In recent years, more new couples are pursuing romantic overseas weddings, and companies providing one-stop overseas wedding package services have become popular. Nevertheless, the Consumer Council has received complaints about overseas wedding services, involving issues, such as charges, last-minute change in arrangements, and service quality. The Council has reviewed the service information of 10 overseas wedding service providers in Hong Kong and found that the difference in the package prices could be as much as over three-fold in the same destination and subject to factors, such as wedding locations, venues, scale, and the services covered. The Council reminds those soon-to-weds that when selecting overseas wedding services, they should also pay attention to the contract terms, apart from their affordability. They should clearly understand what the extra service items are, and the costs involved in postponing or cancelling the services to get better prepared for various unexpected situations.
In January this year, the Council issued letters to 21 overseas wedding service providers and received responses from 10 of them, comprising 5 travel agencies and 5 wedding planners/wedding shooting studios. The survey covered the charges and service scopes of 51 overseas wedding packages in various locations including Okinawa, Bali, Guam, Prague and Tottori.
The charges for the 51 overseas wedding service packages range from some $25,000 to over $130,000. About 60% of the packages cost less than $50,000, and about 10% of them cost more than $100,000. The minimum and maximum charges for the same wedding location would vary according to the features of the wedding venue, scale, and the services provided. Taking Bali's packages as an example, the price difference was over $100,000 from the lowest $31,600 to the highest $133,000. Even though both packages provided chauffeur-driven limousine for the new couple on the wedding day, basic venue decoration, staff, wedding dress rental, as well as make-up and styling services, the wedding ceremony for the less expensive package ($31,600) would be held in a chapel while the more expensive one ($133,000) not only arranged the wedding to be held on the floating feature thoroughfare in a resort, but also included umbrella bearers and flower girls, massage service for the new couple, 4-hour wedding video recording service and 2-night hotel accommodation.
In addition to the stipulated basic fees, surcharge may apply to some packages for weddings to be held on specific days, such as Saturdays, Sundays, high season and public holidays in either Hong Kong or the wedding location. The surcharge ranged from $1,000 to $22,000, or 20% of the package fees.
Consumers should be aware that most overseas wedding packages only include an emblematic marriage certificate with no legal effect. According to the collected information gathered, if consumers require the service providers to handle the application for a local legitimate marriage certificate, the service charge would range from $3,000 to $15,000, depending on the location and package selected.
Once the overseas wedding date has been confirmed, 1 service provider stated that no rescheduling is allowed; while 5 require notification to be served 30 days to 3 months prior to the scheduled wedding date in order to waive the administration fee, and beyond that period, the closer the wedding date, the higher the administration fee ranging from $4,000 or 10% to 100% of the package fee. 2 other service providers charged 20% to 100% of the package fee as administration fee, depending on the date of notification; while the remaining 2 would decide the amount to be charged according to the wedding venue, air tickets, hotel or service suppliers upon rescheduling. In addition, after payment is made, 1 service provider would not allow refund due to personal reasons, such as illness, accident, or cancellation of the marriage engagement. Furthermore, 3 providers would decide whether to refund or not depending on certain conditions and 6 providers allowed partial refund of the payment.
Apart from these, most packages offer items with additional charges for consumers to add on as required. For instance, some packages offered additional photography service, but the service hours and fees vary widely. Examples include 2 Prague’s packages that provided 8-hour additional photography service for $9,000 (300 photos). But additional 4-hour photography service available in 2 Okinawa’s packages costed 90% more for $17,000 (200 photos). If the package did not include video shooting or the consumer requests for additional video shooting service, 1 service provider could offer the service on extra charge in accordance with the length of the edited video; while other packages levied charges based on video shooting hours. The service fee for 1-hour ranged from $4,400 to $10,400, whereas the service fee for 4 hours had a larger disparity from $3,000 to $16,800.
In case of emergency, such as natural disasters, riots, or black travel alerts in force, 8 service providers would not provide refund but allow consumers to postpone their wedding date; 1 could only allow partial refund depending on the circumstances, or let consumers postpone the wedding or switch to other locations; while the remaining 1 would only make re-arrangements subject to the provision of service suppliers.
The Council received a complaint alleging that 1 month after the wedding date and scope were agreed, the wedding planner suddenly requested the complainant to purchase banquet service at $1,200 per guest; otherwise, the time of the wedding ceremony had to be altered. The Council subsequently negotiated with the company and the complainant eventually got the full refund of $4,000 deposit. The Council reminds soon-to-weds that, when choosing wedding service packages, they should fully understand and compare the package contents, details of the service terms and conditions provided by different service providers before entering into a written contract. They should not solely rely on the presentations and recommendations of the staff to make a hasty decision.
When appointing a service provider to hold an overseas wedding, consumers should pay attention to the following:
- As the requirements and criteria for marriage registration vary from place to place, the documents to be submitted and the procedures for application are also different. When choosing to hold a wedding at the designated location, consumers should first understand the relevant legal procedures and enquire with the relevant consulate in advance;
- A marriage registration is still required when returning to Hong Kong if only an emblematic wedding is held overseas;
- Understand the terms and conditions of the services in details, as well as the arrangements of trip cancellation due to emergencies, such as sickness or black travel alert. It is also prudent to establish a written contract to stipulate clearly certain special requirements, such as additional photography/video shooting service, designated attractions, special audio/visual effect and the video production time, etc. In case of dispute, the written contract can be used as an evidence for claims.
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