Planning a New Zealand wedding from overseas

It can be quite a challenge planning a New Zealand wedding, if you are living outside the country.

There are so many options to choose from (especially if you use Google to search for venues, photographers, celebrants, etc) that it can be very overwhelming deciding on what would be the best options for you. Of course, all the various service & product suppliers state that they are the best, but unless you, or a friend, have first hand experience, how can you be sure?

Many brides come over to New Zealand for a couple of weeks, a year or so in advance of the big day, with the hope of getting everything organized in one go – no mean feat!

To help couples who have chosen to tie the knot in New Zealand, The Celebration Studio offers a free consultation service. By getting as much information about you, the kind of wedding you would like, the number of guests & your budget, we will be able to draw up a short list of the best possible service & product suppliers to suit you. That way, the planning time you spend in New Zealand prior to the wedding is spent effectively.

If you are planning on getting married in New Zealand and would like some advice & recommendations, send us an email – we would love to help.

If you would like to have the whole event organized for you and you simply turn up on the day, we can do that too!

Planning an overseas wedding from New Zealand

Many New Zealand couples choose to tie the knot overseas, whether it be an island wedding, an outback wedding, a cruise or getting hitched in Vegas.

Fortunately, through the internet, it has become so much easier for couples to source destinations & make bookings from the comfort of their own home.

However, many couples are still quite nervous about what they will actually find when they get to their wedding destination, so much so that they may be put off from getting married overseas altogether. Fortunately, there are several New Zealand based companies which specialize in organizing overseas weddings for New Zealand couples. The really important thing to find out about these companies is that the staff are familiar with the places & resorts they are recommending (i.e.: they have actually been there themselves).

If getting married overseas is something you are considering, please feel free to contact us, we are more than happy to recommend companies that specialize in overseas weddings.

      

Honeymoons

Congratulations you have made one of the biggest lifetime decisions you will ever make - to get married! Now starts what could be months of planning a wedding and all that goes with it.   Following are some tips for the all important honeymoon which should be considered a major part of this planning and not just an afterthought. Your honeymoon is your first trip away as a married couple and is an important time for you to relax and reconnect with each other after what can be an emotional time and is the real beginning of your lives together; alone at last.

Budget - include your honeymoon in your wedding day budget. You may have been engaged and planning your wedding for a while but if you don't have an idea of cost you may run out of money and settle for a honeymoon that isn't really what you wanted. Whilst many holidays cannot be booked more than a year in advance a wedding/honeymoon travel specialist will be more than happy to provide some idea of what it may cost.

Use an Expert – Avoid the temptation to book an internet special to a surprise destination. Instead sit down as a couple with a travel honeymoon specialist. Your honeymoon travel specialist will help you set the scene of your dreams and use their expertise to take away the stress involved when it comes to planning your honeymoon. They will provide information on destinations and advise specific honeymoon specials and things you need to know. If you work together as a trio your idyllic time in paradise will go off without a hitch and be everything you imagined.

Ask for a Help/Bridal Registry – Gift registries were once considered controversial or bad manners but nowadays they are perfectly acceptable. Still, it is a matter of personal preference whether you use one or not. At the end of the day your guests are going to buy a gift; many couples these days live together before getting married and it is better to receive something you want or need rather than another toaster or coffee pot! One of the important things to remember is that the amount of the gift is never disclosed so there is no embarrassment, as in the case of gift vouchers. Two weeks prior to the wedding day the couple receives a cheque in which to put towards their honeymoon and their guests receive a card which they can give to the couple on their wedding day stating they have contributed to their honeymoon. A win-win situation for both guests and the happy couple!

Travel Insurance – After you've planned this once-in-a-lifetime holiday you need to make sure you are covered for any unforeseen events that stop it from being the best honeymoon ever and this comes in the form of travel insurance. It will cover you for anything unforeseen that goes wrong from 'getting cold feet' and needing to cancel (not you of course!) to the lost luggage or terrible sickness. Let's face it, as we've discussed earlier in the budget section, this holiday hasn't come cheap and you need to make sure that you are covered for anything that does not make it perfect!

 Plan for extras – now is not the time to 'penny-pinch'; you want to have the most romantic memorable holiday ever and in order to do this you need to plan and perhaps pay a bit more than usual. Choose a beachfront room or overwater bungalow or even fly business class if that is what you want. Your honeymoon specialist should give you a variety of options which can often include special deals for honeymooners like room upgrades, free breakfasts, champagne and flowers, gifts and even a free candlelit dinner to name a few. You often have to supply your marriage certificate to be eligible so make sure it is packed safely in your hand luggage. In addition to the pre-paid holiday you will need to allow for extras such as food and drink, activities, shopping, spa services, taxes and tipping which may sometimes apply. A good idea is to add 10% to the total of your budget for any unexpected costs.

FEATURE

Showcasing Rarotonga

For breathtaking sunsets, white sandy beaches and sparkling blue Pacific waters, Rarotonga is a magical setting for a Pacific Island wedding.  Full coordination of your overseas wedding allows you to relax into the tropical charms of island life and enjoy a laid-back beach wedding ceremony.

Apart from the priceless guarantee of warm weather, a Rarotongan wedding is the opportunity to participate in fun local customs to tweak your day in unique and meaningful ways.  Imagine a warrior in a traditional vaka (outrigger canoe) paddling you across to where your groom is waiting, the deep trumpeting of a conch shell announcing your arrival.  Barefoot in the warm sand with a bouquet of frangipanis, serenaders with ukelules and island dancers are the charming backdrop to your intimate wedding cremeony with family and friends.  A closing touch is the shared planting of a baby coconut palm, or ‘uto’, to seal your vows.

A choice of resorts, large to intimate, child-friendly to adult-friendly, and all very experienced at coordinating island weddings and offering a variety of packages, means that your overseas wedding will be both stress-free and adventurous. Group travel and accommodation discount rates can be arranged for your wedding party - enough to tempt friends and family to join you on your special day and maybe even your honeymoon! 
  
Key tips for Rarotonga weddings:
•    Weddings can be held all year round, but frangipani season is from October – April
•    Getting married in Rarotonga requires the couple to reside there three days prior to the wedding – that’s three extra days to finalize plans and, most importantly, to make the most of the resort’s spa indulgences
•    Most resorts will have an on-site wedding coordinator and provide a variety of flexible wedding packages, including photography, island dancers and serenaders, floral arrangement, stylist, wedding cake, catering, and spa pampering