A fresh twist on destination weddings

A fresh twist on destination weddings

The islands of Tahiti are renowned for being a decadent place for honeymooners and luxurious weddings, however a relatively new venture into the marketplace has seen personalised, non-packaged weddings start to become noticed.

Nelly Grange started her wedding business nearly two years ago after observing a gap in the market. While there’s no shortage of weddings in Tahiti within the various glorious hotels around and picturesque settings, Grange discovered no one was really doing personalised weddings.

“Up until last year the only option for couples to have a symbolic ceremony was to have one of the Tahitians do it, where it comes with dancers and musicians…and not everyone wants that.”

While some may love the big traditional weddings of Tahiti, Grange said some couples also wanted a more personalised, smaller, private wedding with just a celebrant.

“It was really frustrating [for them] because it doesn’t exist here.”

So after studying for seven months in the States to become a wedding celebrant, Grange launched her own business, where she writes ceremonies and officiates them herself.

Another perk of the offering is to have a wedding anywhere. While many weddings are conducted and celebrated within hotels or resorts around the islands, Grange said she can perform them anywhere as some resorts can “lack privacy”.

While each wedding is different, Grange is trying to put together basic packages for agents to suggest to customers. However, she prefers to work one on one with the clients to properly determine what they want, and make sure it’s delivered.

When asked if the business has helped the tourism industry at all, Grange said it’s still early days. “It’s still very, very niche,” she said, although she has had a fair few enquiries. The US market is unsurprisingly the biggest, however there have been quite a few Aussies looking into the offering.

And the future for these weddings? “It’s growing, because again, there was no one doing it.”

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