Help! Desitination Wedding Advice and Guidance

kathrat

Hey Everyone! I'm new to the blog and I just need to get some advice and help on a few items. I feel very stressed at this point with my family and parents not wanting to travel, but I feel the desitination wedding would be the best route since money is an issue and I would be paying for all of it.First of all, has anyone heard or used destinationweddings.com to assist with their desitination wedding? I found them on the internet and I liked what it had to offer, but I wasn't sure if it was too good to be true? Any advice?Second, we decided on a June wedding in Mexico and I'm wondering if that is too soon since we need to let our guests know quickly? Thoughts?Third, is it customary to offer to pay some of the costs for my wedding party?Any help would be greatly appreciated it! I'm just feeling a little lost at this point and I've only been engaged less than a month.Thank you

sarlah

Welcome, and Congrats! :)I have not personally used destinationweddings.com but I know other ladies have.June isn't really too soon at all, it's still over 9 months away, just try to let people know asap by sending out announcements or Save the Dates.It is certainly not customary to cover any costs of the wedding for anyone, other than WR activities. ex: Rehearsal / Welcome dinner (if you do one), the wedding & reception. If you want to contribute financially to your wedding party's travel expenses then that is up to you. Something you may want to think about is making the bridesmaid dresses inexpensive or buying them for your girls, the same goes for groomsmen attire. Again, those are NOT customary, just things you can do if you want to.Where in Mexico are you thinking? There are a few Mexico brides on here. I'm getting married in Cancun

t1nkfan

Congrats on your engagement and welcome to the board!!! You'll find a lot of great advice (and a lot of laughs) here! I'm not help with destinationweddings.com but it is definitely not to early to let your guests know!  Send your STDs as soon as you have a date and a resort so folks can start saving money DWs are a little different on the protocols of what to pay for.  The rules are basically to spend what you can afford too on your wedding party, but it's not expected that you pay for travel or rooms or dresses, etc. 

oohlypinon

Hi ans welcome to the board! First off do whatever you and your FI want to do!  Remeber it is your day not every one elses! I started out using Destinationweddings.com, but I was not very happy with either of the TA's I was set up with.  I am now using Hayley with Beachbumvacations.com.  A June wedding should still give you plenty of time, but do what you are most comfortable with so that you are not super stressed.  We are not paying for any of the travel costs for our wedding party, but we are doing some little things to help with money (i.e. buying their wedding attire) HTH and Congrats!

Future.Mrs.H.

Hi and welcome to the board! We all go through the issue of family members complaining and not wanting to travel. But you have to remember that it is your wedding and you can't please everyone, if you try to you will end up crazy...especually when you are paying for it...you should be entitled to do whatever you want.As far as destinationweddings.com. I'm not using them because my wedding is really small and we are not using a TA, but a lot of the girls from this board have used them and they seem very happy with them. Also beachbumvacation.com and specifically consultant Marcie (a fromer knottie) seem to be very popular around here.Letting your guests know now is definitely not too soon. Around here (DW board) we usually send out STDs 1yr - 8mos in advance to give our guests time to save for the trip and get the time off work.As far as paying for the guests. It is not customary. Some people have done it and some people pay for a family member that otherwise would not be able to attend, but those cases are the exeption, not the rule.If you have any other questions, we are here for you.Happy Planning!

SteffyC

Hi and welcome to the board!!  I agree with PP about it being your wedding, you and FI need to decide what will work the best for both of you :)I am working with dw.com now, I loved them when I started but have had some issues with my TA in the past couple months.  I have heard great things about Beach Bum and wish I would have gone there instead.  I am a Mexico bride as well (The Moon Palace in the Cancun area).  We sent out our Save the Dates 10 months in advance so I think you have plenty of time!  We are not financially able to pay for our bridal party to come, but we are helping out with BM dresses and GM's attire. 

Orchid2011

Hi, Welcome to the board, and Congrats!I'm using DW.com, I'm working with Diane and I love her, she amazing and fast she responds back to me right away. So so far I have no regrets.In my opinion I think next June is fine. Just make sure that you and FI are pleased with the location that you want and send out your save the dates ASAP. Most girls send it between 12-8 months in advance.Paying for the wedding party is completely up to you and FI. If its ok with your budget or you are helping them as part of or full gift then I think that thats ok. I'm helping my MOH and paying for my flower girl (because she's my goddaughter).Don't forget that is yours and FI's day so make it all about both of ya. GL

ericandcindy

Hi and welcome to the board.  This is a great board as I'm sure you can already tell by all the posts today.  These ladies are wonderful and extremely helpful.  Make sure to take a look at some bios if you haven't already.I've heard of DW.com but I'm personally not using them.  I believe some girls were a bit skeptical because they make you put a deposit down first.  Another popular TA is Beach Bum Vacations.  You'll find that a lot of girls used them and like them very much.  It may be a little too soon, especially if you're trying to win family over.  It's definitely not impossible.  However if having family and friends there is very important to you, you may want to give them a little more time.  Especially if you haven't chosen a location or accomodations yet.It's not required for you to cover the cost of travel for your guests.  We will not be doing so.  However if someone in our immediate families was having trouble and money was the only issue, we would def step up and try to help.  Altough that's totally your decision.  I hope these helped answer some of your questions.  Good luck and we'll see you around.  

ericandcindy

I'm sorry I take that back.  I guess there were a lot more girls using DW.com and like them.  Cool.

autzen1024

I didn't read through the other posts, so sorry if I say the same things I too am a Mexico DW bride!! We are getting married in Cozumel. It's an intimate island off the Yucatan Pensisula. We are going to go down there in November to see the resort we have chosen and mainly to relax!! I think you are at a good time line if you get started now. We had a specific date picked out, but couldn't afford to do it this year coming up. We won't be paying for costs for our guests. We will be doing activities during the wedding week that we will take care of. We will also be staying in an AI (all-inclusive) and letting our guests no that is where they will need to be staying. This may seem "bridezilla" of me, but it will just keep the travel much easier. We want to do a DW so we can be on a long wonderful vacy with our guests, not to just see them one day HTH! And welcome to the best board, EVER!

kma5004

Hi! Congrats on your engagement! I am getting married next June in Riviera Maya, Mexico! 1. I have heard of destinationweddings.com but I just went to a local travel agent to plan out where to go and she knew a lot about the area. Most of the resort have wedding coordinators that help with everything. 2. Its not too late. We let a guests know the detail of our wedding so they could book their travel and so far only 6 people have. In reality there are about 20 -25 people we expect to be going. I'm expecting most of the guest not to book until between January & March (after the holidays). 3. We aren't paying for any of our guests travel. We are buying the BM dresses (only $40 on target.com) and the groomsmens outfits (linen pants and white long sleeved shirts). We do have some guests who may be contributing to our wedding (one is a hairstylist) I was thinking about either setting up an excursion for her and her husband or contributing a few hundred dollars to their trip to thank her for helping. Congrats & good luck! Maybe I'll see you in Mexico!

FunnSun

We got married at El Dorado Royale in Riviera Maya with 30 of our guests, it was flawless. We contacted three agents before we hit the jackpot and used Nancy from myislandgetaways.com. She organized everything for us and we could have never pulled everything off without her and has great clout with the resort. The prices were the same as booking on the net and was seriously our lifesaver. Everyone paid for their own trip and they were all fine with it and are still raving about everything. Good Luck

kathrat

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! You all really made me feel a lot better!!! I can't tell you enough how good it feels knowing other brides are out there in the same boat!!You guys rock!!!