Destination Wedding Tips & Advice

You’re now a city girl and many of  your family and friends are still back home far away from where you will be having your wedding. Perhaps you envision your guests enjoying a weekend away in an exotic place. Having guests travel to your wedding takes a lot of planning on your part.  Whether to a beach location, Las Vegas, or just the city where you and your fiance now reside, there are things to consider when you’re planning this type of event.

1- Once you decide this is the type of wedding you desire, solidify the date and location and send out save the dates as soon as possible so your guests can make arrangements, save their money so they can attend, or perhaps make a vacation out of the trip.

2- Choose save the dates that will coordinate with your destination so your guests will start getting excited about your event. Your  invitations will go out separately closer to the event (for a destination wedding, invitations should go out about 4 months before the event).

3- When choosing your location consider your budget, the type of activities available and whether or not you and your guests will need passports. (Everyone will need time to get their passports if they don’t already have one, so figure this into your time line as well.  It can take up to 6 months to arrive).

4- Accommodation information should be included on the save the dates which should be sent as soon as you have your location selected.  To keep it simple, create your wedding on a website where you can post all your information and updates on accommodations.  Your wedding website address should be on the save the date.

5- Contact  local hotels, giving your guests choices of reasonably priced ones, or more luxurious places.  Ask the hotels  for a block of rooms for your guests, which they will offer at a discounted rate. This information can be included on  a follow up email after the save the dates have been received or perhaps the hotel would be willing to send the information to your guests.  It also should appear on your wedding website.  You can start with a certain number of rooms and as the hotel gets requests, you can always increase the amount you’ll need.

6- You are not expected to pay for your guest’s travel or accommodations, but giving them plenty of time to plan helps them to have options that will affect their costs.

7- A welcome bag left at the desk for your guests when they arrive or placed in their room, a very hospitable touch. You can fill the bags with items for the specific location of your wedding, i.e. flip flops, sunscreen and goodies for a tropical setting.  Include munchies for your guests in their welcome bag so they don’t have the added expense of those very costly treats offered by the hotel.

8- Your favors should be in the same theme as your location to remind them of your special weekend.

9- If, because of the expense, your guests can’t attend the wedding, consider having a reception at home and keep with the theme of the location of your wedding.  If you anticipate this, send an announcement of the wedding and an invitation to the reception.

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