Planning your Wedding in the Cook Islands
Weddings in the Cook islands are becoming more and more popular with international guests and the practicalities are very straight-forward with resorts coordinating marriage licenses and marriage celebrants, or there are a couple of independent wedding coordinators if you choose to stay at a smaller bungalow property which generally don't arrange a wedding for you personally (they will certainly put you in touch with someone who can). There are several options you can consider, either on Rarotonga or Aitutaki.
If you have a group of more than 30 guests, your accommodation options are going to be somewhat limited to one of the large resorts which can coordinate larger groups. The beauty of getting married in the Cook Islands is that not everyone has to stay at the same resort (unlike weddings at island resorts in Fiji where guests have to stay at the same resort for practicality) - every guest can choose the style of accommodation that suits their taste and budget and still be walking distance to one another. For smaller parties, you can arrange to have your wedding on one of the uninhabited islets off Muri Beach and be taken there on a traditional outrigger canoe paddled by warriors and announced by the blowing of a conch shell.
Aitutaki is more secluded but with fewer accommodation options so this may be a good choice for very small wedding groups (less than ten guests), or for couples eloping. You can even arrange to get married on an uninhabited island, under swaying palm trees, with sand under your feet and looking out onto a beautiful turquoise lagoon. Now how romantic is that!
Weddings in other South Pacific Islands
