Who is having a destination wedding?

Hi there may I ask where in mexico

Hey Ladies,

It's good to hear I'm not the only one in this position. My wedding is in July and the hotel wants all my paper work (guest list, seating arrangemnts, preferences) in 3 months before the wedding (this month). So our best man isn't booked and I honestly find it hard to revoke the role because they haven't booked and they cannot grasp the concept of doing things on their own vs. attending a destination wedding and things must be done. Thanks for all your support I guess its best to just move on, even though this may create drama!

Hello I am planning a destination wedding in Mexico for November 2017. It is definitely stressful with figuring out if people can come and trying not to be offended about the ones that can't make it. I keep trying to remind myself self that all I really need is my family and anyone else is bonus. I have about 28 people confirmed but may have close to 36 or 40 with a few others who are on the fence. We are getting married at the grand bahia principe akumal in Mexico. I'm just in the process of starting getting details organized with the resort. I have attached a picture of my ceremony gazebo and reception tent.

Hi Kris
Sorry your're going through all these issues. But I totally understand where you are coming from. My wedding is in Dec and I sent out my "save the dates" since September and alot of people still didn't RSVP. Even the ones who are suppose to be in my wedding party. I refuse to let those people stress me out. Just continue with your planning😊.

I am in your exact shoes!

Our wedding is in November guests have RSVP already. The Groom has 2 brothers neither has RSVP although deadline has passed. He has 2 best friends who we knew would not miss our wedding -they are so this leaves us to who are we having in our party. I have 3 close friends who I thought for sure would go. One I have been friends with, worked with etc. for 15 years we travelled together, talk on the phone 3 X a day etc. She is not attending as she cannot afford it but did not tell me until deadline passed. One is getting divorced so she is not coming as her husband was in the party so this is up in the air as neither are now coming and the other is not attending for other personal issues.

He has 2 for sure who have responded and are attending and I am close to their wives so the two couples are are a given but we have not asked them yet.

I then have 2-4 additional girl friends who I would want in my party but I cannot ask them since I am waiting to find out how many he has in his party so we have the same numbers.

I would be upfront and ask them. In my case I upfront stated even on our website we are not asking until after the date to RSVP as people tend to be nice and say yes I will be your bridesmaid but have no intention on coming. So we did not want to make people uncomfortabel if they are not attending.

So I would say I have notied you have not RSVP as you know you are in the wedding party if you are not intending on coming for a variety of reasons please let me know as you have to order your dress and coordinate with the bridal party so I want to make sure that you will be paying your deposit and will be attending our day. I understand if financially you cannot attend but I need to know to plan our wedding.

Destination weddings are wildcards...those you thought for sure would never miss your wedding will and those you did not think would go, are attending.

Hey hun,
I'm having a similar issue. People tend to want to do things on their own time ,not considering that's it's a wedding not just a birthday party. I would set up replacement for them so that in the end you won't have any issues.

Hey Krystie! You should talk to Kris in the comments below. She also had a similar situation: Destination wedding rsvp advice What type of venue did you choose for your wedding? Will your wedding be on the beach?

That's super cool! I love the idea of having different shades of purple You can also take a look at these ideas for mix and match with accessories and bouquet : 6 + 1 bridesmaids dresses in purple
Pastel Bridesmaids Mix & Match. Like it?

Bridesmaids Accessories to Mix & Match

Will the bridesmaids and groomsmen have matching colours?

That's cool Riri! I can't wait to see it! How's your wedding planning going these days? What step are you at?

Hi Everyone,

I am having my wedding at The Grand Bahia Principe Jamaica in Runaway Bay, Jamaica this July 2017. Everything is going well so far, the only problem is the deadline I set for people to book was this passed January and some people in the bridal party have not booked yet and it is 4 months away. Not sure if I should set up replacements for them in case they don't come or just keep waiting around. What do you girls think?

Sorry I'm still working on my dress. I'm getting is made. Will post pic ASAP

The girls are all choosing their own style and length of dress. I'm open to either long or short and style I'm also not too concerned about. It will be hot so I just want them to be comfortable. They are wearing all different shades of purple

Hey Jennifer! Welcome to the community! Nice! You're the third one in this post getting married in Jamaica! That's awesome! What type of dresses will you choose for your bridesmaids? Are they short or long?

