Destination weddings have been on the rise in recent years, and with good reason; they often cost less than at-home affairs and they give you and your family and friends a chance to vacation along the way. In order to make the weekend one they'll not soon forget, follow these tips for an exciting wedding weekend.
Wine and Dine Guests
Usually, for a destination wedding, many of the guests foot their own travel bill, so make it worth their while by entertaining them day and night while you're all away together.
Host a welcome cocktail hour when guests arrive, have a BBQ on the first night or host a farewell dinner on the day after the wedding before everyone heads home. The more festivities you host, the more your guests will feel a part of the celebration, and cared for after spending money to spring for the trip.
Weave a Theme
Themes are usually easy to come up with, and then weaving it throughout the weekend is a good way to make for a cohesive larger event. For instance, if your destination wedding takes place in Hawaii, starfish and turtles and sea colors would make a great theme.
You can dress up those same elements for the wedding, dress them down for a welcome BBQ and even integrate them into welcome baskets placed in each guest's hotel room. That way, when they get home with a souvenir starfish, their memory will be jogged about the entire weekend's festivities and how it flowed together seamlessly.
Consider Unusual Locales
Everyone thinks Hawaii or the Carribean when they think destination weddings, but they're happening everywhere these days and it can pay to research lesser-known places where your guests will be pleasantly surprised.
Try a ski chalet in the winter in Colorado, a small French village where you can take over a bed and breakfast, a cool-weather beach location like British Columbia among dramatic views of windswept coastline or a desert wedding among cacti and tumbleweeds.
Document the Entire Weekend
Many couples who have destination weddings tend to downplay the surrounding events and focus too much on the ceremony and reception. They are the main events, but don't forget about the rest of those events. Put together, they tell the story of the entire trip, which is very much a part of the wedding celebration.
Consider hiring your photographer for the entire event instead of just the wedding day so that they can help immortalize the memories of the entire weekend, and you'll have a complete story to tell through the photos for years to come.
