After going through everything that sucks about planning a wedding my fiancee and I are pretty sure that a destination wedding is in the future.

We are looking at a beach wedding and we don't even know where to start.

If anyone has had a destination wedding would you PLEASE let me know where you went and if it was something you'd suggest.

Let me warn you that the biggest catch with a destination wedding is getting legally married in another country. Every country is different, but some make you be in their country for a week before the ceremony, some 2 weeks, some make you do blood tests, some charge a fortune for the marriage certificate, etc..... I would narrow down which county you want to get married in by how difficult it will be. When my wife and I were looking at beaches to get married on, we would find a place we love only to find out that the logistics of getting legally married there were almost impossible for us.

Or, you could get legally married at the JP in your hometown, and then just have a spiritual ceremony in the country of your choice. That way you could choose any country without having to worry about the legal headaches.

Husband and I got married on the beach in Grand Cayman back in Jan. It was great because I didn't really have to make too many decisions and the hotel took care of pretty much everything. A bit on the pricey side, but pretty much on par/a little under with what a real wedding would have been according to bridal magazines I read.

I got married in April in Playa at the Iberostar. We really enjoyed. We had to be there 3 days before the actual wedding date.

Everything went real smooth and it was very easy to plan.

We are in Kauai right now and saw a nice wedding at Mahaulepu Beach yesterday....simple, beautiful, and easy to get to, no big resorts, etc.

http://www.paradiseservices.com/locations/mahaulepu.html

My sister is getting married at Couples Negril, Jamaica in April. They have to be at the resort 3 days before the wedding.

Do it big

Check out the Maldives, Seychelles, or French Polynesia (Bora Bora)

My wife and I got married at Dreams Tulum about a year and a half ago. Best idea we ever had.

I got married at Lake Tahoe. Lots of stuff for the party to do, plenty of wedding planners to help, beautiful scenery, good food, reasonable prices, top notch lodging and easy to obtain the liscense.

Got married on the beach at Kapalua.

Highly recommended.

It will also help weed out your invite list to the folks you really want there. We had 20 folks join us. Could not have been better.

If you feel the need to have others celebrate, host a "reception" for other friends/family when you return. We hosted a reception at our home 3 weeks after we got married for folks we did not invite or who could not get to Hawaii.

Getting married in Honolulu in January. The wedding will end up costing us around $5000 for flowers, dress, ceremony, and everything that goes along with it.

We kept telling our coordinator and travel advisors that we expected between 30-50. They kept telling us to expect 15-20. We're definetly up to over 40 ppl and the list is still growing.

Alot of people may not be able to afford it, but alot of other people see it as a place they may never get to travel to.

Also, the people that don't attend the wedding feel bad for not going and have purchased some pretty nice gifts for us instead. Fair trade.

My fiance and I are getting married in January in Belize. We are really excited and cant wait to get down there and start drinking beers on the beach. A couple things to consider when planning a destination wedding.

1) You can be guaranteed that there will be certain guests, that you would love to be a part of your wedding, but will not be due to it being a destination wedding. Couple reasons for that. Many places you look at will only have 20-30 rooms or they will only allow small weddings at the venue - so that really hacks down your guest list. Also, for many guests a destination wedding is very expensive and that will eliminate quite a few. For instance, only our immediate family and a couple friends will be attending our wedding. My finance's mom has 12 siblings and none of them or their family is coming. Just too expensive and not enough room for all of them.

2)You and more specifically, the bride has to be prepared to have very little involvement in the wedding planning. You just cant do all the "typical" wedding things. This wasnt an issue for my finance, but her mom seems to be kind of stressed that they have no control on how things are going to look, etc.

If you can be OK with those things then a destination wedding is great.

To answer your original question, places to have it. Mexico has about a billion spots, just get online and start looking. You can also consider Jamaica (beware of if you are on cliff side or beach side of island), Caribbean islands, and of course my personal favorite - Belize.

Edit: Dominican Republic is supposed to have some really nice spots as well. And I have heard some people going to Puerto Rico

[This message has been edited by K05 (edited 11/19/2009 11:37a).]

I'm actually going to be in Belize in Jan as well. so I'm going to take a look down there and see what we think. We are planning on getting married next Oct. so we have plenty of time.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting married?

