In the meantime I wanted to get opinions from people about destination weddings. What do you think of them? At what point does a wedding count as a destination wedding?
What makes a wedding a destination wedding? Do you have to go out of the country for it? Do the bride and groom have to be the ones to travel? Is it only a destination wedding if EVERYONE has to travel? This doesn't really have anything to do with actually planning the wedding, just something I was curious about. I've traveled to Arizona for a wedding, but the bride and groom lived there, so not really destination. I've also traveled to New Hampshire for a wedding, which I wouldn't really consider a destination wedding, although I, the bride & groom, and most people had to travel for it.
Regardless of what might technically count as a destination wedding, what do you think of them? Would you skip it if you were invited to a destination wedding?
Obviously there are additional costs. You have to get to the location. And pay for a hotel. Which are things you may need to do for non-destination weddings (I had to do for both the AZ & NH weddings). But I guess the assumption is it would cost more?
There may be additional time off work, depending on how far away the place is and when the wedding is.
On my end it is more difficult to plan things if the location isn't nearby. OR it's way easier, cos I just tell someone at the location "you do it". So that can be good or bad, depending on how much control you want over the little details. I would like someone to just do it all for me, so this goes in the "plus" column.
Other than this I guess I don't really know the pros and cons for a destination wedding versus a local one. Clearly I'm doing a bang up job with this whole wedding planning thing. So yeah, if you have any insights, please share.
Logging you in...
Lindsay · 646 weeks ago
MORE IMPORTANT:
If you haven't been there, here is the one website I really wish I'd known about before I got married: http://apracticalwedding.com/
They have friendly, down-to-earth, real-world advice about everything.
Best of luck!
briefraser 73p · 646 weeks ago
First of all, I was born without the wedding gene. I've never had any desire to plan a big wedding. But a big deciding factor for us doing destination was geography. At the time, we lived in BC. But Hubby's family and friends were entirely across the country in Nova Scotia and my family was a province over from us in Alberta. I didn't want to plan a wedding in BC and I couldnt really plan a wedding in Alberta since I wasn't there. AND, to get people (mostly hubby's family) to travel across Canada, it would have cost them the same, if not more than going destination.
With destination, yes, people spend more than just an evening at a wedding, but with enough time given, we told people to look at it like it was a vacation with our wedding thrown in for an added bonus! We invited the same amount of people we would have for a local wedding as it didn't really cost us much for people to come. It was the funnest week of my life! It was great that everyone got to hang out and get to know one another. It's probably the only time in our life that our two families and sets of friends will be in one place at the same time. And we had a nice mixture of close family, extended family, friends of the family and close friends.
And since I don't like planning much - I literally pretty much just showed up to the resort (Punta Cana, Dominican Republic). The only thing we booked ahead was a private ball room and a stereo and screen/projector. I picked the flowers and centre pieces when I got there and the meal.
Anyway, it really depends on what you guys want. I know a lot of my friends would never do a destination because they want "EVERYONE" to be at their wedding. And that's cool. Oh ya, and cost. This was WAY cheaper than having an in town wedding. We've just about been married a year and we paid the entire wedding off in a few short months.
Ok, I'll stop there ;)
Paul 37p · 646 weeks ago
Which, you know, I did!
I'm gonna email you!
Laura · 646 weeks ago
HOWEVER, I think you should DEFINITELY have a destination wedding and you should have it in London and then I can come! Even if you don't want me there, I can easily show up anyway! And I can keep an eye on the planning people before you get here, and make sure they're doing everything right!
There, I have decided on your wedding for you. You're so welcome! ;)
readingrambo 112p · 646 weeks ago
etudesque 73p · 646 weeks ago
Brenna · 646 weeks ago
Kerry · 646 weeks ago
I don't regret our "non-destination" wedding for a second, but I do thinking going away with a really small group could have been fun!
By the way, congrats! I've been WAAAAAY behind on Google Reader so just now saw that you were engaged. :-)