Destination Weddings
Many hear the words, “Destination Wedding” and automatically say, “I don’t have that kind of money to pull off a Destination Wedding” “We’re not rich”! I’ve heard it all, from:
- I only have $5,000 for my wedding and I have to invite everyone
- I want all my friends and family members at my wedding…more gifts right?
- I don’t have a passport for a Destination Wedding in Cancun or the Dominican Republic…etc.
- Do I have to pay for my guests to attend my wedding?
- And the best one yet is….”I’ve never traveled in my life”
Would it surprise you I have an answer to all of those excuses / reasons?! Let’s give it a shot.
- Did you know that you can have a 7 night Stay All-Inclusive (flights, transfers, hotel, taxes, service fees, all meals, drinks & gratuities) Destination Wedding in the Riviera Maya, Mexico at the Dreams Tulum All-Inclusive Resort & Spa with 20 of your closest friends and family members for only $3,699.00!
- It’s an exciting time when you start putting together the guest list, especially because it’s your day and you want everyone to come celebrate your LOVE, right? Wrong! 9 out of 10 times, Brides & Grooms will “trim”, “Cut”, “Eliminate” guest from their list to fit their budgets, not make someone in the wedding party or immediate family upset because you invited Aunt JoAnn and her 4 teenage boys or because you havent talked to that person in years but your parents are making you invite them because of the obvious…”because I said so and their family” – said Mom. Having EVERYONE in one place sometimes may not be the best idea. My mother always said, “At arms length son”. When planning a Destination Wedding, you dont have to “trim” the guest list. You invite everyone on that famous list of yours and the people that really want to be a part of your special day, will be there. You can definitely count on your mom, dad, sister, brother, close aunts & uncles, college buddies, best friends, sorority / fraternity sisters and brothers to make it. Sometimes you’ll even have some cousins making the effort in going to your Destination Wedding.
- “You, dont have a passport to travel internationally? Get one” In the state of California, it costs $170 to obtain a Legal Passport (additional $10 for the passport picture that you can take at Costco). Think about it, you then have a passport to travel the world! Trust me, traveling and exploring different cultures, foods, destinations is not a bad thing to do when you just get married to your best friend.
- The only times you pay for your guests to attend your wedding are:
- You’re paying for mom & dad (and maybe your baby sister that’s still in college). All 3 are optional too by the way!
- You want to make it easy on your guests so you pay their deposits (depending on the destination and resort, it’s usually $50.00 per person)
- If you just struck oil in Texas and you’re filthy rich!
Typically you never pay for your guests to attend as it can become astronomically expensive to do so. Out of the 20+ years of doing Travel & Destination Weddings, I have not had a guest complain about attending a Destination Wedding. They see it as an opportunity to travel, the moment they’ve been waiting for to go on a trip, an excuse to explore. They see it as a vacation for crying out loud.
Most Americans, we work and work and work and hardly EVER take a vacation anywhere.
We enjoy watching others explore the world on the Travel Channel or even better we LOVE watching cooking channels were Guy Fieri goes to different places across the country for some good cooking! What I’m trying to say is, by you (the Bride or the Groom) planning a Destination Wedding in Cancun, Mexico…you’ve opened your special day for others to explore what they probably never explored in their lifes. Your wedding then becomes that much more memorable. Your wedding becomes the talk of the town. Your wedding becomes the event everyone is looking forward too.
- And lastly, the best excuse I’ve gotten in the past was…”I’ve never traveled in my life before”. My answer, “Then what are you waiting for”?
Local Weddings
A local wedding is perfect for those that like to celebrate their big day within 4, 5 hours top in an enclosed venue/banquet hall with 200-300 of their closest friends and family members (the Bride & Groom probably know 50-75 of their guests, the rest are Grandpa’s Bingo friends and sons that want to “hook” up).
Now, don’t get me wrong, I myself got married locally but I got married over 20 years ago…I wasnt in the Travel/Wedding business and I didnt know of it until I started working for an agency that had a small group of 10 people travel to Hawaii for a beautiful beachfront Wedding in Maui. After knowing that, that was possible, it was uphill from there on. In my mind, the concept was created. It took several years to push it forward as I had to build my client base and my business relationships with several vendors.
0After years of sweat and tears, “I Do” Wedding Travel was created.
Leave a Reply