Will Brexit affect my daughter’s wedding?

  • Higher cost of wines and champagnes for the reception
  • Air fare rises and delays
  • Honeymoon package cancellation may not be compensated
  • Honeymoon costs abroad likely to go up
  • Ensure passport is valid for 6 months before honeymoon abroad
  • Mobile roaming charges may return
  • Car hire hassles
  • Health cover abroad may change
  • Duty free will return
  • Foreign husband status may change

2 ways a UK wedding may be affected by Brexit

  • Buy your wines before Brexit happens

The UK will be free to levy import taxes on wines and if things get messy with the EU these may be set quite high in retaliation.  Add to that a falling pound and everyone is going to have to get used to expensive wines again.

As I live in one of the major wine growing areas of the world it seemed obvious a year ago that I should provide the wines for the reception.  However, if I want to bring these over from France will I be stopped at Customs for hours queuing up with hundreds of trucks?  If there’s ‘no deal’ then there could be days of waiting as the paperwork is dealt with.  If I get the wines sent – will the costs be worth it after import duty? Good wines currently cost a lot less here than in England so I am thinking of ordering the wines soon and getting them delivered early.  But that means asking someone to store them for months as the couple have no space available. 

  • Travel problems for guests coming from mainland Europe

We’ve all got used to cheap flights between Europe and the UK.  But if there is no agreement about continuing the free fly zone after Brexit then prices will go up if higher priced national airlines abroad are given preference for landing in the EU.  A falling pound will also affect fuel prices.  But worse will be the pandemonium at airports and the Channel Tunnel if flight schedules are disrupted. 

As EU law will no longer apply to flight delays, airlines may not pay out compensation for these hassles.  But if you miss a wedding what can honestly compensate you for that?  Instead of flying with Ryanair I will be driving to the UK when my daughter gets married.  And I will be leaving France several days earlier than I had planned.  This is an event I do not want to miss!

7 ways a honeymoon abroad or destination wedding will be affected by Brexit

  • Package deals may be disrupted

Like many UK couples my daughter plans a honeymoon abroad.  It’s a package.  But will the flights be available as planned?  Will she and her new husband be compensated if there are long delays? Given that Brexit is classed as an ‘extraordinary event’ they may find the tour operator is not required to pay out.

  • Everything will cost more than expected

When they reach their destination they’ll likely find their money doesn’t go as far as they’d imagined.  The pound has fallen substantially since the announcement of Brexit and if there is not a good deal to be had by March (update to October!) it will probably fall even further.

  • Border controls will change

Honeymooning and wedding couples need to remember that to travel in the EU after Brexit they will need to show a passport valid for at least six months.  At present we only need a passport that lasts as long as our trip.  Given that there will be a lot of extra requests for passport renewals after March, it is worth couples renewing soon.

  • Mobile roaming charges may come back

These were abolished in 2017 across Europe.  But they could be re-instated after Brexit.  The UK government has promised to cap roaming charges at £45 per month.  But it’s yet one more additional expense.

  • More paperwork needed for hiring a car

Up to now UK citizens have been able to use their British driving licence to hire a car in Europe.  But this may change after Brexit.  Couples may need a valid International Driving Permit.  They’ll need to apply for this in advance.  It costs £5.50.

  • Health cover may no longer be free

Unless there is an agreement health cover will cease for UK visitors to EU countries.  Couples must take out good private health or travel insurance before their honeymoon or destination wedding.  Fees for hospital treatment can be very high.

  • Alcohol limits

Brexit will probably bring back the Duty Free Allowance for Europe.  So the couple will no doubt want to use this to bring cheaper alcohol, tobacco and perfume back home.  They should check what the allowance is and warn guests not to gift them these items in case they end up going over the allowance and pouring most of it away.

Will marriages between a UK citizen and an EU citizen be affected by Brexit?If your daughter is marrying someone from the European Union she needs to be aware that he must be able to prove he has lived in the UK for 5 years if he wants full UK rights of citizenship.  It might be wiser to bring the wedding forward to avoid the October deadline.

Will Brexit make any difference to a UK marriage with an EU student?  If your daughter is marrying a European who is studying in the UK the couple need to plan their finances carefully.  For two years after Brexit her husband will be paying the lower student fees currently offered to UK and EU students.  After that it is possible he will be classed as an international student and therefore he will have to pay very much higher fees.  Depending on the length of his course the couple will need to decide whether they can realistically afford for him to study in the UK.

They may need to re-plan their future and move to mainland Europe for his studies.

So you may be seeing less of your daughter and her husband than you had hoped.

I have taken much of the detail here from http://www.gov.uk which will be updating as Brexit approaches and afterwards, so please keep checking that website for best advice.  Use the websites of airlines to keep in touch with how flights might be affected.  I also found useful information on http://www.bbc.com and http://www.guardian.com.

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