Has anybody got any tips/idea's or know anyone that has been married over there?!?!?
Thank you!! :-)

Im getting married in Rarotonga in October - i am using a wedding planner over there who has organised everything (photographer, flowers, marriage licence, cake, celebrant etc). I didnt want a sit down meal for the reception so the apartment we are staying at are organising caterers to do a BBQ reception in our apartment (we felt that everyone might be sick of eating out by then so wanted something more relaxed where we could mingle with guests) We are having approx 20 guests. If you are having guests give them plenty of notice (we sent invitations out 10 months before the date and all except two have been able to come). I also brought parasols for the guests so they dont have to get too hot while waiting around.
We are booking a fishing charter for the guys the day before the wedding for the "stag do" and the girls are thinking about either going on a horse treck or doing island dance lessons for fun. We are also inviting everyone the day after the wedding to join us for the island night. We found everything we need on the internet (trip advisor is pretty good).
Havnt had the wedding yet so hopefully it all goes well but so far its been pretty easy and relaxed (which is what we wanted)... Only thing i have to think about now is how to get my dress there without it getting sqaushed!
One thing i would have liked to do was go to Aitutaki two days after the wedding to get away for a few days without the guests but we had already booked our flights before i had thought of this. if your budget could accomodate this it would be a good idea - aparantly its beautiful over there.

Thanks so much for the info Claire!
Were also using a wedding planner as that would make things so much easier! :-)
Who are you using for a photographer?
What your doing for your reception sounds really nice (and esp relaxed too!!!) That's one of the main things that we have no idea what were going to do yet.
What day are you getting married? Were doing ours on a Friday (just to be different to a Saturday!)
There is heaps of info on the net which is fantastic.
I think that with wedding dresses etc you can hang them up the fron of the plane (someone was telling me) as they have a small area that you can do that?
Yeah we were thinking of going to Aitutaki for a couple of days (maybe the last two nights that we are in Rarotonga or something) just so we can have a "honeymoon" without having guests there etc. It looks like a really beautiful place and will prob never get another chance to go there again.
Were definatly getting parasols as well, are you having a sunset wedding or during the day?
It's good to talk to someone who is going to Rarotonga as well :-)
Cheers,
Lizzie

Hi Lizzie,
We are having our wedding on Thursday 22 October. We decided on Thursday so that we could all go to the island night on the Friday. I have heard that some people also use the island night as the reception.
Our photographer is organised through our wedding planner - I think his name is Hinoi.
Our wedding is at 3pm... Our wedding planner suggested this. We are also having a few drinks on the beach before the recetpion with the guests so hopefully it is timed right so we can all watch the sunset.
I think i will just carry my dress on as hand baggage and hopefully one of hte attendants will take it off my hands. I think alot of people go for a simple dress over there because of the heat but i decided i wanted to feel like a bride and went for the dress that i always really wanted - i just hope i dont get too hot!
When is your big day??

Claire

Hey :-)
Your wedding date sounds really nice.
Were thinking of having either April 8th 2011 or 17 June 2011 (haven't quite decided yet) but are thinking June so it's a bit cooler - i know it's ages away but can't wait!
Are you using Andrea from Wedding Bliss? - that's who were using and we have already had alot of contact and she is so helpful.
Ive heard that Hinoi is quite good but i haven't seen any of his work (not sure if he has a website with some on it or not)
Were thinking of using the Summer House at Tamarind House and that is right on the beach :-) we will prob have around 20 guests as well.
Im like you in the sense of wanting to feel like a bride and opting for the dress that ive always wanted :-) but your right ive seen lots of photo's of brides in simple dresses but either still look really nice tho.
I talked to Blair about going to Aitutaki and he's interested so hopefully we can spend a couple of days there before we fly home.
What flowers are you thinking of having? - i really like the pink orchards with a mix of greens and frangipani's :-) - i am thinking quite far ahead lol
Lizzie

We are using Andrea of Wedded Bliss as well - we have been in contact with her since August last year and she has been great.
We were looking into using Tamarind House for the reception - it looked pretty cool. We are staying at Apartments Kakera and they offered to bring caterers in and have the reception there so we decided to do that instead.
We started planning 14 months before the wedding - the time flys by and now we only have three months to go so its getting quite exciting.
The only thing is that Mum is feeling a bit left out of the planning but im sure once she is there she will get over it and have a great time.
Im planning on having Frangipanis and probably some of the big pink orchards. My sister is my bridesmaid and is wearing a yellow summery dress - Yellow sounds like a funny colour - i wanted blue but she went shopping and found a yellow one she liked - i think it will look quite good against the blue water.
Thanks for the website - i will have a look now.
Claire

Hi Lizzie
I am a travel agent and know of many couples that have been married in Raro.
What would you like to know and perhaps I can help you. I have documents and check lists that I can send to you. Definately go to Aitutaki for a couple of nights, it is absolutley stunning and well worth it
cheers Tracey

Hi guys, hope you don't mind me asking but just wondering if you are able to share your estimated budget for your weddings in raro, me and my partner are wanting to get married there one day as it would be an amazing experience for everyone and hopefully alot more relaxed, would be great to get an idea of costs and for how many people.....thanks

Hi Niki,

I think my budget might be quite high for over there - im not too sure. My original budget was $16,000 but it is definatley higher if I added it up. That includes everything including flights, dress, rings, wedding planner & photographer, reception for about 20 people, spending money, flights, accomodation and all the bits and peices etc. I know that our accomodation was quite expensive and you can do it cheaper. I figure that if we had the wedding in NZ and then paid for the honeymoon it would have come out at much more than this. I have heard of people getting married over there for around $6,000.00 but I am not sure how they managed this. Our guests are paying for their own flights and accomodation.

hey guys Raro is a simply magical place to be married, in april 2005 my wife and i got hitched there. 43 of our frends and faimily came, we used a wedding planner from the edgewater resort and she did everything for us, exept plan the reception which we had at the windjammer and kira and her partner were absolutly fantastic at sorting out egsactly what we wanted, we made the mistake of thinking it would be cheeper to buy the bubbles in nz and take them with us, unfortunatly unless you can spreed the bottles out between all your guests the shipping mad the bottles more expensive than if we had bought them in raro lol (we live and learn)
my mates and i went bowling(lawn) fishing and on the glass bottom boat for my stags do and the ladies had lunch and drinks and wemet up for an iland night later that day,
you probably realise but you beed to be in raro 4-5 days before they will issue a wedding licence,
the number one thing to remember is that everything runs on island time and dont expect anything to run to secudule, our celibrant was 30mins late, and the photogapher 45 mins late, not that it mattered.

any questions dont hesitate to ask :)