Hey Riri, I'm glad you and Heather met! I hope you'll be able to help each other out! I read you answer to the quiz too and I'm super curious about the wedding dress you chose! You said it was beach style.. How's it like? Do you have pictures?

Hey Heather! Jamaica sounds absolutely awesome!! How far in advance did you start planning and did you book your venue?

Oh Cuba will be amazing! Yes we have the same thing, we only have one set of grandparents coming, the rest are not comfortable flying that far. And the same as us! We have been planning for two years so most people knew it was a destination wedding two years ago, I have had friends tell me they cannot afford to come - but right now are on a very expensive vacation elsewhere... we also have some family who wont come because it isnt in their home town haha! I feel like you can never win so why try to please everyone!!

That is a really nice idea, the excursion for a thank you gift!

I agree! As long as he shows up it should all go well

Hi Emily

I totally understand your wedding being smaller than you anticaped. It is tough but I am in the same boat. I am from North America, my partner is from South America. We were going to chose Central America for our wedding as it was in the middle but chose Cuba as it was the cheapest for our guests.

We knew upfront that some would not be able to travel even though it was cheap for the majority of our guests as we are older so most of our guests make 6 figures we thought for sure would come as they are fortunate to travel to Fiji, St. Lucia, Grenada, Cayman, Turks etc. those are the guests not coming...go figure.. so this means the extra details in the planning.

We are spending more on the ceremony swag stuff like fans, programs, bottle water. A few extra at the reception dinner with lighting and taking all those who wanted to be there with us with a paid group excursion as a thank you gift.

This is your day so as long as your groom is there everyone else is a bonus.

We have travelled to two countries a year since we have been together. We do not buy Christmas gifts, birthday gifts, anniversary gifts or Valentine's Day gifts for each other, we would rather spent the money on traveling as life is short. As travel is important to us, a destination wedding made the most sense.

So we are doing a destination in Cuba. We had to find a Spanish speaking country as my future in-laws do not speak English and my family only speaks English. This left us Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba just to name a few. As we wanted the most economical place for our guests we selected Cuba.

Our close friends and family who have known the country, date, time of year for 2 years have been planning for this themselves and incorporated it in their travel and financial plans.

I flew down 17 months in advance and spent 2 weeks at 12 resorts (my partner could not get time off work and trusted me to make a decision). I spent 4 hours at each resort meeting the wedding coordinator, hotel manager, seeing each room category, beach, rgym/spa, restaurants (options for dinner) wedding menu option, taking pictures, had them complete questionnaries in advance of my visit, asked questions etc. I also made appointments in advance with wedding photographers and videographers and had them come to the resort I was staying at with their porfolio in the evenings to make the most of my time, etc.

I made my decision before I left the country with both the resort, videographer and photographer. We already had the date set in stone and the time of the wedding as it was meaningful to us. As the resort was small and it was first come first serve we booked the notary, confirmed the resort, paid the deposits required.

We then researched the major charters Sunwing, Air Transat, Westjet, HolaSun, Air Canada. It was easy to decide as we priced Saturday to Saturday same resort and the prices were all over the place from over 2K to 1K so this was an easy decision.

I then researched destination wedding travel agents. Some were nuts and wanted to charge me a 3K fee for me doing the work. The destination wedding shows proved to be uselss to me as they tried to get you to book with one of their agents who charge you.

I eventually decided to select a non-destination wedding travel agent who I use when I travel as I trusted her and the company is reputable all over the world.

Once we new the airline then we had to put down a deposit to hold 30 seats on the plane and 20 rooms at the resort but we could only hold it for 90 days so we waited as long as we could. Until the resort started becoming 1/2 full so we send out the wedding invitations to give guests 90 days to RSVP by paying $150 to hold their place and they have til September to pay the balance. Now the resort is 3/4 full.

One thing I learned they people (family included) that you think will not miss your wedding day will. The people you think will probably not come to your wedding will. We have immediate family not attending on both sides. We have very close relatives and friends where money is not an issue not coming. We have our spinning instructor and bootcamp instructor we see 2X a week attending. Friends who we met traveling that we kept in touch with but never see attending. Friends we go for dinner with once a month, friends who we attend their weddings, showers, birthday parties, baby showers, house warming etc. that we travel with are are close to not attending. So do not change something for others as they may not come. You will hear every excuse in the book. I did not get the inviation, then you send it again, send the email reminder, send the website and people still say I think it went to junk mail can you send it again and after the forth time they contact you to ask a simple question they previsouly had you just smile and go with it. Just take it all with a grain of salt and realize the people who want to be there will be there and it your day and as long as the bride and groom are in attendance this is all that matters.

