A destination wedding can be a truly festive occasion with friends and relatives arriving a few days before to share in the excitement and festivities in the lead up to the wedding day. If you’re having a destination wedding, getting married out of town or coming home to get married, planning can be a little more challenging than with a local wedding. Read on for some helpful tips to make your destination wedding around Perth and the South West just that little bit easier.
The Internet
The internet can provide an abundance of tools and information to help you. Choosing professional services such as wedding planners, wedding photographers, the venue, etc…. Take the time to look for professional wedding service providers with a positive reputation. Talk to them as well. Set up a conference call or Skype with them to talk about their offerings. The type of response you get will be a telling sign of how experienced the provider is with dealing “long distance” relationships.
A Planning Trip
It’s not always possible to visit your wedding venue if it’s long distance. If you can, make a planning trip it’s helpful. Visiting your wedding destination ahead of time can help you carefully scope out the venue, taste some cakes, plan the menu, meet with the musicians, wedding photographer, and so on. If you’ve narrowed your choices before hand and arranged a schedule a head of time it should only take a couple of days to do the rounds.
Don’t Forget the Guests!
If you’re planning an out of town wedding consider where you’re guest will be staying. You may want to arrange group accommodation at the one resort. This can create a great atmosphere as everyone has a chance to get to know each other before the wedding. You might also like to arrange transport to and from the various venues on the wedding day.
Delegating
Are you getting married somewhere else because there’s family there? Ask for help. You can have a friend or relative who lives there help you with the planning and visit venues, take photos, be on site for a meeting with you on the phone, etcetera. As a trusted friend or relative to visit a potential wedding photographer. Your friend will get a feel for quality, reliability and whether the personality will fit with you on the wedding day.
Here are some tips for smooth planning for your long distance wedding:
- Plan early. Have extra time for things to get done. Because you’re not available on hand to make things happen, you’ll want a time buffer.
- Plan for a buffer in your budget for the unexpected. Some destination weddings are more expensive and others are way cheaper than a local wedding but it’s always important to carefully outline a budget and to allow a bit of a buffer (say, 20%) in case of unforeseen expenses.
- Arrive early — if possible. If you can arrive a few days or a week ahead, you can plan to meet with all your service providers, check out the locale, and have time for all the pre-wedding festivities as well as last-minute inspections.
- Get organised. Keep a wedding binder or planner with phone numbers, receipts, contact information, etcetera.
- Make sure all the legal stuff is researched and done early. You want to be sure all marriage license paperwork is in order.
- If possible, hire a wedding planner at the destination. This person is your eyes and ears on the site and is accountable for making sure your plans and wishes are flawlessly executed. It can be an additional expense to hire a wedding planner but if it’s an option for you, it could substantially lower your stress level. Don’t leave it all to the wedding planner; expect continuous updates so you’re sure the planner is fully aware of your ideas and dreams for your wedding day.
A destination wedding can be beautiful and careful planning can help it be anxiety-free. An out-of-state wedding or out-of-town wedding can be flawlessly executed as well, despite your being off site to do the planning. Don’t be afraid to get help and plan everything well in advance to be sure your wedding is everything you’ve dreamt it would be.
