How many of you or know someone had a destination wedding? I'm trying to see if it's worth the stress...I don't want a traditional wedding. If we go with a destination wedding, we would need some help, like a wedding planner or travel agent. I found this website but I don't know anyone that used this. http://www.destinationweddings.com/ It's an online business with a network of travel agents and I only pay $50 and have our guests and us to arrange our travel plans with them. I just don't know where to start because most of my friends/relatives had a traditional wedding. Some advice please! Thanks!
I just got married in the Cayman Islands last week. We just asked a few friends and family. Low stress and the beaches were amazing. It made a great background for our pictures.
GntleMan_Di: Hey. So, since my little lady has such particular, impossible to perceive taste, I have made nonrefundable deposits at four totally different wedding locales: hot air balloons over Napa Valley, world-famous Walt Disney's Epcot Center, scuba diving wedding in the Bahamas, and the Wilkes-Barre Marriott Ballroom C.
I got married at an all inclusive resort outside of playa del carmen. we had about 60 guests and it was great. Very easy. Tell people upfront if they want to go thats great, but if they can't its understandable. Its a vacation with a wedding thrown in. I'd recommend the all inclusive if you have a lot of guests going. Makes it easier for them, since you don't have to worry about dinner and bar bills, etc. The resorts are easy to deal with in arranging the wedding, theres usually a staff person employed that you can work directly with. Send out a save the date invitation ahead of time giving a heads up on what it will be so people can plan. Check about the marriage license requirements in foreign countries ahead of time.
A friend of mine's daughter got married during a Carribean cruise. Friends and family were able to hang out for a few days together, then they docked for the ceremony. Instead of boarding after the ceremony, the newlyweds stayed on the island and the guests finished out the cruise.
If you do this, don't expect many guests. You can easily have a non-traditional wedding right where you live. Come up or look for some unique ideas. For example, I had my reception at the Children's museum, and I still have people say it was the best wedding reception they were ever at.
I went down to Port Aransas to get married, even though only an aunt and grandmother were anywhere close to it. Everyone had to drive down from Houston (or further) to attend. It wasn't really a "destination wedding," just one that was a far drive away. But, people stayed over night and got drunk on the beach. It was nice having everyone together for that long. And, since the commitment was higher, I was able to shake-off people who aren't really my friends but who'd drive up my liquor costs.
Mind if you name that resort? We are looking at playa del carmen or riviera maya... we don't want to get ripped off if we have one....we already agreed that we wanted to keep this small and have a house party for rest of our families/friends here in houston. I really am not too keen on spending $20k on a wedding at all. I would much rather to spend that money on the house or our future travel plans and gasp, kids!
You couldn't possibly do this... YOU'RE MEXICAN! " What? It's so expensive! You're not inviting Uncle Pancho, Aunt Janet, Cousin Lalo from The Valley, Nephew Tito from Chee-kha-goh???" "Who's going?" "All of us! Ay, si tu... mira miss Ford Explorer y todo la cabr..." "M'ija... how many can we fit into one airplane...? "
^ I got more, since you can't stop me : "M'ijita... I'm sorry that cousin Chacho can't make it... he's got no papers to make it into the U.S. back from las ba 'amas... " "WHAT? You think money grows on trees? Your mom and I ain't going, it's so expensive... !!"
I know a number of people who have done it.. many seem to pay to fly in relatives who can't afford to be there (but who are close). So in that way, it can be more expensive than you're expecting. But if/when I get married one day, I sure hope it's on an island.. can't beat that weather and scenery.
We got married on the beach in Cozumel. We went on a 7 day cruise and that was one of the stops. I did not want a traditional wedding and I couldn't be happier with our experience. For the price of a traditional wedding we were able to pay for my wife's family (6 people) to come on the cruise. We had our immediate family and close friends that could make the trip. It was very little stress and instead of one special (and stressful) day, we got a full week to celebrate with our family. We held a little reception a month later back home to celebrate with all those that couldn't make the trip. If I did it again, I'd probably go to an all-inclusive resort just because my wife got a little sea-sick on the last night.
ours was at the Iberostar Paraiso del Mar, about 15-20 mins north of Playa. I think ours was about $7000 for about 60 guests, for the rehearsal dinner and ceremony/reception etc. Work directly with the resort as far as the wedding, it was extremely easy. we did everything by email ahead of time and basically just showed up. Get a good travel agent if there are a lot of guests, ours was horrible. a friend also got married at El dorado royale and that was good also. they are both close to each other.
We are just about to have our Destination Wedding (Catholic Ceremony, we are civilly married) in Huntington Beach, CA. We are actually taking our honeymoon in the Riviera Maya, it was very affordable, and everyone I have talked to has had nothin but wonderful things to say about it. Some friends of ours went the route you are suggesting and had the Wedding and Honeymoon at an all-inclusive resort in Cabo. They had alot of good things to say, but also said it was kind've weird being at the same place after the Wedding...especially before the guests head back home since they were all in the same resort... Whichever way you go it will most likely be alot cheaper than having a traditional wedding in Houston because as I have gathered...you are hispanic which means you will most likely have a million relatives coming in from all over the place. Also, if you stay in town, people who are acquantinces more than friends are going to show up just for the free food and booze..my wife (Mexican) and I were faced with this quandry, and when we crunched the numbers the food and alcohol at the reception was just going to be astronomical. While the idea of traveling somewhere for a wedding might sound more expensive at first, your largest expense will most likely be Reception related, and the destination will cut those numbers down significantly, and on that note the most important people are going to be the ones showing up... just my two cents
Riviera Maya FTW. Check out El Dorado Royal. It's an adults-only all-inclusive. No, it's not a nudist resort. They have a gazebo right on the beach where they do weddings. Or if you prefer, a Mexican style chapel. After that, they have 7 restaurants and about 20 bars to choose from. I can’t recommend it enough. We can’t wait to go back.
That last one ain't a joke. I actually heard that from some peeps tell their kids like that... SRSLY, guys.
