Yay! I’m engaged! Now it’s time to start planning the wedding of my dreams and, for once, I get to book travel for my own wedding. I’ve laid my destintation wedding planning journey out in steps, based on my own experience and the experience of booking other destination wedding packages for my clients. Everyone’s experience, needs, and wants will be different, but hopefully the information provided will help serve as a guide of what to do, what not to do, and any interesting stories along the way.
STEP ONE: Traditional Wedding versus Destination Wedding?
Every couple faces this question following the proposal, but many choose to have a traditional wedding in their home town or where they currently reside. It makes sense- you want to have as many meaningful people present as possible and you want the place where you get married to be tied in some way to your life, whether current or past. For some, it’s just matter of cultural or religious beliefs that guide them to go the more traditional route. For us, it was simply the fact that both of us have had large, ornate, traditional weddings in our first marriages. While I can only speak for myself and say that my first wedding was planned just the way I had envisioned it, it really ended up being about everyone else and not about me or the actual marriage. So, as with every couple, you need to decide what type of wedding is right for you as a couple, and for us, it was easy- something non-traditional, exotic, and hopefully much more simple. At this point, you should also determine whether or not you plan on inviting guests to your nuptials or not. That will play an important role in the next two steps. We’re opting to go at it alone, at least for right now.