HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO GET MARRIED IN TAHITI WHEN YOU ELOPE?
When couples start researching online for a cost to get married in Tahiti, they’ll often find themselves downloading resort brochures and get a sticker shock. While resorts all inclusive wedding packages might look like the easy route, it is also the most expensive and the least personal wedding experience.
Photo Credit: AngelM
As a former resort’s general manager myself and coming from a hotel background, I totally get it. The amount of time it takes to arrange and coordinate wedding services for clients must be compensated. Sure the brides and grooms-to-be are clients at the resort and already paying for their stay but, arranging for every couple’s wedding details is very time-consuming. That is of course when there’s a dedicated staff for all things wedding.
How Do You Know How Good The Wedding Coordinator Is
And If The Resort Wedding Packages You’re Being Offered Are Worth The Cost?
Talking about a destination wedding or an elopement in Tahiti, it is essential that you get to work with a single person all throughout the planning process. You must also have that person by your side on the wedding day. If that is not going to be the case, re-think if that’s really what you want and what the outcome could be on your wedding day in Tahiti. Also make sure your designated resort wedding coordinator is not the only person to know the details of your wedding. If that person resigns from the job during the planning process (hotels have a great turnover rate), you’ll have to go over everything again with the replacement staff.
Planning A Tahiti Wedding That Perfectly Articulates Your Vison Involves Much, Much More
Some resorts will simply have the tour desk staff (that is, anyone on duty the day you send your inquiry) handle weddings. This means that they’ll deal with booking your wedding just the same as how they’d deal with booking a Jet-ski tour. Simply put, that is: your request comes in, they book their contracted vendor (aka you don’t have a say in who gets to work your wedding), you make your payment, get a voucher and bang, you’ve got a photographer for your wedding. Wait, isn’t this something you’d want to discuss further, so that your wedding photography matches your style, and you get the shots you really want? Bottom line is, they have no understanding of what it really takes to make a wedding day.
Why Are Resort Wedding Packages In Tahiti So Damn Expensive?
While a resort usually gets commissioned off a public rate when selling tours and activities (meaning, you should pay pretty much the same as if you’d be booking direct), wedding vendors such as hair stylists, make-up artists, florists etc. don’t typically work this way. So what a resort will likely do is to add a markup that can be as much as twice the initial price to all services. Put all these services together in an all inclusive wedding package so you don’t see a price per line item and this is how it gets so damn expensive.
The Cost To Get Married In Tahiti When You Elope Should Be Right
As an independent Wedding Planner based in Moorea, I work with the best wedding vendors in Tahiti and arrange/coordinate it all on your behalf. You’ll pay the vendors’ regular prices. Never more (actually it’s rather less as we team up on a number of events throughout the year so vendors will often throw in something extra for my couples), no commissions, no mark-ups, just the right price for amazing services.
Working Ethically And Helping The Wedding Vendors’ Community
To me it’s important (and ethical) to emphasize this aspect, as most so-called wedding planners in Tahiti will either cash a commission from what you’re paying for every.single.service. Or they’ll add a comfortable mark-up. Again, you’ll end up paying more. Seriously, there’s no reason why you should pay twice the cost to get married in Tahiti booking through a resort. Not to mention that services are not necessarily curated among the best local wedding professionals but are often just any random vendors who have agreed on paying a commission off their rates.
What Is The Right Cost Of A Wedding In Tahiti?
Most of my clients marry in Moorea so I’ll share with you the costs of the standard wedding services in Moorea :
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Cost of a Photographer in Moorea
Price ranges from Xpf 36,000 / Euros 302 for 1.5 hours to Xpf 250,000 / Euros 2,095 for 8 hours, depending on the style you like and approach you have with wedding photography. Options are available such as aerial photography with a drone, at extra charge.
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Cost of a Videographer in Moorea
Price starts at Xpf 45,000 / Euros 378 for 1.5 hours and gets to Xpf 200,000 / Euros 1,676 for 8 hours. Both land and aerial wedding videos are available in Moorea.
