A breakdown of the Iceland elopement costs
How much will your Iceland elopement cost? Just as there are several wedding planning steps, there are just as many ways to choose a destination for your elopement. How much does Iceland cost? What about flights, transportation, accommodations and everything in between?
Here's our breakdown of all the costs involved in planning a wedding in Iceland, so you can make an informed decision about whether or not hosting your big day here is right for you.
Travel cost to Iceland, stay in, car rental, eating out
Your Iceland elopement photographer and vendor prices
Wedding dress, other things to consider for your elopement
How much does it cost to travel to Iceland?
Iceland's currency is the Icelandic krona. It's recommended that you buy and sell in Krona where you will get the most favourable exchange rate. Credit cards are widely accepted, but it's good to have some cash on hand. Some washrooms in tourist spots or smaller gas stations only accept cash.
Flight tickets.
The price of flight tickets depends so much on where you are travelling from and whether you need to transfer to another flight or not. The estimated cost can be 500-900 dollars one way from the US. From Europe, you can get to Iceland for as little as 70 euros one way.
Icelandair has direct flights from New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis, and Orlando. United Airlines flies directly to Iceland from New York and Chicago. Delta Airlines have direct flights to Iceland from New York and Boston.
I highly recommend booking your flights directly with the airlines. Due to Covid, there have been a lot of flight cancellations and tour companies have had difficulties arranging flights that have got cancelled. When you book directly with airlines, many of them will automatically arrange another flight for you.
Just to get a general idea of different flight routes, I usually use Momondo to check flights. In some cases, Google flights also work for finding flights, but I do book with the airline since the price difference isn't that significant. Travel agents do a lot of lower price listings in Momondo and not all of them are trustworthy. I have got money scammed by these and that’s why I always recommend booking straight with an airline! But Momondo does show very well travel routes for you and gives a generally good idea of the flight costs.
Also, some airlines offer COVID tests at a reasonable price so that’s another reason to prefer book airlines straight away directly.
Car rentals and local buss.
If you are planning to travel to Iceland and won’t be joining a tour company, a car is a must for your travel. There are no trains in Iceland or buses running across the country every hour.
There is a local bus that runs once a day from the Mjódd bus station to the South region areas. The cost is about 20-40 dollars depending on where you go. The bus does also go on some days to Höfn. If you are planning to use buses, remember they don't run every day and they don't stop in every town. The biggest stops from Reykjavik would be Selfoss and Vik if you are heading to South Iceland. Some buses travel to the west part of Iceland once a day also and some busses close to the Highlands. You can check the bus routes from Strætó which is a local bus in Iceland.
During the high tourist season, May-beginning of September, a week's car rental with insurance can cost up to USD 600 to USD 500. Of course, smaller callers are cheaper but then you would only get to drive the Ring road (also known as Route 1) and not have access to the Highlands.
If you plan to visit the highlands, I recommend getting a 4x4 car. You can’t access the highlands without this type of car. If you are mainly driving the Ring road and visiting locations that are next to the Ring road, then you don’t need a 4x4. For the winter months, I recommend getting a 4x4 well although the highlands are closed during the winter, having a 4x4 helps you drive in the snow.
The importance of car insurance! Car rentals do offer insurance included in the car rental and I recommend getting extra insurance for the car. Driving in Iceland, anything and everything can happen. Some of the insurance extras you can get are:
Driving while intoxicated
Damage to tires, headlights, windscreen and undercarriage
Damages caused by nature wind
Damages caused by nature (sand and ash storms)
Damages incurred by driving into water
A full tank of fuel can be 90-100 dollars. Remember to ask for a discount code from your car rental.
My best car rental experience has been with Lava car rental. They have an office in Keflavik, about 5 minutes drive from the airport. Another excellent option is Europecar which has a car pickup office in the Keflavik airport itself.
Accommodation and eating out.
In hostels, prices can be from 20-60 dollars per night, hotels from 100-500 dollars per night. There are also viable options for sharing big Airbnb apartments with your guests if you are willing to share some costs with them.
Eating out is around 20-60 dollars per person. Breakfast prices are usually a bit cheaper than lunch and dinner options. The cheapest way is to buy food and make it yourself.
One excellent discount to use is Icelandic coupons. You can download them from google play and the App Store. From the app, you can find restaurant places with -a 20% discount even! So it’s a very app to let you know about the discounts in Iceland. Mostly they are in the Reykjavik area and South Iceland. But it also offers discounts for Icelandic hot dogs in gas stations. Sometimes you can even find 2 for 2 deals.
How much does it cost to book an Iceland elopement photographer and other vendors?
Iceland elopement photographer.
The price of an elopement photographer in Iceland comes down to what you are looking for from your Iceland elopement photographer.
Do you want a photographer that only provides pictures being taken? Or are you looking for a photographer who can assist you with your elopement planning?
