Organizing a destination wedding is a lot of fun for the couple and the guests. It’s a perfect opportunity for couples and their families and friends to get together in a beautiful and unique location. You may call it a group vacation.
As a couple planning a destination wedding, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your guests find it easy to attend your wedding.
Keep reading to know the best ways you can help your friends and family who are traveling down for your destination wedding.
Let’s get started!
Inform them as soon as possible
This is the first thing you must do if you want your loved ones to enjoy a seamless trip to your wedding. Since it’s a destination wedding and everyone(or almost everyone) will be traveling for a few days, then it should not be an impromptu decision you make like a month before the wedding— unless you are planning to elope with your partner(on a lighter note).
Sure, short notice will make it difficult for most of your loved ones to quickly plan for such a long journey. Hence, send your ‘Save the Date’ very much earlier before your wedding day. The best practice is to send it between 9 to 12 months before D-Day. Then, you can send invitations to everyone at least six months in advance.
Informing your guests early enough would give them ample time to get ready. Furthermore, include a link to your wedding website in your save-the-dates and invitations so that guests can access all vital travel information in advance.
Keep your guests updated
It is now much easier to keep your guests updated with essential information via your wedding website. The wedding website should be your first go-to if you want to inform your guests of any change of plans or give any supplementary information.
There are various information you can put there including where to stay, what to do, travel and neighborhood guides, and so on. You can also direct your guests to helpful travel websites, where they can get free travel hacks.
Plan the event well
As the couple and host of the event, you should ensure you dot the i’s and cross the t’s as regards the wedding plans. It takes a lot of sacrifices to make it to a destination wedding(no doubt, it has to be because of the love they have for you). However, do your best to make the wedding event worth coming for.
Start with the venue. Check out the place months before and confirm it’s suitable to host your guests and loved ones. Arrive at the venue days before to recheck the condition of the venue. Consider having a wedding rehearsal before D-Day at the venue.
Plan for the best food and drinks to host your guests. Get your clothes and accessories ready. To avoid disappointments, order your wedding rings from a reliable store like mensweddingbands.com a few months before and ensure you do not forget them at your base.
You can involve a wedding planner to ensure everything runs smoothly. All you want to do is to organize a wedding that your guests will keep talking about even years after.
Settle the accommodation
If you are opportune as a couple, it is a good idea to help guests with accommodation. However, you don’t have to do this if you don’t have the financial capacity; most guests will likely be fine finding their own place to stay. But if you can, it’s just a nice gesture.
If you have only a few guests traveling from a distance, it may be more cost-effective to rent a guest house through a service like Airbnb. If you’re booking a hotel, you can arrange for a block of rooms for your guests.
Give hotel recommendations
Giving hotel recommendations to your guests if you can’t book lodgings for all of them can still be quite helpful. You need to research the best lodging options near the venue.
Also, check if there are any exclusive offers or promotions that your loved ones can benefit from. Your visitors can also find the fairest offers from reputable booking websites to choose the most practical lodging to save time and money!
Decide on arrival and departure date
The fun starts at local weddings as soon as the guests arrive because they have just that day to mingle before everyone takes their leave.
When people arrive for destination weddings, they are usually jetlagged and have little or no time to explore the serenity and beauty of the place until their departure.
If you want to have enough time with your guests and also ensure they enjoy your wedding as a vacation, plan their arrival days before the wedding.
As regards the departure date, guests are free to remain at the location as long as their schedules permit.
You may want to explore the city beforehand and offer your visitors some ideas for day trips they can take to complement the already scheduled activities you have for them. It’s going to be an experience they will never forget.
But if they get to know about something amazing they missed in your wedding location when they are already back home, they may feel unfulfilled.
Show your appreciation
Regardless of how close your guests are to you, you must recognize that it takes a lot to travel across countries for a wedding. So, the least you can do is appreciate their efforts.
While giving your successful wedding thank you speech, remember to thank guests who have traveled a distance. If you can, thank each person, rather than just mentioning all of the out-of-town visitors at once. It might truly help them feel as though their sacrifices are valued.
It’s also a smart idea to acknowledge each family member and MVP on your wedding website page.
You can also present souvenirs to your visitors as an appreciation gift. Wedding favors that double as souvenirs of the location and the event can be a pleasant touch. Of course, the big event doubling as a vacation will be memorable enough on its own. But, it helps to give an object of remembrance.
Give Necessary Tips
Some of your guests might not be familiar with traveling out of town, but you can make it easier for them by uploading essential tips on your wedding website or sending the tips to them personally. Here are some tips that will help your guests travel with ease.
- Pack smart: Pre-plan your outfits! Choose your attire for the wedding ceremony and sightseeing well in advance. You’re less likely to experience the issue of overpacking if you plan the event far in advance.
- Pack your wedding outfit in hand luggage: You want to make sure that if this occurs, you won’t be forced to scramble to get a wedding guest costume at the last minute. Have your wedding-day attire on the aircraft when you’re going to a wedding.
- Be clear on expenses: It is best that everyone knows about the financial implication of the trip and prepares for it. This removes unpleasant surprises. You can also provide them with tips on how to save on destination weddings on the website.
On a Final Note
Planning a destination wedding requires a bit more effort than a home or garden wedding, but with enough preparation, everything will go without a hitch. As the couple, ensure you leave no stone unturned so that your guests will have an enjoyable and worthwhile ‘vacation’.
Also, ensure your wedding guests know what they are in for so that they can plan along and enjoy every bit of the party.
It’s also noteworthy that some of your friends and acquaintances may have genuine reasons for not coming to the wedding. You can make plans for live streaming so that they will not miss out much.
