Few days in your life are more meaningful and joyful to you than your wedding day. Ideally, your guests will also have a memorable experience witnessing your union. Especially with a destination wedding, you want your guests to reflect back on the day and remember more than, “Oh, yeah, that was that beach wedding we went to a few years ago.” Here are our favorite tips and personal touches to plan a destination wedding that will stay forever etched in your minds.
Location, Location, Location
Where you have your destination wedding will influence everything from the mood of your ceremony to budget you’ll need to pull it off. Our best advice is to choose thoughtfully and choose early. Think about locations that represent you both well as a couple. Did your fiancée propose in the Bahamas, New York City or on a cruise? Why not follow that lead and have a wedding at that destination? The key is to think about what makes you as a couple and your love story uniquely you and match that to a destination.
The other variable you’ll want to be sensitive to is your timing in announcing the location of your wedding. After all, you want your guests to remember the ceremony, not how expensive it was to get there last-minute! Giving your guests plenty of notice allows them time to schedule affordable flights and accommodations before rates skyrocket. You can also keep your guests’ expenses down by scheduling your wedding outside of peak tourist season. A wedding coordinator can help you choose dates based on cost, season, etc.
Design a Save-the-Date That’ll Make Their Day
Part of the beauty of a destination wedding is that you’re not so strictly bound by the rules of etiquette and constraints of tradition. That freedom applies to your save-the-date announcement as well, which will give your guests their first impression of your impending nuptials. As you create your save-the-date, think about incorporating your location and/or wedding theme into it.
For example, you might choose your favorite engagement photo alongside a fake passport. Alternatively, you might choose your save-the-date colors based on the flag of the country in which you’re getting married. With Jamaica, for instance, you could do black, yellow, and green. You can also fashion the save-the-date itself in the shape of a plane, a boat, a suitcase — the options are limitless.
Have a Group Adventure
Remember, your guests will have flown quite a way just to be with you on your wedding day. They’re in a location that is completely foreign to them, and, outside of your ceremony and reception, they probably don’t have much planned. With destination weddings, a group excursion or other activity is a great way to make memories with your guests and make them feel appreciated for traveling all that way.
A group activity is the perfect opportunity to showcase what makes the location so special to you and your spouse-to-be. For example, if you chose to have your wedding in Saint Lucia, why not schedule a group snorkeling tour? Or maybe a tour to the Pitons or even the Sulphur Springs! For any location, a group sightseeing tour is always a fun outing.
Depending on where you and your party are staying, your hotel, resort or cruise line might be able to arrange this for you. Feel free to get creative when seeing the sights — if you’re in rain forest country, consider a zip line tour. Or, if you’re near the ocean, try taking a boat tour of the area.
Offer a Guestbook That Bucks Tradition
You’re breaking with tradition simply by having a destination wedding, so why not continue that trend and offer an unconventional guestbook…and we use the word “book” loosely! Don’t feel like you have to have guests sign on paper — it’s time to think outside the book.
Here are a few ideas to get you started. So it’s probably a safe bet, since you’re having a destination wedding, that you and your fiancée love to travel. How about having your guests sign a globe with permanent marker instead of a book? They can sign above where they’re from or their favorite place to vacation, for example.
Wine lover? Put out several markers of different colors and have each of your guests sign a cork. You can display your corks in a clear vase as a centerpiece in your home for years to come! If you’re having a beach wedding, think about buying a wooden puzzle with a tropical theme and having guests sign each piece.
Are you both musicians? Or just big music fans? Why not have your guests sign an old guitar? You could also frame a few records that are especially meaningful to you both — such as “your song” or the song that was playing when you first danced, kissed, etc.—and have guests sign them in white permanent marker. Once your guests sign them, they’re already wall-ready for your home. The record idea also works well for fifties-themed or vintage destination weddings!
Fair-Weather Guests Are Happy Guests
Of course, you want nothing to do with fair-weather friends. But at your destination wedding, fair weather is exactly what you want for your friends and guests. Bad weather might make your wedding memorable, but certainly not in the way you want.
In exotic locations, the weather isn’t always predictable, especially if you plan your wedding for the off season to avoid crowds. At the very least, have a contingency plan if the weather takes a turn for the worse. Make sure your venue has a covered or indoor option where you can move the ceremony if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate.
While you can’t avoid meteorological surprises altogether, you can schedule your wedding for the months when the weather is best. Sometimes, the best weather coincides with tourist season, which you want to avoid, so the key is to choose a date right before or right after peak travel season. This is another area where your wedding planner can give you some valuable insight on what dates are best. Some venues include a wedding coordinator with their packages, while others may require you to hire your own.
Don’t Forget That Personal Touch
We think a lot of couples assume that a wedding in an exotic locale is already so outside the norm that it will be memorable for everyone without any additional effort. While destination weddings certainly are more memorable than most, don’t forget to make yours truly yours! Whether a wedding is down the street at the neighborhood church or thousands of miles across the globe, small personal touches are what transform an ordinary wedding into an extraordinary experience.
Photos of the bride and groom, especially as children, are an adorable way to lend that personal touch to any ceremony, near or far. You can incorporate these photos in a few ways. You might frame 4X6 or 5X7 photos and attach them to a ribbon that you hang from the end of each aisle seat at the ceremony. This is always a big hit.
To identify your guests’ tables, you can also put pictures of yourselves at various ages to correspond with the table numbers. For example, you can put a frame with a “one” in the middle, with a picture of the each of you at age one on each side.
Another way to work a few childhood photos in is to hang them from the table centerpieces, especially if your centerpiece has branches of some kind. We’ve even seen couples who have made their wedding cakes a photo cake, decorated with pictures from childhood to their engagement. The take-home point is that there’s no wrong way to make a wedding personal.
You and your spouse will remember your wedding for the rest of your lives. And, with these tips, you’ll create an equally memorable experience for your guests on your joyous day.