Biggest Destination Wedding Stress factor - what's yours?

[nicdeb928]

My wedding is 5 months away, and ive been engaged for 5 months...I have to say, I havent felt stress about much at all..its been a really nice process...I think the best advice is to relax and let it all roll...It helps to have a wonderful fiance and a great travel agent...after that it kind of just goes...the only thing ive been a little stressed over was picking a photographer...i feel that its so important and its hard to choose when they live in another country...when i feel a little stressed i look at past brides dw pictures and i smile and look forward to mine

[jajajaja]

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Originally Posted by shae as of last night, my biggest stress factor is dealing with how my guests have been hearing about the bad press that mexico is getting lately. people are asking me if i'm still having my wedding because of this and totally oblivious to the fact that all the violence is happening at the border. it's a little frustrating to feel that i have to defend my destination wedding

This has been a concern for over a year.... I'm surprised people are still talking about it because I thought the press died down on this subject. The problems are well known at the borders- not the tourist spots. Personally, I think some people will complain/worry about anything. Just reassure them and move on. No sense stressing yourself out over their fictionalized drama.

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Originally Posted by Miss Lighting Bug I have a few stressors but I am only in the early stages of planning so I am sure it will ease once I am more into it. First, travel/budget for guests (getting the best deal for them and making it an easy process) Second, what will make my day perfect i.e. what extras do I really need. I am pretty laid back but then I see all these wonderful add ons that I through in the mix. I fight with myself on do I really want to do them or not.

Some girls like to use TAs and do group bookings, which works out great but from what I've seen it's sometimes stressful getting that group rate booked. Personally, I gave everyone the information and said contact me if you need help booking. Everyone booked at different times and travelled on different dates. Most of our internet savvy guests booked themselves easily. The others I helped. Worked out perfect for us. Little stress.

Just throwing out another option to consider.

As for the add ons (not sure if it's for guests or decor), but from my experience, anything you do is appreciated by guests and most people are not accustomed to DW (yet!) so I doubt a lot go in expecting an OOT bag. Do what you feel comfortable with and what your budget allows. The whole experience is the true prize!

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Originally Posted by selassie11 Interestingly enough, my biggest stress factor is that I sometimes feel like I have TOO MUCH time still. Not getting married until next April. Trying to stick to my budget...but it seems like the more time I have, the more fabulous things I think to add to the mix. So maybe it's more of a $$ thing than anything...

I suggest waiting on non-essential stuff until you are a few months out. I kept an ideas folder. I changed so many things during my planning process so if you are really excited and just joining the forum, you will find yourself loving a million different things. I think it's best to let it all marinate and when you find yourself really set on what you want, put it all together. Trust me, you will have enough time!

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Originally Posted by nicdeb928 My wedding is 5 months away, and ive been engaged for 5 months...I have to say, I havent felt stress about much at all..its been a really nice process...I think the best advice is to relax and let it all roll...It helps to have a wonderful fiance and a great travel agent...after that it kind of just goes...the only thing ive been a little stressed over was picking a photographer...i feel that its so important and its hard to choose when they live in another country...when i feel a little stressed i look at past brides dw pictures and i smile and look forward to mine

Great attitude. Don't get STRESSED! It's totally not worth it. Once you get down to your wedding and have the best time you will seriously look back and wonder why you stressed and cried all those tears. I have yet to see a bride come back and say "you know- my wedding sucked and I wished I didn't have a DW." Sure, some things may go wrong, but even with perfect planning something may still get messed up. So I say, enjoy the process and get ready to have the best time of your life!

[KGirl99]

Biggest stress factor was getting people to book on time and trying to coordinate everything. I have family spread out between several different states so I had to make sure everybody was right along with us.

