Fiji leads the race for
Offshore Weddings
Originally Published in The Age, Melbourne's leading
daily newspaper, February 3, 2008
Here comes the
bride - and she and her groom step aboard a plane for their
wedding in tropical Fiji.
Australian
couples by the hundreds are opting for offshore marriage
ceremonies nowadays, often bringing a dozen or more relatives
and other guests along with them.
Fiji was rated among the world's top aspirational honeymoon
destinations not long ago by the American magazine Modern
Bride.
The island
nation's largest holiday hotel complex, the Shangri-La Fijian
Resort on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu, hosted guests weddings
at an average of more than one a day in 2007 for a record total
of 389.
Nearly 60 per
cent of the couples were from Australia (the biggest supplier of
tourists to Fiji) with 18.5 per cent each from New Zealand and
Japan, plus 2.8 per cent from the United States.
And the numbers
show no signs of slowing - more than 150 bookings have been made
for 2008.
The Shangri-La is
one of several up-market resorts to offer weddings in its own
chapel, discreetly positioned in a glade of tall coconut palms
and other trees close by the beach, but some distance away from
the nearest guest rooms.
A civil celebrant
conducts proceedings in the decorated chapel, a Fijian village
choir sings during the service and three guitar-strumming Fijian
serenaders entertain at the reception later as the wedding cake
is cut on a deck overlooking the sea.
Alternatives are
a barefoot ceremony on a white sand beach overlooking the reef,
on a lawn by the rocky Reef Point or at the Takana Cabana, a
covered deck by a small beach, to which the bride can be
escorted to her waiting groom protected by Fijian warriors.
If it rains,
marriages can be conducted in a roomy roofed area beside the
resort's adults-only swimming pool.
To pre-arrange a
legal marriage ceremony in Fiji, couples must personally attend
a registry office in Nadi, Lautoka or the capital Suva on the
main island, Viti Levu, or at Savusavu on the northern island of
Vanua Levu, which are open Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 3pm or
5pm.
They must take
along passports and original birth certificates plus (if
applicable) papers for divorce or annulment, a death certificate
of a former spouse or a document of parental consent for those
under 21.
Roman Catholics
are required to produce a letter of freedom sent from two to
three months ahead to the priest in Fiji performing the
ceremony, plus certificates of baptism.
Appointments
usually take about 15 minutes and the application costs $F25
(about $A18). Weddings must take place within 28 days.
See the original article on
Fiji Weddings here.
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