Pretending to be an adult...like

There was a discussion previously about the cost of weddings. And people mentioned the cost of overseas weddings.

I went out and got married earlier this month. We chose to get married in Lombok, Indonesia. Why? My wife is from far east Russia and I am from Perth. Lombok is +/- half way between the two. With lovely beaches (nicer than Bali), easy access (flights) from both locations and friendly visa arrangements for most nationalities.

We ended up with 26 guests, plus a dozen or so children. Most people chose to take a holiday and spend about a week or so in bali/lombok.

So how much did it cost (all AUD$)
Ceremony (including celebrant, cake, photos, hair, makeup, flowers etc) $3,000
Wedding dress $2500
Food/Alcohol for 28 - $4,750
Room (3nights) $3,000
Honeymoon 3nights $3,000
Airfares and 10nights vacation (3ppl) $8,000

Total - $24,250

This is the first time I have felt the negative impact of the low AUD. Everything was quoted in USD. So I thought I was doing well with my $20k figure.

The meal cost was very high - for two reasons. One was my choice of wines and champagne (moet chandon), and the second was that we had a 'cocktail hour' after the ceremony and 'on-tap' cocktails all night.
The on tap cocktails were a bit of a waste, as most people stuck with wine and champagne. It was really only the last hour or so that some people had a cocktail. We could have done without it.

We did a bit of a count (just for fun) and discovered we had 8 different nationalities at the wedding, covering 14languages. Not bad for 28people (interestingly of the 11 Australians they brought with them only 3 languages).

For other guests the cost was an airfare (+/-$1,000), Accomodation $200/night, and usual meal/travel costs. My parents spent $2200 + airfares for 10nights. Others stayed for only a few nights, though it wouldn't have been much cheaper as the major cost was airfares.

If you take out the holiday expenses it was probably about a $10,000 wedding - which isn't too bad really, and for what we go you couldn't come close to matching it back in Australia.

Blacky

 

Congratulations on your new status!

 

Congratulations! And what a lovely place to get married. I bet everyone enjoyed the excuse to live it up (cheaply) in such a great location.

 

Congratulations!!

 

Congratulations.

Unfortunately this means we can no longer be doppelgangers :/

 

Congrats Blacky.

Sounds like you had a great time.

We done something similar - went overseas and 30 people joined us. It was a week long party/holiday.

Cheers

Jamie

 

For the stress and expense of a wedding, it should be a week long affair. Sounds lovely, congrats!

 

Sounds like a good number of people.
Congratulations!

 

Cheers

It was a really good number. We wanted to keep it small and only had 38 people on the invite list.

 

So the ceremony itself was on the beach. The evening entertainment is at a Villa which is part of the hotel we stayed at. But it costs USD$650/night (about AUD$1,000). You have to have at least 1night in the villa.
However being the "non-tight-arse-prone-to-splashing-big-on-fancy-crap", kind of guy that I am I decided that we didn't want to move into the villa on the day of the wedding nor out on the day after. So instead we moved the day before the wedding, and out a day after - so 3 nights costing AUD$3,000. The villa was massive so we moved my parents in there as well so they got the benefit of the full luxury villa and saved by not having to pay for their own room.

The honeymoon I had to look again. The cost was only $1,000 not $3,000. Typo above.

We travelled for 14nights (3 of which were the honeymoon and 1 was the night of the wedding).
The $8,000 covers all costs outside of the wedding/honeymoon. So that is accommodation for 8nights (doesn't include the the $3k room cost or honeymoon), meals, flights, spending money etc etc etc.
Noting that for 1 week we booked a separate villa for my family (parents, sister and our 2 kids) to stay in which we paid for (we are kind) and it was kind of payment for babysitting our 2.

Don't want to be too sappy but Ive attached some photos. I know how women love a good wedding pic.

Blacky

 

Geez @Jess Peletier they've only just got hitched and you're talking them into an affair already.

 

Funny you say that, I've heard of a few marriages hitting the rocks after a trip to SE Asia

 

very nice. My friend is a marriage celebrant in Bali but has done a few in Lombok. Had to check your photos. Not her though.
I think it's a great idea. Something unique and a whole lot cheaper. Congratulations.

 

Very nice.
Pretty intimate. Start getting into the 100's and you can't really say a proper hello to everyone.

 

Im not sure I even know 100ppl. But I guess thats the point isnt. My sister had a massive wedding (maybe 140ppl). There were people there that neither my sister nor my brother-in-law new (parents friends/family).
No thanks.
My Aunty tried to get herself invited. I duly declined he offer of attendance.

Blacky

 

Sounds awful, hehe.
I don't get inviting people just for the sake of it.