FAR from becoming old hat, getting married on a beach is now more popular than ever. Operators have seen a marked increase in bookings for overseas weddings this year, with some reporting business up by as much as 40%.
Millennium fever is the most likely reason for such a dramatic rise in bookings as thousands of British couples are looking for a memorable spot in which to tie the knot in the year 2000.
Cosmos senior manager David Binns said:”Clearly many people delayed getting married in 1999 so they could marry in the first year of the new millennium.”
The vast majority of couples opting for overseas weddings are still going for a beach venue, either in the Indian Ocean or the Caribbean. Sri Lanka is the most popular destination, probably because it is the cheapest.
That said, operators are looking for ever-more-unusual options for overseas weddings as in many countries, unlike in the UK, couples are free to marry any time, any place, anywhere.
Their efforts have thrown up several new and interesting possibilities. For example, Kuoni is offering weddings at the foot of the Grand Canyon for the first time. For £1,549, couples are flown by private helicopter from a hotel in Las Vegas to the base of the Canyon where they say their vows at the edge of the Colorado River. Also new from Kuoni for next year are Cupid Night Flights, where couples are married while hovering in a helicopter over the strip in Las Vegas. It costs £429.
Product manager Jayne White said: “We think these weddings will appeal to our younger clientele – people who are adventurous and want something out of the ordinary.”
In Sri Lanka, Sunset Faraway Holidays has introduced jungle weddings with the option of elephant rides or a trip by bullock cart for the husband and wife. Prices start at £800 for the wedding package.
New ideas from Cosmos include exchanging vows in a Mayan ruin on the island of Cozumel off the coast of Mexico, marrying on board an Arabic sailing vessel in Kenya, a sunset wedding cruise around Oahu, Hawaii or marrying beneath one of the island’s waterfalls.
Closer to home, Cyprus is one of the most popular places for tying the knot and Cosmos has added the destination to its weddings programme for the first time for 2000.
Dozens of operators already organise weddings on the island, but Cyplon Holidays has gone one step further by arranging blessings at Aphrodite’s Rock near the resort of Paphos. Legend has it that if bride and groom swim round the rock together, their love will last forever.
There are several new locations for couples who desperately want a white wedding. Cosmos has introduced weddings in Lapland where, for £659, the bride and groom are whisked away by reindeer or husky-drawn sleigh to a log cabin for the ceremony and a romantic dinner.
Crystal Holidays organises ski weddings in Scandinavia and, more unusually, weddings in a chapel built of ice in Lapland. Couples can spend their wedding night in the bridal suite of the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, which is also made of ice. It costs £995 per person for the wedding package, which includes excursions by dog sleigh, snow-scooter photographs, champagne andflowers.
Operators say there is now a trend for couples to be joined by family and friends on their Big Day, regardless of how far they have to travel for the wedding. Somak said it already has six groups of 30 booked for next year, while Cosmos said its average wedding party consists of five people and Tradewinds’ couples typically take four people with them.
JMC senior product manager Andrew Bevan said it is not unusual for the bride and groom to be accompanied by as many as 20 people.
“We find that, on average, there are three people per booking, but it is not unknown for us to book quite large groups,” said Bevan.
As couples tend to splash out on their weddings, it goes without saying that these can be very lucrative bookings for agents, particularly if they can sell added extras such as a balloon trip (in Africa), an elephant ride (in Asia), or just cake and champagne.
Somak said clients most likely to push the boat out were those marrying for the first time. Product manager Shafique Cockar said:”Second-time-around couples usually like to keep things simple.”
kuoni’s weddingdestinations
1. Sri Lanka.
2. St. Lucia.
3. Barbados.
4. Mauritius.
5. Antigua.
6. Thailand.
7. Kenya.
8. Jamaica.
9. Seychelles.
10. Tobago.