Destination wedding or not

Planning a semi-destination wedding. It's about 4 hours from me and most of my guests and 13 hrs from most of FH's guests. The down side if you do Italy is that a lot of people may not be able to afford to come. We wanted a more intimate wedding so it worked out okay for us. It is harder to plan because we were not able to visit the venue or do any tastings.

We are planning a destination wedding in Florida (my family is in Arkansas and his is scattered across the US/Europe). Just be prepared for a lot of people to not be able to come due to finances, PTO days, etc if you decide to do it in Italy. Also with an out of country wedding, chances are that you won't be able to see things/meet vendors in person. Good luck!

I agree with others this will definitely impact your guest list and attendance. Once you're okay with that, you can move on to some of the other practical considerations. (Keep in mind there have been some couples who initially started planning an overseas wedding, only to find out that a critical VIP was unable to travel -- sometimes for cost/time issues, but occasionally an immigration/passport issue came up that no one knew about previously. So, be sure you really know your crowd.)

The thing I've noticed in posts from brides planning destination weddings in Europe is they tend to fall into two groups and have different issues/experiences depending on which group they are in. Those who are from or have family in the destination country obviously have it somewhat easier because they have people there to help/that they trust and can communicate with. Usually, they are also at least somewhat comfortable/fluent in the native language and knowledgeable about the local laws and customs. The other group, for lack of a better term I'll call "tourist brides," who might not have any experience/comfort/connections in the destination country, they just want to get married there. If you read old posts, you'll find that some of them have had difficult experiences based on language barriers, trust, and communication issues (like, international phone calls, etc.). Some ended up being scammed by "bridal coordinators" who took advantage of their lack of knowledge/experience, and lost a lot of $. In some cases, there are pretty restrictive laws about actually getting married in some European countries, so the couple legally has to get married here before they go and then just have a symbolic ceremony overseas. The "tourist brides" that describe positive experiences usually worked with a trustworthy full-service wedding coordinator, often at a major resort, who basically, for a fee, took care of everything.

I don't have any personal experience, but I've read a lot of posts. You should be able to search for them and gain insights. Good luck!

Oh, I definitely think it's more work and from reading these posts, most DW end up being quite expensive. Unless the couple is literally eloping, all by themselves, and counting the trip as their honeymoon, too, there have been many posts from brides who freely admit they did not save money having a DW (especially if they figure in the travel costs for guests...). If you want a smaller wedding to save costs, just have a smaller local wedding. Just because it's close does not mean it has to be bigger than you want/can afford. Go small and hold the line! Good luck!