Destination wedding

We're planning our Destination wedding for the FL Keys this October. It's definitely cost effective (at least for us). I'd look into a lot of those resorts as many offer great destination wedding deals.

We have friends that got married in a Mexico in 2018. They had a blast, but despite most of their friends saying they were definitely coming leading up to the wedding, only one actually made it. It was mainly just immediate family. I know they got a great package and they had hotel blocks for guests both in the resort and off, including transportation to and from wedding activities for those guest not staying at the resort.
We decided to do a kind of destination wedding in a mountain town we love, but only 2-3 hours travel for us and 95% of our guests. Having all the people we live there is important to us and we knew most people wouldn’t be able to come if we did it farther away.

My husband and I attended a destination wedding in Mexico, and we had an amazing time! It was at an all-inclusive adults only resort right on the beach, and we stayed for 3 nights and made a mini vacation out of it. Mexico was ideal because pretty much all of the guests were able to book a direct flight, and the cost of the flight was more affordable than other typical destination locations like the Bahamas, etc. The total cost to attend (flights + lodging) ended up being roughly $3000 for the pair of us (so I would say roughly $1500 for one guest, depending on where the person was flying from). Because this was not cheap, we really appreciated the fact that the bride and groom sent out their save the dates super early, like 1.5 years in advance, so that we had lots of warning and time to save up for it and make sure we could take off work. I would look into resorts in Mexico (or other locations that offer direct flights) and seek out a package deal.

I think the biggest consideration for a destination wedding, especially one that would require international travel for the majority of your guests, is that just getting to your wedding will be VERY expensive for all invitees. Except a large number of declines and plan to accept them graciously. Only you and your future spouse can decide if the destination is more important than any particular loved one's attendance.

View Quoted Comment Yes agreed! Love it there but would like more of an all inclusive resort and something for kids. Too expensive here in NY!

View Quoted Comment Well food is not included (but reasonably priced restaurants on site and nearby) all the amenities are included (kayaks, SUPS, snorkeling, water trampoline, WiFi, bicycle and transportation between sister resorts and access to their amenities) we have our 10 y/o with us and also lots of nearby nature as national parks for day trips) - kids stay free

View Quoted Comment Thats awesome! Thank you for the information!! 😊

View Quoted Comment Who did you use to book your destination wedding there? I looked a bit into Key Largo Lighthouse Beach.

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I did it all myself.

View Quoted Comment Haven't booked anywhere yet! With COVID going on everything just came to a complete stop.