Fiji for weddings, honeymoons and renewal of vows. : Travel Agents Ireland, ForeignAFares, The Travel Experts

THURSDAY 07 FEBRUARY, 2008 |

Fiji for weddings, honeymoons and renewal of vows.

An AAP report says that Australian couples by the hundreds are opting for offshore marriage ceremonies, often bringing a dozen or more relatives and other guests along with them, with Fiji leading the top destinations and rated among the world's top aspirational honeymoon destinations 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 $NZ20.78). Weddings must take place within 28 days.

Many other resorts in Fiji offer wedding/honeymoon packages.

Among them is the Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort on Vanua Levu, where two Fijian warriors carry the bride to a private beach where the bridegroom awaits, accompanied by the blowing of conch shells and the beating of lali drums.

Other wedding venues include the Outrigger on the Lagoon on the Coral Coast, with a hilltop chapel, its sister Castaway Island Resort about 30km offshore from Nadi, Sonaisali near Denarau; other nearby island resorts such as Mana, Matamatoa and Tokoriki, the Sheraton resorts at Denarau near Nadi, the Warwick Fiji on the Coral Coast of Viti Levu, the Tanoa International near Nadi airport and the Taveuni International Hotel on the northwestern garden island of Taveuni.

Package prices differ from resort to resort, ranging from $A895 ($NZ1033.60) to $A3290 ($NZ3799.51) per couple depending on what's included.

Among the various inclusions: leis of tropical flowers for bride and groom; a video and/or a photograph album; a souvenir such as a tanoa, a Fijian kava bowl; a champagne cruise, his-and-hers massages; a special candle-lit dinner for two; a meke (a Fijian song and dance night) and a lovo (a traditional Fijian meal cooked in an earth oven).

Many resorts also offer packages for the not-so-newlyweds who'd like to renew their vows; such as the service at the Shangri-La Fijian Resort which is conducted by a celebrant, with tropical flower leis and a Fijian gift pack, and priced from $A870 ($NZ1004.73).