Congratulations on your engagement! This is a really exciting time in your life. It’s also probably going to be a bit stressful.
During this next year, I want to walk through this process with you. I’ll give you a 12 Month Guide to planning your wedding and explain things along the way. You can start from the beginning here (click). Come back to this blog each week for the next installment.
Week 20 – Destination Wedding
Hope everything is off to a good start on your save-the-dates! This week I want to take a break from the normal planning and address how destination wedding planning can be different. By now, you’ve already decided and may be part-way through planning in a destination. Hopefully, this will act as confirmation and offer a few helpful suggestions.
There are two types of destination weddings: package weddings and custom weddings you plan long-distance.
Canyon Springs Golf Club, San Antonio
Package Destination Wedding
Package weddings are going to be easier on you; however, there will be less options. Package weddings can usually be found with a resort in high-demand locations like Las Vegas, Disney World and the Caribbean. You’ll talk with a coordinator in the location, make some basic plans, pay a package sum and are done with a lot of the process. There will be limited options for you to select from. Some brides love this because it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Having only one or two options for wedding vendors makes it easier to make a decisions and stay calm.
Custom Destination Wedding
Custom Destination Weddings pretty much follow the normal planning process we’ve covered up to this point, except you have to do it long-distance. It may be that you want to get married in your distant hometown, or maybe there’s a place you and your fiance love to visit, or perhaps it’s a dream location that you thought would be gorgeous to visit and create a special memory. Either way, it may not be a place with any wedding package options or you may want to customize your big day more than a package will allow.
So what are my tips to make this process easier?
1-Start planning early. It will relieve your stress levels later.
2-Have a backup plan. You should anyway, but it’s especially important when you’re unfamiliar or distant from the area where the wedding will take place.
3-Visit the location beforehand. Take a few days and have meetings scheduled with each vendor. Pack them all in. This will help you be more secure in your decisions.
4-Have a wedding planning, wedding coordinator or day-of-coordinator. Make sure they are from the area where you are planning the wedding. If something goes wrong or needs to be altered, they will know what to do and where to go.
5-Give guests advanced information. Since everyone will need to make travel plans, let guests know extra early when and where the location will be.
6-Plan for a smaller wedding. Destination weddings can be expensive and fewer people are able to travel. Plan for your closest friends and family instead of having a large wedding.
Hope these are helpful as you plan destination weddings. Where would you go for a destination wedding?
Next week we’ll go into more detail with our plans!
Katelyn is a certified wedding planner. She is available for consultations.
She will even meet with you on Skype to help you work through part of your wedding planning.
Click here for more information.