Any Destination Wedding Brides??

Hey I'm Also from NYC with a big Puerto Rican family. It was so hard finding a venue with our budget. We are having our wedding at Beach palace resort. They are all inclusive and have a great package. Our budget is about $20k.

@MissyB Thank you for your feedback. Glad to know I'm not alone. I'll definitely look into it! Thank you!

I am spending about 24000 on my DW in Cancun. That includes all the travel for my FH and I and a couple VIPs, the ceremony, reception, dress, photography, and welcome party. I am only having 16 guests, though I did invite more. I don't have any advice on planning in Puerto Rico, besides find a great travel agent who would be able to help. He/She may know who to connect you with there and help get things organized. Planning at an all inclusive resort was definitely easier on me, but I don't know if that is an option in Puerto Rico.

ETA: wording

I'm a DW bride - but in Europe not the Caribbean. There's another thread going about this right now, but most people find that DW are just as expensive as at-home weddings.

The big savings for most DWs is that you can use them as an excuse to cut the guest list down to just your nearest and dearest. DW or not, a wedding for 30 guests is going to be cheaper than a wedding for 100.

We are having a DW in the Smoky Mtns of TN. Spending about $10k for 50-60 peeps. Ceremony at a chapel and reception at a restaurant.

We are having a DW in Cabo San Lucas. We have budgeted for 50 guests. If that many attend, we will spend around 20k. If less guests are able to attend, we will end up spending less. This includes the ceremony, reception with a DJ, full meal, bar, and cake, photographer, clothes for me and FH, all other wedding expenses, plane tickets and 10 nights at an all-inclusive resort. It will end up costing us about the same as we would have paid to have a wedding in the Chicago area. The only difference is that instead of 150 guests we will have 50.

I think you have to ask yourself if you do save 5k (and you've factored in welcome bags etc because there is a bit more of an expectation to do more for your guests at a DW because they've spent money to come to the wedding) is it worth it to you? Your guests will spend a lot to come there and you will likely get lots of opinions from people, even if you're ok with them not being there.

Finally, I think Puerto Rico has Zika. Even if you are ok with that, your guests may not be. Be prepared for that. I chose a place without Zika for my DW to accommodate my guests because I didn't want to put guests in that position.

Finally, I would say - choose a DW because it's what you want, not because you'll save money because in the end it's unlikely you'll save money unless you have very few guests come.

Yes 30k IS a lot for a DW! My brother-in-law had a DW in DR with 45 guests. I suggest cutting down your guest list. It's even doable to marry here for less than that!

I think DWs cost less because they have less guests. I'm also Puerto Rican and living on the east coast. That's just not our situation. Your wedding definitely will cost less in PR than NYC. What venue did you fall in love with?

We are having a destination wedding in Puerto Rico this August. We have about 50 guests. We are having out wedding at the Wyndham Grand Rio Mar in Rio Grande. We went out in April to see different places. We fell in love with this one and one in Doardo, but when it came down, Wyndham is where we decided to go with. Our wedding coordinator is awesome and is quick to respond to any questions we may have.

We are having a DW in Aruba. Spending about 15k on the wedding. Not including our travel, this includes ceremony, cocktail hour with appetizers then reception with 3 course dinner. Open bar the entire time. Also includes DJ, officiant, photographer, steel drum band for ceremony, flowers and then the setting up fees and linens etc. we are having it at the Riu Palace Aruba