Planning a wedding in Ireland from abroad?
In this day and age it’s not uncommon for couples to be planning their wedding in Ireland from abroad. Us Irish love to get married at home, at any cost it would seem. The economy and job opportunities have forced many people to leave. So I’m never surprised to get a call from a Mammy or a relative enquiring on behalf of a couple from abroad. It is often a couple of years in advance!
Planning a wedding in Ireland from abroad?
More and more enquiries at wedding fairs come from family and friends trying to cover some ground for their loved ones, while they try to choose services for their wedding from halfway across the world. There are advantages though..it’s not all doom and gloom. Organising from abroad can give couples the best excuse to delagate! And why not. There are some many little things that any good willing sister brother friend would be delighted to do to help you out. As in a crisis (although lets hope your wedding is not a crisis!) people like to feel helpful. Give them jobs to do for you!
The Big 5 for a wedding in Ireland
So how do you go about planning a wedding in Ireland from abroad? Well, the first step is getting the “Big 5” taken care of. Every couple needs to put these in place before they can take a breather and consider the details of the day itself. What a lot of couples do is get a family member to research these until they are whittled down to 3 or 4 options for each. The Venue, The Church, the Dress, the Photographer and the Honeymoon. Once these things are in place and booked, you can relax and get the ball rolling on the rest! Many of the big 5 are best organised by the couple as they have a pretty significant impact on the day itself. Other details can be dealt with in time bit by bit.
Connecting with my clients abroad
My Skype, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages are invaluable to me in helping me to keep connected with my clients abroad. These social media platforms are great for demonstrating to them that I’m active and being followed, and legit. It’s the main motivation in keeping my Twitter, Facebook & instagram busy and informative, giving my followers a little insight into my professional practice and my personality. I love nothing more than seeing a foreign bride of mine reacting to a post from a wedding at home on facebook or twitter…it gives them a little buzz about their own imminent wedding. It also helps to present ideas to the brides and grooms from abroad about how they would like their own wedding to be shot when it’s their turn.
Destination wedding in Ireland
The overseas bride can function fairly well due to the help of online services and I for one do not have to treat any couple differently during the planning process. Working as a Kerry wedding photographer the percentage of brides and grooms I see travelling for a destination wedding in Ireland is very high. Many couples from overseas have never even seen their venue and are reliant on us to help visualise their dream wedding. It cannot be easy for them. I have photographed weddings all over Ireland in Kerry, Cork, Mayo, Sligo, Kildare, Westmeath, Meath, Wicklow & Tipperary. We as wedding industry professionals are quite used to dealing with all sorts of different circumstances. So do not despair. Trust us, we’ll do a good job. Remember, we do it all the time! Please feel free to share using all social icons above, thanks.
