The 'Weddingmooners'.

When Emily Lam and Ned Lai tied the knot in November, they managed to avoid many of the usual wedding hassles. Then again, the couple, who are 30 and 29, respectively, did have to make an emergency landing when their hot-air balloon malfunctioned over Christchurch, New Zealand. There, on an airfield near a picturesque garden and beach, the couple exchanged vows. "We had a champagne toast," says Lam. "And then came the pilot's blessing, during which he touched our foreheads with the cork." The entire guest list: the pilot, the photographer, a civil celebrant and two close friends.

If a wedding without bridesmaid dresses and seating charts sounds like bliss to you, join the party--just don't throw one. A growing number of couples like Lam and Lai, who are from Hong Kong, now fold their wedding and honeymoon into one far-flung event. There are no statistics on the trend, but travel professionals say the number of "weddingmooners" is rising steadily. At New Zealand Wedding Services (nzweddingservices.co.nz), online bookings for destination weddings have tripled in two years, according to operations manager Minetta Stevens. Americans and Europeans each account for roughly one third of its clientele, and more than a quarter make the trip from Asia.

Some couples just don't want a traditional ceremony. (A church wedding didn't appeal to Lai and Lam for religious reasons, and waiting in line at the Hong Kong marriage registry seemed about as romantic as going to the post office.) But there's another incentive for the peripatetic wedding party: it can be a whole lot cheaper. For about what you'd shell out for fancy floral arrangements and hors d'oeuvres back home, you can say your vows inside Florence's 14th-century Palazzo Vecchio (destination-weddings-in-Italy.com) or at a villa on a Greek island (theweddingexperience.com). With a little planning, you can even get the mayor of Santorini to officiate. And if you throw a wedding halfway around the ...