Luxury Destination Weddings On The Rise

Pop the champagne!  The breathtaking proposal has been carried out and the date is set in stone!  Now begins the flurry of planning for the absolute perfect spot to hold the public ceremony to officially exchange vows.  This affair of love could be hosted in a more traditional site – the hometown of the couple for accessibility to most family and friends   Yet, consider trading in the customary wedding traditions and instead whisk yourself and loved ones to a picture-perfect getaway created just for romance.   A well-planned destination wedding can serve a dual purpose of encompassing the ceremony along with a vacation getaway for loved ones.    

A previous business partner who owns a wedding planning business was describing how destination weddings have exploded in popularity for newly engaged couples wanting to incorporate the selected locale as a backdrop to the exchanging of vows.  According to Group Travel.org statistics,  one in four weddings are planned as destination themed confirming just how popular this type of wedding has become.  New York City is one of the priciest U.S. cities to host weddings with the average cost floating above $70,000 while the top U.S. states in hosting weddings are California, Florida, and Nevada.  

A location themed wedding can incorporate the personality and style of the couple whether it be in a private home on an island, a castle in Europe, a yacht sailing the high seas or the backdrop of an ocean on a white sandy beach.      

What makes destination weddings such an easier alternative is many resorts/hotels/venues have stepped up their game in ensuring the entire process is relatively smooth.    Weddings are an absolute sweet spot for resorts and they will roll out the red carpet to win your business.  These facilities will incorporate themselves in every step of your pre- and post-wedding process including the proposal event, the engagement being tracked through a couple’s personalized website,  the shower, the bachelor/bachelorette parties, the rehearsal dinner, the actual wedding and finally, anniversary and renewal of vows events.   The destinations are the enticement by promoting surreal, fairytale environments. Wedding specialists and a team of site vendors oversee every detail remotely while offering customized websites for tracking the planning process (such as the ability to handle wedding guests’ reservations to keep the couple informed on the progress).

We did a blog a few years ago on this very subject and wanted to revisit the list of destinations to determine if locations have been replaced as the best to tie the knot.    After some extensive research, most of the bridal and travel magazines list the following locations as most popular:

  1. USA (Nevada, California, Hawaii, and Florida)
  2. Fiji
  3. Italy
  4. Iceland
  5. France
  6. India
  7. Caribbean (#1 spot is Jamaica)
  8. Mexico
  9. Guatemala
  10. Morocco (Marrakesh)

4 Intriguing destinations for a wedding

  • For a more infused Indian cultural experience with guests staying at Aman-i-khas Resorts in luxury canopy tents in the safari wilderness of the Ranthambore National Park
  • Como Parrot Cay Resorts  is another premier wedding spot on the island of Turks and Caicos, with the ability to host up to 50 guests in villas or reserve the entire property to plan a once-in-a-lifetime wedding vacation in ultimate privacy for your wedding party.
  • Flora Farms in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico offers a slightly more rustic but no less romantic experience with a 10-acre organic farm serving as the backdrop for wedding nuptials.
  • Grand Hotel in Mackinaw Island, Michigan is a historic one hundred and thirty-two year old hotel and event venue in our hometown state, where memorable weddings are held either on a spectacular grand porch or the manicured tea garden.  No cars are allowed on the Island, but who wouldn’t want to be transported in a horse-drawn carriage…just one indication of the timelessness of Mackinaw Island.

Whether you decide to elope, or include only close family and friends or have a full-blown wedding, your selection of a destination abroad or a few hundred miles within the U.S., can successfully capture a more memorable wedding that you and your spouse will cherish for a lifetime.  –AJ

Share your thoughts on destination weddings in the comment section or on Twitter!

Thank you to the following sites for source content for this blog:

Destination Weddings.com

The Knot

Junebug

The Trendspotter

Luxury Launches

Elite Traveler

Hat Tip to Pixabay and Unsplash Photographers:

Pexels – wedding table

Counselling – Wedding Rings

Igor Link – The Louvre Museum in Paris

Scalli – Amalfi Coast Italy

Romello Williams – Turks and Caicos

Pexels – wedding chairs and pew on beach

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