Is it going to be possible?

Please help me ladies,

My OH proposed in December and since then I've been on a bit of an emotional whirlwind. I'd always had a picture of my wedding day but now its here its not going to be financial workable. We've got 3 small kids and I would feel bad spending a fortune for one day. I always assumed my dad would help out but he's really struggling at the moment and I'd feel bad taking anything off of him so we are going to try do it on our own.

And so this has led us to decide to do it abroad, that way we get a holiday out of it as well. We know that our immediate families will come and a few of our best friends. I am thinking appoxiamate numbers of 20-50 people. We are still on a very tight budget, I'd say 5k all in, thats dresses etc.

I have seen a couple of people say that they are going to go all inclusive and then just use that as meal, how does that work? I'd ideally like a beach wedding with a bbq party reception. We don't have anywhere specific in mind, we'd prefer Europe as the costs would be easier for everyone.

Any help or advice anyone could give would be great. Really wanna start planning properly.

xx

We are going to Crete hun and for a beach wedding with reception 3 course meal after,drinks for everyone,cake, flowers,ceremony, cars and translation its come to roughly £3200
That's for 22 people including us

Try Ruth at sun and snow weddings she's fab! Tell her your budget and what you would like and I guarantee she'll be able to do it.

Can I ask does that include your holiday?

no hun but we have talked to where we want to stay and theyve said if we can put a deposit down then we can have it at this years prices

so our hotel, flights and transfers for 2 weeks is £2400 +/- 200 with the euro rate

for the whole wedding abroad is probably costing close to £7000 but thats because weve gone for a 5 star resort VIP are paying for 22 people and all the little extras we wanted

like i said have a look at crete and if you like it contact ruth

www.sunandsnowweddings.com

give her what you would like and your budget and im sure she'd be able to work something out shes so good!

forgot to say bear in mind for an overseas wedding you have to factor in all your documents - ours are costing £360 from here as you have to have copies of birth certificates and certificates of no impediments which then have to apostile stamped etc and translated.

Hiya, I've spoken to many future brides in your situation, having planned many weddings as a co-ordinator for Thomson Holidays, I would recommend a few destinations, and hotels, check out;
Cyprus - Kefalos Beach Village - a hotel on paphos beach, they can do b&b or can include evening meals as an upgrade. 7 nights here, inc flights from uk, hotel room and daily breakfasts can be approx 400p.person, so good value for guests too.
They have a wedding package, on the beach in a decorated gazebo, inc all fees, licence, ceremony, flowers, cake etc etc from 1099 total.
You can arrange a beach barbecue here as a reception, approx 30euros a head.
If you prefer all inclusive, you could look at the 4* atlantica oasis hotel in limassol, its very child friendly, with kids clubs and pools etc and great value, especially may and october. You can do garden gazebo weddings here, then photos on the beach after.
When you are all inclusive, many hotels will give you a private restaurant area for your parties reception for free, rather than shelling out for a seperate reception, which is cost effective, but you may not get the bbq/menu you wanted.
Town halls can be a very affordable alternative, the old stone buildings are gorgeous and make for lovely photos, then you could maybe do a horse drawn carriage to the beach for photos before a bbq on the beach?
Or look at rhodes, there are some gorgeous places, and affordable weddings packages!
Hope that helped a little, any questions. let me know! I'm based in east yorkshire, but you could nip into your local Thomson shop, they can print out wedding prices for you! Prices for summer 2013 will be out about may this year!

I don't think it's particularly nice that you assumed your dad would help out with the costs of your wedding.

However, having said that, it's a case of research. Go into travel agents take time looking through the brochures. Once you find something that you like, one word, NEGOTIATE with the agents. Me and my husband got a hefty discount.

We went all inclusive too, just treat that as your wedding meal, there's no way in which it particularly works.

Also, depending on how long you stay at your chosen hotel and who you book with, you can get free wedding packages which includes alot of extras. All the brochures clearly state which do and don't.

That would be your best place to start. Go and get a feel of where you would like to go, research, research, research, it really does pay off.

Wish you all the best xxx

Um gem_sweetie, the reason I had assumed my dad would help is because we had previous conversations to that effect when he was in a better financial situation, and now he is not I will not ask him. I am not a money grabber and don't just assume that anyone would just pay for anything, hence why I am in a quandary about my wedding day. Know you didn't mean any bad feeling but that to me was slightly out of line.

Thank you everyone else. I am going to have a look into everything you've recommended. And thank you Zoe, you answered my point as to how it works with all inclusive, in my mind I was picturing everyone eating in the same place, if they can give me a private area that is definitely something I will look into.

xx

With respect, zara, I just responded to what you wrote. If you read it back, "I always assumed my dad would help out" doesn't particularly come across in a very good way, you didn't explain it how you just did in your last post. But now you've said you previously talked about it with your dad, I totally get where your coming from.

I hope you find somewhere that you and your h2b love, it can take some time, but you will get there eventually xx

Have a look at www.oludenizweddings.com - we're using them on a recommendation from a friend who got married with them last year. They have a whole range of packages.

Enjoy all the research x