16th January 2012

With weddings now estimated to cost on average £20,000 in the UK, more couples are choosing to marry abroad in a destination wedding.

There are so many destinations to choose from now, with most travel companies offering great value package deals or even specialist wedding packages with a wide range of options enabling couples to tailor make their ideal destination wedding.

Most weddings abroad will be smaller than those held at home in the UK, but as a lot of guests who attend will try to arrange their own holidays around the wedding ceremony they can end up being much more memorable.

Most travel companies will be able to offer a wedding planner, who will sort out all the relevant documentation and make arrangements for you with the venue, caterers, and so forth. This can be a great benefit, as they will work around your desires to create the perfect wedding, and in countries where there can be a language barrier having someone with experience who can arrange things for you is invaluable. 

If you plan carefully, and have a small guest list, it's possible that a destination wedding could even end up costing less than a UK ceremony!

For more information, why not take a look at our Desintation Wedding Guide?

15th December 2011

The Royal Wedding has been revealed to be the top google search of 2011, according to the reports of Google's annual Zeitgeist.

It seems that even after the hype and publicity earlier this year, people still can't forget the wedding and are looking up the details and photographs online.

Also near the top of the list were the iPhone 5, Fifa, and Groupon.

Top searches in the UK were Facebook and YouTube, quickly followed by the top of the 'What is' category, which reveals, strangely, that people are confused by scampi, truffles and piles. The most searched for 'what is' term of 2011 was the AV, the Alternative Vote, which seems to have confused people the most. 

Some interesting results can be found under the 'How to...' category, with top searches including Revise, Snog, Sleep, Flirt, and, for some reason, Shuffle. 

27th October 2011

After the Royal Wedding in April 2011, Pippa Middleton almost stole the show from her sister Kate in her beautiful Alexander McQueen designer dress.

Following on from this success, Debenhams have launched a budget replica version of the dress, costing just £175!

Designed to be used as either a wedding dress or a bridesmaids dress, Debenhams have released the product due to overwhelming requests from customers.

The excellent value replica gown features the same cowl neck and covered buttons on the back, but has does not have the same fine detail on the sleeves or neckline.

The new bridal collection also includes replicas of the flower girl dresses, and a cocktail-length black version of Kate Middleton's wedding dress designed as an evening gown.

22nd September 2011

Jason Jenkins of Stoke on Trent decided to try something a little more memorable than the usual proposal style.

He popped the question to his long term girlfriend Melissa Bowen at a flying display, organised by Cheshire Falconry.

They arranged that during the show, the specially chosen owl, named Zulu, would swoop down out of the sky and land on Jason's arm.

Around Zulu's foot was a pink velvet bag containing a diamond engagement ring.

After her suprise at the show, Ms Bowen agreed to the proposal and the couple are now hoping to set a final date for their wedding ceremony.

Unusual marriage proposals are a trend at the moment, with numerous other unique examples popping up online, including a boxer dropping to one knee in the ring after a fight, graffiti painted onto a wall, and a bus driver using old tickets to write the special question in the bus windows.

1st September 2011

An American wedding was literally washed out by Hurricane Irene when the only road out of town was destroyed by rising waters.

Marc and Janina Leibowitz were married in Pittsfield, Vermont on Saturday just before Irene hit. They had expected heavy rains as the storm passed nearby, but instead the river right outside the bridal cottage burst its banks and washed away the road leading in and out of town.

The bride and groom, along with 60 of their guests and 400 town residents have been trapped in Pittsfield since Sunday morning. Many of the guests were from New York City, the target of the Hurricane, and were thankful to be away and out of the main path of Irene.

After waking on Sunday morning, the bride and groom and several of the bridesmaids managed to race across the bridge before it collapsed, leaving all of the groomsmen and one bridesmaid trapped on the other side. The groomsmen rigged up ladders to allow people to cross the flooded stream and the remains of the bridge, enabling them to hike in food, water and supplies.

The stranded wedding party and guests have been pitching in to help town residents by clearing mud and debris, and bringing food and water to elderly residents.

If Marc and Janina had held their wedding a day later, they would most likely have had to cancel when the venue was washed away by the floodwaters and hurricane, which heightens the importance of having Wedding Insurance in place.

Luckily, they managed to still have the wedding ceremony and reception they had planned, with an interesting tale of courage and cooperation for the events following their big day which will be told for many years to come.

15th August 2011

 William & Kate's wedding has inspired men across the country to propose to their partners at royal venues.

Two couples have recently become engaged, one at Buckingham Palace, where 26 year old Dean Nicholls proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Lauren Green during a tour of the grounds. The proposal came as a complete surprise to the future Mrs Nicholls as Dean had managed to keep the plan a secret.