As much as there are photographers, there are different elopement photography packages and different prices. The average cost with an Iceland elopement photographer is from USD 2000-6000 depending on will the photographer assist you with elopement planning or not and depending of course the hours the photographer would be photographing.
Why book a local photographer or someone who has worked a lot in Iceland? It might seem tempting to get a photographer and only pay for travelling, but these photographers aren’t used to working in Iceland’s all the time changing weather conditions, they have been taking couples to private lands where they don’t have permission to photograph, hurting nature and putting couples into dangerous situations. For example, putting the couples standing next to the ocean at Reynisfraja beach and the sneaker waves almost taking them out.
The local photographers in Iceland or a photographer that has years of experience in photographing in Iceland, do know all the ways to keep you safe, knows the places to take the couples with permission, and would never risk a couple’s lives just for a photo.
Iceland officiant/ celebrant and legal paperwork.
The year 2023 price for having an officiant is about USD 800. The location of the ceremony also affects the cost of an officiant’s services. The modest fee is about USD 1.5 per driven km when the ceremony is held outside of Reykjavik.
A marriage certificate costs ISK 2750 which is about USD 20,14.
What is included in the price:
Pre-planning the ceremony. Your officiant will be meeting with you online, getting to know you and will craft a ceremony that is meaningful and unique to you since the ceremony is such an important part of your elopement day.
License handling: the officiant or celebrant will make sure all your paperwork is done correctly and signed and will be handing them over to the office. The office will be handling the paperwork to make your marriage legal.
Travel time and ceremony: You will be paying for your officiant’s time to perform the ceremony and also the travelling costs of travelling to your desired location where you would love to get married at.
Iceland hair and makeup artist.
Hair and makeup artist work can be from USD 200-1000. The price also depends on what kind of bridal hair you will be having and also the makeup for your look. The final price will be affected if the hair and makeup artists will do makeup and hair for your possible elopement guests. Sometimes the price can also include test hair and makeup.
Possible extra costs for hair and makeup:
False eyelashes, updo hairstyles and airbrush makeup
Travel fees
Hair and makeup trial before your elopement day
Extra people; if your mothers or bridesmaids want to have hair and makeup done.
Iceland florist.
Florist prices are USD 200-1000. The size of the bouquet affects the price a lot, will you also have a flower crown for your day or a small flower for the groom? If you are having a wedding venue to celebrate your day, will you be having flowers decorated for the venue or not? In Iceland, not all flowers are available all year round and transporting a specific flower outside Iceland can cost very much.
Possible extra cost for flowers:
How many flowers there will be; a bouquet, boutonniere, extra flowers for decorating the ceremony spot, and flower decoration for the possible venue?
Iceland videographer.
Videographers' prices can go from USD 3000-9000. It comes down once again to how long the videographer will be filming your elopement and also what the final video will be. This means will you only want a trailer from your day (elopement day highlights) or are you looking for a video that shows every moment of your day and will be longer than a 3 minutes trailer?
What usually impacts the cost of having a videographer for Iceland elopement:
Time. The amount of time that a videographer will be filming your Iceland elopement does affect the price. The more material that will be filmed, the more material there will be also edited for the final video.
The final video. Videographers do offer different final products: a couple of minutes of highlight video of your elopement day or a much longer video where you can watch the whole video of your ceremony and also highlights.
Travel. Depending on the videographer, some due have travel included in the packages and some videographers do charge for the travel and also for hotel accommodation.
Private tour for your Iceland elopement.
If you are looking to do something very special on your elopement day (for example having your ceremony in the ice caves), booking a private tour is the best option. This gives you the opportunity on exploring for example the ice caves with just you and your spouse and to have a private ceremony without having other people on the same tour with you. Private tours can be with a start price of 200-900 dollars per person. And this depends on what kind of tour you would be having, for example having a helicopter tour on your Iceland elopement day does cost much more than having an ice cave visit.
Other costs in your Iceland elopement.
Currency.
You are getting married in a country where the currency is different and every vendor is giving the numbers in the currency they prefer (Iceland kronor or dollars). My tip is to change their currency into your own to keep on track and add an extra ten or twenty.
Currencies change a lot and all the time so just that you won't be surprised when something does cost more than you expected. Many vendors in Iceland accept the payments in cash (Iceland's kronor) so just make sure with the vendor how they want the payment to be done and that doesn't give you too much trouble on making the payment.
Beauty supplies.
Your both haircuts, possible hair colourings, pre-wedding beauty treatments.
Attire.
Wedding dress, shoes and accessories, suit.
Legal stuff.
Legal documents to get officially married, posting fee of legal documents.
Ceremony.
Wedding rings, boxes for the rings, vow books.
With these costs kept in mind and other items you might need to get to your elopement, you can easily craft an elopement budget for yourself.
