Oxfordshire Limited Edition – July 2019

150 |OxfordshireLimitedEdition|June 2019

LisaBurton,thefounderofonlinedestinationweddingplanningplatformluvana.co.uk,

sharesheradviceforcoupleslookingtotietheknotoverseas

DESTINATION: I DO

L

isaBurtonisthefounderof

TheBridalConsultant,one

oftheUK’soriginaland

mostrespecteddestination

weddingplanners.

Followingan

unnecessarilystressfulexperiencewhile

planningherowndestinationweddingback

in 2003 ,Lisamadethedecisiontoclosethe

dooronacareerasanunderwriterworking

inthefinancesectorandembarkonanew

adventurethatwouldallowhertocombine

herloveoftravelwithamissiontochangethe

futureofdestinationweddings.

Over 15 years, 1 , 400 weddingsandan

annualturnoverinexcessof£ 1 mlater,

Lisa’sentrepreneurialspiritandunparalleled

knowledgeoftheEuropeandestination

weddingsmarketledtothelaunchofluvana.

co.ukinMay–anessentialonlineplanning

portalcreatedexclusivelyforcouplestyingthe

knotoverseas.

Developedinresponsetotheshiftinthe

waycouplesareplanningcelebrationsabroad,

andsettorevolutionisetheindustry,Luvana

isthefirstofitskindintheUKtoshowcase

suppliersabroadinadditiontothoseableto

operatewithinthekeyEuropeandestination

andbringstogetheracarefullycurated

directoryofmorethan 2 , 000 respected

brands,alongsideanarrayofpracticaltools

andusefulchecklists.

1 |Bewareofthebudget

Thisisthebigone!Therearemany

reasonswhycoupleschoosetogetmarried

abroad;thelocationisspecialtothem,great

weather,excuseforafamilyholiday,butone

ofthebigonesisbudget.

Generallyaweddingabroadisalot

morecosteffectivethanaweddingathome,

typicallybecausedestinationweddingsare

generallysmaller.

Bemindfulthoughthatnoteverycountry

willbeabudgetdestination;someofthe

moreexpensiveplacestoholiday,such

asFranceandItaly,areequallyexpensive

locationstogetmarriedin.

Tokeepwithinyourbudget,trytokeep

theguestnumbersassmallaspossibleand

golocalwhereveryoucanwithsuppliers.

Importsalwayscostmore,bethatimported

flowersorimporteddrinks.

2 |Gaugetheguestlist

Destinationweddingsareagreatway

tocutdownontheguestlist.Theaverage

acceptancerateislowerthanastayathome

wedding,sotypicallythepeoplewhoare

willingtotraveltoyourweddingwillbeyour

closestrelativesandfriends.

Aweddingabroadisabigcommitment,

besidethecostimplicationstheymaynotbe

abletogettimeoffwork.Ifthisisaconcern,

introducetheideacasuallytoyourdearest

familyandfriendstogaugetheirreaction

beforeyoucommittoaweddingabroad.

3 |Thetemperaturedictates

thetimings

Anotherbigmotivationformarrying

overseasisthegreatweather.Remember