Tips for Planning An International Destination Wedding that Doesn’t Totally Break the Bank

A destination wedding is an adventurous and romantic way to celebrate your marital union, but even the most modest destination wedding is an expensive venture. 

By planning well, budgeting correctly, and making intelligent use of money transfer services, that dream wedding can become a reality for less. 

A destination wedding can easily cost upwards of $20,000 USD, so any method that can shave some costs off that price, without compromising on the quality of the wedding, should be celebrated.

Destination weddings are not a new idea, but they are an idea that is once again rising in popularity. With lots of moving parts and fairly high costs, making sure such a big event goes off without a hitch necessitates a lot of planning and budgeting. 

Before deciding if a destination wedding is truly right for you, you should understand all of the different costs involved and the amount of money that might get eaten by exchange rates as sending money from Canada to pay for various wedding services can get expensive. 

A destination wedding is never cheap, but depending on where you go and how you allocate your finances you can save money on some important aspects. 

For example, if you are planning a wedding in Mexico and you’ve budgeted CA$15,000 on all the wedding expenses you need abroad and sent money with Canadian Chase Bank to the vendors. It would cost around CA$1,100 in fees from the bank (and that’s one lump sum transfer). If you split it into ten CA$1,500 payments, that would be almost CA$1,600 just in fees!

Making use of international money transfer services can make the process of money transfers from Canada to the venue and associated wedding costs much cheaper, simpler, and a bit easier to understand. 

This article will cover what sorts of things might be expensive when planning a destination wedding, and go over the best ways to send money abroad to pay for everything you might want.

The biggest cost points of a destination wedding

This is by no means an exhaustive list, there are any number of things that could end up being expensive when sending money from Canada to pay for a destination wedding, but these are some of the most common big expenses that almost all destination weddings will need to answer:

• The venue: Wedding venues are expensive no matter where you are or where you go, it’s a fact of life. Thankfully with some clever timing of off-season location or even just luck with exchange rates, what was expensive can be easily budgeted for.
• Travel: Even if you are only going on a short flight, you’re looking at at least a few hundred dollars, per person, there and back. The more exotic or far-flung your location, the faster the travel expenses will add up. This is not even considering the cost of hiring cars or any other travel arrangements once you arrive wherever the wedding is due to be held.
• The accommodations: Depending on where you are having the wedding, accommodations might be surprisingly cheap, but they are such an important piece of the puzzle, for yourself and for your guests, that they need to be fairly high priority.
• Local vendors: This includes everything from catering to photographers to florists. Buying and hiring locally is almost certainly going to be cheaper for many things than if you were to bring things with you, but cheaper doesn’t mean free. All of the services that you will want to use on the big day are going to cost, and they need to be worked into the budget.
• Legal fees: Legal fees are an interesting wrinkle that can easily get forgotten, but can be oh-so devastating if they crop up and there isn’t a budget for them. These can include customs duties or even the cost of legal documentation. They will vary widely from place to place, but a little research should let you know everything necessary.
• Certifications: Distinct from legal fees, but only just, some countries require various specific certificates or medical tests to be undertaken before a marriage can be performed. Other countries require apostille certification of documents. Again, research is your friend here.
• Insurance: Things go wrong, this is just a fact of life. When they do, you’ll be happy you included an amount for insurance in the budget and if they don’t go wrong, you can’t price peace of mind.

You know what you need to set money aside for, but knowing is only half the battle. 

All of these services are going to cost substantial amounts, and those amounts are going to need to be paid ahead of time. That means money transfers from Canada are getting sent multiple times, and sending money from Canada is going to cause transfer fees.

While both banks and money transfer services will charge service fees or a markup percentage on the money transfers from Canada, or sometimes both, money transfer services like those compared on SendAbroad.com pride themselves on having lower transfer rates than major banks.

Banks typically charge somewhere between CA$30-50 in fees and a markup of 4-7%, while money transfer services compared on SendAbroad charge CA$0-20 in fees and a 0-4% markup. 

So it follows that using a money transfer service could save you a few thousand dollars, more even, depending on how much in total you would be spending.

What matters most when putting together the budget for your wedding?

This is a question that only you can answer, but at a snap, the first thing you should do is put together a full list of potential expenses and get a ballpark figure on paper. 

Looking at the average, a destination wedding can cost around $10,000 – $30,000 US, so having a budget that falls within or above that amount means you are probably in the right ballpark.

When you have your list of potential expenses put together, making sure to include things like the cost of making money transfers from Canada, then it’s time to prioritize those expenses. 

Some of your choices might blow out the budget for other things. Some of your choices of wedding service providers might not be okay with the fact that you live in Canada and need to send money to pay them.

A great note, actually, is to make sure that all of your wedding services understand that you will be sending money from Canada to pay for things, if they aren’t okay with that, it’s better to find out sooner rather than later. Some venues and services might even have specific preferences for how they receive your money transfers from Canada, which is good to know early on. 

Understanding currency exchange and making smart money transfers

As we mentioned earlier, making smart money transfers can potentially save you thousands, and understanding and making good use of currency exchange rates could also be of great value. 

Anytime you are looking to send money abroad, you need to keep your eye on the currency conversion rates and pick the right time. By choosing the right time to send money abroad you will be able to make money transfers from Canada that will end up saving you money. 

Here are three important tips for sending money from Canada:

• The timing of your money transfers from Canada can make all the difference, wait for a good exchange rate in your chosen destination and be patient until you get more value out of the transfer.
• Keeping a weather eye on the planned destination of your wedding can help you choose the right moment to send money abroad. Doing a little research into what sorts of events can move a currency will help here.
• Using a comparison service like SendAbroad to track the rates and other fees that different money transfer services offer is a smart move.

By having a little forethought and putting effort into planning out when and how you will be sending money from Canada you will find that your wedding budget will stretch just a little bit further.

How to choose the right money transfer service for your needs?

Now that you know that the most optimum way to pay for destination wedding services is via a money transfer service, how do you pick one? 

There are three main ways to send money abroad, as follows:

• Money transfer companies: Offering low fees and reasonable rates, these are a good choice for any medium-sized transfers you might want to make. Making use of a comparison site can help you navigate the variety of options you will have for this option.
• Currency brokers: Typically currency brokers are useful for larger payments, and could be useful for specifically the venue hire, but not much else. While brokers might not typically charge fees, they will have a higher markup percentage. If you do end up having a large number of big payments needed for your wedding, a broker is an excellent choice.
• Multi-currency accounts: This is an option that you want to consider for long-term ongoing expenses. From your account, you can convert CAD to whatever currency you need, then store it in a “wallet” as that currency until you need to use it. By using this wallet system you bypass many transfer fees and can make payments easily from this account in your chosen currency.

Once you know what sort of service you need, you need to pick specifically a provider of that service. This is where looking at reviews or using comparison services like SendAbroad are life savers. Being able to get the low-down on all the options laid out simply makes the process simple and easy.

To wrap things up

A destination wedding in an exotic international location is a dream come true for many brides, but it is an expensive proposition. Thankfully, by constructing a smart budget, planning things out well, and making use of money transfer services, you can save a significant amount of money and hassle, ensuring that the big day will go off without any issues.