I want to start off by saying our destination wedding was the wedding of my dreams. We had an incredible time and I’m truly so glad we ended up going with a destination wedding.
Now, that’s not to say there weren’t a few things I look back on and wish we did a little differently. The goal with this post is to highlight some of those destination wedding regrets to get you thinking about the little details with your wedding and make sure they aren’t repeated.
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1. Staying With our Travel Agent Because of a Coworker
A little back story behind how we chose our travel agent. I was in a work meeting and was telling my coworkers that we decided on the destination wedding route. A close coworker I had at the time told me that his wife actually owned a travel agency in town. How perfect, right?! As a way to help each other out we hired an agent that specialized in destination weddings through her agency.
Was she amazing? No. Did we have a few friends and family complain about her services throughout the process? Unfortunately, yes. Looking back I wish I would have done myself and my guests a favor and decided on someone else. She got the job done, but I now hear brides talk about how amazing, responsive, and knowledgeable their agent was. I can’t necessarily say the same.
Do you need a travel agent? I’m now booking destination weddings! Head to my Let’s Get Started page to book a consult with me to get started.
2. Sending Save the Dates and Invitations Via Mail
As I’m sure you’re aware if you’ve already ordered them, save the dates and invitations are not cheap. On top of that, in many cases, most of the guests you send invitations to will not be attending. So why spend all the money? One of my destination wedding regrets that also hurt my wallet.
For me it was pressure. My mother and mother-in-law convinced me to follow tradition and send everyone in my extended family a save the date and invitation via mail. It’s worth noting that both my mother and MIL have 10 siblings EACH. That’s not counting my father and father-in-law’s own siblings and family members.
Thankfully for our wallet’s sake, my good friend works in marketing and has plenty of experience with Photoshop. She created our save the dates and invitations for us. Which meant I was responsible for buying all the paper, envelopes, stamps, and supplies that went along with that. Not only that, but I had to figure out how to print four invites on one sheet of paper and align it perfectly so that my husband could take a utility knife and cut along the lines of each one.
It was such a headache and ended up being a pretty stressful experience. Yes, we saved money and my parents got what they wanted, but would I do that over again? No.
Looking back, I would have sent the invitations through email. Sure, it can be less traditional or “formal”, but it’s what I would have truly wanted and that’s all that matters. If you need more help deciding on save the dates and invitations be sure to check out our post, “The Ultimate Save the Date and Invite Guide for Your Destination Wedding.”
3. Having Our Wedding Dinner on the Beach
Now, when it comes to the resort there weren’t a lot of things I wished were different. As far as our wedding day goes, we had our ceremony under a pergola. And our dinner and the reception were on the beach. Looking back, I wish we would have gone with something a little more formal for our dinner.
Dancing on the beach under the stars was beautiful, but the dinner did seem a little less fancy while walking on the sand. On top of that, we later found out that some of our guests suffered bug bites. Thankfully, it was nothing serious and more tolerable than mosquito bites, but annoying nonetheless. One of our destination wedding regrets you don’t want to have to hear about the day after your wedding.
4. Not Having a Signature Drink
We’ve been to countless weddings since our destination wedding and one thing that stands out to me is the couple having a signature drink. This is something I didn’t consider doing at the time, but looking back, I wish we would have.
Coming up with a fun drink with your fiance to be served at your wedding is a memorable and fun experience for everyone. It’s also a great keepsake for you and your spouse for the rest of your marriage. You can make that drink on your anniversary, or anytime you want to celebrate something together. It’s a trip down memory lane that also tastes delicious!
5. Not Taking More Advantage of the Adults-Only Perks
We didn’t originally plan on paying extra for the adult-only sections of our resort, but were upgraded when we booked our wedding through them. This meant exclusive access to the adult-only pool, a ocean front room, and access to an exclusive lobby with fresh appetizers and top shelf liquor anytime we wanted.
We definitely took advantage of the appetizers and liquor by making our own drinks throughout the wedding trip, but I wish we would have enjoyed the adult only pool a little more. This was a bit of a catch 22 for us. We had all of our closest friends and family at the resort with us for 5 of the 8 days we were there, so we wanted to spend as much time with everyone as possible. At the same time, that meant we didn’t take full advantage of the adult-only pool until most of our guests left.
My advice to you – try to enjoy it as much as you can while also making time for your guests. Even just an hour a day for us would have been great. We still would have had plenty of time to hang out with everyone else. Don’t get me wrong, we still took full advantage after everyone was gone. But it made us realize we could have used it a bit more by then.
6. Not Hiring an Outside Photographer
My final destination wedding regret would be that we didn’t hire an outside photographer. Now, if you’ve listened to my previous episodes, you’ll know I was fortunate enough to have 2 sisters with professional grade cameras they brought to our wedding, which I did ask them to do.
One of my sisters actually got our first look photos, pictures of me getting ready, and some shots of our reception. Otherwise we wouldn’t have had a single professional picture from any of those moments.
We hired the resort photographer, who did a fantastic job, but with those wedding packages the resort photographer only captures the ceremony and group/couple shots for about an hour after the ceremony. Not only are those the only photos they captured, but the package only includes a certain number of prints you can pick from. So we had to go through hundreds of photos and only 50 or so were included. Anything else above and beyond that we had to pay for.
With an outside photographer, you’ll have to pay for their services, travel (if you’re flying them in and having them stay at the resort), and potentially a vendor fee through the resort to bring them in. But, you get hundreds of photos from your wedding day.
And not just from the ceremony, but also getting ready in the morning, first looks with your dad and/or spouse, and the reception as well. Some photographers even include a session on a different day of your wedding trip. If you have a cocktail hour, dinner, or activity planned with your guests, or just want a photo shoot of you and your spouse before your wedding day, they can do that too.
Photos are so important to me personally. I think they hold so much nostalgia and wondering memories that paying a little extra for an outside photographer to get hundreds more photos is worth it to me. Looking back, I wish we would have just done that instead of relying on family members to get shots of their own while on their vacation, although they really did do a great job.
I hope these 6 destination wedding regrets get you thinking about your destination wedding in a little further detail. Thankfully, they were pretty minimal changes we would have made, and we still had an amazing wedding trip.
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