Destination Vs. Local Wedding

You can keep it small no matter where it is.

Destination wedding resorts have great all inclusive wedding packages, that make everything easy- especially if you are not having guests or only a small party. Many offer a simple ceremony for free, included in your stay. We have had many friends who have went this route. We were going to do the same, then we learned that Jamaica required you to be on the island for 72hrs before you could wed , so we changed our plans a bit. We are having a ceremony on the beach in South Florida before we leave to honeymoon in Negril.

I always suggest you get your license in the country that you're planning on living in (possibly not forever, but for the near future). We've done a LOT of wedding ceremonies for people who couldn't negotiate the requirements for island/foreign country weddings.

As soon as we got engaged half the people we told wanted us to have a destination wedding. We told them that we didn't think it was fair for people to have to pay upwards of $1,600 each to join us and, for the most part, these people couldn't afford that cost any way. If you really want to do it then do it but make sure that you give them al least a years notice so they can save and get time off of work.

Hey fellow AB bride! The only trouble with a destination wedding is you basically have to assume that nobody is coming with you, and anyone who does is a bonus, because of the cost for guests. Ive had friends who had 45 people go with them, and others who is was just immediate family. Depending on which you get, you can end up spending the same amount of money. If you feel like having a local wedding makes it harder to keep it small, you could consider doing an immediate family only destination wedding, and throw a casual party at a restaurant or something after you get back.

Several years ago, a friend asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. I agreed, but later had to step down when they decided to have a destination wedding in Jamaica. The cost was too much for me to commit completely. Airfare and hotel accommodations were well over $2,000 and that did not include the cost of my dress and everything else. She was upset, and has not spoke to me since, but I had to be true to myself and take my finances into consideration.

I prefer getting married locally. You can have a small, lovely wedding anywhere!

We are not in the small wedding boat (approx 150 ppl), but there were certain people I couldn't imagine NOT having at my wedding. Knowing they couldn't afford to come to a destination wedding is what's keeping us closer to home. Do what's best for you, but don't be disappointed when your loved ones can't afford to join you on your special day.

We are having a very small (15 people) destination wedding. We chose a DW because even if we had a local wedding we would have invited the same people we did, we did not want a big wedding just family. We got a package so it was cheaper to have a DW than to get married in NY (shocker right?). That being said DW do slightly suck to plan, and just as much if not more planning/researching is involved!

ETA We did ask our family if they could and would want to make the trip before picking venue!

I understand why people do destination weddings, but as a guest I would not want to go to one. They usually cost more money than I'm willing to spend. I went to a dear friend's Vegas wedding, however, because I was able to get a good hotel and airfare, and I've never been to Vegas. But the bride had only around 10-12 guests on her side there. And her MOH bailed at the last minute because of costs.

I would personally not go to a DW unless it was a really close friend. I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation I would never normally take.

We wanted to keep our wedding small, so we're doing a DW at a resort in a small town 4 hours away. Being in Edmonton, there's probably lots of options to do something like that (I'm sure Banff/Jasper there would be lots of possibilities). Also some of those resorts have elopement packages, and smaller wedding packages. We're getting a fantastic deal at ours for ceremony/rental space cost. I think because you bring in lots of revenue in hotel stays, that the resorts can offer cheaper prices for other stuff.

We had a DW and had a good turn out of 30 guests and was great for us. Of course not everyone we invited were able to make it but we were ok with that. I would say start with your budget first and see which would give you the best wedding with the budget you have. With our DW I had to hire for everything as I could not do much DIY things then if we had a local wedding to save on costs. But was great because I didn't have to worry about anything! Our overall cost (not including accommodations) was 9k, so we could have had a nice local wedding with that budget but we would not have been able to splurge on some nicer things that we did with our DW.

How about inbetween? You could do a getaway wedding - something where guests could choose to drive home from, or get a hotel. And - you can still keep it small and intimate.

Destination weddings are fun, because the honeymoon is included, as long as you know that you may not have many guests able to go - and you shouldn't get upset with them - and they shouldn't get upset with you.

Best wishes!

When we first got engaged quite a few people (close family) expressed that they thought we should do a DW. Once I had been in touch with a travel advisor and got the rates suddenly nobody would have been able to attend. We opted for a small-ish local wedding. We are aiming for 50-75 guests in Kelowna, BC.

You should have plenty of options in or near Edmonton, good luck!

We had a kind of involuntary DW, because none of our local jurisdictions had same-sex marriage at the time. Had we had a choice, we definitely would have gone local. You can always invite fewer people to a local wedding. But if you have a DW, you end up with a smaller wedding consisting only of the people who can afford to go--not necessarily the ones you most want to have there.

One thing to remember about having a DW: many brides are "cash hungry" and the gifts are MUCH less than when going locally. If someone pays a few thousand for a DW wedding, they may just give you a hundred dollars, whereas maybe would've given 500+ closer to home. If we were having a DW I would've picked up the tab for all guests, but we are older and been married before so that would've been fine with us. (And we want no gifts.. )

You should do whatever makes you feel happiest. We had a 225 person destination wedding so just because its a DW doesn't mean it will be small and just because it is down from your street doesn't mean it will need to be big. So whatever you feel fits your ideas of what your wedding should look like is best. Happy Wedding Planning to you!