Destination Weddings Discussions
Options

Intimate Destination Ideas

My fiancé and I have been engaged for almost a year now, but honestly did not focus on wedding planning until recently. We both went through a lot of career growth in the last year that took up our time. We’re really struggling on what we want to do. We are down to two options. 

1. Intimate destination wedding 
-I love the idea of basically just having a vacation with our immediate families and getting married. In some aspects I feel it may be less stress. Heck, we’re going to be there all week, we could get married on a Wednesday night if we wanted to. This also takes away the idea of a big wedding party we were planning on having, that I wasn’t necessarily thrilled about. If we choose this option we would each bring our closest friend along with parents and siblings and that’s it, 
-we would do it sometime this summer. Most likely in July. This is both a pro and con. I could marry my fiancé tomorrow, but this also feels rushed in the sense that I haven’t looked at dresses, we haven’t had engagement pics, etc. 
-LOCATION. I need all the help in the world with this part. We are in the Midwest but our first thought was Pensacola. That was our first vacation together and where my parents met. Unfortunately most of those beautiful beach houses book out a year in advance and I’m pulling up late to the scene. We also considered hill country outside Austin, TX where my brother lives. We love visiting there. HELP. Does anyone recommend places to have a small wedding ceremony in these locations, or any other location for that matter?!
-Reception...we have a deposit down on a local venue where we live and would most likely keep that for an at home celebration on a Friday night within a couple of months after our wedding. 


2. Push the wedding off until May or June of 2022 and have everything at our venue. This option would give me more time to feel like and enjoy being a bride, get engagement pics done, etc. on the flip side I know that’s not what it’s all about though, it’s about the two of us and our marriage. While this would give me more time, it would also be a large wedding to plan and a large wedding party to maintain. There’s little budge on the wedding party size from my fiancé. 

I’m not sure I’m leaning towards one more than the other. It changes by the hour. Some moments I love the idea of going somewhere and having an intimate celebration, then I freak out about the timeline and not being able to throw it all together in a short time and stress out to the point of wanting to push it off to 2022. Is this normal? Lol 
I have one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to my options and I’m lost. I would love to hear ideas, opinions and experiences and location/venue recommendations!

Thank you!

Re: Intimate Destination Ideas

  • Options
    My fiancé and I have been engaged for almost a year now, but honestly did not focus on wedding planning until recently. We both went through a lot of career growth in the last year that took up our time. We’re really struggling on what we want to do. We are down to two options. 

    1. Intimate destination wedding 
    -I love the idea of basically just having a vacation with our immediate families and getting married. In some aspects I feel it may be less stress. Heck, we’re going to be there all week, we could get married on a Wednesday night if we wanted to. This also takes away the idea of a big wedding party we were planning on having, that I wasn’t necessarily thrilled about. If we choose this option we would each bring our closest friend along with parents and siblings and that’s it, 
    -we would do it sometime this summer. Most likely in July. This is both a pro and con. I could marry my fiancé tomorrow, but this also feels rushed in the sense that I haven’t looked at dresses, we haven’t had engagement pics, etc. 
    -LOCATION. I need all the help in the world with this part. We are in the Midwest but our first thought was Pensacola. That was our first vacation together and where my parents met. Unfortunately most of those beautiful beach houses book out a year in advance and I’m pulling up late to the scene. We also considered hill country outside Austin, TX where my brother lives. We love visiting there. HELP. Does anyone recommend places to have a small wedding ceremony in these locations, or any other location for that matter?!
    -Reception...we have a deposit down on a local venue where we live and would most likely keep that for an at home celebration on a Friday night within a couple of months after our wedding. 


    2. Push the wedding off until May or June of 2022 and have everything at our venue. This option would give me more time to feel like and enjoy being a bride, get engagement pics done, etc. on the flip side I know that’s not what it’s all about though, it’s about the two of us and our marriage. While this would give me more time, it would also be a large wedding to plan and a large wedding party to maintain. There’s little budge on the wedding party size from my fiancé. 

    I’m not sure I’m leaning towards one more than the other. It changes by the hour. Some moments I love the idea of going somewhere and having an intimate celebration, then I freak out about the timeline and not being able to throw it all together in a short time and stress out to the point of wanting to push it off to 2022. Is this normal? Lol 
    I have one end of the spectrum to the other when it comes to my options and I’m lost. I would love to hear ideas, opinions and experiences and location/venue recommendations!

    Thank you!
    I personally would not be comfortable planning a destination wedding to Florida this summer considering we're still in a pandemic. I'd plan for something next year. 

    Also I've attended quite a few destination weddings, and I would not call them stress free. 
  • Options
    My two cents in no particular order:

     - Your fiance doesn't get to dictate the size of your wedding party. He can have however many people he wants and so can you.  Don't pick a random number of people just to have even sides.  
     
     -planning a summer 2021 destination wedding is silly IMO in the middle of a pandemic, even with just immediate family

     - do you really want to spend your whole wedding week and honeymoon with your family?  Some people do, that sounds like a nightmare to me.  

    - think about what's most important to you.  The kind of wedding you want or just being married.  It seems a little silly to me to do a destination wedding to keep things small and quick and then just have a big party later.  You still have all the same stresses with a large party after the fact that you would for one bigger event in 2022.  

    - Bridal parties do not need to be "maintained".  Pick people, tell them what to wear (after asking their budgets!!!!!!), tell them what time to be there.  They don't have to help you plan, plan any parties/showers/etc, or attend pre-wedding events that someone might offer to throw for you.  Their responsibilities are to show up on your wedding day (sober), in the agree-upon attire, and stand up with you while you get married. 
  • Options
    I'm planning a destination wedding in Key West in October, so a few suggestions based on my experience:

    If you are considering somewhere warm (like FL), then why must it be this Summer or next? In Fall/Winter the weather can be perfect (not too hot or humid, not chilly). Given the pandemic, it will also allow more time for things to normalize, and I would recommend doing an outdoor wedding which is also more pandemic-friendly. Plus, if you're in the midwest it's a nice getaway from the cold for your guests. Similarly, an intimate wedding would also allow for more social distancing. Then you can always have a separate reception-type cocktail party, picnic, etc. later for friends not invited to the wedding if you really want. Destinations that are known for weddings also often have venues with pre-determined vendors, or even wedding packages, that really cuts down on the planning needed.

    Otherwise, if you skip the destination and do the big wedding, why not just skip the summer date and (taking COVID into consideration) just go back to square one and look at venues at home for any date of your choosing?
Sign In or Register to comment.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards