A destination wedding is a wedding that takes place overseas, usually in a hot country or somewhere that’s significant to you and your partner. Maybe it’s the place you first met – or perhaps it’s the scene of your proposal. For whatever reason, you’re thinking about planning a wedding abroad, but is it really worth it?
What are some of the drawbacks of destination weddings? Well, let’s find out!
So much harder to organise
Organising any wedding is a massive challenge. Even if you’re doing everything a stone’s throw away from where you live, there will be countless days filled with stress. Think about all of the different things you have to plan and set in motion.
Now, imagine doing all of those things in a different country. It’s hard enough trying to find your wedding venue locally, let alone when it’s overseas. Do you hire a local wedding planner over there and trust their judgement based on photos alone? Do you have to keep flying over to check out the venues? It already sounds difficult, and this is only ONE thing to organise.
Don’t forget, you may have to deal with everything in a completely different language – one you’re not familiar with. It’ll almost certainly mean you need help from locals, which leads to the next concern.
Far more costly
Okay, you pretty much have to hire a wedding planner for a destination wedding. It’ll make your life easier, but it’ll also mean you have an extra expense that you could probably forgo if you held your wedding closer to home.
Not only that but consider how much a wedding costs to put on. The average cost of a UK wedding in 2022 was £18,400. That’s for a local wedding in this country – imagine how much more expensive it is to do it overseas. You have flights to pay for and accommodation. These extra costs strain your budget to the point of bursting.
Not very guest-friendly
A normal wedding is very guest-friendly. It takes up a day – usually a weekend – so they have no work-related issues. A destination wedding differs as it usually takes up multiple days. They’ll have to book time off work, which might be hard for them to do. Plus, they have childcare to think about – do they bring their kids? If so, it makes the experience more expensive for them.
Destination weddings sound really appealing, but guests don’t really enjoy them. They need plenty of time to organise time off work and figure out what to do with their kids. A normal wedding in the UK is far more convenient for them.
Overall, destination weddings come with some serious drawbacks. This doesn’t mean you can’t have the perfect beach wedding in a gorgeous country. The whole point of this post is to open your eyes to the main concerns. Do you think you can handle everything? If so, go for it! Just be sure you start planning your destination wedding way in advance so you give guests time to sort things out or save money for flights.
*This is a collaborative post
