Having just returned from our honeymoon in Mexico, I thought this would be the perfect time to post some tips for planning a destination wedding from my personal experience as a destination bride. I am not a wedding expert, but I can give some good tips from one former bride to a current one!
My husband and I got married December 2015 at a destination wedding in Breckenridge, CO. I will forever love our brilliant idea to get married in a beautiful white chapel with the background of a snowy wonderland and amazing winter sports. As much fun as a destination wedding is, planning any wedding is not usually as simple as picking a location and inviting your friends. Whatever you destination dreams are, you can make it happen. Here are my tips for planning your dream wedding.
1: Pick the location you both want and invite whoever you both want.
Some people will come and some people won’t come! It makes no difference if your wedding is in your backyard or in Tahiti. You might have a significantly smaller wedding if it is a destination, but the return RSVPs might surprise you. We had over 80 people attend our winter Colorado wedding (neither of us are from or have family from Colorado). When we sent the invitations out we weren’t sure if more than our immediate family would come. It turned out that a few of our immediate family couldn’t come and likely they wouldn’t have been able to come no matter where our wedding was. Moral of the story, have your wedding when and where you want it whether or not it works for anyone else and invite the people you want to be there.
2: You want to get married in 6 months or less and have a destination wedding?… don’t elope instead.
I understand your confusion. I just said have your wedding when and where you want, but here me out. Planning a wedding in 6 months can be a nightmare in itself, but it’s also really selfish for a destination wedding. If the majority of your guests live more than an hour away from where you wedding is and need to travel, hotels, etc give them at least 10 months notice. I mean (more…)