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The guaranteed sunshine, holiday feeling and sunkissed tan are all reasons Brits choose to get hitched outside of the UK, but is it actually cheaper? Experts at money.co.uk have looked into the average budget for weddings in 190 countries and created a tool to reveal the cheapest and most expensive countries to get married overseas. 

If you’re saving up to get married abroad, it’s important to compare savings accounts to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

The tool below allows you to input a country, whether you’re looking to get married in low or high season, how many guests you want to have, and spits out the average cost of a wedding in said country plus how much you’d save (or extra you’d spend!) compared to a wedding in the UK. Try it now:

Destination wedding vs traditional UK wedding costs

When getting married abroad, couples have to add certain additional costs to their budget, such as accommodation, flights and even flying out suppliers if applicable. 

Generally though, your budget per head will tend to stretch further for things like venues and catering abroad, than if you got married in the UK. Furthermore, the guest list at abroad weddings tends to be smaller, with only your nearest and dearest willing to get on a plane and take several days out to celebrate your wedding.

On average, weddings abroad do tend to be cheaper overall.

How much does it really cost to get married overseas? 

According to data collected by money.co.uk, the average cost of a wedding abroad is £11,099, and the average cost of a wedding in the UK is £20,493, making a wedding abroad £9,394 cheaper!

Obviously wedding costs will differ depending on the country you choose to go to for your nuptials. Somewhere like Greece will be undeniably beautiful, but will set you back £22,821 on average, which is £2,328 more expensive than a wedding in the UK. Although weddings abroad tend to be cheaper, it’s worth noting this isn’t always the case, so if you’re on a budget, choose your location wisely!

If you’re looking for a warm, exotic location with beautiful beach backdrops and sea views, then locations such as Mexico or Saint Lucia are perfect, with average wedding costs of £7,028 and £5,664 respectively.

Additional/hidden costs to consider when choosing a wedding abroad 

When getting married abroad, you’ll need to factor in some additional costs to your budget, such as: 

• Travel Insurance

• Overseas wedding insurance

• Airport Parking

• Flights

• Transfers

• Hotel & Accommodation

• Food and Drinks throughout your stay

• Destination Photographer & expenses

• Potential travel fees for suppliers

• Exchange rates and added tax- dependent on destination

• Welcome and farewell meals

Destination wedding planner

Often, couples getting married abroad will hire the services of a wedding planner, due to the language barrier between them and foreign suppliers. As well as the language issue, wedding planners can help couples understand their overseas destination better and advise on area and local legalities. You can of course choose to take the wedding planning on yourself, but this will likely mean visiting your wedding destination of choice more often before the wedding to ensure the smooth running of proceedings.

The costs involved to fly out beforehand for wedding prep meetings can be anything from £500 to £5,000 depending on the destination and how many times you both visit.

For this reason it might be more cost effective to hire a wedding planner to undertake these tasks for you. This has many benefits, including not having to travel to the venue as often, and potentially gaining discounts from their network of local wedding contacts. Depending on whether you go for full wedding planning, on-the-day coordination or something in between, you’re looking at spending between a few hundred to £10,000+. 

How to save money on your destination wedding abroad:

• Destination

If you want to save money on your wedding, there are a few easy ways to cut the budget. Choose your wedding destination wisely; if you’re looking for somewhere warm and exotic for example, somewhere like Mexico will cost you £7,028 on average whereas popular warm European destinations such as France and Greece will cost £24,818 and £22,821 respectively; that’s more than three times as much!

• Guestlist

Be brutal with the guestlist - just because someone invited you to their wedding doesn’t mean they necessarily need to come to yours. Another easy way to whittle down the list is to not allow children or plus ones. If you’re having an abroad wedding, it’s more socially acceptable to invite less people and make it an intimate affair for your nearest and dearest.

According to our research, the average cost of catering a UK wedding for 80 people is £4,419, so if you were to stick to 50 guests you’d save £1,657! The same principle applies to weddings abroad. 

• Date flexibility

Being flexible with your dates will enable you to easily save money on your venue, suppliers and more. Consider choosing a weekday as these are often cheaper, and provided you’re happy with predicted weather conditions, choose to get married in low season in your overseas country of choice to save on flights, accommodation and more.

• Honeymoon

If you’re getting married somewhere beautiful and romantic abroad, logistically, it makes perfect sense to extend your stay and have your honeymoon there too. By doing this you will save money on flights, potentially get a better deal and let’s be honest most wedding destinations are the ideal location to relax, indulge and smooch up as newlyweds.