Wedding Cruises - Sea Escapes

A Wedding Cruise: The Ultimate Destination Wedding?

Do you dream of a destination wedding? Does the idea of a wedding on a beautiful white sand beach next to crystal clear turquoise waters make you starry-eyed? Can you imagine being married in one of Europe’s grand cathedrals? Or perhaps on the deck of ship with lush, tropical Tahitian mountains as your backdrop?

A wedding cruise could make any of these possible, and wedding cruises are surprisingly affordable. Whether your dream is a barefoot ceremony on the beach or a white glove affair in an opulent ship’s ballroom, we at Sea Escapes would love to help you plan your dream wedding cruise!

Wedding Cruise Options

Each cruise line has different services available for your wedding cruise, and often times services vary from ship to ship. This is one of the reasons you should work with us to help you pick the best cruise line and ship to fulfill your wedding cruise dreams. Here are some ideas to spark your imagination:

Embarkation day wedding: Some cruise lines offer a unique wedding cruise program where your wedding occurs on the ship the day of departure. The great thing about an embarkation day wedding is that you can invite both guests who will join you on the cruise and guests who will depart the ship after the ceremony and reception. This gives you great flexibility to have family and friends join you for the special event.

On-ship Facilities: For embarkation day weddings and for ceremonies anytime during your cruise, practically all ships provide a small chapel ideal for intimate weddings (some ship’s chapels are simply gorgeous!) For a different venue or for larger wedding parties, the cruise lines will usually work with you to utilize larger spaces, whether a ballroom, dining room, a lounge area, or even on an open deck with the sea or an island in the background.

Getting Married By The Captain: Yes, the captain of a ship can marry you, but do keep in mind that the role of a cruise ship’s captain is a busy and demanding one. While some ship captains might be available to perform you ceremony depending on their availability, it’s a “definite” that an officer of the ship will be able to perform your ceremony. You can, of course, bring your own officiant or arrange for another officiant in port.

Destination wedding: We and your selected cruise line can help you coordinate that dream of a barefoot wedding on the beach at practically any of your cruise’s stops. It’s a common request of cruise lines to have an officer of the ship perform a ceremony on a beach in the Caribbean, Hawaii, or the South Pacific.

Show wedding versus official wedding: We and most cruise lines can help coordinate all the official paperwork and marriage licenses. There is usually an additional charge for handling this paperwork, and you can always have your wedding cruise be an unofficial “show wedding” with the proper paperwork handled back home before or after the cruise.

Onboard wedding coordinator: Most cruise lines have a professional wedding and events coordinator onboard most of their ships to help make sure your dream wedding cruise happens perfectly. The coordinator will meet you on the day you arri

ve at the ship and manage everything from being in touch with each of your guests, to coordinating the venue, taking care of the cake and

champagne (and everything in between), and hosting you and your party during the reception and the rest of the cruise. We and most cruise lines also offer pre-cruise planning sessions to make sure they fully understand all your plans and desires.

Group bookings: If you would like to invite your wedding party to join you on your special wedding cruise, we can coordinate group cabin rates for your entire party, often making it the most affordable cruise your friends and family have ever taken!

Wedding Cruises Are Surprisingly Affordable!

Conventional “shoreside” weddings can be expensive. In Atlanta (where we’re from), it’s not unusual for a wedding to run above $50,000. But even if you splurge on a suite for the bride and groom, cover close family and friends cruise fares, and pay for the cruise line’s “all-inclusive” wedding packages (venue, officiant, photographer, cake, champagne, and more) and our planning and coordination services, you can have a dream wedding cruise experience for budgets under $20,000.

We At Sea Escapes Know Weddings!

Not only do we know cruises, we know weddings! We’ve planned and coordinated weddings, and we have sourced and coordinated services from DJs to photo booths. We are probably the ONLY cruise agent you’ll find with wedding planning and coordination experience. So from arranging your travel from home to ship, picking the perfect cruise, and coordinating the event itself, we are your wedding cruise experts!