I am now in the process of finding a dress (yes I know I am late), buying ceremony items, researching items for gift bags, researching prices for group excursions (which we are thinking of pay for instead of welcome bags once we get a quote), decor for ceremony and reception dinner. Deciding who to have in our party as my partners 6 close friends and brother are all not attending so I have to regroup and figurre out who will be in our party now. I kind of feel bad for him but we will most of it.

Hi All,
I'm getting married at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach in Montego Bay, Jamaica, November 2017. My dress has been ordered, trip booked, wedding date booked with hotel, invites sent out and that's pretty much where I'm at. In the process of booking the DJ and solidifying the restaurant we want to have the dinner at and we already know we are doing ceremony and dancing on the beach. Bridesmaids will be ordering their dresses soon. Everything seems to be coming together nicely. I'm not overly picky when it comes to decor because I feel Jamaica will be enough of a backdrop lol I'm also part of a group stricktly for brides at this resort and that has been very helpful for answering questions quickly!
Jen

That is nice of you guys have it on "neutral" territory. What made you choose Mexico? Are you doing it at a resort? I'm interested to hear more!

I totally get what you mean about how hard it is when guests aren't able to travel for the wedding. Even though we were only going from California to BC, we ended up with half the amount of guests than we were expecting and I cried everytime we got a "no." One thing that people told me though is to focus on the people who are there and be glad that you'll get to spend more quality time with them. Of course it's easier said than done but it turned out to be true! While I still wish we'd had more people there, we did get to greet all of our guests and spend time with most of them rather than a quick "hi thank you so much for coming!" and then moving on. We had family friends that flew all the way from England to be there and one of my best friends since junior high who couldn't make it from CA so you never know how it's going to work out.

That's a cute idea! We did welcome bags for our guests with some brochures to our fave places, some local candies, a pack of tissues and a little note welcoming them.

Luckily one of my bridesmaid is a chef there, so she's putting a team together for me with some great people that works for Ashebre.

I'm going with a villa called Four Winds. I'm also packing a barrel with alot of my table pieces and flowers. I'm having about $100 guest. I found a vendor but they are charging alot but I don't have a choice. My colors are black&white with gold and some blush

Actually.... is anyone else thinking of doing little gift packages for their guest? Like wedding week survival kits or anything like that?

What resort are you going with? and how many guests?

although I am only going to have 5 or so tables, I think I am bringing down some of the things for my center pieces that I picked up at the Dollerama. The resort wanted like $75USD for a vase, shells, a candle and some sea glass....

Hey Riri

What is your theme? I have a few contacts in Jamaica for catering and such that I might be able to help you out with.

Hello. My destination wedding will also be in Jamaica in Dec and some of the things u mentioned are the same issues I'm having. The prices are ridiculous. I'm having mines at a villa which is more private but ended up costing more.

I live in Canada and my destination wedding will be in Ocho Rios Jamiaca. What I found most difficult was finding vendors to accommodate my theme.

I am getting married in Mexico on the 15th of June this year. There a definately pros and cons to having a destination wedding! My fiance is Canadian and I am Australian, so we figured getting married in neutral territory would make it easier for everyone, no one would have to host or have people stay with them. And we wouldn't be making one side of the family travel and one not etc... But, our wedding is a lot smaller than we anticipated, only 25-30 guests. A lot of our family and friends couldn't afford to travel. That has definately been the toughest part. I guess it would have been the same whether we got married in Australia or Canada though. I am really excited for our wedding! We have a fantastic wedding planner who has taken my vision to the next level, and having a smaller wedding means that we can afford a few special extras!

I technically had a destination wedding but Canada was the destination for us!

Hey Everyone!

I am actually having a destination wedding in Jamaica this May. We opted to do it on the resort directly. There were a few complications at the beginning, but that was because the travel agent we booked through made some pretty large mistakes. Needless to say, because I took my Fiance to the resort last year for his birthday we were able to meet the team there in person and rectify some of the issues. Because we booked so far in advance; at the beginning it was very difficult to get responses from our team at the resort. As our date is approaching now, we are in constant contact with them and is going smoothly. Personally now, the biggest issues are centre peices and the prices they want for all of the "upgrades" to our wedding packages. Is anyone else having the same issues?