A Destination Wedding for Just the Two of You?

You picture getting married somewhere beautiful abroad — by the sea, on a beach, or in a place you chose because it feels completely yours. Just the two of you, with time to take in the day and focus on each other.

Then the doubts arrive. Is that strange? What about your parents and friends? Will they feel hurt if they are not there? Are you throwing away something that a wedding is supposed to have?

Those questions are anything but unusual. Over nearly two decades, YachtWedding organised destination weddings for Czech, Slovak and Polish couples, and weddings without invited guests were one of its most common and popular formats.

The important thing is to separate two ideas that are easy to mix together: wanting an intimate wedding for yourselves isn't the same as rejecting the people you love.

Is a wedding for two strange?

No. It is a completely legitimate way to get married.

If what you want is a romantic destination ceremony with time and space for each other, you don't have to abandon that simply because a wedding is often imagined with a large group of guests around you.

That doesn't mean everyone close to you will feel completely fine about it. Someone may genuinely feel disappointed that they will not be at the ceremony. That is human. But that doesn't mean you have rejected them, or that they matter less to you.

In YachtWedding's experience, families and friends often supported the couple's dream even when they were not travelling to the destination themselves. Closeness isn't measured in metres.

What about the people we love?

This is usually the most sensitive part of the decision. It's also why the choice doesn't have to be reduced to either “everyone comes” or “the family misses out”.

One approach YachtWedding couples often used was simple: the couple had their ceremony abroad, family and friends watched it by live video stream, and after the couple returned home everyone met for a relaxed post-elopement party to share the wedding photographs and video.

That later celebration didn't have to become a second big wedding. It could be much simpler and more relaxed, precisely because the couple had already had the wedding day they wanted.

Some couples chose two ceremonies as well. If you want one at home and another at the destination, it can often make sense to complete the legally valid marriage at home first and make the beach ceremony symbolic. That can simplify the destination part of the wedding, and you arrive at the resort already married. At some resorts, proof of a recent marriage may also make you eligible for honeymoon or newlywed benefits. The conditions vary, so check them before booking — but it can be a pleasant bonus.

And if there is one particular person you genuinely want beside you at the ceremony, take them with you. The point of a wedding for two isn't that “nobody else is allowed”. The point is that you don't have to invite people simply because you feel you are expected to.

What did the pandemic change?

The pandemic didn't invent small weddings. But in 2020 it made one thing very clear: a wedding doesn't have to follow one fixed format.

At various points during the pandemic, larger weddings at home were restricted by gathering and public health rules. At the same time, there were periods and destinations in which travel and a small ceremony could still be workable under the conditions then in force.

For some YachtWedding clients, a small wedding abroad therefore became one practical way to get married at all. Families often understood more easily why the couple had travelled on their own when the usual large wedding at home simply was not a realistic alternative at that moment.

The pandemic showed in practice that the ceremony, the physical presence of family and the shared celebration don't always have to be the same event.

What if you do want to take some people with you?

Then take them. There is no rule saying the only choices are a completely private wedding or a large destination wedding for dozens of guests.

Historically, YachtWedding couples often treated the people closest to them differently from the wider circle of family and friends. For example, a couple might rent a villa or a small block of holiday apartments in Croatia or Italy, stay together with their closest people and cover a night or two for them. Anyone who wanted a longer holiday could then arrange the extra nights themselves.

With wider family and friends, a looser model sometimes worked well: the couple simply told people where and when they were getting married and gave them the option to come if they wanted and were able to. Guests organised and paid for their own travel and accommodation. Guests often used the trip as a chance to spend a few days by the sea. Attending the ceremony didn't automatically mean the couple had to pay for flights, hotels or a large formal reception.

It is simply another way to leave the door open without turning your wedding into a group trip that you are responsible for organising for everyone.

Why nearby Mediterranean weddings often worked differently

In YachtWedding's historical experience with Central European clients, weddings in Croatia and Italy often had the largest guest groups. The reason was straightforward: for Czech, Slovak and Polish guests, a weekend trip by car was a very different commitment from making a long-haul trip to somewhere such as Mauritius.

That gave couples more room to design the format. They could have an intimate wedding with a few people closest to them and still let a wider circle join the ceremony. Or they could travel with a small group, stay together briefly and then let everyone continue their holiday in their own way.

This is not a current recommendation to choose one destination over another. It is a historical example of a broader point: a destination wedding can be arranged far more flexibly than the simple choice between “just us” and “everyone”.

“Just the two of you” does not mean literally alone

Once the question of guests is out of the way, another worry often appears: if your family and friends are not coming, will you be left to sort everything out yourselves?

No. In this article, a wedding for two means without invited wedding guests. It doesn't mean that only two people will be physically present.

Depending on the ceremony and destination, there may be an officiant, witnesses, photographer, videographer, interpreter or other people with a legal or professional role. Their presence doesn't turn them into wedding guests.

And in YachtWedding's historical operating model, there was always a coordinator with the couple. Other members of the local wedding team joined when the particular wedding required them.

A couple without invited guests, but with the professional and practical support needed around the ceremony, was YachtWedding's most common and popular historical model.

What if we do not know what we are supposed to do?

At a well-prepared destination wedding, you shouldn't spend the wedding day working out where to go, when to arrive or what happens next. Those things should already have been organised.

The YachtWedding coordinator guided the couple through the day, explained what was coming next and handled the practical details on site. If something needed explaining, if the couple needed to know where to go or if someone needed to keep the day on schedule, that was part of the coordinator's role.

Once everything is planned, the ideal feeling is wonderfully simple: your job is simply to turn up and enjoy the day.

Not because the details don't matter, but because the important details have already been dealt with. Your wedding day is the time to experience the wedding, not to run it.

What about language and getting ready?

A wedding for two doesn't mean you have to manage the preparation on your own either.

If you need language support or an interpreter for the ceremony, arrange it in advance according to the destination and type of ceremony. Hair, make-up and other preparation support can also be organised beforehand.

YachtWedding's experience was that the people around those preparations often helped make the atmosphere feel normal and relaxed. Someone chatted, someone laughed, someone wanted a bit of quiet. And while one partner was getting ready, the other might still be by the pool or on the beach for a little longer.

That easy rhythm was part of what some couples loved about getting married this way.

What can a wedding for two really give you?

Not necessarily a lower bill. Above all, it can give you more space for the two of you.

A wedding for two can be simple and inexpensive, but it can also be very luxurious. YachtWedding organised deliberately high-budget weddings for two as well. In those cases, the couple chose to put a substantial budget into the private experience they wanted for themselves rather than directing the same money mainly towards catering and entertainment for a larger group.

The important difference is where the budget goes.

With an intimate wedding, you can stay in holiday mode almost until the ceremony. A few hours beforehand you might still be by the sea; then you get ready, get married, have your photographs taken and go back to enjoying your time together.

That doesn't make a wedding with guests worse. A wedding with guests can be wonderful precisely because the people you want to share that moment with are there. A wedding for two simply protects a different kind of experience: privacy, romance and the chance to spend the day primarily with each other.

A wedding for two is not a rejection of the people you love

If a destination wedding for just the two of you is what you want, don't let go of that dream because you feel you have to prove your love for family and friends through their physical presence at the ceremony.

Talk to them. Include them in the ways that make sense for you. Take a few of your closest people if you truly want them there. Have a small post-elopement party when you come home. Livestream the ceremony for loved ones. Or keep the day entirely for yourselves.

A wedding for two isn't a rejection of the people you love. It's a wedding centred on the two of you.

We hope it is romantic, calm and exactly the kind of day you'll both look back on with happiness for years to come.