A wedding abroad website that gets your guests there

A wedding abroad website answers what guests ask before they book: which airport, how far to the venue, which days to be there, where to stay and what paperwork they need. A Tying The Knot invitation puts it behind one link, with a travel planner showing the airports near your venue, the drive from each and a map. It suits guests flying in to an Irish venue too.

A wedding abroad is sometimes called a destination wedding. In Weddings Online's January 2024 survey of 1,023 couples, 4% chose one, and Portugal, Italy and Spain were the countries named as popular (checked 12 October 2026). We found no official count of Irish couples marrying abroad. Guests travel to Irish weddings as well, so this page covers both.

What do guests need to know before they book?

Before they commit to flights, guests want to know:

• where the venue is, and which airports are near it
• how long the drive from each airport takes
• which days to be there: arrival, the wedding and any weekend events
• where to stay, and whether rooms are held for your guests
• what the weather will be like and what to wear
• whether children are welcome, and who to ask if something goes wrong

The same questions come up whether the ceremony is civil, Catholic, another faith, humanist or celebrant-led, and whether it is a first marriage or a second. If you do not answer them early, guests will ask you one WhatsApp message at a time.

It can be a lot of people. IMAGE.ie (24 September 2026) described a Cork couple's wedding in the Algarve on 5 June 2026 with about 150 travelling guests and events across three days.

How does the Tying The Knot travel planner work?

Your invitation has a chapter for getting there. It shows the airports near your venue, the drive from each, and a map of the way in. In the examples a guest can also add their own home airport and open flight and hotel searches with the airports and suggested dates already filled in. They book with the airline or hotel. The planner does not show live fares and does not take bookings.

The drive times are worked out in advance along real driving routes. They are free-flow times, the journey on a clear road with no allowance for traffic, so they show the quickest case. Ask guests to allow extra, especially after a flight and a hire-car queue.

Here is what two of the examples show:

That is why the planner lists several airports instead of giving everyone one answer. A cousin from Boston and a cousin from Manchester may each be better off somewhere different. In the Killarney example, Shannon is the usual landing for guests from Boston and New York, and Dublin has the longest drive, so the example suggests the train instead.

The planner is built around airports and driving routes. Put ferries, trains and coaches in your schedule and FAQs, as the Lake Como example does with a ferry map of the lake. You can try both on the examples page.

How do you set out a multi-day schedule?

Guests who fly in want to know when to arrive and when they can leave. Give each day its own line, with a time and a place, and give times in local time.

The Lake Como example runs over a weekend: aperitivo on the terrace on Friday from 7pm, the wedding on Saturday with the ceremony at 4pm, and a boat to Bellagio and a long lunch on Sunday. Its reply asks which parts of the weekend the household can make, so the couple know who is at what.

The day's schedule, with times, is part of every Tying The Knot site. If you want another event on a page of its own, such as a welcome drinks evening or a day-after brunch, an extra event page is €120.

Where should guests stay?

The invitation site includes accommodation. Put in what guests would otherwise ask you:

• a few places to stay in different price bands, and how far each is from the venue
• a booking code, if you have a block of rooms. The Killarney example holds rooms at the reception hotel until 7 June 2027 and gives a code to quote when ringing the hotel
• what you are covering and what guests pay for themselves
• how people get home afterwards: the last coach or ferry

What money and paperwork should you cover?

For you

If you are marrying abroad. Some countries ask Irish citizens for a Certificate of Freedom to Marry. The Department of Foreign Affairs says to submit your application a minimum of four months before the date of your marriage. The fee is €60 per applicant plus €6 postage and handling, and applications made less than 28 days before the marriage carry a further €60 late fee. Witnessed declarations cannot be dated more than six months before the wedding. The Department also says a foreign marriage is recognised in Ireland only if it is entered on the civil register of the country where the ceremony took place and the legal formalities were followed (Department of Foreign Affairs, checked 12 October 2026). Ask the authorities where you are marrying what else they need.

If you are marrying in Ireland. The HSE says you must give your local civil registration service 3 months' notice. The notification fee is €200 and non-refundable, and the Marriage Registration Form is valid for 6 months from the date you intend to marry (HSE, checked 12 October 2026). Our guide to the paperwork for getting married in Ireland covers it in full.

