Is my dream venue realistic?

Weddings are expensive because the industry has gaslighted couples and vendors into believing that expensive always equals better and that your event will be crap if you don't. There's enough people who firmly believe it that lower priced weddings will always be looked down on.


Only you and your fiance can decide if a destination wedding is worth it vs a wedding in your local area. You need to talk to your guests and see what is feasible for them. Only they can answer if it will work out.

I was in sticker shock when we started looking at venues! My fiancé makes pretty good money & we can easily afford it but still!
Only you & your fiancé can decide on the realities of a destination wedding. When my fiancé & I started talking about where to have our wedding, we opted to have it close to where our families live. We live in northern AZ & our venue is 2.5 hours away in the Phoenix area. Our friends we invited have no problem traveling.

Yes weddings are overpriced. I only recommend that tou not go into debt for it.


You have to judge what your guests will do. If you know many if them wont make it because of the distance then perhaps reconsider.The majority of my loved ones refuse to travel by plane because of COVID.

I actually think New Orleans would be a good compromise. Either way you do it some of your guests will be traveling. My FH and I are having a "destination" wedding due to family & friends being spread across the Midwest. It can be hard to plan not in your hometown but, thanks to email and zoom it's possible. Maybe get a feel from some of your most important guests on how comfortable they feel going that far.

It’s up to you to decide whether the price is worth it.


Regarding your destination wedding I’d check whether there are hotels close to your venue and whether it’s easy to get from the airport to the venue. Are there restaurants/stores near your venue if your guests have to be there for longer than a day? Do all the research and let your guests know so it can be easy for them to make the trip.

Are you planning on staying in hotels close to the venue or will you stay in the city?
If the venue is outside of NOLA, but you and your guests are staying in the city, I’d recommend to charter a shuttle service for them. Most of your guests probably won’t have a car and you want to make sure they’re taken care of.

Wedding prices are shocking and never make any sense. With that said, I think as long as it fits within your budget just go for it. You only get married once so they say and this is the one time to celebrate it so why not just go all out and have your dream wedding. There are so many other times in life where you can try to cut costs, but if this is your dream place then go for it I’d say.


As far as your guests go, as long as you give them enough of a heads up it should be fine. Have you asked any of your guests yet about how they feel about traveling?