Destination Weddings

A destination wedding is one where the wedding and reception take place at a vacation location, which everyone travels to attend. This is the hottest trend in weddings in the last several years. What a fun, unique and memorable wedding it can be!

While the destination wedding is very exciting to both the couple and the guests it does involve quite a bit more planning. The bride and groom do not pay for the travel arrangements or accommodations of any of the guests. If you have a lot of friends on tight budgets it may be difficult for them to attend. You don’t want to cause a burden for anyone, especially immediate family and close friends. You can expect that attendance will be much lower than it would have been if held in your local city, however, the group that does attend will be a close-knit group of friends and relatives. In order to execute the perfect destination wedding keep these things in mind.

• Check out wedding packages at destination locations. Most large hotels and resorts in destination locations provide wedding packages. Many are all-inclusive and may even include the services of a local wedding planner.
• Visit the location to ensure all the components are perfect. Check everything starting with the trip from the airport to the hotel. Make sure that you taste the food that will be served at your reception. Visit the church and other service providers. If they aren’t included in your package you will need to secure a DJ, florist, limo, baker and photographer. If you aren’t happy with the local choices you can pay for your favorite providers to accompany you to your destination to perform their service. Expect to pay for their travel and accommodations.
• Provide several accommodation possibilities so that every budget is covered. While it would be nice for everyone to stay at one hotel it may not always fit into your guest’s budgets. Check out several close-by hotels in several price ranges.
• Get tourist information that can be provided to your guests ahead of time in packets. This will get them interested and excited about the trip. Remember that the guests will have more free time to spend on tourist activities so include some of the fun ideas they can do locally.
• Don’t get caught up in agreeing to help others during the weekend. You will have way too much to think about to have to make an airport run (or several) or pick up people at other hotels and drive them around. Instead, make sure that you look into the local taxi service or hire a limo (or several) for the entire weekend to shuttle people around town.
• Specify instructions to guests about wedding presents ahead of time. You may wish to include a note in the invitation that says to send gifts to your home address. This will help alleviate the problem of how to bring home all your gift items.
• Have fun and don’t expect perfection. You and your guests will have a wonderful time!