Wedding Trends, Wedding Tips
Should You Have a Destination Wedding or a Local Wedding?
Oct
Each soon-to-be bride and groom must have considered doing a destination wedding while planning their most anticipated wedding day. With the frequency of destination weddings and with wedding budgets skyrocketing now more than ever, engaged couples are always boggled as to which wedding trend to follow. Should you have a destination wedding or should you opt for a local wedding instead?
Destination Weddings Versus Local Weddings
Deciding between the two isn’t as simple as picking colours or choosing between ice cream flavours because both types of weddings come with their own advantages and disadvantages. The entire wedding day can shift solely because of the faraway wedding venue or the cozy ambience of a local wedding.
To help you decide on which way to go, Giftware Direct is breaking down the elements and comparing the two wedding types up close to get the best option possible. When it comes to choosing between a destination wedding and local wedding, these are a few considerations which may dramatically tip the scales either way for the bride and the groom. Read on!
The Wedding Cost and Budget
The first aspect of the wedding day which may be a big concern for engaged couples is the wedding expenses. For local weddings, the costs should cover the necessities such as food, drinks, venue and attire. On the other hand, having a destination wedding would add additional costs on top of that such as airfare, accommodations and the need to hire a wedding planner. The total wedding budget would still depend on the number of guests you think of inviting and how simple or elaborate you’d want the celebration to be. As some people would consider, having a small, intimate wedding for 50 people overseas can sometimes cost less than having a grand wedding bash for 200 people right in your city.
The Wedding Planning
As previously mentioned, destination weddings would require having a hired wedding planner or organiser to make everything easier to coordinate, including the paperwork and legal documents. Especially when it comes to weddings abroad with language differences, having a professional planner at your side can make things smoother and it can avoid you getting lost in translation with wedding matters. For local weddings, however, it is possible to DIY the entire thing and recruit the entire bridal party’s help when it comes to accomplishing wedding-related tasks months ahead of the big day. Calling up vendors and meeting up with suppliers are easy for local weddings, too, as you don’t have to book an advance trip to see the venues or have a food tasting just like in destination weddings.
The Wedding Guest List
Taking into consideration the capacity of the wedding venue you have booked, inviting your wedding guests are hugely different when it comes to the two wedding types. Guests can easily go to a local wedding and they’ll answer “yes” to your RSVP in a heartbeat once they know it is somewhere near and somewhere familiar. With overseas destination weddings, not everyone is able to take time off of work immediately and some would still have to check if they can fly to see you say “I do”.
Hence, if you are dreaming of a big wedding bash then getting married locally would be more appropriate. But if you are hoping to cut down on the actual attending guests but would like to give out invitations to everyone in within the extended family, then a destination wedding is perfect for you and your soon-to-be spouse.
The Wedding Weekend
Once you get invited to a wedding that falls on a Saturday or a Sunday, then you usually allot that entire day for the celebration and a day (or two!) if you are invited to a hens night or a bridal shower. However, destination weddings aren’t just a weekend thing as it is a great opportunity for everyone who’s travelling to take a quick vacation while celebrating your wedding day. Not only can you see them on the day itself, the bride and groom also get to spend quality time with everyone before the wedding day with a simple welcome dinner and then have planned activities with the entire group right after the festivities. Even with the same booked flights or same hotel stays, the couple gets to spend time with family and friends during the entire week of the wedding instead of just having a quick day with everyone.
Given all these considerations, the best way to figure out whether you should have your wedding here or abroad is through talking with your soon-to-be spouse. What is important is you get to truly celebrate your love and your new union in a place that feels right for the two of you, no matter the time zone or the continent.
