Press
A guide to getting married abroad
By Karen Rockett
Sunday Mirror 11/05/2008
With an average wedding at home costing over £12,000 almost 6 in 10 people say they'd rather get married abroad. And it's hardly surprising when you consider it can cost 7 times less tying the knot here...and that includes the honeymoon...
New York
What could be more exciting than a wedding in the city that never sleeps? And where better to tie the knot in New York than Central Park? It is also easy for friends and relatives to get to as flights are relatively short and affordable.
MOST ROMATIC MOMENT: A ride for two around Central Park in a horse drawn carriage.
WEDDING PACKAGE: A Central Park wedding at the Ladies Pavillion, including wedding pack, minister's fees, bouquet and buttonhole and a diner cruise around New York Harbour, costs £579 per couple. Marriage licence $35 payable locally.
HONEYMOON DEAL: Four nights at the Millenium Broadway Hotel including return flights from Heathrow costs £782 pp in September.
TOTAL COST: £2161
BOOK: www.bigappleweddings.co.uk
Saturday 18th February 2006
The Age, Melbourne Australia.
I do (but overseas, please)
By Liz Concotta
Many couples are foregoing home-town tradition and exporting their big day, writes Liz Cincotta.
You've been dating each other for an age before he gets down on bended knee and utters those four magic words, "Will you marry me?"
You resist replying "It's about time you asked me" and whisper "Of course, darling."
Now comes the challenging part - the wedding.
Getting hitched usually involves making decisions about location, food, dress, cake, photographer, music and on it goes. But a legion of couples are trading in home-town churches for exotic beaches, foregoing string quartets for islander choirs. It makes sense. Romance goes hand-in-hand with glorious sunsets and the heady scent of frangipani, after all.
Scottish couple Craig Peterson and Karen Stuart chose to marry in New York rather than their Scottish homeland.
"We didn't want a big traditional wedding. The whole idea of spending a year organising a wedding and spending ages agonising over who should sit where never really appealed to us. We just wanted the day to be relaxed and wanted the focus to be on us getting married - which it was. It was also very stress-free. We did tell immediate family members and they came with us but nobody else knew."
Craig and Karen, who are based in Glasgow, found a British company on the internet called Big Apple Weddings who organised weddings in New York.
"They were great because they organise as much or as little as you want. We didn't have to go for a complete package with them and so had the freedom to organise venues for cocktails and dinner ourselves."
Big Apple Weddings, go to www.bigappleweddings.co.uk.
Weddings in New York including locations at the Empire State Building and Central Park