Hi,
I hope ANYONE, SOMEONE can help as I'm a complete novice to planning a wedding and I''m practically pulling my own hair out! Due to both my partner and I having large families and a wedding budget that doesn't match, we are moving more towards having a wedding in Europe.

As we are both Catholic we want a legally binding Catholic Church ceremony and we've been looking at either Italy or Greece. I have done various searches on the Internet and there are either two options, package deals or tailor made wedding options with planners who do NOT state prices as a guideline and companies offering services with no reviews as to how good they are.

I wanted the wedding to be a bit more personal and was hoping I could organise a bespoke wedding without taking out a loan to pay for it. Originally Santorini stood out to us due to the scenery and modern/traditional boutique hotels but I have since been informed that the Catholic Church will no longer accept weddings in the church for non-residents.

I then contacted a wedding planner in Italy who came back with quotes of 13,500EUR for their fees, paperwork, Catholic Church Ceremony, Reception Venue, food, photography and flowers and that's before accommodation, flights, wedding rings and outfits added to the bill! Am I being totally unrealistic in thinking I can get an exclusive wedding abroad at a fraction of the cost for a wedding in the UK?

I have one child and one on the way, combine that with renovating a house equals not much room left in the budget! Could anyone please give me any ideas to average costs and/or any reputable companies to use in either of those two countries please?

I was hoping for a decent, elegant church wedding ceremony, venue, accommodation and flights all in for about £8000k.

Many thanks,

Kerry