[orionandmari072510]

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Originally Posted by simba1234 One of my friends just told me that I inspired her to have a DW which is great because I was inspired by one of my cousins who had one and I learned a ton from her! My friend was asking me for advice and asked what the biggest stress factor has been in planning my DW. I told her my #1 tip was to join this forum:) This place has really been a life saver and made it a much smoother process than it would have otherwise been. So, I told her the biggest stress for me has been the wedding party. A DW is much smaller and intimate so 7 BM & 7 GM could really be overkill in a wedding where there's only 50 ppl. That means 14 out of the 50 guests would be in the bridal party. A smaller bridal party also means excluding a lot of ppl and potentially creating resentment and hurt feelings. I overcame it by just breaking a lot of traditions - i.e. No maid of honor, more GM than BM's...and with all the great advice on this forum. So, what has been YOUR BIGGEST stressor in planning a DW and if someone else was going through the same thing as you, what would be your advice to them?

i can totally understand. one of my friends getting married's biggest drama was when she had to pick the maids dresses. All the females were insane and would downright tell her "thats an ugly dress" or "im not paying for that". pure nightmare over a dang dress! and it wasnt even their wedding! I am glad i have a small wedding party consisting of mostly cooperative family members. my friends attending are already causing drama. cant imagine if i made them part of the official wedding party! id prob kick them out.

[nsbride2010]

I just read through some of these, and I realized that I am really lucky to have had a "almost" stress free planning process! My bridesmaids LOVED the dress I chose, my wedding dress had to be taken IN, my guests grumbled about my wedding being down south, but it didn't bug me.

 

My one biggest stressor was that my TA up and left his company in March, and left my file to a woman who could not speak English, told me things that were wrong but that she said were "facts", and who finally I was treated so badly by that the district manager of the company got involved, moved my file and dismissed the replacement travel agent. The new agent has been nothing but a dream, fantastic, fast responding and knowledgable! Oh... and I had some best friend drama a while back but in the end I just decided that until the whole wedding process was over I couldn't speak to her.. since she was ruining it for me in every way.

 

I always thought I was a hot head, but the wedding planning process has shown me I'm actually pretty calm, cool and collected!

[nicdeb928]

yay to no stress weddings!!!! id rather make the process a fun, bonding experience for me and my future husband...all of our planning so far has been exciting and easy and weve done it all together...i plan on completely enjoying myself that week too

[AishaB]

Mine has been trying to find a destination that will work for the people that we actually WANT to attend (because of circumstances beyond their control they wouldnt be able to if we had it outside of the US) and still staying true to me wanting to have a DW. I have gone back and forth about it a lot and it has driven me to almost pull all of my hair out.

 

I overcame this stressor (and it took many many many months), we decided to have our wedding in Cape May, NJ. It is far enough to be considered a DW, and it is still in the US, which allows immediate family members to attend.

 

I say just stick to it and do a lot of research but the most important thing is keeping true to what you want!

[StephyD]

First biggest stress factor... getting people to confirm their attendance! We haven't sent our RSVP yet and still have LOTS of time to go... but still, I'd love for everyone to just confirm they are coming.

 

Second stress factor... My mother in law! She seems to like everything I dislike and wants to plan the wedding... I hate it. It's our day, and she can't just sit in the backseat and enjoy our day, she needs to plan it for us... Ahhhh....

[JENFLY6]

Biggest stressor is getting people to book, we have nearly a year planning this wedding when we started planning hotel and airfare ws 650 for 4 days now it cost nearly 1000 and everytime i see someone they start giving me excuses as to why they cant go. honestly as long as my FI and i are there nothing matters and that is why RSVP exsist so that you just say no i cant make it and not tell me everytime you see me why you cant go to the wedding. and if you are coming to the wedding then book already and stop telling me you are going.

second stressor is the wedding party they dont book anything, atleast the bm purchased their dresses, other then that its going slow like snails

[auzziegoddess]

I have to thank everyone for telling us all what they have or are stressing about for the wedding.

I am getting married in Bali, Indonesia with 60 guests and 14 inbridal party in August 2011. I am one of those people that needs everything to be right and likes everyone happy and go out of my way for this to happen.. I now know that if anything goes wrong at least my fiance and I will be there LOL.

I have given everyone 2.5years to save up for my wedding and not only that have paid for my 6 bridesmaid dresses to make it a little easier for the girls and the 6 suits for the bridal party to afford to come to Bali.. From now on I am just gonna worry about my to be husband and me.

Thanks so much Ladies c;