Destination Wedding
Congratulations on saying yes and making plans to officially tie the knot! Chances are, if you’re in wedding planning mode, you’re up to your ears in recommendations, opinions, advice, and choices, and you’re at least a little bit overwhelmed. Take heart: most every person who plans a wedding stresses out at some of the big things, and lots of the little things. Perhaps you’re faced with your biggest decision- the one that affects all the other decisions – and you’re not quite sure what to do: to destination wedding, or not to destination wedding? That is the question of the year! Let’s take a look at a few reasons that you may want to (or may not want to) travel for your wedding.
Budget
Probably the first item at the very top of your list to consider is your budget. Rightfully so, as we’d say “budget” is the number one reason destination weddings aren’t pursuable for couples. Chances are you have, or have been given, a budget to adhere to. A little secret? Even with a set budget, it can be entirely too easy to creep right past it, so you’ll want to pay extra attention in this arena. If you have interest in a destination wedding, go ahead and jot down a list of locations that interest you. Do some research on those locations in particular, and while it’s important to be open-minded, do your best to stay on task (not looking at other locations that catch your eye). From your research, is a destination wedding going to be easy to pull off given your budget? If the answer is yes, feel free to move forward.
Wanderlust
The second thing to consider – where are you on the wanderlust scale? Do you live, eat and breathe to travel? Is planning your next trip constantly on the brain? Or are you happy enough being home most of the time, taking an out of town vacation every once in a while? We’ll say this: destination weddings are appealing, no matter who you are. You can’t flip through a wedding magazine and see luxurious Caribbean weddings with free flowing champagne and tiki torches and not start to yearn a little bit. Don’t make the mistake of confusing that yearning for a genuine desire. Destination weddings come at a price, and if you’re not truly committed to traveling for your big day deep in the depths of your heart, you might end up regretting it.
Family & Friends
What’s the price of a destination wedding? Money aside, it’s often friends and family. What do we mean by that? Not everyone has the budget to travel, so unless you’re footing the bill for their travel and lodging, they probably won’t attend. You’ll lose a lot of your guest list when you decide to say your vows on the other side of the world, so take that into consideration. Hey, it may be a good thing! haha Don’t care for a big affair? Only want close friends and family by your side anyway? More power to you… enjoy that seaside ceremony!
Details
Last item to discuss: how are you with details? Do you prefer to pass the torch to a trusted individual to get it all done, to be hands off in terms of most decisions? Most destination weddings that are not extravagantly priced tend to be “package deals”: there are only simply not many decisions to be made. On the contrary, staying close to home? Picking venues, flowers, music, food… details abound in varying amounts, depending on the situation. Generally speaking, if decision making isn’t your forte, a destination wedding – where there are very few to actually make – might just be right.
At the end of the day, it’s your decision. Just make sure you factor in details, budget, guest list and your desire to travel before you do!
