Rarotonga and Thailand are two current hotspots for Kiwi couples tying the knot overseas, according to one of the country’s major retailers.

Flight Centre PR Manager Marie Pilkington said Rarotonga was consistently popular as it had garnered a reputation for having good wedding planners and venues and was only a short flight away.

“Thailand, although a longer flight away, is appealing to more clients as they are getting bang for their buck there with Koh Samui and Phuket attracting the most attention.”

Pilkington said an overseas wedding was popular with couples who wanted a smaller gathering for their big day.

“By going away it takes away the stress of inviting friends for the sake of it so often means a smaller core group travelling to share the day. Once there, everyone gets the chance to spend time together over a few days rather than just on the one day.”

She said often with families and friends living in different parts of the world it can sometimes make sense to find a common location for everyone to meet.

Mondo Travel marketing manager Gordon Bayne said the weddings market was a big focus for the retail group.

“We started our Wedding Designers programme internally 18 months ago with a specialist Wedding and Honeymoon agent in each Mondo Travel store,” he said.

As part of the programme, a Mondo Wedding Designers delegation travelled to Fiji in 2008, to the Cook Islands in 2009 and held a marketing, strategy and supplier booth conference in Auckland in June this year.

“Our primary objective is to own this niche category and although we are a boutique group with 15 stores, Mondo’s focus is still on building strong platforms for our travel specialists and Wedding Designers to work within”, he said.

Bayne said sales to the South Pacific was strong with campaigns in the last month to Tahiti, Samoa, Fiji and the Cook Islands.

Mondo offers clients an online bridal registry with a dedicated web page per couple that is free of charge.

“Their guests can donate funds and pay by cash, cheque, direct credit or credit card. Our clients asked for it, so we built it,” he said.

Pictured are Derryn Robberts of Navigate Oceania and Cherie Farmer of Mondo Travel Whangaparaoa meeting at Mondo’s Wedding Designers conference. Navigate represent a portfolio of 30 New Zealand and Pacific luxury travel products.