Getting Married on a Cruise Ship

It is a well known fact that most little girls start planning their wedding sometime around the age of ten. We romanticize the event and build up this huge extravaganza in our minds. From the tiniest details like wedding favors all the way up to the reception hall. There are dresses that cost anywhere from $99 to $10,000. There are cakes created by master bakers that cost hundreds (and even thousands) of dollars. There are dinners and drinks for hundreds of guests that cost more than the price of the couple’s first home. The fact of the matter is that we spend an inordinate amount of money on the events of one day which the bride and groom rarely have the time or energy to enjoy.

When my husband and I got together with an old college chum and his wife shortly after our own wedding, we came to the inevitable discussion of our respective weddings. They had a traditional affair with a conservative 150 guests that included a church ceremony, a rented reception hall, and a full dinner and bar. They had to take out a loan for $15,000 to cover their share of the affair. It is only fair to mention that this amount did not include the large sum they paid for their seven-day honeymoon in Hawaii, two days of which were spent sleeping off the exhaustion of organizing and racing through their wedding day. I felt so sorry for them when they told us that the thing they both remember most about their wedding day was that it was a blur.

By contrast, my husband and I spent $1,500 on our wedding event, had a coordinator handle the details, savored every moment of the day and remained well-rested to enjoy every moment of our honeymoon.

We were married aboard a cruise ship. It all started when we were both living in Oklahoma and planning our wedding. His family lived in Minnesota and mine lived in Maine. Add to that the fact that two active military members always on the go rarely have the opportunity to join a church. The logistics of planning a wedding in Oklahoma were killing us. After a particularly disturbing meeting with the Catholic Chaplain on base, we threw up our hands in frustration and decided to retire to the nearest Mexican restaurant for a margarita and some lunch. With the help of a little tequila, we began discussing our wish list for a wedding.

That is when my husband (then fiancÃ?©) said “wouldn’t it be great if we lived near the ocean and could just get a ship’s captain to marry us?”

I agreed and said “Yeah! Get married on the Love Boat!”

Then it hit us: get married on a cruise ship and have the wedding, reception and honeymoon all in the same place! After lunch, we stopped at the nearest travel agent’s office and picked up brochures on cruise lines to see if we could learn whether or not they did weddings during cruises. To our delight, we discovered that it is actually a common practice!

Believe it or not, you can have a “traditional” wedding aboard a cruise ship! Here is how it works:

Most cruise lines have specific wedding packages that you purchase in addition to the cost of your cruise. (If you’re getting married on board a ship, it only makes sense to take a cruise for your honeymoon!) These packages include everything from tuxedo rental for the gentlemen in your wedding party to the wedding photo album. Depending on how extravagant a wedding you want, your package will cost anywhere from one thousand to several thousand dollars.

Guests

Since the weddings are held while the ship is still in port, your wedding guests can board the boat and attend your ceremony and reception at absolutely no cost (provided they disembark prior to sailing).

Arrangements

Every cruise line has a staff dedicated solely to insuring that every wedding goes perfectly. When you order a wedding package, you’ll be contacted by phone, several weeks prior to your wedding, by your wedding coordinator. During this conversation, which lasts approximately thirty minutes, the coordinator will go over every detail of the event with you including your cruise and/or flight reservations, guests who will be cruising, guests who will not be cruising, tuxedo measurements, flower arrangements, vows, clothing, expedited boarding, special room arrangements, reception menus and beverages and photo packages. Nothing is left to chance and nothing is left for you and your fiancÃ?© to do but invite your guests and pack your bags.

Here is a taste of how our big event went:

We arrived at the port with our families, best man and maid of honor (who had all decided to cruise with us). We were greeted promptly by our wedding coordinator who ushered us to the front of the boarding line and escorted us onto the ship. The gentlemen picked up their tuxedos at the bursar’s desk and we were all shown to our rooms. She then told us when she would be back to get us for the wedding. There were cold bottles of champagne and glasses waiting in our rooms just in case we wanted to have a few pre-wedding toasts. We had approximately one hour to dress and prepare for the ceremony. The coordinator came back first for my fiancÃ?© and his best man (who dressed in the best man’s cabin). Then she came back for me, my parents and my maid of honor. She delivered my bridal bouquet and then escorted us to the deck where the wedding would be. The wedding hall was a lovely room decorated with large, beautiful flower arrangements and accommodated approximately fifty guests. (There are much larger rooms that can accommodate between one and two hundred.) We had a traditional wedding service, signed our marriage certificate and were then escorted to most beautiful places on board for our wedding photos while our guests were escorted to the very top deck of the ship where we had a cake and champagne reception in the observatory lounge. Once we finished our photos, we joined our guests for a lovely reception.

Our non-sailing guests had plenty of time to enjoy the reception with us before they were asked to depart the ship prior to sailing. Once we weighed anchor, we had the standard lifeboat drill. There’s nothing quite like attending a lifeboat drill in a wedding gown and carrying a glass of champagne! After the lifeboat drill, we were officially on our honeymoon. Few newlyweds have such smooth transitions from wedding to reception to honeymoon.

As for the honeymoon, it wasn’t as crowded as you may think it would be with two families escorting the newlyweds. We all had our own cabins and were free to enjoy the cruise as we liked. The great part was that we were all seated at the same table for the same dinner seating every evening so that no matter how many directions we all went in during the day, we were able to meet for a gourmet meal every evening and discuss the new and exciting excursions we took that day.

Our wedding, though amazingly inexpensive, is one that our families still talk about with a gleam in their eyes and excitement in their voices. It was a wonderful way to have our wedding cake and eat it too.