Planning a destination wedding is a completely different ball game from planning one where you reside. To get things done exactly as you’ve imagined, you will need the ultimate wedding checklist, designed with such an international wedding in mind. This destination wedding checklist will need to take a number of things into account, especially the fact that everything will be arranged from a distance.
When wondering how to plan a destination wedding, it is good to always remind yourself of all the advantages that come with it. You can have a more intimate event for you, your partner and close family and friends. Your chosen location could also be the location for your honeymoon, so you needn’t travel immediately after the celebrations. Also, if you both enjoy traveling, then this could be one more way to tick a much-loved location off your travel list. However, before jumping on that destination wedding timeline, here are a few destination wedding details and tips to consider.
1. Pick a Meaningful Location
When you decide to plan a destination wedding, be sure to pick a place that works for you. While it might be nice to choose that location that you have always dreamed about, it is also important that the place has all of the resources you will need. So, depending on the type of wedding and all that is required, one location might be much more practical than the other.
2. Visit First
Forget all of what the travel brochures and advertisements might have told you. One important tip on how to plan a destination wedding is to see your venue and its surroundings for yourself. So, it is important that you visit the location in advance. See it, consider how it works for you, what doesn’t work and so on. If you find that you cannot make two trips, then go a few days in advance to ensure that all is as planned.
3. Hire a Professional
Top of your planning a destination wedding checklist should be a wedding planner. An actual wedding planner – someone on ground who knows the location, knows the locals and how to navigate all of the unseen events that could occur prior to the wedding. If a planner is beyond your budget, then ensure that your chosen location has a coordinator assigned to assist you.
4. Notify Guests Early
A good piece of destination wedding advice is to notify your guests on the wedding details well in advance. Your family and friends would no doubt need to plan, put this in their calendar and decide on their own travel itinerary. Consider your guests and the fact that they would have to re-organize not just their time, but also their finances to accommodate a destination wedding.
5. Plan Out Accommodations
On your destination wedding to-do list should also be accommodations. Make sure that every single person you have invited will be accommodated and well taken care of. Do not settle on your date until you know that you can find room for everyone. Reasonably priced hotels are always a good idea. If the hotels are a distance from the venue, be sure to arrange transportation as well.
6. Use the Setting to Your Advantage
In planning a destination wedding the location should not be the only difference. Incorporate décor, flowers, local food, desserts and accessories into your wedding. Locally sourced items will not only be exotic, they would be much friendlier to your pocket. In embracing your location and all that it has to offer, you will be saving your budget as well.
7. Meet with Your Vendors
Another important item in our destination wedding guide is to meet with your vendors before the wedding. You can set up the meeting before your first visit and ensure that you discuss details with these individuals who would essentially be handling your wedding.
8. Plan for Vendors
If you decide to take any vendors or extra hands from your home state or country, be sure to add their travel, boarding and food expenses to your wedding itinerary.
9. Don’t Check Your Dress
One of the most important destination wedding tips: do not check the dress. Have it with you at all times until you get to your destination.
10. Pick the Wedding Dress for the Destination
If you are going to the tropics or a cold location, be sure to consider this when you are picking your wedding dress. A high neck, embellished gown with a long train will have no place in a hot, humid and possibly wet location.
With the right destination wedding checklist, you can have the wedding of your dreams. If you decided to plan a destination wedding think about the best bachelor party destination regardless of the part of the world that you choose.
Author
Svitlana Yefimets is the chief editor and in control of all Wedding Forward content since 2017. She started writing in 2012. She is an expert in details concerning venues, gifts, ceremonies, music, and everything about real weddings. If you want to collaborate with us, send her an email. She spends her leisure tasting dishes, discovering new restaurants, and staying fit through yoga!
Marlene Dombrowski says
Great article lots of helpful tips.