Getting Married in Croatia with experts in locations

GETTING MARRIED IN CROATIA – A BOOM FOR BUSINESS AND A BLISS FOR YOU

I grew up in the 80s with images of smiling young couples in their national dress, waiting to get married an-masse at the foot of a 76-meter high Great Waterfall in Plitvice Lakes National Park. Every year, the couples from all over the former Yugoslavia and around the world would gather in this UNESCO World Heritage site consisting of 16 lakes that merge into a series of cascades and waterfalls and drove to the waterfall in ornate, horse drawn coaches to be married under the cascading water. For me, it was quite wonderful to think that so many people would wish to place my country in their most precious memories. For them, it must have been a unique and unforgettable experience, getting married in Croatia.

Although this tradition ceased in 1990 (until then a total of 193 couples had their marital vows blessed by the park’s magnificent nature), it was reinstated again in 1999. Since then, there seems to be a small revolution in the world of weddings across Europe and further afield, as Croatia’s stature as the perfect wedding venue appears to grow year-on-year. One of the Croatia’s leading wedding planners reports to “have received 50% more requests compared to last year, which in itself saw a large rise on the previous year.”

In a nutshell, it is the abundance of gorgeous venues framed by beautiful nature and a strong likelihood of good weather, as well as the price compared to the cost in their home countries, that is attracting the world’s couples to hold their wedding ceremony in Croatia. Istria and Dalmatia, with Hvar in particular, are trending high as the couples’ choice but there are also destinations in inland Croatia that are proving attractive, especially those that can offer additional content such as an attached vineyard, horse riding, organised trips to the national parks etc.

Many wedding guests will stay in Croatia over a long weekend or even a week and it is a great to offer them activities such as gourmet or wine tour, or even a cycling tour and island hopping experience for those who are up for an adventure.

Choosing another country to host what is arguably one of the most important events in someone’s life can be daunting and some engage the help of a professional wedding planner to assist with tasks such as accommodation, transport and paperwork. However, many hotels are now gaining experience they need to guide you through the process and local registry officers are showing to be helpful and flexible when helping overseas couples organise their big day. There´s nothig as getting mrried in Croatia.

Here is the experience of Sarah from the UK, whose wedding took place in a magical Istrian hillside town of Motovun:

“My Fiancé and I decided to get married in Croatia when we visited a couple of years ago with my parents. We visited a lot of the beautiful little old towns and thought how wonderful and romantic it would be to marry in such a relaxed atmosphere, along with the weather! We ideally wanted to marry in Hum (the smallest town in the world) but wouldn’t be able to house all of our guests there so decided Motovun would suit us better as they have a few apartments and a lovely hotel. I made contact with the hotel last year after not really having a clue what we needed to do to be able to marry in Croatia. So, in October last year we visited the hotel and our contact there was extremely helpful and basically said anything is possible. She passed on some contacts for flowers, cake etc. and I made contact with these people, whom were also extremely helpful and the whole process seemed pretty easy.

We then kept in touch with the hotel over email. Our contact spoke to the local registrar to see if they were available on the date we wanted to get married, along with a translator and of course informed us of the necessary documents we needed. It all sounded rather confusing at first, but once we started the ball rolling, it fell in to place.”

Finally, according to the unofficial data, all the marriages that have taken place since 1999 under the magnificent Great Waterfall as their good-luck charm are still going strong. As they say, there must be something in the water. 🙂

You can see this web page of a photographer with images of Plitvice: http://enaphotoart.com/2015/mg-croatia-wedding-photography-lake-plitvice-croatia/

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Gorana Nad

Travel Writer at Croatia Travel Co.

Gorana Nađ was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1971. Studied journalism at the Zagreb University and lived in Croatia, UK and Australia. Currently discovering all she never knew about road cycling and still not bored. Not one little bit.