Destination Weddings

My fiance and I are doing a semi destination wedding, also in Michigan! We live in Michigan, but we are 2-3 hours away from where our wedding will be held. We occasionally make a trip to the area to meet with our vendors as needed, food and cake tastings, etc. Otherwise, we've been able to plan everything else remotely. What type of info are you specifically looking for on destination weddings?


Mackinac Island is a beautiful place for a wedding!

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We live 3 hours from Mackinac and my mom has mentioned paying for a wedding there. I have a very large family and she doesn't want me to under go all the stress of planning a wedding. I get stressed very easily right now. So I am just kind of wondering how other people enjoyed theirs. If it's less stressful or if the cost is reasonable.

I had a destination wedding and the only thing I would have changed is that I would have invited more people since we had a decent number of people drop out fairly last minute.

I don't know if it was more or less stressful than planning a local event? We flew to our destination twice before we got married—once to tour venues and sign a contract, and once to do a tasting, hair & makeup trial and engagement shoot with our photographer. Those trips were so helpful and I think made me less stressed. I felt like I got to vibe with our important vendors.

I felt our costs were super reasonable for the level of wedding we had. Had we got married in or near our hometown, we definitely would have felt pressured to invite a lot more people and would have had a much more generic wedding for a lot more money.

I think Macinac is a very know you’re crowd kind of place. I wouldn’t be thrilled to be invited to a destination wedding there as I find it too touristy and small (I feel stuck) but plenty of others love it there. I’d just plan somewhere you think most guests would be happy to spend a little extra time and money to attend your wedding.

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There is nothing inherently less stressful about planning a destination wedding compared to planning one where you live. And the same for the cost comparison. The reason that destination weddings often do end up costing the marrying couple less is that the expenses are passed along to their guests (in the form of travel expenses).

To make your plans, you and your future spouse should start having wedding planning discussions now: What is your budget (which guides all other decisions)? What you want your wedding to look like (formal vs. casual; small guest list vs. large one; etc.). It's perfectly fine to want to have a small wedding, no matter how large your family is and no matter where you want to hold it. YOU get to decide who is invited.

The biggest thing to think about before deciding to plan a destination wedding, I think, is check in with each of your VIPs to make sure they are willing and able to travel to the location. If they aren't, then you'll have to decide what your priorities are.

I had a family member plan a destination wedding far away to make inviting fewer people easier and cut costs (or more accurately, shift costs to their guests). I think it wouldve been nicer for them to just have a small wedding they wanted and could afford at home.


I don't think planning is less stressful, but if you want to do a destination to justify a smaller guest list, I think you can do it at home. If the destination is important to you and you want to get married there, do that

After postponing our original wedding twice because of Covid, we are now planning a destination micro wedding in Las Vegas. After lots of research, we decided to get married at the Venetian. The wedding package we purchased comes with a coordinator, and she has been awesome!! We've done everything through emails and phone calls. She's very good about keeping me on task when there are decisions to be made. We also purchased a reception dinner package with one of the restaurants on the Venetian property. Separate coordinator for that. But again, very organized and not a lot for me to do.
Since we went from a 100 person wedding down to a 20 person wedding, things are less complex. But we are also saving a lot of money by doing it this way. 54 days to go!! I'm so excited!! Happy planning!!