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TRAVELLER
“Imagine you are
on honeymoon
here and pick the
fruit of fertility”
cost in Britain now tops £18,000 (€21,800), not
including honeymoon at an additional £3,800
(€4,600). German, Spanish and French couples can
find themselves with whopping bills too, estimated at
€28,000, €14,000 and €12,000 respectively.
Compared to this, getting married abroad – a
“destination wedding” – tends to be much cheaper.
It’s also a trend that’s on the rise, accounting for 18%
of all weddings of UK couples. As well as being cost
effective, these far-flung nuptials give couples and
their families a built-in holiday, and lend a relaxed
glow to wedding photos too.
With a predicted bumper crop of proposals this
month – Valentine’s Day and leap-year proposals by
women on 29 February are set to give numbers a boost
– thousands will be looking for the perfect spot to wed.
Over the past three years, the number of foreign
weddings on Cyprus have almost doubled, rising
by a thousand a year. Local municipality figures at
the end of last year show that, of the 7,500 “foreign”
weddings on the Mediterranean island, 4,500 of them
were couples from the UK and Ireland, with average
wedding parties of between 40 and 120 guests.
“A crucial point is that getting married in Cyprus
can be much cheaper than holding the ceremony
at home,” says Orestis Rossides, director of Cyprus
Tourism in London, who is more realist than romantic.
Rossides is still in the process of working on figures
for this year, but on a conservative estimate, he
believes the cost of tying the knot in Cyprus is £5,000
to £10,000 cheaper than in the UK, depending, of
course, on the size of the wedding. These figures take
into account that many couples also buy airplane
tickets for close family and guests.
“But we cannot put it all down to money,” says
Rossides. “Don’t forget that Cyprus’s appeal as a
wedding destination lies in our beautiful climate, with
almost year-round sunshine.” The numbers speak for
themselves: in almost every case recorded by Cyprus
TOP PLACES TO
TIE THE KNOT
Looking for an ideal wedding
location? From the quirky to
the luxurious, here are some
of the top options...
KASBAH BAB OURIKA
MARRAKECH
Retreat to Morocco’s
heartland by taking over the ancestral
stronghold of Kasbah Bab Ourika,
perched high in the Atlas mountains.
kasbahbabourika.com
TAPUZ
TEL AVIV
Just 20minutes north of Tel
Aviv city centre in Rishpon, this venue – the
name of whichmeans orange garden – is a
lush hideaway, lit with tiny lights for elegant
evening weddings.
mitchatnim.co.il
Clockwise from
above,
most of the
hotels along
Cyprus’s coast, like
Akamas Health
Farm& Spa (
hotels.
easyjet.com
) will
take care of every
aspect of your
wedding for you; the
Saracen Rock, on
Aprodite’s beach,
makes a striking
wedding-photo
backdrop;
pomegranates, the
so-called fruit of
fertility, grow on
the island
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