Destination wedding acceptance rate post pandemic

Well, the pandemic is still going on. Despite this there is definitely a surge in weddings with pandemic postponements setting dates. However, in terms of acceptance, it seems many WW couples are receiving strong declines, even for local weddings. It could be guests have to budget their time and money with so many invites and inflation. Destination weddings already have a higher decline rate, so I would proceed with caution. It's nerve-wracking, but your sanity saver may be to budget for 100% of your invited guest list, just in case. Good luck.

I agree with Michelle. I think it really depends on your circle, some people are still not comfortable being in large groups of people, and every month seems to be a little different. For me personally I wouldn't want to fly anywhere right now for a wedding, air travel has been extra expensive and a bit of a mess for various reasons. Good luck!!!!

My destination wedding has not happened yet, but we were surprised by how many guests have RSVPed right out of the gate. We sent our Save The Dates out a few weeks ago (wedding is in 13 months) because we assumed a lot of people would need time to think/save. Well, we got 27 bookings right off the bat, and there are still 16 people in the wedding party (parents, groomsmen etc) who haven't RSVPed yet but have accepted their position and are excited to attend. We invited 136 people and expected 45-50 people to come, but after those 16 people we will be at 43. Sooo i'd definitely be prepared to shell out some $$$ if more people decide to come than you expected!

We had our wedding two months ago in the city where we live, but is not where either of us grew up or went to college. About 40% of our guest list was local, 60% from out of town. We invited 200 and had 150 RSVP yes, so about 75% acceptance rate. I will note that we had eight people who had said they were coming the week of the wedding have to decline because they tested positive for covid. I would definitely expect some people to drop from the list because of how much covid is spreading. It's a bummer because you'll probably have already paid for them at that point, factored them into the seating chart, etc. It was also really sad to realize that some people we really wanted to attend wouldn't be there in the days leading up to the wedding when everything is so emotional. But know that you're not alone and every bride and groom is dealing with the same reality! Our wedding planner told us that pre-covid there were usually 2-3 people who would RSVP last minute because of illness or a family emergency, but since covid it's been closer to 10 in her experience.