Cost of a Wedding in Croatia
Every couple who are about to get married in Croatia needs to know how much it will cost to have a wedding in Croatia, and no matter where you look its nearly impossible to find this out. So, we've put together a short guide to help you plan your wedding abroad and budget your Croatian Wedding.
We are providing approximate costs for a Croatian Wedding so you will be able to estimate how much marrying in Croatia will cost. The actual cost obviously varies depending on your tastes, styles, how big or grand or cute you actually want your special day to be.
Budgeting Your Wedding
Below are estimated costs of various services to help predict the budget you’ll need for your wedding and make an informed decision about what you want for your wedding.
Alternatively you can come to our wedding organisers with your budget and ask them to do your wedding by your requirements. They will look into your plans and, without compromising on quality, tell you what can be done and what extra you can afford or do without.
Send your wedding ideas and budget to our wedding team here.
Cost of Registrar Office in Croatia
If you decide to have a civil wedding you will need a Registrar and Translator. The Registrar office can be one of the least costly aspect to a wedding. To have a wedding in the Registrar's Office you will need to pay around 100 euro government duty. That does not include document, document handling, translators, interpreters and other fees. However most people take advantage of Croatia's magnificent scenery and have their ceremonies elsewhere. Registrar fees are calculated on distance from the office basis, and can range from 500 to 3000 Euro. Obviously it all depends on location, time of day, time of the year and day of the week etc.
A court translator or interpretor for a wedding in Croatia will be required if you have a civil ceremony in Croatia, and you will need your documents to be translated as well. A translator for the ceremony will cost from 500 euro onwards per translator (that is, if the couple are coming from two different countries and marrying in Croatia the price will be doubled)
You will also need documents to be translated. The cost is dependent on the document size, source language and tranlator. An example would be a Birth Certificate, which costs from around 50 Euro.
Cost of Church or Chapel Hire and Ceremonies Outside in Croatia
Some churches are asking for church hire fees, whilst others are free. Prices vary from church to church. For example, hiring the church in Dubrovnik and any in the Dubrovnik Area costs 500 Euro. Whilst hiring this beautiful little chapel costs 1500. The actual cost depends on a lot of variables - the religion, the particular church or chapel, the city and district, time of year etc.
You should budget between 300 and 5000 Euro for the church or chapel hire.
Cost of Restaurants and Venues in Croatia
Restaurants and Venues are where the bulk of the money will be spent.
Typically a wedding dinner will be held in a restaurant decorated to your taste and style. Hiring a restaurant doesn't usualy attract a premium and the menu price will cover food and waitering service. Menus range from 70 Euro and upwards and most restaurants will provide a ready-made menu or we will work with you to make a menu to either your style and budget.
Hiring a particular venue will mean a venue cost and catering cost. Venue prices include the venue itself, tables, chairs, cutlery, glass, crystal etc. Venue prices start at around 1000-10000 Euro for the evening. A good example is a stylish, private villa, or our Country Riding Club, with an outdoor dinning area; their venue price for complete privacy is 6000 Euro for the evening - but includes B&B for 12 guests. There are often nice perks with the higher priced venues and they are money well spent. Another alternative is to rent a villa with a large garden for around 800 Euro per night to host your dinner by the pool and have accommodation for 6-10 people.
Although venues usually offer restaurant services as well, they are mostly in addition to the venue's cost. The price of any menu is highly dependant on the the caterer, the menu itself, time of year etc. Prices start from 60 Euro per guest for a three course meal, to 160 Euro for a quality traditional Adriatic sea food menu, and upwards.
We are often asked for the price of cocktails and canapes for receptions, and although the price varies greatly from place to place, we can give you a rough idea. Cocktails cost around 5 euro per drink. You can often have an open bar - an open bar for half and hour with local beverages cost around 8 euro per person, foreign beverages would cost around 16 euro per person, a mixed bar around 14 euro per person. Extra half hours are often charged between half and 2/3s the first hour.
Canapes invariables cost around 1.5 -7.0 euros each.
Drinks are paid after the celebration, always, and your wedding planner will provide you with a wine and champagne list on request.
Cost of Wedding Photographers or Videographers in Croatia
Wedding photographers and videographers are both around the same price. A good local photographer will cost from 1000 - 1700. If you wanted a particular style, like reportage, some excellent national photographers we use charge from 1000 - 2000 Euro, depending on the location. Spending money on a good photographer is worth the investment as their products will be one of the few things which will endure down the years, and the quality of their work will reflect the atmosphere of your wedding day. The photographers and videographers price will includes post-production work, DVD/CD of pictures or video, printed pictures in a presentation album or book.
Cost of a photographer or videographer costs from 2000 Euro onwards.
Cost of Accommodation and Honeymoons in Croatia
Cost of accommodation range drastically from star rating to private or company owned proprties, and dependant on time of year, last minute books and discounts.
Typically though, private apartments for 4 people can cost from 90 Euro per person per night; and a house for 4 from 270 Euro per person per night. A 4 star hotel can start at 160 Euro per double room per night, including breakfast. Honeymoon suites usually come at a premium for 300 Euro per night onwards.
