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Welcome to Destination Weddings Tips
Hi, I'm Victoria Munn, one of the hundreds of writers here at LifeTips.com. Enjoy these 211 Destination Weddings Tips! If you’re a business, why not hire the expert writers at LifeTips? And if you’re a writer, apply for freelance writing gigs.
Ways to Save on Destination Wedding Accommodations
There are many ways that you, and your wedding guests, can save on destination wedding accommodations. If you choose to have your wedding in the “off season” (a less popular time of year to travel to your destination), you can often save almost half of the cost of full rates. Booking large amounts of rooms at the same time can also save you money - you or your wedding planner can negotiate a group rate for your accommodations, making the cost per room less for your guests. Another way to lower your accommodation costs is to have wedding guests stay at a cheaper (but still nice) hotel or resort that's nearby. If you want to stay at the four star resort you're holding your wedding at, you can choose to have your wedding guests stay at the two or three star hotel next door. It's also nice to give your guests a choice of rooms; that way, they can decide how much they want to pay for their accommodations. Remember, your destination wedding is a vacation for them as well!
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Destination Weddings Tip: Choosing an All-Inclusive Wedding Destination
An all-inclusive destination wedding is a good choice for the couple that wants to pay one price and have everything taken care of. Companies, such as Sandals and Club Med, offer a variety of packages that include all components of the wedding and honeymoon, from your arrival at the airport to the ceremony to a romantic week at the beach following the wedding.
All-inclusive properties can be found all over the world, but some destinations offer more choices than others. Below are just a few wedding destinations where all-inclusive resorts are popular:
Jamaica. Jamaica, home base to Sandals Resorts, offers more than a dozen all-inclusive properties, including seven Sandals resorts located all over the island. Other good choices include Couples Sans Souci, Swept Away, and the Grand Lido Resorts.
Riviera Maya. This 75-mile coastal stretch south of Cancun, Mexico continues to develop, mostly with all-inclusive resorts, such as Allegro Playacar, Dreams Tulum, Iberostar Playa Paraiso. This up-and-coming resort area is known for its eco-theme parks and Mayan ruins.
Dominican Republic. With more than two dozen all-inclusive resorts, this island nation is the all-inclusive capital of the Caribbean. Most of the resorts are located in the resort area of Punta Cana and around Puerto Plata.
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Choosing a Destination Wedding Coordinator
If you decide that using a destination wedding coordinator is the right idea for you, there are some easy ways to find a coordinator that you will feel comfortable with. One of the first things you can do is ask around. If you know other couples who got married at your destination, or if you find someone on-line who did, ask which coordinator they used. Another way to get a wedding coordinator referral is through a destination wedding planner/travel agent. These sites help to book travel plans and stays at your destination, and they can also put you in contact with wedding planners in your area. For example, if you're planning a Costa Rica wedding, a travel company specializing in destination weddings can help you to book your trip as well as find a wedding planner in Costa Rica. A third way to find a wedding planner for your destination is to look at bridal planner associations, and get referrals that way. A good one to use is the Association for Wedding Professionals International (http://www.afwpi.com/).
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Destination Weddings Tip: Planning a Cancun Wedding
Cancun, unlike most other resorts, was designed as a vacation paradise. The town, located at the upper end of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, had just three full-time residents in 1970 when the Mexican government decided to promote Cancun as an international resort. Today, the initial nine hotels have grown to a collection of 140, a number of which are all-inclusive properties. More than four million visitors fly into Cancun each year.
Those traveling to Cancun will find long stretches of white sand beach; more than 380 restaurants featuring all types of cuisine; a vibrant "dance 'til dawn" nightlife; and affordable shopping. For those interested in the history and culture of the region, the Mayan ruins at Tulum and Chichen-Itza make a fascinating day trip.
The weather in Cancun is predictably warm and humid most of the year, with occasional, short-lived afternoon showers. The resort does lie in the heart of Hurricane Alley, however, and wedding couples are well-advised to avoid booking their trip during the period from mid-August to mid-October.
As with any destination wedding, it's a good idea to enlist the services of a destination wedding specialist to assist you with all of the details. Planning any wedding can be stressful and planning one hundreds (or thousands) of miles from home only adds to that feeling. Working with someone, such as the wedding planners at Destination Weddings.com, can help to make planning the perfect Cancun wedding much easier. Plus: their services are free.
