Destination Weddings Discussions

Why did you choose a destination wedding?

Tell us why a destination wedding was the right choice for you!

 







Why did you choose a destination wedding? 71 votes

Location is significant to you and/or your families
22% 16 votes
Travel is a passion
14% 10 votes
Because, DUH, pretty pictures!
4% 3 votes
Wanted a smaller wedding
29% 21 votes
You've always dreamed of getting married abroad
11% 8 votes
Other (share what the other is!)
18% 13 votes

Re: Why did you choose a destination wedding?

  • I'm a combination of a few things- not wanting guests, having travel as a passion, and the South Pacific is meaningful to me.

     







  • We ended up going with a destination wedding because everyone would have to travel, so why not go somewhere nice :)

    I am from New England, his family is from the middle and south of the country, plus his friends are all over the world with having been in the military. We are staying in the states to make sure my mom will come (she will not fly).

    We love to travel so another trip is always welcomed too. 
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Less expensive that trying to find something in Southern California. And I want to keep the guest count low.
  • Lots of things.  My family is here, mostly, but DH's was in Eastern Canada and Chile.  Travel was inevitable.  I grew up going to Hawaii, and we really wanted an outdoor wedding.  Weather here is unpredictable, and I wasn't keen on a summer wedding like everyone else here.  We wanted a smaller wedding, though we did invite everyone we would have if we had stayed home anyway, so that didn't change much.  

    Hawaii is just our happy place.  We're going to try and retire there eventually.  So many good memories for both of us there, both separately and together.  

  • We chose Hawaii because it is as central of a location as we could find.  I'm from the US and my FI is from New Zealand (where we currently live).
  • I always wanted a beach wedding, and FI didn't want to get married at home (he said it felt like his backyard). So, we picked a location that is meaningful to us, and, of course, we love to travel.
    "There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness." -Friedrich Nietzsche, "On Reading and Writing"
  • I knew I wanted an outdoor wedding and always dreamed of a beach wedding. My fiance also wanted a beach wedding. But most importantly, we wanted a small wedding (about 20 people) without causing major family drama for my fiance's big extended family that live in our home town. A Hawaii destination wedding was a way for us to have our dream beach wedding with a small guest list without causing both of our extended families to feel as slighted as they would if we did the same in their own home town. Obviously gorgeous photos and getting married on the beach (*squee!*) is a major bonus.
  • We live in the US but chose to get married in Cameroon (Africa) where we are both from. Both sets of parents still live there and we want to incorporate a lot of the traditional elements and make it 4 days celebration.
  • Our family is very spread out, so there would have been a lot of travel regardless. My family is in MI, FL, AL, and AZ (majority in MI).  DH's family is in AZ, FL, LA, TN, and OR (about 1/2 in AZ).  We live in AZ. The largest group on our guest list was in MI, but only 2 of those are VIPs, with other VIP's in AZ, FL, and AL. So, we had a cruise ship embarkation wedding in New Orleans, which seemed like a pretty central location for everyone.  And it allowed most of our east coast guests to drive, instead of fly.  And all our VIP's also chose to join us on the 7-day cruise.   

    We also knew we wanted a smaller wedding.  Our invited guest list was the same if we had destination or home wedding and we would have been thrilled if everyone had come, but we knew most of the extended relatives and friends wouldn't be able to make it.  We invited 80 people, hoped for 40-50 guests, and ended up with 25 guests attending. We made sure our VIP's to could come and had decided to be okay with whatever turnout came after that. We actually loved the intimacy of the smaller turnout.

    image 

  • Because we're both military, as far as our family and many friends are concerned, it would be a destination wedding even if we had it locally. We also both hate where we live right now, and didn't want the most significant day of our lives so far to be in a place that we couldn't stand. So we chose to drive about 3 hours north, which put us closer to a major airport, anyway, and found a beautiful spot to start our marriage.

    Daisypath Wedding tickers
    image
  • I'm from Europe and we're getting married where my family is... we live in NYC, so its a destination wedding for maybe 70% of guests (his family, our friends here)
    - The stars, like dust, encircle me in living mists of light. And all of space I seem to see in one vast burst of sight. 
  • DH actually picked our location, but it is meaningful to both of us. The venue that we used is run by some people that are very close to DH (and thus very close to me by association), so it really was just us getting married by our friends. So it didn't "feel" like a destination wedding in that regard.
  • Both been married before. So wanted something fun. So going to Vegas. Was small and has grown larger.....
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • It was more affordable for us. I was surprised. I was freaking out after researching how much everything would cost locally. I still don't understand how people can drop $20,000 on 1 day. I didn't want a big wedding either. The most important people will be there and that's all that matters. The beach is our favorite place to be and it has always been my dream to have a beach wedding.
  • While we aren't doing a typical beach/resort destination wedding, our wedding location is definitely a "destination" and requires a flight/hotel for 95% of our wedding guests. FI and I picked it because it's meaningful to us (we've vacationed there a lot over the years and we got engaged there) and because we wanted a smaller wedding (though it hasn't worked out to be cheaper by any means). It's perfect for us, though, and I can't imagine getting married anywhere else. 
  • Except for some members of FI's family and a couple of friends, all of our guests are from out of state (scattered all over the country and even out of the country) and no one except for one guest lives in our city, which we're not overly attached to. So we figured, if everyone has to travel for our wedding, they might as well travel to some place awesome! We're getting married in Key West, which is where we had our first vacation as a couple, so in addition to being a great destination it holds a lot of significance for us emotionally.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker

    image
  • We priced out the wedding we wanted at home, and it would have been over $35,000 for about 60 guests.

    Our destination wedding will cost us about $12,000. 
  • My husband was born in the country where we got married and all of his family (except his dad, sister and brother) live over there. They had just been to the US one year prior for his brother's wedding, and would be coming back one year later for his sister's, and we wanted them there so...we went.

    Also I was excited to have my parents make the trip and get more travel in under their belts now they're retired. :)
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards