Weddings overseas

Friends of mine got married in Raro everything was organised through the Resort / Travel agent. They've 2 kids so it was a honeymoon as well that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

With reception / afterwards you could always have something at the Hotel / Resort restaurant and have people pay for their own meals etc.

I 100% recommend island weddings, they are sooooo EASY! You just need to buy a dress and turn up.

We got married in Fiji and wouldn't have had it any other way. We were in a similar boat to you because DH's family and friends had to travel from Scotland so we figured we would make it fairer so that everyone had to travel. It works well because only your nearest and dearest end up attending

We got married at the Edgewater Resort in Rarotonga. It was fabulous. The other resorts all do weddings as well. You can talk to House of Travel or go directly to the Edgewaters website, all the info is on there. They charge you a set amount (different level packages) which includes a wedding planner, ceremony, celebrant, basic flowers (bride and groom) and a few other things. We had a sit down bbq buffet dinner after the ceremony and they were very flexible with the options. We also added on extras. When you book a wedding package you are automatically upgraded to the nice rooms so you only have to pay for basic rooms :) When we went they had a get one room free deal so a few of our guests went halves on their rooms, was a great deal. We had so much fun with the 20 people we invited. Have a look on the weddings.co.nz site forum and search rarotonga weddings, there are lots in there and in the section about actual weddings a few of us had written about ours (mine will be something like 'kmms wedding'. And if you have any questions feel free to ask or PM me. It was the best decision for us and we had a wonderful time!

Yeah, you only have to be there for 3 days but you can pay about $50 for an exemption if you need to. I just went and had a look in the weddings website and oh, it brought back lots of memories! So cool and so exciting for you!
btw, my wedding thing is in the 'now that you are married' bit on about page 4. I don't think you can get into the photos anymore but can PM you the link if you want. Diya Welland was our photographer. And most of the restaurants on the island do weddings also but we went with the resort because then it was all in one place

hehe, I went through all the websites after I posted and got all nostalgic! I love weddings!!
I have no idea the actual cost as we just paid for things as we needed to. But we did decide to do it with only 3 months to plan (which meant lots of people couldn't come at such short notice ) It was probably about $10-12,000 all up - flights, accomm, honeymoon, dress, table settings, food, drinks, photographer, hair/makeup/nails/toes (for me and hair for bridesmaid & bestwoman and hair/makeup for the mothers), flowers - everything! And our invites cost $12 each, and we paid for the bridal parties clothes. So I think that was pretty cheap. You could definitely do it cheaper though. I personally think that if people are going to make the effort to fly and stay there then you should put on a reception for them, but thats just my opinion Then we had a party when we came home for all our friends and family who weren't at the wedding and that cost about $3500 (at a venue with finger foods and beer/wine). Was fun too!

Its cool because how often do you go on a proper holiday with close friends and family? We had a lot of fun. And people go off and do their own thing, hire scooters and explore the island. We'd all meet each night for cocktails and have dinner in restaurants around the island. the night before the wedding we all went to one place as like a rehearsal dinner, you just catch the bus back to the resort. It can be done a lot cheaper than what we did. we are def going back to renew our vows at our 10th anniversary, will prob take some friends and our kids. Oh and they use NZ dollar so there is no bother with exchange rates. We honeymooned on Aitutaki, we rented a self-catering cabin at a place called Ranginuis. It was basic and you took care of yourself but it was way cheaper than the resorts (unless you get a package deal, one of the resorts does deals with its Aitutaki resort so you get 7 nights on Raro and 3 on Aitutaki - perfect place to honeymoon!). I had a friend who owns an apartment in Fiji and they go there every year, she didnt really like Raro because it wasn't flash enough for her - she was used to serious resort holidays - but everyone else enjoyed it, nice and relaxed. All the best with your planning. And when you are on the plane make sure you tell them you are getting married (the dress bag is usually a good giveaway!) as then they will be super nice and might even upgrade you - plus they bring you lots of bubbles!! I look forward to hearing all your plans!
oh and i think there are often whales going past Raro in May