Planning Your Dream Wedding Abroad: Insights from My Journey

I have been lucky enough to attend 3 weddings aboard, the first being my own. Marriage wasn’t the most important thing in our relationship, and we had 4 children and was together for 24 years before we decided to get married. My only wish was to get married abroad and, on a beach, so we got married in Porto Azzurro in Zakynthos, Greece. Our wedding and reception was all in one place which we wanted too so got married on the beach and then had our reception in the bar/restaurant which was a terrace overlooking the beach and sea. It was just amazing and what we wanted with close family and friends.

There are so many extras that you can book to make your wedding unique and ideal for the couple. As we got married in Greece, we chose to have Greek dancers for our reception. Myself and the groom started the dancing off with the professionals and then everyone joined in to start the party off. We had fireworks over the sea to finish off the evening too..

I have also been lucky enough to attend my best friends wedding and be one of her bridesmaids in Rhodes which was outside a beautiful Greek church with an amazing view of the sea below. The reception was somewhere else but also in a lovely taverna which overlooked the beach and sea too. All just so stunning!

I also was so privileged to experience an amazing wedding in Turkey too at my best friend’s daughter’s wedding. This all took place in one venue which was amazing, again overlooking the sea and the bride and bridesmaids all turned up on a boat to the venue.

I chose to use a local wedding planner in Zakynthos who was just amazing from the first call until the wedding reception finished at 2am in the morning! We booked our hotel separately with a few friends and family staying in the same hotel as us but other guests stayed in other accommodation nearby to meet their needs and budget.

Being a personal travel consultant now, I can arrange weddings and honeymoons for anyone and have the personal experience to help you with all legal needs as well as accommodation needs. Below are some of the suppliers I have access to, to book your perfect destination wedding:

Perfect weddings abroad – This is booked separately from your holiday package and they offer various venues in Europe including UK, Ireland, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Austrian Alps and Turkey. They also offer weddings further afield such as in Mexico, Caribbean, North America, Canada, Indian Ocean, Thailand, Bali, South Africa, Bora Bora, Fiji islands and Cook islands. They also offer amazing cruise weddings too. They offer different packages to meet your needs and budget. You can book a wedding only package and arrange your own reception at a local restaurant/taverna or let your wedding planner organise both the wedding and reception.

Olympic Holidays – Your holiday package would need to be booked along with your wedding package. Discounts are available for group bookings. Olympic holidays have wedding venues in Rhodes, Santorini, Zakynthos, Symi, Cyprus and Malta.

Planet weddings – Weddings can be booked separate or along with your holiday package. Planet weddings have venues across Greece, Cyprus, Franc, Italy, Croatia, Portugal and Malta/Gozo.