A Planners Guide to Destination Weddings in Ibiza
What To Expect For Your Destination Wedding In Ibiza
For an insider’s perspective on the ins and outs of planning a wedding in Ibiza, we sat down and chatted with destination expert Ruth Alexander about tying the knot in the Balearic islands. After a trip to Ibiza in 2011, the UK-based planner expanded her business overseas, where she offers start-to-finish planning and design services that draw inspiration from both the tradition of British ceremonies and the laid-back glamour of the Mediterranean. Keep reading for her tried and true knowledge on the island’s best venues, photo locations, and more!
THE BEST KEPT SECRETS OF IBIZA VENUE SEARCHING
As a wedding planner this is often our most favourite part of the journey with our clients, once that venue has been found it can be the most incredible moment for the couple to experience. Picking a venue can be a really easy process for some but can often be longer for others, mainly due to there being too many beautiful venues across Ibiza to choose from.
The venue brief is the most important, once that is secured, we then link venues to the client’s vision and brief and ensure we match their main objectives and wish lists.
The weddings we create are so varied, with many clients having different venues across the wedding weekend, or just the one location that holds the full celebrations, which would generally be a private villa or clients would exclusively hire a boutique hotel.
If clients have a sea view dream as well as a rustic countryside one we ensure we have one of the wedding celebrations by the sea such as beach lunch or sunset cocktails and then the wedding can be in one of our amazing hillside villas overlooking the beauty of Ibiza’s countryside so all dreams of both the bride and groom are met.
WEDDING VENUE QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ASKING
When booking a private villa or boutique hotel you need to always ask what the minimum nightly stay is?
A lot of our clients see the villa as the wedding venue only rather than their main accommodation too, so they would only want a minimum of 3 to 4 nights and then extend their wedding holiday to one of the many boutique hotels or go to another private villa maybe in a different part of the Island. Often in Ibiza some of our wedding villas will only rent for 7 nights so client’s budgets from the start need to be managed to reach their expectations.
When can the party continue after midnight in a private villa or boutique hotel?
This is the most asked question as the dancing after dinner is super important to our clients. Ibiza’s laws suggest midnight is the expected cut off for music outside, however we can party inside venues if they have designated nightclubs and the level of music is well managed by my team. Some clients prefer to finish at midnight so they can have a full day of celebrations the following day with their guests and we ensure we begin the wedding day celebration slightly earlier so they don’t lose their time on the dancefloor.
Does the chosen venue allow the clients to have a celebration the following day such as a pool party or lunch?
Most of our clients end the wedding weekend with something special the day after the wedding day, and often they would like this to be held at their wedding venue. A lot of the venues will negotiate this into the final contract, however some venues may charge an additional event fee to have the second event at the venue, so it’s always sensible to be one step ahead before you lock in the venue contract.
THE BEST PHOTO LOCATIONS AROUND IBIZA
The most popular backdrop for our wedding clients when finding the perfect photo location is Es Vedra, obviously the beauty and magical presence of this iconic rock is ideal for any perfect wedding photograph or to be featured in the couples wedding weekend albums. We are lucky to have access to the most beautiful wedding venues that Es Vedra overlooks, and this creates that WOW factor for any couple.
Ibiza offers so much beauty everywhere on the Island, ranging from the cobbled streets in Dalt Vila right across to the heart of northern Ibiza where the countryside is spectacular. Many clients like to hike to the Atlantis with their bridal party as one of their excursion days which again is a truly magical place.
Ceremony Tips:
Civil or Symbolic?
In Ibiza couples either have a catholic ceremony which is in one of the local churches across the Island, all of them are rich in history and beauty, our most favourite being San Miguel church in the north of the Island. Or they simply have a blessing which can be very beautiful and designed by the couple with their chosen celebrant.
You can only have a legal church wedding if you are Catholic or Spanish so often the preference for the majority is to have the legal ceremony in their hometown before their Ibiza wedding and have a blessing in their chosen venue here in Ibiza.
The celebrants we work with, both male and female all have amazing qualities they bring to their ceremony focusing on the spirituality of the Island which is woven through their blessing.
The blessing for the bride and groom here in Ibiza is thought of as their “legal” ceremony and often guests won’t know that it isn’t legally binding as their vows are said and rings are exchanged.
NAVIGATING AROUND IBIZA TIPS
Ibiza as an Island is very easy to navigate and hiring a car to beach hop or visit the beautiful villages and larger towns across the Island is a must; you will not be disappointed!
For our weddings, we always provide transport for guests especially if the wedding villas are tucked away in a very tranquil place where signal and taxis are limited. We would provide coaches or smaller minibuses to transport guests safely home to their accommodation from the venue.
When we take our couples on their location visits to view their potential wedding venues, one of the main objectives is to show our clients the beauty of Ibiza so we will take our clients to the beauty spots as well as venues themselves so they can form an overall view of Ibiza as a destination, we always finish with a cocktail overlooking the sea somewhere special.
THE HIGHLIGHTS OF EVERY SEASON WHEN PLANNING YOUR IBIZA WEDDING
The season in Ibiza I have found over the years is getting longer and longer so we start our wedding season in April and end it in October which syncs with most of our wedding locations across the Island.
The most popular months are May, June and September as generally the temperature is more bearable for brides and usually sunny and dry although we do get rain in May and September, so we have to manage this with weather contingencies, often just a passing shower.
July and August in Ibiza are often the busiest months for holiday makers and high season, so costs of venues are higher at this time and temperatures are also very high too.
My favourite time of the year in Ibiza is September and October, the Island gets quieter in October and is a truly magical month to get married.
A special thank you to Ruth Alexander for sharing her local knowledge.