Why A Destination Wedding?

[Mark Romine]

I am just trying to get a little insight into the reasons and thinking behind why couples want to do a destination wedding. This may in turn better help me in my approach to what I offer in the way of photography services to perspective clients.

 

Is the primary reason for wanting to do a destination wedding simply for the reason of the location? If it is for a beach wedding, then why not the beaches in Florida, South Texas or SoCal? Do you feel that the beaches are that much better in Mexico and the Caribbean? From a logistics point of view it would seem somewhat easier to plan a beach wedding state side and the choice of vendors would be greater. I would also think that if there were problems with a vendor that your legal recourses state side would be greater too. Just thinking out load and maybe none of these things enter into the equation.

 

Or does cost/budget become a large determining factor? If you are only doing a small immediate family and the very closest of friends say 20-50 person event does this mean that you will forego a reception back home to keep your costs down? Or do many of you still do a full sized reception when you return.

 

Maybe there are other factors too, like you have to get married in the winter because of work, school or deployment (if in the military) and getting married in Duluth or Buffalo in Jan doesn't cut it.

 

Anyway, I would love to hear any and all reasons if you would be willing to share.

 

Thanks,

mark

[GracieBebe]

We are doing a destination wedding because we wanted to do something completely different. I always knew that when I got married, it would be a destination wedding, I just did not know where. I love big parties and all, but I wanted the romance of going away somewhere. We ended up choosing France because FH has never been to Europe, we've done the Caribbean to death on our yearly vacations, and Hawaii (because it is tropical) seemed like it would blend in too much like one of our vacations.

 

Granted, we did think about budget, and even though budget did play a role in picking our destination, it was not the sole reason. FH and I always felt that the wedding day should be something special between us and that usually, people might come to a wedding out of obligation, free food, a reason to party, etc. If we did a DW, the people who really wanted to be there would be there. It would weed out those who did not care as much. We even helped offset the cost by providing accommodations for everyone so that all they have to worry about is airfare, food, and any excursions they may want to do. I understand that there are extenuating circumstances that some people who really do want to be there can't because of cost or work, etc and we totally understand them also. But we really wanted to weed out the ones who we barely know (i.e. extended family, acquaintances, people we can't stand, etc.).

 

Also, everyone who has a local wedding says that they spent so much time having to meet and greet on their wedding day/reception, they barely had a chance to eat/dance/talk/enjoy their day. We did not want that. We want to thoroughly enjoy our day. So by doing a DW, we have already spent some time with everyone who is going to be there that we can just enjoy the party!

 

Ultimately, we picked our actual location because it was just so beautiful and you would never find anything like that in the U.S. and it just seemed so grand and majestic and very fairytale-like. What better way to celebrate a happily ever after!!!

 

Hope that helps!

[BachataBride]

There were several factors why we chose a DW.

 

1. If we were to have a traditional wedding it would have been in another province since that is where the majority of our family & friends are. Planning a traditional wedding from another province would have been a huge headache...not mention a huge burden on our family that is there!

2. We would have been expected to get married in a church and that is something neither of us wanted - the thought of taking marriage classes from a priest who has never been married is laughable to me!

3. $$$ - Minus the cost of the "vacation", the cost of our DW was a quarter of what it would have cost for a traditional wedding "back home". We opted for a free wedding package where we just paid for the judges fees...we did not have to pay for a "by the head" dinner, or flowers, or ANYTHING...we literally had an all inclusive wedding!

4. We wanted to have a nice relaxing casual wedding - which it was!

5. As a plus, the backdrop is to die for!! I know you can get this in lots of other places, but not with the other things I listed above!!

 

Oh...and we are doing a backyard BBQ reception on our annual trip "home". But it's just going to be a fun casual night of drinking & eating!!! Nothing formal at all - no dances, no speeches!

 

Great question!!

[Mark Romine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GracieBebe Also, everyone who has a local wedding says that they spent so much time having to meet and greet on their wedding day/reception, they barely had a chance to eat/dance/talk/enjoy their day. We did not want that. We want to thoroughly enjoy our day. So by doing a DW, we have already spent some time with everyone who is going to be there that we can just enjoy the party!

Excellent points, I se this so often on the wedding day that the bride ands groom just really do not get to enjoy the day. I recently photographed a local wedding with over 400 questions. lovely affair but the bride and groom were just running around crazy all day, greeting hugging, shaking hands etc, I don;t think they even knew what day of the week it was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GracieBebe Hope that helps!

Excellent comments!

France will be a killer place for a wedding, awesome food and fantastic photo oops. I am working on a 2010 wedding for Ireland and I am so stoked about it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

mark

[Mark Romine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BachataBride 1. If we were to have a traditional wedding it would have been in another province since that is where the majority of our family & friends are. Planning a traditional wedding from another province would have been a huge headache...not mention a huge burden on our family that is there!

