Destination Wedding Excursion Etiquette

I would state that if anyone is interested for the cost of there is a luau. Maybe provide info on how to pay such as pay the place for here's the website with the payment link so they know. Mostly make it optional.

I agree with Kristen- if you spell it out like that, than they know you will not be paying for it.

I agree with Kristen. Add a link for them to buy the tickets in advance 😉.

Something like this:
We are so excited to have you join us at our wedding! Following the wedding celebration we are planning on attending a luau on (Date & time) If you are interested & would like to join us, click here to reserve & pay. Please do not feel obligated to go, it is just an additional opportunity to to enjoy a traditional Hawaiian ceremony.

I would make sure that everyone uses the link...you don’t want to be in charge of collecting money for the luau...and then if people change their mind, etc. Too much to keep track of in addition to wedding planning. Also, I think that this would be fun & I think the price is reasonable for people who have traveled to your wedding. Just give them plenty of notice so they can save up the money for this adventure!

If you're having a DW, I might suggest trying to host a small brunch or something the day after the wedding before going to the luau. As a guest, I feel like I would be in an awkward spot if I had already paid to travel to the DW and then would have to pay another $100 if I wanted to spend time with you before I went home. I'm not sure why this is striking me as odd but it is.

We are also having a DW. We are adding a page entitled “The Couple’s Schedule” to our wedding website. It will have at least one activity we are doing each day that guests could choose to attend, and a link to the activities webpage where they can read information about it and purchase tickets. As a PP mentioned, we will also be hosting a farewell brunch for all guests on the last day (we will be paying for everything) as a thank you.

We did the same thing in Jamaica... except we paid for transportation for everyone and informed everyone of the cost of the excursion $90/person. We had about 40 people sign up! Just include all the details, date, time, where, safety risks (waterfall etc.), and to bring water shoes, suit, etc.!

View Quoted Comment I would tend to agree with this.


Be very specific with details as you described on your website and people can decide from there.

View Quoted Comment I totally agree with Tiger Bride. I would even suggest the day before as guests could get to know each other before your wedding which will make the event more fun for them. For a DW, the level of hosting needs to be more because guests are paying so much more to attend (host welcome brunch/dinner, negotiate a killer deal on hotel rooms, cover airport to hotel transportation, etc).

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Thank you so much for this! and for your advice! I was trying to figure out the wording for the luau invite and this is definitely spot on.

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This is a great idea! Thank you!

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This is definitely something we can consider, though 40% of our guests are local so the luau/brunch is probably going to be catered towards for the out of town guests. The brunch is definitely a good idea though!

Our original plan was to only involve the immediate family for the luau,(my FH's family is from here, so no traveling involved for them) but then since there's a lot of out of town guests as well, we just thought it would be nice to extend the invitation as well. Though we can't really afford to pay for the luau for the extra 40+ out of town guests on top of the wedding we already have 😅

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Thanks for the tip!