When that’s just the two of you eloping in Tahiti, and you don’t have the budget to include a video that covers the entire day, I found this app to be amazing : it only costs 199$!
We’ll often start in the early hours of the day with hair & make-up to catch the best lighting for photos at the ceremony, and you might want to enjoy a romantic dinner on the beach that night to celebrate, so that’s a long day ahead. My couples most often do 2 to 4 hours of video to cover the ceremony itself, and footage around the island post ceremony.
Get The Weddeo App!
So to complement your professional video, or in the case you cannot afford a professional video altogether, all you have to do is to download the app (link afore-mentioned), and take photos and record videos throughout your wedding day. Think of when the professional videographer you’ve hired will not be there, like when you’re waking up to that perfect view / sunrise from your bungalow, when you’re getting ready, hair & make-up prep’, when you’re on your way to the ceremony location, or back to your bungalow to celebrate with some bubbles, or when you’re out to that amazing romantic dinner experience on the beach.
All The Candid Moments Of Your Wedding Day In One Incredible Highlight Video!
Upload your clips to the app and the professional editors will create a unique, ready-to-share video for you. That’s a great way to break the news with the world while still on your honeymoon, since the turnaround time for your professional video will usually be of 4-6 weeks, and I know you’re eager to share something on social medias in the meantime!
** this app/service can be used anywhere in the world so you can even capture moments as you pack your suitcase and travel to your wedding locale. **
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Cost of a Hairstylist in Moorea
Price ranges from Xpf 12,000 / Euros 101 to Xpf 17,000 / Euros 143 depending on technical nature of the style, and time of appointment (we’ll often start early in the day in order to hold the ceremony in the most serene and intimate wedding environment, thus needing to start outside of regular hours).
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Cost of a Make-up artist in Moorea
Price is Xpf 15,000 / Euros 126 plus transportation to your location. She and the hair stylist will often travel together from Tahiti, thus saving on the travel expenses.
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Cost of Flowers in Moorea
Price ranges from Xpf 8,000 / Euros 67 to Xpf 19,000 / Euros 160 typically for a bouquet + a boutonnière (2 flower crowns or 2 flower leis if you’re into a more islander look would come at a lesser price) or a hair clip plus a bouquet and a lei, incl. delivery to your location. Cost mostly depends on whether you go with local flowers or imported ones like peonies, proteas or roses that are way more expensive!
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Cost of Transportation to ceremony location in Moorea
Usually just a taxi drive and/or boat transfer, price depends on where you stay and distance to the location. If you’ll be doing photos around the island after your ceremony, your photographer will drive you to those locations, and back to your resort at the end of the shooting. When opting for a private beach location for the ceremony, the access to that private islet beach will be bundled up together with the cost of the boat transfers. Cost starts at Xpf 25,000 / Euros 210 for a beach that will be your own (no onlookers, no other in-house hotel guests staring) up to Xpf 50,000 for a whole private islet where you can do photos both on the beach-side and on the reef-side. How cool is that?
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Cost of Ceremony decor in Moorea
If you’ll want a wedding arch or altar for your ceremony, price will range from Xpf 71,600 / Euros 600 for an arch/arbor made of driftwood and a floral arrangement, to up to Xpf 122,300 / Euros 1,025 for a round altar all-covered in greeneries and florals, or the most elaborated altar (4 poles) all draped in chiffon and decorated with multiple flower arrangements. Price will vary with the complexity of the design, the amount of flowers needed (which can get pretty damn expensive in Tahiti) and availability of the supplies in Tahiti.
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Cost of a Personal Ceremony of a Western-style in Moorea
My own ceremony packages can be found here, that is for writing and officiating a personalized and heartfelt ceremony in Moorea as well as arranging all of the above for you! By working with me, you’re guaranteed to pay the fair cost to get married in Tahiti, and I’ll make sure to work within your given budget for the day.
** last updated on November 21, 2020 **
Do You Want To Pay A Fair Cost To Get Married In Tahiti? Would You Like To Receive A Service Quote For Your Elopement In Tahiti? Contact Me Here!
