Destination wedding

We had our reception after the ceremony at a restaurant that had branches near us, so food tastings were not an issue. But for pretty much everything else, we relied on pictures, reviews, and e-mail/phone discussions with vendors.

View Quoted Comment I'm trying to tell my fiance that we could probably just email, call and look at reviews. With the beach, I want very simple decorations so I don't know how it could that messed up, I feel like with what I have seen online that I want. I get it that he wants food that will be good and wants to taste it before ( he isn't picky but I think it's something he wanted to do as part of the planning) but idk I feel like after looking at reviews for food it should be clear if it's good or not lol.

I have to say, our wedding was fine even though we never went to the location before the wedding itself. And we had slightly more complicated decorations, because the chuppah (wedding canopy) had to fit in the space at the front of the synagogue. (Presumably, this is not an issue with a beach wedding.) We just asked the rabbi for the dimensions, and had no problems.

Hate to be this person, but have you been to Myrtle Beach before? I'm not sure how it's portrayed online, but SC locals refer to it as "Dirty Myrtle". Not because the beaches are "dirty" necessarily, but there are definitely much nicer beaches nearby. Myrtle Beach is where a lot of high schoolers and college kids go to party and be wild during spring break/summer break. Just wanted to give a different perspective in case you've never been!

Oh please don't rely on pictures :/ we are also having a destination wedding and found online this amazing looking venue that we both loved and we reserved it. Luckily before paying for it my fmil went and checked out the place and it was HORRIBLE, we couldn't believe how bad it looked :s and then we had trouble finding venues cuz all the good ones were taken ofc while we were set on this one, in the end we got lucky and have this gorgeous venue that has a beach and a forest , but it was really stressful so i highly recommend checking the venue before booking .

We did! We did a vaca in Napa 13 months before our wedding and toured 12 venues in 4 days. We immediately started negotiating and booked our dream venue and even though our wedding was totally off-season (March, Monday), a company booked our original date!

It DEFINITELY helps to visit venues to see the location but really get the feeling of the spot. We ruled out a few just by driving to their venue. Can you visit ASAP?

Photos can be super misleading (as can reviews unfortunately, because opinions are relative and people can have vastly different standards). If you don't have the opportunity to visit, definitely look for photos on various websites, social media, etc. not just what the marketing materials show and similarly try to find detailed reviews from different websites and sources. Looking for hashtags or geotags on social media should show you some "real person" behind the scenes photos in addition to the curated, beautiful advertising ones.

Personally, I think I'd only do a destination wedding if it was vastly cheaper than other wedding options, just because I wouldn't want to invest a lot and then be disappointed and for me the whole point of having a destination wedding would be to go someplace new and exciting.

PS: Sandals resort will give you a free wedding with a 5 day or more stay at one of their resorts. Literally have never been there and no idea what the resorts or weddings there are like, but if you just have your heart set on a beach wedding it might not be a terrible option to look into.

I took a trip out there to see things in person. Some things like a DJ or officiant I didn’t mind booking long distance but some things like the food and hair trial i needed to do in person.

We are doing a DW to Cancún.. never been to the resort but I did so much research on it!!! So many reviews, videos, and so on.. on different websites too.. and from real people.. they have been great so far... been planning it for about 7 months now and I can’t complain.. I’d say do deep research if you can make it in person... look at other people’s weddings and reviews at that place.. I can’t wait for mine

The last time I saw my venue I was 12. So with that being said, we will not see our venue until we drive there to check in the day before. It has fabulous reviews for both the property/Inn and their resturant. My health is poor so we cannot go for a tasting. We've even ordered our wedding cake from a local vendor that they recommended. I'm not really worried. Its an upscale place and I know they'll make our wedding special!! Best of luck!! ❤

We've never been to the venue, but we've been to the hotel before and fell in love with the location we will be. I am relying on photos so I'm crossing my fingers the venue will be great, but we will eat at one of the hotel restaurants and will be staying at the hotel so I'm not too worried about that since that will be 80% of the wedding time.

If you guys have never been there I think you guys should go at least take a look at the place cause everyone above is right, looks can be deceiving!

View Quoted Comment We weren't really planning on Myrtle for the wedding☺️, we were thinking somewhere more quiet but I just meant visiting venues while we were down that way. I'm from Ohio and figured stopping on our way down or while we were out there at a few spots, rather than making a whole other trip!

View Quoted Comment This is what I'm scared of!

I based mine off reviews & pictures & deep diving on the internet/social media. We decided last minute, 2 weeks ago, to have a May 2020 wedding in Vegas. I have no intention on going there to try anything.

We’re doing a destination wedding in Key West. We’ve been to the hotel we’re having it at, and I’ve seen it set up for weddings. We are not able to go down for any specific wedding planning stuff, so we’re pretty much winging it. Honestly I have no concerns about anything. And really, nothing guarantees that any venues you look at local are actually going to follow through with what you want on your wedding day, so I don’t see any more risk with planning a destination wedding.

We have a wedding planner who lives in the destination we are having our wedding in but we also did visit it too.

We live in Minnesota and are planning a destination wedding on the North Carolina coast for spring 2021! We actually booked our venue sight unseen (but my future in-laws toured it for us first), booked our photographer, officiant, hair/makeup, and caterer. We are visiting next month for engagement pictures, cake tasting, Venue walkthrough and meeting with some vendors. I think we will visit again next fall (2020) to make sure everything is set. I would advise working closely with your venue and using their preferred vendors! You can only look at so many reviews and pictures online... (pictures can be very deceiving) Happy planning 😊😊

We're doing a destination wedding in MX in 2021 and going in 2020 in the same month to check everything out. Plus they'll give us discounted rates to come take a tour so it's really a win/win.

I did and it was worth it! We picked our venue based on pictures and reviews and I just knew that was my place. We had define a lot of our vendors by the time we did our visit so it was a matter of meet and greet and make that final connection. We did food, drink and cake tasting and did multiple walks around the venue since we met all vendors there. Also got lucky and witness a wedding so that was great. I think if you can afford it you should do it for sure!