We have a guest blog today from the lovely Phil who wrote us a blog last year on Proposal Rings. He’s back to give you his Groom’s perspective on wedding planning, including getting married abroad, stag do planning and Coronavirus. Enjoy!
It’s been a year since my first (ever) blog on Proposal Rings. Facebook reminded me a few days ago and I thought it would be a good time for an update! Since getting engaged, we’ve been to Cyprus to scout out a wedding venue, to the local bars to plan a stag do, and closely following how recent events could impact our wedding.
Feature photo by Pudding and Plum Photography
Getting Married Abroad- Scouting out the venue
After a couple of months of shopping around, attending wedding fares, internet research and panicking about costs, we settled on getting married abroad in Cyprus. We’re going through a popular Yacht Wedding provider, who offered a great package at reasonable cost. I’ve always fancied getting married abroad and it sounded ideal. There’s a much better chance of sunshine than a wedding in Blighty!
I’m always one that likes planning ahead so we decided to visit Cyprus to suss out the lay of the land before the wedding. We loved the place! The wedding provider took us to the wedding venue that Kirsty had set her heart on after looking on the internet and it blew her away. We also went on a tour of the yacht where the wedding reception will be held. The trip gave us an opportunity to see the area and the hotels, not just for ourselves but for the wedding guests. I’d certainly recommend checking out the location if you’re getting married abroad. It’s a great excuse for a holiday, if nothing else!
The wedding package we’ve booked means that a lot of the arrangements are done for us. I’m not one to shirk my responsibilities but Kirsty is disabled and it takes a lot of pressure off her. We do know a great wedding planner though, that black & white cat weddings, who’s always happy to give us a hand. The finer details are still up for us to choose, although I’m sure Kirsty (and the guests) wouldn’t be too impressed if I got my way and had Simple Minds hits playing all night!
Planning the all important stag do...
With wedding invitations issued and the wedding website created, the next thing to sort is the stag do! I wanted to get a date in the diaries well ahead of time, although the wedding isn’t until Autumn. This is just as well, as one of the weekends I had in mind has a concert by some modern pop star I’d never heard of playing at the local arena and the hotel prices were through the roof.
I’m always up for a good night out, these days more as a couple or in small groups than a big group of lads. I wanted to keep it simple, having been to many stag dos over the years. Many a time we’ve been turned away from bars for being in a big single sex group and had to split up just to get in (not easy to do once a bouncer’s clocked you). I decided to keep it local as the city we live in is lively and we know it well. A reconnaissance mission with the best man is planned in the next few months to confirm the best places to go. Hang on a minute though, didn’t we do that last time we were out as well just before Christmas?
Getting married abroad and coronavirus
Amongst all this excitement though, is the big thing on everyone’s minds, Coronavirus or COVID 19. At the start, like many people, I knew it was out there but seemed millions of miles away. It felt like one of those things that wouldn’t affect me. As time went on, it was obvious that it was getting more and more widespread. When flights and events started to get cancelled, I started to realise this could have an affect on us getting married abroad. Even my beloved Simple Minds have cancelled several European concerts this week!
Kirsty and I are doing what we can to mitigate any risk. There is still hope that it might all blow over by our wedding in October, but it really makes you stop and think. Our wedding supplier has been very reassuring that they’ll postpone the date free of charge as a result of any government-imposed travel ban or quarantine. This helps put our minds at ease to some extent.
At the time of writing, several European countries including Cyprus are now on lock-down. The world is certainly in uncharted waters. Whether getting married abroad or in the UK, I feel for those couples whose wedding day has been moved or cancelled, not forgetting those directly impacted by this virus.
To be continued…
Big thanks to our awesome photographers: Pudding and Plum Photography, Nathan Walker Photography, Katherine And Her Camera and Vicki Clayson Photography.
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