. You will first need to figure out if you want any guests, legal requirements for the wedding, how much you'd like to spend, and what you think is reasonable for your guests to spend. Tenerife is a very expensive destination to travel to, at least for US citizens, because of the airfare and exchange rate. So, you really need to figure out the guest part of the equation first.
  
  http://forums.theknot.com/categories/wedding-theme-boards_destination-weddings
  
  
  http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-planning/destination-weddings.aspx
  
  I personally got married in Australia, but we eloped, so we only had to think about planning for two people.
  
  

   

  

  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

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• LondonLisa member

  

  September 2014

  Knottie01967484 said:

  Hi all I would like to get married aboard and thinking where wAs a good place to? I heard Tenerife a nice place. Any advice? Thanks

  
  Are you or your Fi an EU citizen? It is a long and complicated process to marry in the EU and most counties, including Spain, require a certain amount of residency before they will legally be allowed to wed.

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