Destination Wedding 101: 10 Tips to Have a Flawless Ceremony

There are so many reasons that couples opt for a destination wedding. Because they’re often more intimate compared to weddings that you would host locally, you spend more quality time with your guests. Everyone is excited about going to a destination for a wedding. It will be a truly memorable experience, but first, the wedding needs to be planned. From figuring out how to seamlessly transport engagement rings to the ceremony to making sure your passports are updated, here are 10 tips to have a flawless destination wedding ceremony.

1. Notifying Guests of the Wedding — Because of all of the logistics that come into play for both you and your guests for a destination wedding, you’ll want to give them ample time to save the date. Send out the save the dates a year in advance. This will give your guests the heads up that they will need to block out their calendars and start putting aside money to pay for flights, lodging and other transportation.
2. Etiquette for Guest Accommodations — On that note, you’ll also want to be tactful when gently reminding guests that they’ll need to pay their own way for the wedding. They’ll need to pay for their own accommodations and transportation. You may decide to pay for certain family members or members of your bridal or bachelorette party, but it’s up to your discretion and your partner’s discretion if that is something you want or are able to do.
3. Handling the Wedding Registry — Recognizing how expensive destination weddings can be for your guests, you may skip the wedding registry altogether. If you do decide to do a wedding registry, make sure any wedding gifts are sent to your homes or permanent addresses and not the hotel of your destination wedding. Gifts may arrive late or not at all, especially if they have to go through customs. Skip the headache and make sure the instructions for your registry are clear.

4. Choosing the Destination — Do you want your wedding in a cosmopolitan city, or do you picture yourself getting married on a beach in a tropical destination? It’s totally up to you, but you’ll also want to consider the people who are traveling. If you have any elderly relatives or young children traveling to this destination, long flights may be a challenge. You’ll have to think about these logistics to make it as easy as possible for everyone to travel to your wedding.
5. Timing the Destination — When timing your destination wedding, you’ll want to consider a few factors. You’ll want to think about the tourist season, such as if you’re planning on booking your wedding in a tourist destination during one of their busiest months. Prices will be more expensive for hotels and flights to that destination, so keep that in mind when planning as you may want to consider a slower period for that destination. You’ll also want to think about hurricane or monsoon season and stay away from planning your wedding when there could be big storms.
6. Pick Your Wedding Planner — Don’t just pick any wedding planner for your wedding. Pick a wedding planner who specializes in wedding planning for a destination wedding. They’ll be able to help guide you through picking out vendors, local laws to keep in mind for your destination and handling etiquette and expectations for the destination wedding. An experienced destination wedding planner can help guide you on everything from picking out local vendors at your destination to giving advice on how to make sure your gorgeous princess cut diamond ring gets to and from the wedding safely.
7. Invest in Wedding Insurance — According to Allstate, wedding insurance or special event insurance can help give you peace of mind for your destination wedding. Depending on your policy, wedding insurance can cover you for unexpected illness, cancellation or theft of wedding gifts.
8. Transporting Wedding and Engagement Rings — Just like you’ll want wedding insurance for your destination wedding, you’ll also want to insure both your wedding and engagement rings. Especially because you’ll be traveling with these rings, you’ll want to make sure that you have them insured in the event they get lost or damaged during transport. If you have one of those beautiful rose gold princess cut engagement rings, you may not want to travel with this kind of ring at all. You may leave your engagement ring at home in a safe and travel with just the wedding bands for the ceremony.

9. Understand Local Marriage Requirements — If you’re planning on doing the reception and ceremony at your destination, work with your wedding planner to understand more about the local marriage requirements. If you want to skip the extra paperwork, opt for a civil ceremony in your home state prior to the destination wedding.
10. Know What You Want — Make it easy for yourself and your wedding planner by knowing what you want. Know what your must-haves are and attempt to be as efficient and thorough as possible when planning your wedding. Wedding planning is stressful, let alone planning a destination wedding with so many balls up in the air. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or admit that there are things you aren’t sure about and can use advice or insight. When in doubt, leave it to the pros to take charge.

With all of these tips in mind, you’ll feel much more confident planning your destination wedding. As stressful as wedding planning is, do your best to enjoy every moment. Let the festivities begin!