Deciding the time of year for your destination wedding can be tricky. You’re juggling multiple factors like weather, special occasions, and wanting to get the best deal. We don’t want this process to be stressful for you. To help you narrow down the timeframe of your big day we’re offering 7 things to consider when deciding when to have your destination wedding.
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1. How long will you need to save for your wedding?
The first, and arguably most important, factor is to think about how long you’ll need to save for your wedding. Are you able to save $800 a month and only need 10 months to afford your wedding trip? Then you can plan your wedding within a year or shortly after if you have a certain month in mind already.
If you need 2 years to budget your wedding (and want to give friends and family more time to save so more can come) then you’re looking at around the same time of year that you got engaged. If you like the time of year that’s great. But if not, you may need to either reconsider your budget timeline or push your wedding date further back.
Need more tips on budgeting for your destination wedding? Check out our post, “Your Destination Wedding Budget – 16 Must Have Budget Items.”
2. Any special occasions
Take a look at the time of year you’re considering having your wedding and think of the following occasions:
- Any friend or family member’s birthday
- Any friend or family member’s anniversary
- Big holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years
Although you still might be okay with having your wedding around these events, you may get caught off guard if other friends and family say they can’t attend because of them. We all know the holidays can be expensive, and people can plan their own trips for birthdays and anniversaries. If you can’t imagine a friend or family member not attending that has previous plans you may want to reconsider your date.
3. There may be a rush during the holidays and spring break
A lot of people decide to go on vacation during the holidays or spring break. If you’d prefer your resort to be a little more low key and not completely booked just remember this. Also, resorts and airlines typically tend to increase their prices during these times because they know more people are traveling.
If you think the more the merrier and want it to feel more like a party at your resort then this may be the perfect time for you. People are eager to let loose and have a good time around these times of year.
4. Easter
If you celebrate Easter this is a holiday that some people sometimes forget about when planning a destination wedding. This is usually because the date of Easter isn’t the same every year. Easter is typically in late March or early April, which can be a very popular destination wedding time. This can even coincide with the spring break time frame depending on how schools structure their holidays.
Take a look at when Easter is in the next year or two (depending on how far out you’re planning) to make sure you’re aware of this holiday.
5. Hurricane season
Depending on where you want your destination wedding, hurricane season can have a big impact on the type of weather you’ll have. Mexico, Jamaica and Dominican Republic have a hurricane season from June to November (with the most prevalent time being August – October). This is usually why you find prices lower this time of year, which is a huge appeal to a lot of budget savvy brides.
At the same time, I’ve heard many brides plan their wedding around this season and had very minimal, if any, issues. The resort and on-site wedding coordinator know that rain is more likely around this time of year so they’ll have a backup plan in place in case you run into rain on your wedding day.
6. Friends and family working in schools
Personally, my mother and 3 close cousins are all school teachers. Are you close to any teachers and know how difficult it can be to request extended periods of time off during the school year? An unfortunate and unfair circumstance, but keep it in mind.
If you don’t have any friends or family working in the school system, or kids attending your wedding, this shouldn’t be a concern for you. If you do, on the other hand, double check with them if you can’t imagine your wedding day without them there.
Maybe you aren’t close enough to these potential guests so you can simply leave it up to them to decide if they want to take the time off to attend your destination wedding.
7. When do you want your anniversary?
When thinking of celebrating your anniversary do you prefer it to be a certain time of year? Although it may not matter to some, other brides want to plan their wedding day around a time of year that’s special to them. Springtime can be a great time of year to celebrate an anniversary as the weather gets nicer and opportunity for travel is more enticing.
Maybe you’re both baseball lovers and want to plan your wedding day around when opening day is to give you an opportunity to celebrate at a game every year.
Have these 7 tips helped you decide when to have your destination wedding? We hope so. If you haven’t already, make sure you follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for more tips and inspiration for your wedding day.