Give Your Guests Enough Notice
Save the dates are absolutely necessary for a destination wedding. Giving your guests at least a years notice will ensure they have enough time to plan for their travels. Remember guests have to take vacation days and budget for travel expenses. Giving your wedding guests enough notice will show your guests you really want them to be there as well. Also, keep in mind, save the dates should include your destination and booking information.
Consider Your Guests
When you plan a destination wedding, you are basically planning a group vacation. Yes it’s your wedding but unless you are eloping or inviting a very small group of people, you are planning a group vacation. With that being said, you have to consider your guests and what will work for them. This means finding reasonable price destinations and hotels and a destination that your guests will love to visit.
Make it An Experience
Your love ones have traveled to see you get married so make it worth their wild. Welcome packages, group activities and of course a fun-filled wedding will do just that. No matter the destination, weddings should be memorable in a good way. Make it a trip and a wedding to remember.
Budget Wisely
Destination weddings with a larger guest count can be more economical than a wedding in your hometown (depending where you live) but they are not cheap. Hotels that offer destination wedding packages are usually for up to a certain amount of guests. There are additional costs for your additional guests. You also have to remember your wedding vendors. The in-house vendors are never that great. You may have to choose outside vendors which may cost a fee or even fly in your own vendor team. I highly suggest flying in your team but we will talk more about that another time.
Hire a Planner
You’ve heard this before right? But let me explain why. When you visit any venue near or far, the sales person will say “We will help you plan everything.” I smell BS. True story time: My clients booked their hotel, they were handed an 85 page document and were told we will contact you 6 months before your wedding to finalize your wedding plans. Yup! That was the help they were given from the hotel. So yes hire a planner.
Destination weddings are not easier to plan, it’s just a different set of logistics. You still need all the things that make a wedding a wedding. Your wedding design needs to be curated, experiences needs to planned and when you arrive, some wedding task will still need to be handled. Do you want to handle that or do you want to go enjoy your trip? I can go on and on but I’ll stop there today. If you keep these 5 tips in mind, your destination wedding will be sure to be everything you wanted and more!
Are you planning a Destination Wedding? Tell me all about it the comments below or schedule your Free consultation today and see how I can help you plan a Fabulous Destination Wedding!
Have a Fabulous Day,
Deniesha Joseph
Fun Fete Fabulous
Event Planning & Floral Designs
718.938.4713