Further celebrations were had by an Australian couple when Brad proposed to Natalie on top of the newly re-opened Windsor Tower during a tourist visit to the attraction.

Did the Royal Wedding inspire your engagement? If so, let us know by contacting us!

25th May 2011

If you watched the Royal Wedding in April, you will surely have noticed Princess Beatice's hat.

With a noticably different design, the royal millinary certainly stood out in the crowd, and sparked many a comment both on the day and worldwide afterwards, with the silk Philip Treacy creation being compared to antlers, a toilet seat and a giant pretzel.

I wonder what the guests sitting behind her thought?

With the Royal Wedding over, Princess Beatrice decided to put the now infamous hat on eBay, to raise money for charity. After a 9 day auction, with bidding started by Duncan Bannatyne of Dragon's Den fame at a bargain price of £5000, Princess Beatrice turned the tables on her critics when the auction ended at a whopping final bid of £81,101!

She has certainly shown that she has a sense of humour, and doesn't take the fashion critics too seriously.

All proceeds went to Unicef and Children in Crisis via the Little Bee Initiative, a campaign created by Princess Beatrice specifically for the auction.

You can see the results of the auction Here.

27th April 2011

With the Royal wedding just around the corner, Compare Wedding Insurance takes a quick look at the plans for the big day.

From 8am, the 1,900 guests invited by Prince William and Kate Middleton will begin to arrive at Westminister Abbey, taking their places ready for the 11am service.

At 10.15am, Prince William and his brother and best man Prince Harry will arrive at Westminister Abbey, having made the short journey by Bentley from Clearence House.

Between 10.20am and 10.40am, members of the Royal Family and Kate Middletons family will arrive at Westminister Abbey, taking their places inside.

At 10.45am the Queen and the Duke of Edinbugh will arrive from Buckingham Palace.

At 10.55 the final guests and bridesmaids will all be in postion, awaiting the arrival of the bride.

Kate Middleton will arrive with her father at 11am, after making their way to the Abbey in a Rolls Royce. The wedding ceremony will begin upon her arrival, and will last for about an hour.

Prince William and the now Princess Catherine will leave Westminister Abbey at about 12.15pm, making their way to Buckingham Palace alongside their military escort. Other guests will follow, making their way to the palace if they have been invited to the reception.

At 1.25pm the Queen, alongside the bride and groom and their families, will appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

At 1.30pm the Royal Air Force and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will perform a ceremonial Fly-Past in honour of the happy couple.

Whether you will be at home watching this auspicious event on TV, or bustling in the crowds in London, here at Compare Wedding Insurance hope you have a fantastic day!

4th April 2011

The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will be taking place on the 29th of April, which has been declared a bank holiday.

Workers nationwide will celebrate both this wonderful occasion, and a bonus day off work, which combined with the Easter bank holidays, and the first May bank holiday, will give us two four day weekends in a row.

The Archbishop of Canterbury will marry the couple in Westminister Abbey, before the newlyweds proceed in a glass carriage along Parliament Aquare, Horse Guards Parade, and The Mall to Buckingham Palace where a reception will be hosted by the Queen. A private dinner and dance will then be hosted in the evening by the Prince of Wales for the couple with their close friends and family.

With the media suggesting that people across the UK organise street parties for local residents, and everybody getting an extra day off work, getting married on the royal wedding day is a popular choice.

Whilst your own ceremony is unlikely to be quite as large and extravagant as Prince William and Kate Middleton, there's no reason why it isn't just as special.

Don't forget to take a look at the excellent wedding insurance deals available here at Compare Wedding Insurance.

2nd March 2011

Wedding Fayres

Here at Compare Wedding Insurance we understand that weddings can be tricky to plan. We like to do the best we can for our customers, so as well as providing an excellent Wedding Insurance Comparison we also provide a range of guides, articles and advice to help give you some ideas and hopefully make planning your special day that little bit easier.

On that note, Compare Wedding Insurance is pleased to announce a new feature on our website, a Wedding Fayres guide.

This simple tool means that just by entering your postcode, you can see a list of all the upcoming wedding fayres in your local area. The page will list all of the proposed fayres due for the next year, which should give you plenty of time to plan and choose which ones you want to attend.

Wedding Fayres can be very beneficial, and you can often find bargains there that you wouldn't come across anywhere else. For example, you may find an exclusive catering deal, or a bargain venue for your reception. You can often find various retailers who can give you extra discounts of wedding dresses or flowers as well.

Why not take a look at our Wedding Fayres guide today, and don't forget to get a quote for Wedding Insurance as well!