I quite often get asked or challenged on many questions and concerns brides to be and their families have prior to and during the process of planning their destination wedding. I will go over a few items of interest below that can help answer some of your questions that may come to mind in part I of a two part article.
I - Brides these days are very internet savvy and quite often have the answers prior to coming to see me. You could plan a destination wedding yourself, but in all honesty why would you want to? Most young brides have full time jobs, fiance's, family commitments or they may have children as well already. Planning a destination wedding can take upwards of 200 hours of your time, in all honesty it's almost like having a part time job (on top of what you are doing in your daily life already)
Working with a destination wedding specialist would be a very wise choice. We have extensive knowledge of the resorts that are recommended to you, plus have established relationships with the onsite wedding coordinator's, which works in your favour to help you get the answers you desire and are needing to know.
When planning a wedding in a different country, there are many legalities and various items of interest that you need to know, and using a destination wedding specialist, again, would be able to supply you with this info you are needing and know which direction to steer you in to make this a seamless and stress free experience.
Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, so try and keep it as stress free as possible to make it more enjoyable.
II - Using a destination wedding specialist, who also specializes in group travel is a very smart thing to do. There are a few key items to take note of in regards to group travel. Each agency has established relationships with the tour operator's they are recommending and have negotiating power, which is working in your favor. Quite often, wedding groups consist of at least 15-50 people on average. Sure looking online at the various online booking sites can offer you a really great low package price, but keep in mind, that is for 2 people, not 50. You would not be able to secure that rate for 50 people, as the pricing you see online is based upon availability, and is only available for a certain number of seats on that aircraft and at the resort. When using our specialists at TPI we are able to secure the same pricing for all members in your wedding group. As well we are aware of certain promotions and savings that we pass along to you with your quote which gives an even great discount at times. A travel specialist also can advise you of what passport requirements are needed, baggage allowances, schedule changes that can happen using a charter airline etc. Using a travel specialist works in your favor and they act on your behalf.
III- Often brides get confused as they will see in a travel brochure, or online, about free wedding packages. Free wedding packages are often for a very small wedding group (say under 10 people) and include very basic amenities in that package, each additional person over that initial 10 will occur a fee. It will often not include your reception and dinner, photo's, cocktail hour etc. You will need to budget for these items if you wish to have them and wedding coordinator's will give us a detailed list of the extra items that we will forward to you and you can pick and choose which items you would require. Alot of resorts will include Al La Carte pricing which works well for most brides, as often they do not want certain things included or don't require them.
Also keep in mind that you will be paying for your wedding reception if you wish to have it private and special. Again, a common misconception is if you are staying at an all inclusive resort than you shouldn't have to pay for the meals and drinks at your wedding reception. This is not the case. Each reception planned offers a different menu from which you would see nightly at your resort, plus there are people that are brought in to help set up such as waiters and waitresses, bar staff, DJ's, etc. Some resorts will offer you a buffet style reception that you don't have to pay additional for, but it will not be private and will be open to the public. One other thing to note, if you are inviting your guests to your wedding, you should be paying for their meal, it's common courtesy and proper destination wedding etiquette and may not be received very well by your guest if they are asked to contribute to your wedding reception dinner.
I will be posting part II of this article on tomorrow's blog so check back for more great advise!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment