If you are planning on some friends and family joining you, their budgetary constraints need to be considered. If you marry at an exclusive private game lodge in the bush, then your guests have to stay there as well, which may be more than they wish to spend, whereas if you marry in the Winelands or on the Garden Route, your guests have a choice of accommodation nearby.

Wedding Ceremony
Your choice of venues expands exponentially if you are content to have the civil (legal) part of the ceremony at a Magistrate’s Court as the wedding ceremony is then not dependent on whether a local minister is willing and able to get to your ceremony. You go to the local Magistrate for a short ceremony before heading to your venue. You can then plan your own ceremony with friends and family. However many remote lodges have made arrangements for a local minister to come to the lodge so don’t feel that you have to go down this route.

Our more experienced hotels can arrange for either a religious or a non-religious ceremony at the lodge. In most cases, the ceremony will take place outside under a canopy. A small number of lodges have a designated chapel.

How much hassle?
Some people are concerned about the extra documentation required for an overseas wedding but in practise this is usually no more arduous to compiling that your passport documentation. You’ll need birth certificates and a signed declaration that you are both single and free to marry.  This can be notarised by a solicitor or a Justice of the Peace. If you are widowed or divorced, you’ll need to supply copies of the divorce papers or the death certificate of your spouse.

You also need to stay in the area for a little while after the wedding for your wedding certificate needs to be notarised at the nearest Department of Home Affairs, if you get married in South Africa. This is vital as it ensures that your marriage is recognised legally in your country of residence. We do this as part of the wedding costs.

Some Southern African countries do not allow overseas visitors to get legally married in their country so always check with a travel specialist before setting your heart on a specific venue. Botswana is a classic example.

For more information on possible venues, head to our Honeymoon and Wedding Pages.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 7:13 am and is filed under General / news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.