Home or away: 2 brides share how they decided on their wedding location

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4th Nov 2019

To wed abroad or on home soil? Such is the question faced by the newly betrothed. Two brides explain how they made their choice.

New York-based Australian stylist Clare Byrne came home to have her wedding in March before returning to the US.

“I left Australia eight years ago to pursue work as a fashion stylist in New York. I was living in Sydney at the time and wanted to experience the industry overseas. I began working as an assistant before going out on my own as a stylist.

After Michael [Moffatt] and I got engaged, we discussed where we would ideally like to get married. As both our families are still in Australia, it made sense that we would hold the wedding back there. We considered marrying in New York, but ultimately a large number of our guests were from Australia and it seemed like the right thing to do, so although we researched some venues Stateside, we didn’t visit any in the end.

We didn’t really consider a destination wedding. We wouldn’t have wanted all of our guests to travel and it was important to us that certain family members were able to attend. We had around a dozen guests from New York and Europe, including our dear friends at [US label] Area, who designed my dress.

One of our main concerns was that it would be difficult coordinating everything from afar, but our venue and suppliers were incredibly helpful and it ended up not being an issue at all. We had to let go of a certain level of control; for example, we weren’t able to sample the menu beforehand, but ultimately we trusted everyone and it turned out perfectly. Being able to have our friends from New York stay in Sydney for a week, get to know our families and experience Australia was a highlight. We wouldn’t have had it any other way. Having all our family members there was ultimately the deciding factor.

Michael and I both grew up in rural New South Wales, but each of our families had recently sold the family farms, so that wasn’t an option for us. We wanted a venue with a similar feel and found three options to visit on a trip to Australia the year prior. Cooks Co-op was the clear fit for us, a small property overlooking the Hawkesbury River 90 minutes out of Sydney. We had a relatively small wedding of 80 guests, so we wanted food to be a focus and chef Martin Boetz did not disappoint.

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Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was so special to us to have all our loved ones together in Australia. I think there are so many factors that can influence this decision: how easy it is for important family members to travel; whether you are both from the same place; as well as what feels right. It’s so personal; there’s really no right or wrong.”

Claudia Jukić, style editor at Jones Magazine, is based in Sydney and had her wedding in Croatia this year. 

“We first began considering where to get married the day after we got engaged in Dubrovnik, Croatia over the European summer in 2018. Tom [Steinfort] is such a doer: he wanted to lock something in as soon as possible. It took us about three months of location research and polling our friends and family to come to a decision. It was the hardest part of the wedding planning process.

Our criteria for the wedding was coastal, intimate and understated. Considering we are both from very large families, we loved that a wedding in Croatia would achieve the vibe we were after with our super-sized guest list. We were also so excited to be able to celebrate our wedding in a unique, history-rich location.

My first language was Croatian; I spent my childhood going to Croatian folkloric dance lessons and performances, so having the wedding in Croatia felt like a really special way to honour my heritage. I’m also incredibly lucky to have a close bond with all four of my Croatian grandparents: the destination is a beautiful nod to them.

If you love details and having total aesthetic control, I would suggest having a wedding locally, where you can see and taste things for yourself. Having an international wedding requires extreme compromise and faith. I’m pretty laidback, so this hasn’t been too much of a challenge for me. I’d also suggest a wedding planner to deal with vendors in the same time zone. It’s not as expensive as you would think and saves you 3am Skype calls. A big con of a destination wedding is that some family members and friends aren’t able to travel. It was heart-wrenching, but understandable, to have declines from some of my absolute favourite people.

Our wedding planner and vendors struggle with minimalism: they want to add more chandeliers, more wine barrels, more everything! After sending many simple mood boards and references, they can see our vision, but it has been tricky to get everyone on the same page. We’re particularly excited to share a local-style meal in an unforgettable setting: our reception venue was built in the 13th century.

Mostly, I’m just so excited to marry Tom. I know walking down the aisle together after the ceremony will be something I’ll never forget, no matter where we are in the world, followed closely by sharing a meal and dancing with all of my favourite people.”

This article originally appeared in Vogue Brides 2019 issue.