Destination Weddings In Spain For 2020

Planning A Destination Wedding? Destination Weddings In Spain For 2020…

Today Scott Gibbons, founder of Sunshine Weddings shares his hopes for 2020. He also gives us an insight into the trends we can expect to see at destination weddings in Spain next year.

After a very successful 2019, with over 100 weddings in Malaga Southern Spain and Mallorca, we are looking forward to 2020. As we approach the end of 2019 we are likely to be planning an approximate 110 weddings in the year ahead. To be honest, I would prefer not many more than that because an extra 110 phone numbers in my phone will keep me very busy all morning and night.

My role is going to slightly change next year as I continue to create my ideal team. I am 85 percent where I want to be with our current team and as they said, ‘Rome wasn’t built in one day A lot of my expectations for my team and any errors that are made would never be noticed by clients. It’s just me being a perfectionist. My team should go beyond what our couples expect of them. That’s what Sunshine Weddings is all about, going the extra mile for our clients and that’s what I expect and receive from the team. The one thing I have learnt with our team expansion is how to not lose information between the team and to make sure all information is passed on. Looking forward I just want us improve on what we do and we are so nearly there.

As we are soon to be coming into the new year, I will be taking this time with the team to look at things that weren’t perfect last year, and work out how best we can best respond to that and make our system flawless for 2020. We appreciate the bigger the event and the more people involved means there will always be a number of more challenging aspects that will occur. It’s about ensuring a smooth flow. That remains our objective throughout everything. Anything that hasn’t gone perfectly in the past, we learn from it and then it’s about how you can embrace that for the future. The biggest thing that we have learnt this year is the importance of communication. That is the underlying thing of everything. For example, I will be speaking as many bridal couples as possible before the New Year, to make sure they are happy and in a good place.

We have noticed a change in the wedding industry due to Brexit. We have definitely seen an increase of non British nationals who live in the UK and are deciding to marry in Spain. Other changes, not Brexit related, have been an increase in different cultures choosing to celebrate their wedding day here. Two of our most glamorous weddings of 2019 were Syrian. One couple were based in Sweden and another couple in Southern France. Three day Indian celebrations continue to increase on the Coast. We have also seen an increase in American weddings.

Destination weddings have now become a global trend. I think with Malaga, Southern Spain and particularly Mallorca we fit a certain type of wedding venue profile. We are not a typical city based destination like Barcelona. We focus on something very different, the three dynamics of beachside locations with sea views, villa style weddings with privacy and exclusivity or rustic finca/hacienda style venues. Whilst we do not have a lot of city feel, we do feel we offer something very special for visitors coming to Spain.

Our core clientele, around 80 percent, has always been British and Irish, but that is changing. It’s opening up to more nationalities. Our love of the Irish and Brits will always remain and we of course appreciate at the moment the pound is suffering and this is affecting the amount of Brits choosing to marry abroad. However, getting married in Spain, even with the pound being weak, still offers great value, compared to the cost of an average wedding in the UK.

There has been a sway away from the beach locations due to the changes in noise regulations. If you go slightly inland where you are not in a condensed residential area, you have the option to play music as loud and for as long as you like. If you are the type of couple who want a band performing on your big day you need to look inland or go inside. Another issue is that beach clubs tend to want to keep their day guests there as long as possible and this can mean weddings cannot take place till the evening. Certain venues will not allow the ceremony to start till after 8pm.

Wherever our couples decide to get married, we will do everything in our power to make sure they have the perfect day. The Sunshine Weddings team are looking forward to a successful, fun filled 2020, helping to create everlasting memories for our clients.