We knew before we even were engaged that we wanted to get married on the beach. We loved the idea of a warm and fun vacation with friends and family, more than your “traditional” wedding style. I remember watching Nick Lachey and his wife Vanessa get married in the Virgin Islands on a TLC series in 2014 and was pretty much obsessed with the idea ever since. Watch their wedding! Years later I stood up in my friends wedding in Jamaica and fell in love with the idea all over again.
So even though we both knew that this was the route we wanted to take, I sure was in for some planning misperceptions.
Here is what you need to know:
1.If you are the right bride for the job
I feel like I didn’t get the “bride” gene. Yes, I do want some things to go a certain way while we are in Mexico, but overall I don’t care about many traditional wedding formalities. I pretty much want to show up in white and dance all night long. Other than that, I HATE party planning. I thought by getting married on the beach I could get away with doing just that-show up feelin pretty. WRONG. We’ve had to make all the same decisions about how our day will be executed. Im talkin’ deciding between linens (literally my nightmare), light options, flowers, cake, food chairs…all of it. TIP: get help and a google doc to communicate with your hotel.
2. Hurry up and wait
Not only did we have many many options to choose from, we basically had 10 months to decide. Your first order of business will be to pick a destination and hotel venue. Then, it isn’t until you get your final headcount locked down that (literally months later) the hotel starts working with you to plan. We tried to give people a year to plan for this vacation. We got engaged in May, picked a venue in July, and are getting married the following June. So until April of the following year, we weren’t a priority for our hotel. So, I refer back to misperception #1, unless you are totally ok with almost zero communication for 10 months, don’t do destination.
3. It still adds up
Is our wedding going to be overall less expensive than your traditional style, yes, but don’t get it twisted, it quickly adds up. Every little detail adds up. Oh you want lanterns on the beach for when you walk down the aisle, that will be a billon dollars! A 2-tier cake that nobody will eat, a billion dollars. I swear everything is inflated! Bottom line, you will still spend a fair amount of money on your event.
4.Technically, you’re not married
This may be different depending on the destination, but in our experience our June nuptials don’t actually mean we are married in the US. Many people go to the court house when they return home to be “legally” married by the county/state you live in. I mean, Uncle Sam will always find a way to get his. For many reasons, we got legally married before our June wedding date- see why here! Just be sure to check what the legalities are in your state and what options you have.
5. Zika
Yes, Zika is alive and well in many beach destination spots. Also, many people will tell you, constantly remind you, and then tell you one more time to make sure you know that you could get Zika while sunbathing in Riviera Maya. If you are not trying to get pregnant right after your wedding; it literally doesn’t matter. Check with your doctor to see how long they recommend you and your significant other wait before trying. Bottom line- if you are traveling to another country, it will be in your best interest to not only know this information, but tell your guests so that they know they are at risk. All things Zika
6. Watch out for 3rd party booking sites
We used a 3rd party vendor for guests to book their travel with and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t have gone that route. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably saw my rant a few months ago because I was pissed! Instead of going through a booking site, I would have had guests work directly with the hotel. In our case, we went this route because it seemed convenient for people and it took the pain point away of us having to keep track of bookings. Also, in full transparency we are supposed to received perks for using them. We ending up going through HELL and back and almost didn’t even have a room ourselves, so just be very careful.
For the brides reading this who are reconsidering having a destination wedding, don’t! We would still pick getting married on the beach 100 time over before saying I-do at home in Chicago. We can’t wait to be at the resort and just relax and live it up for a week! I just had a false perception of what this planning experience would look like, and wanted to help other brides who might be thinking of having a destination wedding. Stay tuned for my post-review of all things #wizawedding here in a few weeks!
Becoming Wiza 