Congratulations on your engagement! Now it’s time to look towards planning your special celebration. As a destination wedding planning specialist, there are lots of things I would advise you to consider.
Here are my Top Five Tips to ensure you have a great time on your destination wedding.
Tip One: Remember that it’s a big “ask” for your guests:
Inviting your family and friends to join you for a destination wedding is a big “ask”. Your guests will have the added costs of flights and accommodation as well as the need to take time out of their potentially busy lives for 2–3 days plus using up paid leave form work. So if you’re planning a destination wedding, I urge you to be respectful of this added commitment from your guests. Try to make it all as easy and as effortless as possible, and go that extra mile to provide a wonderful experience with great hospitality throughout the entire wedding period.
Tip two: Give your guests as much information as possible
Please do your research and provide your guests with as much information as possible on flight and travel options. You should also look to offer accommodation alternatives at different price points, so there’s something for everyone’s budget.
When planning a destination wedding, I always suggest having a bespoke website, which can be constantly updated with information about the wedding including logistics such as transport, travel and accommodation. It can also include information about the destination, things to do and places to visit whilst in the host country and useful tips that might be helpful.
Tip Three: Plan for exchange rate variations
One of the first things I ask my couples to decide upon is an overall wedding budget. This might be the amount they have set aside for their wedding or the sum of money that they are comfortable spending. But when planning a destination wedding, you do need to be mindful of the possibility of exchange rate variations and the effect this could have on your budget. So it’s essential that you also have a contingency sum set aside should the exchange rate move significantly against you.
Tip Four: Your marriage ceremony
Always remember that your guests are travelling to join you at your wedding ceremony. The party afterwards is simply a celebration of your marriage. So it’s important that your wedding ceremony is carefully designed to be a celebration of your love story as well as a legal or symbolic commitment to each other. Put simply, when planning a destination wedding, make sure that you devote sufficient resources to planning and creating the most magical and memorable of wedding ceremonies.
As a start point, you need to think about whether your wedding ceremony is going to be a religious, civil or symbolic ceremony. And if either of the first two, you need to find out the details to make this type of ceremony happen for you as every country will have different procedures, legalities and formalities.
Tip Five: Blend your own wedding traditions with those of the host country
Of course, it’s important that when planning a destination wedding, you incorporate all of the traditions from home that are important to you. But in my opinion, as a destination wedding planner, you should not just simply transfer the wedding that you would have planned at home to an overseas destination. Instead, I always advise my couples to embrace at least some of the local customs. After all, there has to have been a reason why you chose that location in the first place.
If you would like to find out more about planning a destination wedding, please visit www.elegantebymichellej.com
by Michelle Jacobs of Elegante by Michelle J
Photographs should be credited to David Bastianoni
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