Wedding in Marrakech
Wedding in Marrakech: My experience, my advice
In this new year I have decided to bring you in time and hourly the answers you often landed too late, to organize the wedding of your dreams in Marrakech.
So first of all if you want to get married in Marrakech, because it's "cheap", pass your way, I won't give you any cheap plans, just reasonable advice to have a wedding like those presented on the blog and you have to admit it you need to have a minimum budget for that.
As a reminder and for the newcomers, I got married two years ago in Paris and one month later in Marrakech, the organization of the second one was at the origin of the creation of My cultural wedding chic. The organization of a wedding of a marriage at a distance is often synonymous with trouble, especially when the family on the spot (when you have it) does not share at all your aesthetic tastes and add to that the fact that the vast majority of Moroccan providers do not have websites worthy of the name...
Just because you get married in Morocco doesn't mean you have to imagine that your budget will be less.... Quite often the budget will be the same as a wedding you would have done in France except that you will add extra services, and without counting the return trip to Marrakech.
Just because you get married in Marrakech doesn't mean that you have to organize yourself less in advance than a wedding in France book all you can last carat 6 months before the day if you want to be sure you have a choice.
Moroccans generally give big budgets for their parties and the most beautiful places won't wait for you! Neither do the best providers!
- Getting married far away is not the best way to eliminate unwanted guests, especially if you offer the gîte and food throughout the stay.
These are the three main criteria I'll give you to start planning your wedding. For this first article I will tell you quickly the choices I made in relation to my constraints, so that you can evaluate your own needs according to your situation.
Situation: April 2010, my dear Moroccan, born in France, asks me to marry him. Even if for him marriage was something important, the preparations were the least of his worries... My in-laws living in France, had other worries in mind and were not worried about the etiquette. I was totally freestyle to prepare for our wedding.
The most important position for me was photography, memory, nostalgia that I was discovering photojournalistic reports, and I struggled to impose my idea of having a good photographer for both our dates and if possible the same one. This is where we started: The photo! We validated this point in July 2010,11 months before the day d!
Then and in view of the progress of Moroccan preparations, the little information available on the net, the involvement of families, and the tastes we did not share, we set out to find a wedding planner whose first task was to find us a place.
We wanted this one to be familiar with Moroccan traditions but be open to mix it all with a little more sobriety and modernity, which I have to admit brilliantly!
We met and engaged our wedding planner in Paris only a few weeks later that we went there for the spotting. Poiur us it was important to meet the main providers before making our choices the quality of their service but also the relational was also of major importance, for this move of a long weekend the only one that we did we had ample time to do what was planned thanks to the preparatory work of our Wedding planner. However, you can do everything remotely if the relational is not an essential element for you.
The following months, we let ourselves be driver: payments, questions... Our wedding planner took over.
We arrived a few days before the guests to settle the final details, but again it's not absolutely necessary) and then we let ourselves go.
The guests :
The guests were notified by email via a blog we had created in October to allow them to organize themselves as early as possible. Their response was expected by mid-February at the latest. Our guests were instructed to transfer their ticket reservations.
We had made the choice to find places of reception which had a strong capacity of beds. Indeed I forgot to tell you that we had made the choice to have two different places: one for traditional and simple henna and a second more modern, more "luxurious" without being bling bling.
They mostly book their plane ticket in January, 6 months before the day (fight against the false idea to book tickets at the last minute, the concept of low cost works only if you go to in advance). the delta between those who booked between October and January and those who booked last minute is: multiplied by 3.
Most arrived the day before and left the day after the wedding, which allowed us to have a great time with our families and closest friends, I advise anyone who can afford it.
I think I told you everything in the outline about the organization, for the advice of providers three other articles (at least will follow) in the next 3 weeks to allow you to not be taken aback.
To follow my path next week I will give you my addresses and tips to choose your photographer.