Travel: Float down the aisle on a cruise ship wedding

A wedding is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life, but organising it can be a nightmare, not to mention the expense of both the event itself and the honeymoon.

Combining a wedding and luxury honeymoon can often make sense, and it’s a lot more popular than you might think. Embarking a cruise ship as singles and disembarking as a couple is romantic, fun and stress-free as the cruise line will organise everything for you.

It’s certainly catching on. Cruise specialist Iglu Cruise is seeing an increase in the number of people opting to get married at sea and currently book around 100 a year. As well as those looking for a relaxing event there are couples getting married for a second time who don’t want another big wedding. Then there are those who had to postpone their nuptials due to Covid and find this a simple way forward.

The firm’s chief commercial office Dave Hughes says: “Although there are some formalities to deal with, the cruise lines make this very straightforward – and an unforgettable event onboard, with many little touches that really make the difference.”

Cruise lines arrange thousands of weddings a year and have teams of experienced people both on shore and on board to make sure everything goes as planned. All you have to do is book the cruise and the wedding, choose any additional services you want from their special brochure, then sit back, relax and let the experts work their magic.

What can you expect?

Basic wedding packages typically cover the ceremony, bouquet for the bride and buttonhole for the groom, a cake, some bubbly and live or recorded music. Additional items may vary, depending upon the cruise line. For example NCL’s package, costing around £2,500 plus licence fee, also includes a champagne toast, bistro dinner for two, bubbly and canapes in your cabin and an hour’s photography.

Brides on Cunard ships, whose prices start at £3,750, will be escorted with their bouquet from their cabin to the wedding venue by a traditional scarlet-dressed bellboy and perhaps enjoy their first dance together at the elegant afternoon tea in the Queens Room. P&O Cruises’ wedding deals are from £3,400 and include bridal hair and make-up, a pressing service for bride’s and groom’s wedding attire and dinner for two at a speciality restaurant.

After the wedding, couples with a number of guests on board can hire a special room for a reception or dinner, or perhaps the ship’s nightclub. For those travelling without relatives, two of the ship’s senior officers will be pleased to act as witnesses.

How it works

The key to it all is where the ship is registered, perhaps Malta or Bermuda. If that country licences weddings on board ships then you are half-way there. Similarly, if that country recognises same-sex weddings then so will the ship. The other element is whether or not the cruise line offers the service.

Take care, many of them offer wedding-style symbolic ceremonies but not officially recognised weddings as this requires additional administrative work by the cruise line.

However, if all the documentation and legals are in order then the wedding will be conducted by the ship’s Master or other senior officer on a sea day when the ship is in international waters. The wedding officially takes place in the country where the ship is registered. You will receive a celebratory wedding certificate on the day and the ship will arrange for the official one to be sent from the country of registration. You do not need to register the wedding in the UK.

© Shutterstock / Nancy Pauwels

Decisions, decisions

You have a choice between indoor and outdoor locations on board the ship, although the latter may not be so private and the weather can be a consideration. It can get a bit breezy at sea but if you don’t mind that and perhaps a few casual onlookers it can be fun and definitely unique.

As weddings take when the ship is in international waters, cruises with more sea days are popular. A Pacific cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii provides a great choice and nearer to home the iconic transatlantic crossing between Southampton and New York on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 is a favourite.

You can sail both ways or sail one way and fly the other. If you are planning some retail therapy in New York then fly out and sail back as, unlike the airline, Cunard won’t care how much luggage you have. In fact some guests buy an extra suitcase in New York and fill it with the things they want to bring home.

So, if you’re looking for a unique, romantic, memorable and stress-free wedding, getting married on a cruise may well be just the thing.

P.S. Cruise lines offering legally-recognised weddings at sea are Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Cunard, P&O Cruises’ Azura, Ventura, Aurora and Arcadia and NCL’s Getaway, Escape, Breakaway and Epic.

For more information, contact your local cruise or travel agent, or go directly to the cruise lines.