Destination Wedding Advice Needed

If you have the funds to take a pre-trip go for it!

If it saves money for another part of your budget, most of those venues should be pretty heavily reviewed so you can have a pretty good idea of what it will be like! I believe most DW are planned from a distance which is tricky but not impossible!

We actually met at the resort in Mexico we are getting married at so it was easy to just plan and book there because we both had already been. If I was booking somewhere I hadn't been I would go take a look at everything before I signed any contract or sent deposit. My advice is do your research most resorts offer packages which seem low cost but usually they get you spending extra because it won't have everything you need in package and extras is where you'll spend your money. Hope this helps!

We did a DW ...not out of the country tho. I found a few different options on here based on reviews then we planned a long weekend and went on tours of them. I think it was 4 in total. Then we weighted pros and cons of each to decide on the venue we picked. If you can swing it I would go and visit before settling on a place.

We're also trying to find a resort for our DW next year. We've been checking out several resorts online and double checking the website reviews with TripAdvisor reviews. As for if you should visit ahead of time, I've found some resorts offer the couple 2-3 nights free or at a highly discounted rate to come visit pre-wedding and then they offer incentives if you book your wedding within a certain time frame of returning home. I also highly recommend consulting a travel agent that you feel comfortable with. Our agent will coordinate everyone's air, hotel accommodations and transfers from airport to hotel and back. Agents can usually get you a bit of a discount on airfare and hotel, plus they'll be your point of contact for you and your guests in case of issues while traveling.

Brittany, congratulations first of all!! I’m doing a DW in Cancún, I was gonna say find the resort but you already have that covered lol.. I narrowed it down to 3 and then made my decision based on a lot of factors.. I don’t have the time or money to go check out the resort, so I went based off reviews and pics..
advise... be patient lol... DW really test your patiences hahah.. my wedding coordinator sometimes takes a week or 2 to get back to me.. and so I try to ask as much as possible in one email.. try to get an ovetbal budget of everything that way you know what to expect and what you can splurge on or not... any specifics ask away

We are having a DW in vegas (we are coming from the UK). The time difference is annoying in trying to contact people so there is usually a day delay. We have asked venues to email us additional photos & Videos and we have scheduled a few facetime calls which were amazing! Maybe thats an option? Youtube helps too!

View Quoted Comment

Thank you! The reviews are super helpful :-)

View Quoted Comment

Great advice! And how cool that you two met at your venue

View Quoted Comment

Thanks for your advice! Do you have any recommended questions that I should ask the resort before booking?

View Quoted Comment

Vegas is an awesome destination! I can imagine the time difference being a struggle. Good idea asking for extra photos/videos. What resort are you looking at?

If you can afford to take a trip to see some resorts, I say go for it! However, if that's not an option I would call the venues you are looking at and let them know that you are not local but are considering a wedding with them. I had a friend who had a destination wedding as soon as they mentioned to resorts that they wanted to have a wedding there the resorts emailed them more pictures, details, etc. One resort even let them send in a request list of areas of the resort they wanted to see closer and the resort than took pictures and sent them to her! It worked out really good and a lot of resorts are really accommodating to the fact that a lot of potential customers don't have the funds to travel there first!

View Quoted Comment

How has your planning been coming along, Brittany? Will you and your FS go visit any resorts?

My bestfriend got married in the Grand Caymans in 2017. We booked a cruise (much cheaper than airfare) and she got a wedding planner in the area thats accustomed to those types of weddings (time crunch coming from cruise ship and need to board back up in time). It went very well and was super affordable. If you can't take the pre-trip I highly recommend getting a wedding planner as they will be able to go to these places and do pictures and ask questions for you!

If you have the money to do it then go for it! We did a destination wedding in Vegas. I'd been to Vegas twice before the wedding but never to the venue. We just made sure to really read through different sites with reviews to try to narrow down to the best option. We were really pleased with the venue we went with and a bit relieved that it all worked out so well!