(Newswire.net — June 27, 2019) — or spending the week with those who matter most? We pick the latter! For brides planning a destination wedding, or thinking about it, here’s six helpful tips:
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Pick All-Inclusive
If you’re on the fence about choosing an all-inclusive wedding package, don’t be. It’s much easier when you’re planning a destination wedding to have a team plan and execute everything from start to finish. Many resorts, such as Rose Hall, are now offering this to brides as they know how much of a struggle it can be to piece different vendors together who might not even know each other. The best advice is to just bundle it all together, that way you can remain stress-free during the planning process and have one main contact upon arrival.
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Check Your Guest List
Planning a destination wedding typically helps you cut down on the number of guests invited – simply because a large number of people likely cannot all travel to your wedding. If you’re getting married out of the country, that number is probably even less. Seriously consider your list before sending out your save-the-dates. It should be a group of people that can spend an extended period of time together – especially if you’re going to an all-inclusive resort. If there’s someone you’re on the fence about and you can get away with not inviting them (i.e. immediate family or your S.O.’s parents), don’t invite them. Just politely explain to people you are required to limit the number of guests.
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Accept Help When It’s Offered to You
There’s no denying, planning any type of wedding takes a lot of work. Something about being hundreds or thousands of miles away makes it a little bit harder. You likely can’t just drive down to your venue when you’re questioning the layout of something in your head. So, it’s important to accept help when it’s offered to you. Even if you can’t think of anything spur of the moment, tell whoever is offering you will surely get back to them. It can even be as simple as setting reminders for you or calling to get pricing on a room block for your family. Every little bit helps!
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Do Your Homework
It’s important to really do your homework for a destination wedding. You can’t and simply won’t be able to avoid everything that could go wrong – but you can prepare for many things and make smart decisions along the way. For example, you wouldn’t want to plan your destination wedding to the Caribbean during hurricane season. For domestic destination weddings, check out these particular events that could interfere with your wedding plans:
- Major sporting events (either on location or on TV!);
- Conferences at your ideal hotel or resort;
- Festivals or huge concerts;
- Weather/natural disasters (think wildfires, rainy season, peak snow season);
- Local college or high school graduations (traffic).
You simply can’t rule out everything just as you won’t be able to plan around every guest. However, it is important to consult guests that absolutely have to be there (immediate family)– and consider their schedules and travel routes.
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Read Reviews
When planning a wedding, reviews are everything. It’s probably unlikely that you personally know someone who chose your same destination for their wedding. Do some digging and check the top wedding websites for your venue first. If it all checks out, check Google reviews, social media reviews and even email the venue to see what their customer service is like. If regular tourists are leaving negative reviews, it might be a sign that you should look elsewhere. You could even go as far as looking for social media users who tagged photos at the venue for a wedding and try to reach out to someone in the wedding party to speak to the couple. Most newlyweds are extremely eager to give engaged couples feedback on wedding planning. Take their advice!
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Pick Your Vendors in Person (If Possible)
It’s very hard to pick out different vendors for your wedding without meeting them in person. Perfect example – catering. You likely have a general idea of the type or style of food you want at your wedding. Maybe it’s an intimate sit down dinner or maybe you prefer the ease of buffet style. If your wedding is in the Caribbean, maybe it’s an all out BBQ. Whichever option you go with, it’s an added bonus if you can taste the food beforehand. While traveling to your location might not be high on your priority list of expenses, it can make a huge difference to select your vendors in person. Think about photographers, an officiant, the bakery for your cake, etc. It’s nice to put a name to a face for your special day.
At the end of the day, your destination wedding will likely be the most memorable trip of your lifetime. You truly won’t regret it and with any luck, it will go off without a hitch!