Weddingbee Blog

Dreaming of a destination wedding?

After 12 months of long distance planning, my idea of the process was very different from the actual experience, both good and not-so-good. And looking back, I wished someone gave me a little survival guide before my planning adventure began. And now that all is said and done, I created a little survival guide of my own, with my story and the tips and tricks that I hope will be enlightening and reassuring for all awesome DW brides out there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Act I - 14-12 Months Before

Act II - 12-8 Months Before - Pictures worth 1,000 words, begin a long distance relationship with your awesome vendors and save those dates!

12-10 months before:

All the Pretty Pictures:

In the land of virtual wedding planning, the inspiration board and color palette for destination wedding brides are the keys to the proverbial promise land. The more specific you are in the images (I want wood benches and globe lights that look like this) and color choices (fabric swatches or Pantone chips, please ), the easier it’ll be for your vendors and wedding planner to make your vision come to life. So I collaged my little heart out. Remember some of ours?

(sources: Our Labor of Love, Martha Stewart Weddings, Etsy, Max Wanger, Max Wanger, Flickr, Joel Carlson via redbubble, details details via snippet & ink Martha Stewart, Our Labor of Love, Century Novelty via Amazon )

(sources: carribeanjourney / photographer: heather parker, max Wanger, Tickled Pink via Style Me Pretty, Eugene Kam, Gia Canali via Style Me Pretty, Hawaii Weddings and Events via bridesclub, max Wanger)

Our wedding coordinator, Dianna, religiously studied and carried these photos leading up to our big day. But I kept thinking I was giving her too much stuff and it was making things complicated. “I’m insane, right? You’ve gotta let me know if I’m overwhelming you with imagery!”

“These photos are exactly what I need,” she reassured me. “It makes my work easier and your peace of mind greater. You’ll see.”

And, she was right. When she had to hunt for last minute bowls, baskets, ribbon and everything in between, these pictures and our color palette made the selections easy for her, versus me receiving a flurry of uncertain emails and long distant calls.

Photographer, Videographer, Florist, Event Rentals (tents, tables, linens and stuff), Officiant, DJ, Makeup and Hair, blah, blah, blah:

If you’ve been poring over the Real Simple Weddings Checklist like I did, you’ll notice that you can wait to “check off” many of the services I’ve listed above as late as four months before the big day. And depending on when and where you’re having your fabulous destination wedding, you may truly have the luxury of waiting until a few months before to book and pay for these wedding vendors.

And I guess I could’ve waited to book some of these, too. I mean, we did decide at the eleventh hour to abandon Operation iPod DJ and by some minor miracle booked our top DJ choice.

But if wedding planning is riddled with stress to begin with, destination wedding planning - especially for those insane brides (cough, me) who don’t go on a planning trip - can be wayyy more zany. So my goal was to cut out the stress points where I could. And except for our last minute amazing DJ, all of our vendors were booked - contracts signed, deposits sent - by the 10 month mark. I printed and kept the contracts and contact info of all our vendors in my holy planning binder and crossed off those big, bad”to do’s” from our list. And just like that, clouds of stress lifted off me and I felt goooood.

9 months before:

Block those rooms!

Chances are, your dreamy wedding locale is also a dreamy vacation spot. So the earlier you can reserve blocks of rooms at your nearby resort(s), the more zen bride you’ll be.

Make an Awesome Wedding Website

Make the trip planning a breeze for your guests. Pimp your site with airfare & hotel options, cool spots to eat, drink, see, schedule of events, maps, directions and registry stuff.

8 months before:

Save those dates:

Some of your fellow brides may think you’re being ridonkulous. But your favorite people who will be going the distance will kiss you on the lips for giving them ample time to request time off, save up $$ and score that low airfare. So send those puppies out soooon. Trust me.

Invitations? CHECK:

Depending on the time it takes to produce your invites, I’d recommend ordering these beauties on the heels of sending our your STDs. Because unlike hometown brides, you’ll be sending yours out a few months earlier.

And a little summary for all of this good stuff? Let’s do it.

Mrs. O’s 12-8 month planning tips:

• 12 to 10 months before:

• Collage your heart out and make a few inspiration boards that you feel are accurate reflections of your wedding style. We broke ours out into a few categories: Overall theme // Florals // Ceremony // Cocktail Hour // Reception.
• Create a color palette, complete with fabric or Pantone swatches, so your wedding coordinator and vendors can ensure their goods match back to your palette, instead of a questionable color copy.
• Book as many vendors as you can - as long as you feel the price is right and you love your vendors. I swear this is life changing for DW brides…and hometown brides.

AND HAVE FUN. If you’re still on the hunt for the perfect vendors and you’ve missed your “deadlines?” DON’T STRESS. Hop on over to our buzzing local or DW boards and ask our local bees for some tips that google or yelp may not know about. They’re so wise (and fun!), those local and DW board bees. I loved getting to know these gals and definitely learned a thing or two in the process.

*HIGH FIVE* hive! You’ve made it through another epic post. I hope it’s been helpful.

DW Bees, what other advice and topics do you want to know more about? And more importantly, where are YOU planning to have your wedding?