Why are you having a destination wedding?

june11bride · January 26, 2011

We have always loved to travel, and we got engaged in Mexico. When there, we saw a wedding happen on the beach. My FI suggested we could get married in Mexico too. However, I didn't really like how small the wedding was, and they had their reception at the table next to us for their reception! Therefore, I was put off by it, becaues while I didn't want anything huge, I wanted more than just a dinner. As it turned out, we were at a TINY resort (I hadn't yet seen one of the giant ones!!) so I didn't know what was possible.

We went home, excited about being engaged. The DW idea had gone out of my mind. We had 2 years to plan, but I wanted to get started. However, when I started looking through magazines and trying to make decisions, it just didn't feel right. I started making a guest list, and when I would add someone, I had to add another person....and it became way too much. Why would I want people I barely know sharing in a very intimate moment?
Thus, we revisited the DW idea. We started looking at more resorts and bigger packages, and started to get really excited. However, our families arne't exactly rich and there are some of them we wouldn't go without, so we were wary at first. We decided to mention it to people to see how it would go over. Surprisingly, people thought it was a great idea!! We started getting really excited, and even wnet back to Mexico to look at resorts. 5 months before my wedding I know a billion percent we are making the right decision- it feels so right. We are very private people so only the people we really care about will be there. We have had to make some sacrifices but not enough to make any part of this process negative. We have to pay for my FI's mom to come because she has NO means to come, and we are paying for half of his brother to come because they have a new baby and aren't really in the place to pay. It has gotten a little more expensive than we originally planned, but it is absolutely perfect, and beyond anything I could have dreamed of!!

merrylee · January 26, 2011

We are going the DW route because my FSIL got married at the Beach Palace in October 2010 and we really valued the quality time we got to spend with them while we were there. Plus we were blessed to be able to take their pictures so it gave us a unique insight into the process and a different experience than any other guests. One day sitting in the pool we all started talking about if FI and I would ever consider a DW and I said yeah we were actually talking about the experience and how cool it was. FSIL and FBIL were like we are in no matter when no matter where. Fast forward 2 months we get engaged and although it took me 2 weeks of floundering we are having a DW wedding. We get engaged 12/17 they announce they are preggo 12/25 and I was so upset because I figured they wouldn't want/couldn't go. We were told that it didn't matter they would be there no matter what. That just cemented the decision for me. As much as this is about us, I want to share it with the people that love us enough to travel with us to celebrate. FI wants to have an AHR and I am not really sure the lengths that I want to go to, but we'll see.

I love that I will be having quality and quantity time to spend with everyone and not just the 5 minutes to say hello to a whole table.

mmcst38 · January 26, 2011

I have been in 7 weddings! All exactly the same, same ceremony, same hummer limo, same country club style place, same random people invited because they worked with brides/grooms father, I could've went through all the motions wiht my eyes closed nothing was unique or personal....and no matter what no bridesmaid dress could ever be worn again...I wanted just me and my FI originally but our very close friends and family are too important not to invite, cant wait!

MissFifi · January 26, 2011

My fiance, well at the time, he was my boyfriend, suggested it. I kinda laughed it off because I wasn't thinking about anything that serious yet but I did let him know that I wanted to have a cultural engagement party. I ended up going to three DW and loved the idea. I really liked the fact that it's intimate and you can spend time with loved ones while beginning a new life together. Ironically, he proposed at the last DW we went to, and now we are planning one for next year

magikstarrynite7 · January 26, 2011

Because my future hubby is a Cancun local, so it just seemed like second nature...

Besides, who DOESN'T want to get married in paradise!

jennifersyble · January 26, 2011

We decided to have a dw for a few reasons, similar to everyone else:

1. We both have very large families with tons of relatives who we barely know that we would have had to invite at home.

2. We both love to travel...especially me.

3. We want an intimate and special wedding where we can really have time to enjoy the moment and our closest friends and family.

There has been a little drama for our decision of a dw (and some of our close relatives may not be coming) but so far I think it's worth it and a little drama is probably to be expected with any destination wedding or wedding for that matter.

That being said, we still have 8 months to go.

merrylee · January 27, 2011

Well that just seems perfect Congrats

Originally Posted by MissFifi

My fiance, well at the time, he was my boyfriend, suggested it. I kinda laughed it off because I wasn't thinking about anything that serious yet but I did let him know that I wanted to have a cultural engagement party. I ended up going to three DW and loved the idea. I really liked the fact that it's intimate and you can spend time with loved ones while beginning a new life together. Ironically, he proposed at the last DW we went to, and now we are planning one for next year

MissFifi · January 27, 2011

Thank you!

sweetness · January 27, 2011

I always said since I was little that I wanted to get married on the beach at sunset and now my dream is coming true =)

X-Chan · January 27, 2011

Same boat here. I've always dreamed of a beach wedding, and now FI happnes to be a Cuban native so of course we have to do it there since his family can't travel out of the country. I also agree with all the other reasons listed here. I don't like the large un-intimate weddings full of the couple's parents acquaintances, and I never liked the idea of spending extravagant amounts of money for one night when it could go towards something else like a downpayment for a house. So now I get my affordable destination wedding and don't have to defend my reasons to anyone since for half our guests it's not even a destination wedding at all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by magikstarrynite7