If you book in advance and together, you and your guests could get away with a bargain holiday. Large bookings can attract healthy discounts which can be put back into other aspects our your wedding, like a romantic cruise on a galleon ship for all yours guests the day before or after your celebrations, or a couple extra days in the sun.
Cost of Outdoor Wedding in Croatia
The cost of an outdoor wedding is split between the catering and the tent and furniture. Here we'll use two example situations, a 30 and 300 person wedding.
Tent for 30 Guests
For a 30 guest wedding celebration a pagoda of 100m2 can be erected with half glass walls and half solid walls, solid flooring and glass entrance door. This would cost around 10000 Euro.
Alternative to the pagoda is a tradition tent of 100m2 could be used, with wooden carpeted floor, roof decoration, lighting and PVC door. This would cost around 7600 Euro.
Seating and tables - three tables, table clothes, chairs and chair covers - would work out around 3000 Euro.
Catering for Guests in a Pagoda or Traditional Tent
Price for catering is highly dependant on the menu you wish to have. A typical menu (like this one here) would cost around 75 Euro per guest. This would usually include the waiting services and wedding as well. Extra drinks would be calculated on the night and of course your own beverages can be used.
Cost of Flowers in Croatia
Prices for flowers largely depends on the type of flowers, the season and availability. We've provided some examples based on a simple rose design. Obviously if you would like a beautiful giant daisy arrangement the flowers are a lot cheaper
Buttons holes cost around 10 Euro each. A brides bouquet starts around 160 Euro. Smaller bouquets - for bridemaid for example - would cost starts around 100 Euro. A church alter or restaurant centrepiece would cost starts around 240 Euro.
There might also be a delivery and arrangement fee if the florist isn't local.
Cost of Musicians, Solo Singers, Klapa, Church Choir, Classical Musicians, DJ
Musicians and artists add an extra dimensions to you wedding experience and can really bring out the emotions in your guests. Church acoustics lend themselves to the amazing sounds of Ave Maria accompanied by the church organ or classic instruments, Church choir and gospel singers.
Individual solo artists are starting from 300 Euro for the church ceremony. Group singers, such as Klapa, choirs or gospel singers charge starts from 700-3000 Euro onwards.
During you dinner musicians, singers, DJ and bands are always popular. A nights session with a band, klapa or DJ would cost from 2000 Euro onwards. A wedding band would be from 2800 onwards.
Cost of Beauticians
Unless you are a beautician yourself, you'll need someone to do yo hair and make-up for you. Beauticians and hair dressers range in price and you should ask you wedding planner to recommend someone as they'll find the stylist who will suit your style. We'd also suggest taking a trial the day before just to make sure everything will be perfect on the day.
The average makeover and hairstyle will cost from 400 Euro. In exclusive salons in Dubrovnik a simple makeover could set you back for 1000 Euro and a full VIP treatment around 1500 Euro onwards.
Cost of Private Beach Hire
The cost of hiring a beach depends on the location, venue, the owner and the level of privacy required. The price ranges between 2,500 to 20,000.
Cost of Wedding in Slovenia
Slovenia is another beautiful country we work with and we receive hundreds of enquiries asking for cost of this and that. In truth Slovenia is priced very much like Croatia, except you might save some money on documents and translations. For other services - photographers, videographers, flowers etc - the price is pretty much the same.
Cost of Wedding in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina
These are two other countries we work with extensively. Their pricing is a little cheaper than Croatia but will only be really noticeable on larger weddings. Interesting though some services are not available in these countries and we pull them in from Croatia, so those services (like balloon hire) can be a little more expensive.
Cost of Wedding/Event Planner or Organiser in Croatia
Your wedding/event planner know all the ins and outs every weddings needs. They know the legal situation, the language, are able to negotiate prices with suppliers and generally take a lot of the stress out of dealing with your wedding abroad - if you like, they are your assistant, project manager and trouble-shooter - taking care of a lot of fiddly things, ensuring everything goes to plan and sorting out problems when they arise.
Wedding planner services and charges vary in many ways. Some charge only 300 Euro to help with finding contact details - this is for those keen on a DIY approach. Other planners will liaise between you and the few hotels to which they are affiliated and charge flat fees, for example, 2000 Euro. A few organisers take care of most aspect of your wedding and can be described as your personal assistant.
We, for example, offer all the services you see on our website, and more, which makes us perhaps the most comprehensive wedding planners in Croatia. Whilst other wedding planners and organisers offer only those venues on their list, we offer you every venue and location in Croatia. Our comprehensive wedding organising permits us to offer whatever location, venue, service, activity and style of wedding you need. If something is not on our website or not in our extensive list of contacts, we’ll find. To our knowledge no-one else offers such a comprehensive wedding service.
Our pricing structure is also quite unique and caters for all sizes of wedding. We have a registration fee (see here for registration fee) and a 12% arrangement fee on all services and items organised through us.
Have We Missed Anything?
We've aimed to outline the major expenses for any wedding, but obviously there are many other items we haven't mentioned but still do add up. Once as our client your wedding organier will adjust the services to your budget and make sure you receive the highest level of quality regardingless of your budget and size of wedding.