For your guests

Entry rules depend on passport, destination and date, and they change, so do not restate them on your site. Link each guest to their own government's official travel advice, and put the date you last checked beside the link. As of 12 October 2026:

• The EU's Entry/Exit System has been fully operational across Schengen countries since 10 April 2026. ETIAS, the EU's travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors, was not yet operating, and the European Commission said in April 2026 that it was scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, with the exact date to be announced (European Commission; eu-LISA). If guests are travelling from outside the EU to a Schengen country, send them to the official EU travel pages.
• Ireland is not in the Schengen area, so the Entry/Exit System does not apply on arrival in Ireland. British nationals are not legally required to show a passport to enter Ireland, though airlines and ferry companies may ask for one (UK government travel advice). For other nationalities, the Irish Immigration Service publishes who needs a visa.
• The HSE says the European Health Insurance Card gives free or reduced cost healthcare when travelling in Europe (HSE). Ask Irish guests to check theirs, and their travel insurance, before they go.

Money. Say what currency you are using, whether cards are taken everywhere, and where cash is handy. The Lake Como example tells guests that Italy uses the euro, that cards are taken almost everywhere, and to carry a little cash for the ferries.

When should you send the save the date and the invitation?

Weddings Online says Irish couples usually send save the dates 9 to 12 months ahead and invitations 12 to 14 weeks before the wedding (Weddings Online, checked 12 October 2026). RTÉ Lifestyle's planner guidance, updated on 24 March 2026, says save the dates go out nine to twelve months in advance, particularly for destination weddings or peak-season dates, with formal invitations about three to four months before (RTÉ Lifestyle). IMAGE.ie's guide to the Algarve wedding advises at least nine to twelve months' notice, so guests can book direct flights from Dublin or Cork and rooms before peak-season prices (IMAGE.ie).

Have your travel details ready when the first message goes out. Send the link by WhatsApp, text or email, and give a phone number as another way to reply for anyone who would rather not use a link. A link has no stamp: since 3 February 2026 An Post charges €3.50 to Britain and the rest of Europe and €3.95 to the rest of the world (An Post).

What about guests flying in to an Irish venue?

A wedding abroad website is not only for couples who marry abroad. When a cousin flies in from Chicago to a country house in the west, the same questions come up.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) counted 19,898 marriages in Ireland in 2025. Of those, 2,056 (10.3%) were between couples who said they would live outside the Republic afterwards: 748 in England and Wales, 445 in Northern Ireland and 226 in the USA (CSO, Marriages 2025, checked 12 October 2026). These are not guest counts, but they show how many couples have family on both sides of the water.

Friday and Saturday together made up 61.8% of opposite-sex weddings in 2025 (CSO), so many guests will need leave from work as well as flights.

For an Irish venue the planner works the same way: the airports near it, the drive from each and a map of the way in. The Killarney example shows four airports, from about 25 minutes (Kerry) to about four hours (Dublin), and lets the guest choose.

How Tying The Knot handles this

The travel planner, the invitation site, the RSVP, your dashboard and the table plan are all part of one price: €750 including VAT, for a year online. Two add-ons suit a wedding abroad: an extra event page (€120) for a welcome evening or a day-after brunch, and a second language (€150) for your whole site.

The film that opens the invitation is silent and AI-assisted (how it is made). Try the planner on the examples page, read how it works, or get started.

Sources, checked 12 October 2026

• Weddings Online, longer engagements survey write-up (January 2024)
• IMAGE.ie, guide to planning a wedding in Portugal, published 24 September 2026
• Department of Foreign Affairs, marriage and civil partnership abroad
• HSE, getting married and giving notice
• European Commission, main differences between EES and ETIAS, 28 April 2026, and eu-LISA, ETIAS
• UK government, foreign travel advice for Ireland
• Irish Immigration Service, coming to visit Ireland
• HSE, European Health Insurance Card
• Weddings Online, sending save the dates and invites
• RTÉ Lifestyle, an Irish wedding planner's tips, updated 24 March 2026
• An Post, stamp price changes, press release of 12 January 2026
• Central Statistics Office, Marriages 2025