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Destination Weddings in the Bahamas
The islands of the Bahamas are known for their exotic beauty and unique culture. These attributes can definitely carry over to your wedding and give you many lasting memories. Planning a Bahamas wedding starts with a residency requirement of one day; you can't get married in the Bahamas on the same day you arrive. Legally, you must also provide photo ID, sign a declaration with the US Consul at the American Embassy, and provide documentation of when you arrived in the Bahamas. The Bahamas actually has its own state-run complimentary Weddings and Honeymoon Unit of the Ministry of Tourism, which can help you to plan your wedding here, and many resorts also provide help with planning.
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Destination Weddings Tip: The Wedding Vacation: The Best of Both Worlds
Why get married and then get up before dawn, when you're already exhausted, to catch that 7 a.m. flight to Mexico or the Caribbean for your honeymoon? With a wedding vacation, you're already at your honeymoon destination and the relaxation and getting to know one another can begin as soon as you say "I do."
Made popular by the Sandals Resorts people, the company that coined the phrase "WeddingMoon" to describe the phenomenon, a wedding vacation combines a destination wedding with a resort, usually beach-related, honeymoon. Sandals, and many other resorts, encourage couples to combine their wedding and honeymoon by offering discounts, free nights, and substantial gifts to those spending their honeymoon at the resort in conjunction with the wedding. For instance, Sandals is currently offering free china (up to a 20-piece set) and crystal stemware for those booking a six-night stay within a year of their Sandals wedding.
Destinations for a wedding vacation are limited only by the couple's imagination. The Caribbean and Mexico are popular choices, but Bermuda, the Bahamas, and even Tahiti make lovely -- and memorable -- wedding vacation choices.
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Ways to Have a Celebrity Wedding With a Low Budget
Although many brides and grooms would love to have the kind of extravaganza that celebrities can afford for their weddings, few couples can match that kind of expense account. To recreate the celebrity wedding feel, you can emulate their ceremonies and style for a cheaper price. Window shop for your celebrity wedding gown on different sites such as the Knot and then find a similar one by a lower-end designer. Often, you can get a gown that's close to looking like the real thing for less than a tenth of the price. You can look at pictures of celebrity wedding cakes, and then ask your local baker for a quote on how much it would cost to recreate it (using different ingredients and less embellishments can lower the price).
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Destination Weddings Tip: A Couple's Destination Wedding Duties
The bridal couple's duties at a destination wedding are primarily to enjoy themselves on their special day. However, there are a few things to keep in mind when planning destination weddings.
The wedding couple is not under any obligation to pay for their guests' hotel rooms or flights. If the couple is in a financial position to pay all or part of these expenses, no doubt it would be appreciated, but it's not required. It does, however, make sense for the bridal couple to negotiate a group rate or at least put together the travel costs related to the wedding trip, so that guests don't have to spend time researching travel options.
During the week of the wedding, it's nice to arrange a few events or activities for your guests to share. Generally, these are optional, but give your friends and family a chance to get to know one another as well as enjoy the destination. Any mandatory events, such as a rehearsal dinner, should be paid for by the wedding couple.
Attending a destination wedding as a guest requires more time and money than simply showing up at a church across town. It's polite to acknowledge your guests' efforts by sending them a brief thank you note following the wedding trip.
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Booking a Location for a Destination Wedding
When booking a location for your destination wedding, there are many things you must consider. If you're planning to have a wedding at a resort, make sure that you find out whether or not the ceremony is included in your resort stay, where you can get married on the resort, and who can attend (if children are welcome). If you're planning on a different sort of location, such as a hotel or a chapel, make sure you contact the site to find out particulars such as the size of the location (how many guests can be present) and the facilities available. Find out about details such as décor, catering (in-house, or can you use your own), and even seemingly obvious things such as parking. It may be a bit harder to judge whether your chosen location is perfect from long distance, so it can help to have a “local” in the area scout the sites for you, or better yet, hire a local wedding planner.
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Celebrity Wedding Dresses for Less
One of the ways that any bride can emulate a celebrity wedding is by copying a celebrity wedding dress. Vera Wang, Monique Lhuillier and other bridal designers to the stars create beautiful dresses, but their price tags can reach tens of thousands of dollars. One way to purchase celebrity wedding dresses on a budget is to buy copies - often if a dress is very popular, moderately priced designers will copy it for sale to the general public. Or you can take a picture of the dress you want to a seamstress to have it copied for you, at a great discount. Another way is to buy a used wedding dress in a boutique or online. If wearing a dress that someone else already wore isn't your idea of the perfect gown, you can also brave Filene's Basement's annual wedding gown sale, where designer dresses that normally sell for up to $8000 are marked down to prices between $249 and $500.
