So, your wedding is about a month away. You’ve booked all of your vendors, your guests have booked and paid for all of their travel, you’ve bought the attire, and you have any day-of beauty appointments set up. It seems like everything has come together nicely, but it’s now time to reconfirm everything! I know it seems like reconfirming is a waste of time- you’ve booked your vendors and probably paid for most of them, so why follow up?

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STEP SIX: Planning out the wedding details

So, you sent out your save the dates, invitations, and travel information. Your guests are sending in their RSVPs and booking their travel. Now is the time for you to focus on the details! While you may have been working with your resort’s wedding coordinator all along, once you have an accurate head count, you can now plan and secure some of the finer details.

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 STEP FOUR: Finalizing the travel package

Once you have narrowed down your destination and your date, you will need to work with your travel agent to find your ideal destination wedding resort. You may not actually marry on the resort property, but you will need to find a place for you and your guests (again, if you are inviting any) to stay during your event. The travel agent will most likely recommend a few different resorts that fit your tastes, needs, and budget, so it’s wise to take time to go through those recommendations and see which resorts stand out the most to you. You want to make sure you have a good feeling about a place when you look at the pictures and read reviews online. Once you have taken the recommendations and narrowed them down to 1-3 resorts within your chosen destination, have the agent provide you pricing.  If you qualify for group pricing (10+ rooms), the pricing process will be a bit more complicated and will take longer as rates need to be negotiated with the properties. If group air is to be included, contracts will also have to be negotiated with an airline. Your package may also include some customizations for your wedding, such as a private island dinner reception or private transfers for your guests, so all of that has to be taken into account during the negotiations, if available to be booked upfront. Typically, resorts only offer travel agents access to a few pre-packaged ceremony and reception options, with even less options for customizations. If you are looking for a completely custom package, or want to add on more than what the agent is able to offer, it’s best to book the travel portion with your agent and then work with the wedding planner at the resort to design your special day (more on that below!) If your wedding group is just you, the lucky couple, fewer than 10 rooms, or you just want the standard wedding package, the pricing process will be a little less complicated and time consuming. A lot depends on the destination chosen, but expect South Pacific or Asian destination weddings to be far more complex to piece together than Caribbean or Mexican destination weddings.

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