Destination Wedding Obligation

I'm not sure what you mean by "make it worth their while," but for any event, local or destination, you should try to host your guests as well as possible within your budget.

You don't need to get your guests a fancy gift; however, you need to ensure that you are properly hosting them by providing food and beverages throughout the duration of your wedding

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It’s not required but a welcome bag of water & snacks (maybe a map or local brochure) delivered to their hotel might be nice. Not required though.

A welcome dinner the night before to welcome all guests, or just the ones who travel, is a popular option. It doesn’t have to be fancy. My parents hosted a welcome BBQ in the VRBO home they rented 4-8 pm for anyone to stop by. You could go to a bar in the lobby of the hotel most guests will stay at, or a nice pizza place locally, and cover the tab for guests who drop by.

You are not obligated to do anything. My husband and I had a destination wedding and did a few things to make them feel welcomed. For example, we included tons of information on our wedding website regarding activities they could do and places where to go. We didn't have favors in our wedding, but we had a "welcome dinner" instead the night before the wedding with traditional homemade food they all enjoyed.

You do not need to get them gifts, but these days many people are doing welcome bags at the hotel(s) you blocked off. I was going to do this, but it is ending up where more people are booking Airbnbs so I do not have access to that!

The other thing is the rehearsal dinner, you are technically supposed to invite all out-of-town guests to your rehearsal dinner. We are having a destination wedding so pretty much all our guests will be travelling. At that rate, I am not able to afford to feed everyone. So we are having dinner for the wedding party only and then opening it up for drinks for all guests afterwards!

You are not obliged to make expensive gifts for your guests coming to your wedding abroad.

But it is a nice idea to thank them with a gift at their arrival, a welcome bag maybe and some touristic tips about the area where you get married, or a little favour at the wedding, typical products from the country where the wedding takes place are usually very appreciated!

Then good food, great views and the happiness to spend some time together at a beautiful place abroad, will do the rest

Welcome Bags with little goodies and local information as well as a timeline/agenda for any wedding related events is always a good suggestion.

We will be providing Welcome bags to our guests as we are having a domestic destination wedding. It's quite a ways out but we are thinking of having things like little water bottles, snacks, a map of the area, agenda of wedding events including transportation information and a couple other little things.

They are coming to show their love and support for y'all as a couple and are not under "duress" to attend, anyone who comes will be there for you and not some kind of personal gain.

Welcome bags are a good idea and ensure they are properly hosted

Hey Naomi! Have you decided if you would like to have welcome bags or some sort of wedding favors for your guests attending?