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Just Said Yes June 2026

Affordable destination wedding

Bea, on August 12, 2024 at 1:54 AM Posted in Planning 0 2

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Hi everyone,

I recently engaged to my now fiancé and we are trying to figure out if a destination wedding is right for us and how to make it happen. We don't want a large wedding, just something small and intimate with close friends and family. We’re expecting to invite roughly 30 to 40 people.

We want to find a beautiful venue in a country/city outside of the US. We're afraid that with a wedding in our hometown, we will end up inviting a lot of people who are not that important to us, whereas a destination wedding is bound to have a smaller guest list.

We are considering France and Italy, because our first holiday together was a road trip in Europe, and we loved Lake Como, Amalfi Coast, and Provence. We’re trying to keep our budget within $50K and we're happy to do most of the planning ourselves. When we traveled in Europe, a lot of the hotels said that weddings are quite popular in their areas, and that they often get couples from abroad celebrating their weddings there.

How and where do I get started? Does anyone have recommendations for finding venues and vendors in Europe?

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Latest activity by Desiree, on August 19, 2024 at 8:14 PM

Dedicated October 2024
HvR · on August 18, 2024 at 12:49 PM
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I clicked for the words "affordable destination", but I think we have different definitions Not your fault, I have a fifth of the budget so we did Vegas, which I cannot sing any higher praises about.
It's not an Italian vineyard but the olive grove on a farm/animal sanctuary was a pleasant gem I found. But I'm in the same boat as you, insomuch that I wanted to restrict in-person attendance to the essentials for myself and my future husband: which boils down to our mothers, and my maid of honor. But I digress.
I hope you find a stunning locale that fits your budget! I would recommend if you're looking for a way to include extended family/friends, LoveStream is a great vendor for setting up a livestream production that people can join from anywhere on the globe.
Again, congratulations and do give us the wedding pics in '26, I'm sure it will be beautiful!
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Just Said Yes June 2025
Desiree · on August 19, 2024 at 8:14 PM
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Omg I went through this exact same thing! I live in a HCOL area we’re underwhelmed by our choices and similarly wanted to get out of inviting anyone we didn’t define as a dear friend or family member. We did a cost comparison and ended up picking the amalfi coast! How I found my venue: I literally made a map of all the venues across Italy and emailed all of them 😂 then built out wedding scenarios in Tulle (tulletogether.com) and picked the venue I like the most that was in budget. We ended up picking Villa Eva in Ravello. $60k budget for 55 people so not exactly your budget but close. We’re doing 3 days of events!

I will say…the vendors in Italy seem to be a LOT less communicative I had to email people 2-3 times which is apparently normal. Fair warning they’re also not really into contracts or itemized invoices which has been stressful I’ve had to be the most organized version of myself to make sure I’m getting everything. Tulle really helped me keep it all organized and compare the vendors so really recommend.
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