Planning an event like this from a distance is no easy feat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BachataBride 2. We would have been expected to get married in a church and that is something neither of us wanted - the thought of taking marriage classes from a priest who has never been married is laughable to me!

LOL, I have often wondered about this too but that a discussion for another board.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BachataBride 3. $$$ - Minus the cost of the "vacation", the cost of our DW was a quarter of what it would have cost for a traditional wedding "back home". We opted for a free wedding package where we just paid for the judges fees...we did not have to pay for a "by the head" dinner, or flowers, or ANYTHING...we literally had an all inclusive wedding! 4. We wanted to have a nice relaxing casual wedding - which it was! 5. As a plus, the backdrop is to die for!! I know you can get this in lots of other places, but not with the other things I listed above!!

Sounds like you got what was really you! I bet you had a great time. Did you regret anything the way you did it?

Oh...and we are doing a backyard BBQ reception on our annual trip "home". But it's just going to be a fun casual night of drinking & eating!!! Nothing formal at all - no dances' date=' no speeches!

Well here's the best reason of all, a backyarder! LOL

Quote:

Originally Posted by BachataBride Great question!!

Thanks, great comments!

mark

[Mark Romine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegaShay 4. We're not a couple that's into formalities and cheezy wedding traditions, so having a casual beach wedding is the perfect fit for us.

Some very practical reasons! Over the years of all the weddings that I have photographed the best ones have always been those with less than 100 guests. Luv'em!

mark

[BachataBride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Romine Sounds like you got what was really you! I bet you had a great time. Did you regret anything the way you did it?

My biggest regret was not budgeting for a pro photographer! But I decided I'm going to go all out for a 10 year vow renewel...TTD and all!!!
I also found it hard to split my time between everyone...most of our guests don't live near us, so we felt obligated to spend a lot of our time with them...well I did anyway!!

[itsfinallyhere]

We choose a destination wedding because of a number of reasons. We went to visit before and loved the country. Everyone is extremely nice, and very family oriented. I did not want to have to pay for a huge wedding reception for people I hardly know or see, and we also felt that doing it this way would result in like a week long celebration. Everyone is bound to have a good time. Who doesn't when they go away on vacation? we also do not need anything so we do not expect to receive any gifts. Our gift is that they are there. People who really want to come will be there, and they are most important. We feel that this will give everyone extra special memories, from beginning to end. An adventure for us all to enjoy together!

[montegobay09]

I like this thread!

 

As others have already mentioned, we had many reasons for chosing a destination wedding..

 

1. My husband was born in Barbados and lived there until he was 9 when he moved to Canada. We initially planned to get married in Barbados and knew that a beach wedding was perfect for us. Barbados turned out to be too expensive ($3000 per person) to ask our guests to join us so we decided on a less expensive island and are planning our 1 year anniversary trip to Barbados for next year.

 

2. I suppose any beach would've been fine but I live in Nova Scotia where even in the summer you're lucky to get 5 beautiful days in a row. Also, I'm a teacher and did not want to use my time off to plan a wedding. The process of planning a DW is much less detailed than that of an "at home" wedding.

 

3. When we thought about having an "at home" wedding we didn't have anywhere that we REALLY wanted to get married. We have friends that live all across the country and we couldn't fathom making them travel all that way for just another wedding. It seems like if you want to spice up an "at home" wedding you need to spend more money. Going to Jamaica gave everyone a nice vacation and an experience they'll never forget! I'm sure they will never mistake our wedding day for someone else's!

 

4. I can't be myself in front of big crowds! I don't enjoy being the centre of attention so my group of 23 people was just perfect because everyone felt like they had a big part of our special day and I didn't feel like everyone was staring! Making everyone happy in a group of 23 is a lot easier than in a group of 200!

 

5. Making a guest list of 200 people was scary for me and most of those people I hadn't seen in 5 - 10 years! We sent out a video of our ceremony and the most important peole in our lives were there for the real thing. I think this was the best way.

 

6. In the end we had to decide if we wanted a wedding that would accomodate for everyone else or if we wanted a wedding that would be perfect for us. We were pressured many times to add things that were more traditional but when we really thought about it, we just wanted something simple and fun.

 

I love that we got to know our guests even better than before. We know that we're important to them because they took the time and money to come share in our special day. That is the best gift of all.

[dodds]

I love this thread too.

 

To be honest, I didn't want a destination wedding, but my husband really did. I'm sometimes a little (who am I kidding, I am alot) scared of the unknown. I've never been to a destination wedding and didn't know the first thing about planning one. But, seeing as our family is from two different provinces and I do prefer a small intimate wedding instead of inviting a room full of my family's aquaintances, a destination wedding was the ideal thing to do.

 

Now with the whole thing over, I can't stress how much I LOVED it. I'm bugging my co-workers to renew their vows. And, telling anyone who isn't married yet, to do it in the Caribbean.