Thanks for the help guys.

Maybe you are going to my wedding??? Weird.

Our wedding is at The Phoenix resort, on Ambergis Caye.

We are actually going to Jerry Jeff's Shindig towards the end of the month.... just odd timing I guess.

Thanks again for the info.

Profesor - do you have any other info. to offer on your Tahoe wedding? Where? What time of year? Did you do all the planning or have it done for you? Were you in cabins? Were you in the mountains? What kind of venue did you get married in? I've never been to Tahoe so I have very little point of reference...just getting started into exploring that option...

We got married in Maui on the beach. Basically walked out and took a spot to get married. My dad was the officiant (which wasn't that difficult to get him registered).

We had a small group of our immediate family go with a couple of friends, but most of our friends couldn't afford to make it out, so we had a reception in Houston afterward for people to come spend time with us.

Highly recommended. Low stress and very personal.

[This message has been edited by phildickinson1 (edited 6/20/2010 8:58p).]

I got married in Cancun, it was awesome. I am now a travel agent that specializes in Destination Weddings...that's how much I enjoyed it. Please let me know if you need a travel agent...the agency I work for plans hundreds of destination weddings and I have so much advice to give!!

My brother had one at St. John a couple years back. It wasn't horribly expensive, marriage license was not a problem, but also not incredibly wedding-y. About 15 people in total and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We got married in Maui two years ago, and it was perfect. Highly recommended. Extremely low stress, and tons of stuff to do. Heck, we walked out to Black Rock and snorkeled with sea turtles the in the morning, got married on the beach at sunset, and had an excellent quiet dinner for 2 that night -just an amazing day!

If you're thinking CONUS, my wife is wedding coordinator specializing in beach weddings here in Destin, FL. Depending on the oil situation, they put on some top notch events and there are a number of great resorts. I don't want to break any advertising rules or anything but I'd be happy to provide contact info if you're interested.

aggielacey, can you provide any contact info?

same here aggielacey. I would like to speak with you.

I've never been a fan of the destination wedding until I saw a friend's pics from their Hawaii wedding. Now, I am sold. Get married in the islands!

aggielacey...hello?

This lady planned my honeymoon, but she specializes in Destination Weddings and is great to work with:

Kelly Wanninger
Personal Travel Consultant specializing in Honeymoons, Destination Weddings & All-Inclusive Vacations
All About Honeymoons & Destination Weddings
email: KellyW@allabouthoneymoons.com
website: www.KellyW.allabouthoneymoons.com
812.962.3665 (local)
800.507.9525 (toll free)
812.402.6078 (fax)
Member, American Society of Travel Agents
Certified Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Planning Specialist
Official Cancun Counselor
Certified Sandals Specialist
Ski Specialist

For those of you who had a family member be your officiant, how did this process work? Who did they get their ordination through? How long does it take?

Here's what my son and daughter-in-law did: They got legally married in a small, private ceremony at home. Only immediate family, especially grandparents who would not be able to travel, attended.

Then they went to the destination and had The Wedding. That's the date they celebrate.

Two birds with one stone: No legal problems, and more close relatives felt like they were part of the celebration. And when you get to the destination, a friend relative or even the resort bartender can "marry" you and it doesn't matter.

Got married at the Hyatt Regency in Clearwater, FL last September. All I will say is to not discount the convenience of staying within the states. We looked for quite a while at places in the Caribbean, but nothing seemed to work quite like we wanted - not to say it is difficult to do, but with people traveling to go to the wedding, it was just easier to stay in the states. We didn't get married on the beach, but instead did the ceremony on the 8th floor rooftop patio overlooking the ocean. Did the ceremony in one of the hotel conference rooms adjacent to the hotel bar and then proceed to the reception after party at the hotel pool and then proceeded to the reception after after party watching the Ags BTHO SMU. Going to be hard to beat that day.

I will say after going through this process, it was everything we wanted and more - something small, fun and different. My advice to you, wherever you go - is to make at least a weekend of the wedding, enjoying the time with friends and family.

[This message has been edited by Theo is a Touchdown (edited 4/16/2012 7:07a).]