One type of wedding more and more couples are deciding to have is destination weddings. You might love to travel together, want to get married at the place they met, desire a smaller more intimate wedding, or just want a very different type of wedding experience than the norm. There are over 400,000 destination weddings taking place annually and 55% of those are in North America. In 2013, 1 in 4 couples had a destination wedding (Source: The Knot 2013 Report).

Popular locations for destination weddings are the Caribbean (41% of international destination weddings, The Knot 2013 Report), Hawaii (16%), Mexico (21%) and various locations in the US. The larger hotels/resorts have wedding packages already in place to make the planning process so much easier for the couple. They even offer in-house wedding coordinators to assist you with the entire planning process so that when the couple arrives to the resort for the wedding most of everything has already been done.

Tips To Remember

• Pay attention to the peak and off peak seasons when deciding on a date. The peak season will be pricier because you will be competing with crowded resorts and lots of visitors. Also keep in mind of national holidays and large events taking place at that location.
• Besides thinking about the ceremony and reception space at the resort’s location you also have to think about room availability as well. You’ll want to block off rooms as early as possible so they don’t fill up for your guests and you can get the best price possible.

• Ask the resort what is included in the wedding packages to see what is the best deal for you. Sandals offers a complimentary WeddingMoons package with a minimum 3 night stay! From the bouquet and ceremony décor to the cake and reception table, every exquisite element has been take care of to make your wedding day as easy as it is elegant.
• If you aren’t getting married at an all inclusive resort, you might want to look into reserving space at another hotel to offer your guests a choice for hotel pricing, a lower and higher choice option.
• Be sure you find out the document and residency requirements of marriage for the location of where you want to get married. Each have their own rules. Many will require anywhere from 48-72 hours stay prior to the ceremony. There are fees associated with this as well so make sure you understand it all before traveling.

• You want the best turnout as possible so check with your guests before booking anything to see when the best time to travel is for them.
• Consider choosing a neutral location for both families traveling to the destination wedding. You want to have guests come from both sides and if all of your family is in the location of the wedding you might end up having a lot of family from yours and little for his, would he like that?
• Don’t forget to check out the seasonal weather forecast for the location you are thinking of and chances of hurricanes, snow storms, rain, etc. The Caribbean gets extremely hot in the summer so you might not want to have the entire wedding outside during the summer months or maybe wait until the fall or spring.

• Be sure to send out save the dates 10 months to 1 year before the wedding so guests have plenty of time to prepare and book their travel. Also, be sure to make it as simple as possible for guests to book hotel and flights by providing this information to them.
• As I mentioned earlier, many of the larger resorts will have in-house wedding coordinators but they will not be available for all the events and coordinating needed during the entire stay. I highly recommend that you hire a wedding coordinator that will help coordinate all the events and ensure that the entire day of the wedding runs smoothly.

• Don’t forget to plan activities and other get togethers with your guests during the stay. Having a good bye brunch before leaving is an excellent way of thanking everyone for coming and saying goodbye.

Destination weddings are a lot of fun but do take some planning and coordination just as regular weddings do. If you are thinking about having a destination wedding please contact me! I am a Certified Sandals Specialist and WeddingMoons Specialist. I’m here to help! Trudy Scott, http://www.RoyaltyEventsPlanning.com, 210-595-9263. Here is a link to my past destination wedding blog posts: http://royaltyeventparties.com/category/destination-weddings/