What counts as a destination wedding?

If the bride and groom *and* majority of their guests have to travel

I had to google it my understanding prior to googling it is that a destination wedding would be far away like that you’d have to get on a plane and fly to an island or something. However according to google it’s anywhere far away from home. So in that standard yes I would consider yours a destination wedding.


Google- “ What is a destination wedding? A destination wedding is an opportunity for couples to celebrate their marriage at a gorgeous destination of their choosing away from home. Our couples get married all over the world, in stunning locales like the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii and Europe.”

I'd consider it a destination wedding if it was far enough away that I'd need to spend the night - which I would if it was a 2.5 to 3 hour drive. Our wedding is local for FH's family and the majority of our friends, but destination for my family, so we sent our invites out 9 weeks in advance (we were aiming for 10 weeks but had something hold us up lol).

I personally wouldn't call it a destination wedding unless it's in another country. But I do think 2.5 or 3 hours is far enough to give people plenty of notice. Did you send save-the-dates already?

For me, a destination wedding is a wedding that requires me to stay the night for, in that, it is not close enough for me to get in a cab and get home the same night.

2.5 hours one way is a long enough drive that people will need to make arrangements to attend your wedding, so I would definitely give out invitations a bit earlier than planned so as to give people some more time to do so.

For me, it would be since I would have to make arrangements to stay overnight the night of the wedding. 2.5-3 hours is too far after a reception to drive home in my opinion.

My personal definition for destination wedding is if it’s in an area that has no relation to the couple other than it’s a nice spot to be married.
Most of the people in my life move a LOT. Having to travel for me doesn’t mean it’s a destination wedding. And living in Northern Virginia, driving and hour or two is a daily work commute, so that wouldn’t mean destination to me.
I guess what I’m saying is, if someone tells me they are having a destination wedding, I think nice resort, scenic, foreign travel. Not couple’s home town or two hours from their home, even if I have to fly there.

Our wedding is the same thing, about 2 hours from home and anywhere from 2-6 hours drive for the majority of guests. We consider it "semi-destination" as most people will have to plan for travel and a hotel, but it does not require everyone to get on a plane and go somewhere far away. We sent our invitations about 11 weeks before our wedding. We HAVE to have a headcount into our venue 30 days before our date, so if we waited until 2 months before to send them, we would have had a really tight RSVP date and not much turnaround time for guests to send them back out. I think its fine to send them a week or even a couple weeks early.