At first, it was thrilling. A wedding in France ? The perfect excuse to leave this glum, grey British weather for a weekend in the French countryside. But then more started rolling in.
One in Greece , two in Italy , and some as far-flung as Bali and Australia – all in the space of a couple of years. Suddenly, it felt, none of my friends wanted to get married in the place where they live (and when the alternative is a sun-soaked vineyard in Tuscany , who can blame them?). If you feel like you’ve had a barrage of destination wedding invites lately, don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Recent research from Condor Ferries found that as many as 25 per cent of British couples are now choosing to hold their weddings overseas, with the destination wedding industry expected to grow to nearly £63 billion by 2027. Yet, the influx of destination weddings might be starting to put a strain on the guests invited who are expected to shell out for accommodation, transport, and food and drink costs – not to mention any pre-wedding parties that may be held beforehand. It’s like all of my friends decided to get married at the same time, all in different parts of the world.
It felt as if they were conspiring against me. Well, my bank account at least The cost is something artist Dallas Athent had to consider when she was invited to two different weddings in two very different areas of Greece two weeks apart. “The question was, do I go to both and take two weeks off of work while also pay.