Are destination weddings more expensive?

Well, it all depends on where you want to go, if you have a wedding planner there, how meny guests come, do you pay for their tickets and their hotels...

View Quoted Comment I did a destination wedding 20 years ago. We took a 10 day cruise, our guests who wanted to come paid for their own trip and we got married at a hotel in Key West because it was the only US port on the trip. The hotel helped me with the beach ceremony, cake, etc. We ate dinner back on the ship. It happened to be formal night so it worked out well. The cost was CONSIDERABLY less expensive but I also didn’t have many guests who could come on a 10 day cruise. Both our parents were there and a few close friends.

This really depends on what kind of wedding you’re planning to have, where you are planning to have it, how much of the expenses you plan to cover for your guests, and at what level you plan to host your guests. We are having a destination wedding with 40-ish guests, and it is going to cost us nearly double what it would have cost to have a local wedding with 150 people. But, a lot of that is because we plan to host our guests at a high level, since they are spending so much money to travel for our wedding. We are providing welcome bags, a welcome dinner, top shelf open bar, a large elaborate meal, a thank you brunch, as well as paying for group activities.

This depends on where you are going, how many guest and if you having a wedding planner. Also, it depends on what type of wedding that you are having and what you are going to cover for your guests like food, hotel, plane tickets etc. I would research a destination wedding just to get an idea of what it would cost and take from there. A lot of planning and costs goes into planning a destination wedding.

I agree with Alisha, it depends on your destination. Not only are you paying for a wedding, all the guests to attend, ect. You also have to factor in travel expenses, the hotel situations, where you will get ready. If you are doing things like hair and makeup are you going to the destination for a trial. How will you try your food. We choose a destination that is a few hours from us, so when I needed to get my hair and makeup trial it wasn't bad. For us having the destination wedding was a more affordable option because everything in our area was higher in price.


Have you decided on a possible destination? Are you having a large or small wedding?