So You’ve Decided to Have a Destination Wedding – Now What?

Congratulations on your engagement! First of all, this is such an exciting time for you and your fiance and whether or not you’re excited about planning your destination wedding you’ve realized it has to start somewhere.

You and your fiance have chosen to have a destination wedding, but you’ve quickly become overwhelmed by the destination wedding planning process and have no idea where to start. Unfortunately, there just aren’t a lot of resources out there for destination weddings and the planning process can be quite different than a traditional wedding.

There are thousands of resorts to choose from, you have no idea how much it’s going to cost you, and you’re supposed to figure this out for not only yourself but all your guests?

Trust me; it’s going to be okay. Here are the first steps you want to take in planning your destination wedding.

Before contacting a travel agent

Location and date range

You don’t need to know the exact date. A huge perk of a destination wedding is that you can have it on any day of the week, so you should really only need a general time frame of when you want the wedding/trip to be. Here are a few things to consider regarding the date of your wedding:

December to April – the busiest season  

This is the time of year most people are itching to get away from the bad weather, which usually means the more expensive time of year as well. It’s okay to still want your wedding during this time frame, just expect a little higher price for resorts and flights.

August to November – the “off season”, or hurricane season depending on where your wedding will be

The prices are cheaper around this time but that usually means the weather isn’t quite as nice either. Therefore, depending on the location, some resorts will consider this the most likely time for a hurricane as well. Again, this may not be a deal breaker for you as long as you’re aware and have realistic expectations.

Avoid a spring break time frame

Spring break for most universities and colleges is anytime in March or early April. Although a lot of resorts explicitly state that they don’t accommodate for spring breakers – you can never be too careful. The last thing you’d want is a bunch of 18 year olds running around the resort making your wedding trip feel more like a college party than a vacation. It’s also generally more expensive because a lot of people are traveling, regardless if it’s at an all-inclusive resort.

You don’t need to know the resort, just have a general idea of where

If all you’re envisioning is somewhere on a beach then that’s okay. Most brides pick a destination in Mexico, Jamaica, or Dominican Republic. Mexico itself has many different locations on its own (Cancun, Riviera Maya, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta, etc.) so it may be a good idea to research what perks appeal to you most in those regions. Typically, people choose one side of the country or the other based on pricing and beach quality.

What you want in your resort

Whether or not you have a preference in the location of your resort, the travel agent will want to know what you’ll specifically want in your resort. I go over this in my post “How to Have the Perfect Destination Wedding – A 6 Step Guide“, but here are a few things to consider:

Family friendly, adults only, or couples only

• Family friendly is the obvious choice if you know you’ll be having children present at your wedding. This is usually the cheapest option as well.
• Adults only is self-explanatory, they don’t allow anyone below the age of 18 at the resort. This usually is a little more expensive because of the added luxury.
• Couples only means that not only do all the guests have to be 18 years or older, they must be considered a couple as well. This is usually the most expensive, but if your guests are willing to pay for that perk it’s going to be a really nice resort.

A resort with a lot of activities

If you know your guests like to drink and have a good time they’ll probably want to be entertained throughout the day and trip as well. Hence, things like music playing throughout the day by the pool, lots of activities the resort put on themselves, and a club or nightlife type bar might be the way to go.

A resort focused more on relaxation

If you and/or your guests will want a more laid back and relaxing resort consider one that’s more focused on that. They may advertise their spa and relaxing amenities on their website more, but your travel agent will help you with that as well.

Know your budget

Just reading “know your budget” may overwhelm you. How are you supposed to know how much to spend when you don’t know how much the resort, flights, and accommodations will be? There are a lot of resources for budgeting a traditional wedding, but navigation a budget for a destination wedding can be a little tricky at first.

