Planning a destination wedding is a dream come true for many couples, and with so many options available to us nowadays, choosing the perfect place can be difficult. Will you pick a destination with family roots, a country with significant meaning to you both, or somewhere you simply love? We’ve been looking at the latest statistics for overseas weddings to help you choose the best location for your dream day.
48% of couples wed in July, August and September, making summer still the top choice for wedding dates, suggesting that couple's consider weather as a huge reason for choosing a wedding abroad. The UK weather remains as unpredictable as ever - just look at the March snow! Sunshine is never guaranteed, so couples are increasingly choosing to elope to warmer climates in order to enjoy a wedding day without the fear of unpredictable weather.
Destination vow renewals have also risen by 151%. Couples want to celebrate their love for one another and having a vow renewal allows them to experience a wedding a different way, and with so many beautiful destinations to choose from it's easy to see why. The most popular destinations include:
- Mexico
- Dominican Republic
- Jamaica
- The Bahamas (one of the easiest destinations to legally marry)
- Italy
- St Lucia
- Hawaii
- Las Vegas
Couples on average spend 6 nights at their chosen destination alongside their guests, giving them plenty of time to celebrate with their loved ones and enjoy the experience of a destination wedding.It is notoriously difficult to legally marry abroad, with a lot of time and paperwork required to get everything right. Some countries are easier than others - The Bahamas for one.
Imagine a beautiful beach wedding looking across the ocean. Some countries don’t allow legal marriages at all if you’re not a resident, including The Maldives (though it is a popular choice for extended honeymoons) and Vietnam.
In such situations, arranging your legal ceremony to take place beforehand in your resident country is the best option, then you can have a blessing afterwards for your actual wedding celebration in your chosen location. Either way, we’d recommend hiring an experienced wedding planner to help take care of the legalities, paperwork and destination wedding planning on your behalf, allowing you to relax and enjoy the planning process.
£11 billion is spent on destination weddings every year, with 340,000 taking place annually - where will you be getting married?Stats from Destination Wedding Travel Group Trend Report 2017 and Tripsavvy