Here are the biggest expenses you’ll want to work out to plan your budget around:

1. Resort’s wedding package
   • Some resorts like Sandals, Beaches, and Dreams will offer free wedding packages. This can be a good option for people who know they’re going to have a small number of guests and aren’t looking for anything extravagant. Keep in mind that these packages are very basic and simple.
   • Most resorts will list their wedding package pricing on their website. Make sure to look for how many number of guests it is included for because some will say for only up to 50 guests which means you’ll be paying extra for any guests over that number.
2. You and your fiance’s flights and accommodations
   • Start looking at flights for certain days of the week to get a good sense of how much that will run you.
   • Resorts will list their nightly right online, but it can vary greatly. Just have a ballpark idea of how much you want to spend to actually stay at the resort and for how long.
3. Photographer (if you don’t want to use the one the resort provides or they don’t have one)
4. Wedding dress
5. Groom’s attire
6. Jewelry and shoes
7. Save the dates
8. Invitations
9. Hair and makeup

There are other things you’ll want to include in your budget later on. For a more comprehensive budget to go off of, check out “Your Destination Wedding Budget – 16 Must Have Budget Items.”

Estimated number of guests

Knowing your estimated number of guests will give your travel agent a good idea of how big your group will be and sometimes what kind of discount you’ll get. They’ll also want to know around how many people they’ll be coordinating travel for.

I know this can be a tricky thing to figure out because you haven’t even sent out invitations yet. But you can start by counting everyone in your immediate family, the number of people in your wedding party, and a certain number of friends/family that you think would consider coming. Again, your agent doesn’t need an exact number right away, but a ballpark will give you and your agent a better idea of what to expect for pricing.

Picking a travel agent

The next step in your destination wedding planning. A lot of brides ask how to pick the right travel agent, thinking it’s a complicated and stressful task. Realistically, this should be an easy process. You have all the power when determining who is going to be right for you. Here are a few things to consider:

Most of them don’t charge for their services

Unless they offer additional services outside of the standard practices of a travel agent, most of them don’t charge anything upfront. Don’t confuse this with a deposit, which most agents do ask for eventually. Once you’ve picked a resort the travel agent will most likely need to block off a certain number of rooms for you and require a deposit to do so. Don’t worry, this money is usually refunded back to you once the room is booked and goes towards your own travel expenses.

Picking an agent should be similar to a job interview

You’re hiring someone to do a job for you. You should treat your first meeting/interaction as though you’re critiquing their performance. If you and the agent don’t hit it off or they don’t seem to understand your needs then don’t feel obligated to use them. There are plenty of options for agents out there so your top priority is to make sure they can meet all your needs.

You can change agents if you aren’t getting fast responses or don’t like how things are handled

You aren’t locked into a contract with a travel agent. If they were great to start, but as soon as you agreed with work together they went MIA, don’t be scared to find a better one.

Book your destination wedding with me!

Planning

Pinterest

The fun part of destination wedding planning! Actually deciding on a beautiful resort, color scheme, and décor. The most popular place brides first tend to go is Pinterest. Pinterest is a great visual guide for what you want your wedding to look like. Anything from tablescapes, ceremony décor, wedding dresses, and bridesmaid dress colors, they have it all and make it really easy to save pins for future reference. We have our own Pinterest account that you can follow here.

Read my blog posts

This should be obvious, right? 😉 There’s a lot of helpful content on my blog that ranges from planning to tips to gift ideas. Take a look around the site or use the search bar on the right or bottom of the page. Here are a few to get your started:

How to Have the Perfect Destination Wedding – A 6 Step Guide

The Ultimate Save-the-Date and Invite Guide for Your Destination Wedding

The 8 Must-Haves for your Destination Wedding

Join Facebook groups for destination wedding brides

If you know your resort, Facebook may have specific ones for brides planning their wedding there. There are also great destination wedding planning Facebook groups. This can be a great resource to ask real time questions and get real time answers from brides who have either figured it out already or have similar questions.

So, you’ve decided to have a destination wedding. Feel better after reading this post? I hope so. Please comment below if these destination wedding planning tips were helpful to you!