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Whether you want to keep your destination wedding under budget or throw a decadent budget-free bash complete with fireworks and a tiara flown in from the Tower of London, even a wedding where the sky is the limit has a limit, and you’ll have to make decisions about how you want to spend your hard-earned money. One of the most frequently asked destination wedding questions that we hear is “how much does a destination wedding cost?” and unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question, and the ones that are floating around there on well-meaning blogs, forums, and web pages, are all over the board. With over a decade of Destination Wedding planning experience for couples all across America, and as a past destination wedding bride myself, I just want to give you an honest and fair expectation of what to look for – and expect – as you start considering your destination wedding budget. While country, time of year, and resort, can increase your destination wedding cost considerably, you’ll also need to have a basic-as-a-pumpkin-spice-latte understanding of how resort wedding packages work. Just like resorts themselves, not all wedding packages are created equal and some of them have fine print that is easy to miss, but could end up forcing you to pay more than what you initially expected. *The info below is based on all-inclusive resort weddings, and varies based on resort brand. This is to provide you a general idea only, and is subject to change as resorts revamp their packages each year.  Wedding Packages and How They are Structured: 1. Complimentary Package – Ceremony Only Most resort offer a complimentary no-frills wedding package that you can take advantage of. These free wedding packages are quite limited, but couples who are having a very small destination wedding may find that they can make this work. Complimentary Wedding Packages usually includes:
For these reasons, the most affordable destination wedding packages that couples select are usually a mid-range to luxury package that includes a few more people and a wedding reception.
2. Mid-Range Packages These tend to range from $3000-$4000 and are usually the best bang for your buck when it comes to intimate destination weddings where couples expect to entertain 20-30 guests. Mid-Range Wedding Packages Usually Include: (in addition to the services provided in the comp package)
3. Top-tier Packages The next, and honestly, my personal favorite, are the most inclusive packages that can be the best value if you don’t want to indulge with additional add-ons on the other packages, which can end up costing about the same or more later. These packages tend to start around $4000 - $8000, and traditionally include 20-30 guests. It is relevant to also mention that there are a couple resort brands where you can earn many of these wedding components for free (not including décor items), based on how many rooms you book under your group room block. This is not standard at most resort brands, so won't go into detail, but worth notating to discuss with your travel advisor for more details. Top-tier Inclusive Wedding Packages Usually Include: (in addition to the services provided in the above packages)
You may have noticed that most packages only include 10-25 people – but what if you’re planning on having 40-80 guests? Which seems to be a standard size of most destination wedding groups traveling overseas. Destination wedding popularity is on the rise and more guests than ever are accepting the invite – why not make a mini-vacay out of seeing their friend or family get married after all? With that in mind, this is where you need to be careful about who and how many people you invite, as there is an additional "per head" cost that you will pay over the guest count of 20-30 included in the package. I’ve worked with clients who invited 100-200 people to “be nice” but only anticipated and budgeted for about 30-50 guests that they thought would actually attend. When 70-90 guests signed up saying how happy and excited they were to attend the perfect wedding in paradise, my clients ended up paying an additional $10-13,000 that they were not anticipating. While they were all happy to be surrounded by so many who wanted to join them, my cautionary tale above is just to highlight how important it is that you are aware of the pricing and ways that you could end up paying unforeseen costs - in case you do have a strict wedding budget and want to avoid that destination wedding pitfall. Additional Costs You Might Expect to Pay:
Vacation Package Not Included
Lastly, don’t forget that you will still need to pay for your own air, accommodation and transportation, as well as, trip insurance. The travel cost is going to be determined by country, resort, time of travel, season, trip length, room category selected and so on. Many couples tend to spend an additional $4000-$6000 for a week stay in an Ocean Front room category just to give you a general idea. However, most group room blocks allow you to earn complimentary nights you can apply toward your room cost. I hope you found some valuable insight to help you understand how much a destination wedding costs. If you feel overwhelmed or would like assistance to narrow down the perfect destination or resort, we are here for you! We spend most of our vacation time touring resorts, meeting with the wedding coordinators and training for destination weddings, so we can make it very simple for you. We save you time by filtering out all the bad advice and countless options for you. Let us take the guesswork out and match-make you to the destination and resorts that fit your style, vision and budget the best. Together we will find your most perfect wedding resort and we take care of the logistics after that. All you have to do is the fun wedding planning and creating an unforgettable event your friend and family will remember for a lifetime! Schedule your free consultation to see how we can assist and learn more about our services! Experiences Await... #experiencesawait #destinationshd
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Unless you’re planning on eloping, one of the key points to think about when considering if a destination wedding is right for you, is of course, budget. Before you can start day-dreaming about if you want to get married on the beach or on a sky terrace, you’ll need to have some kind of understanding of the cost that will be involved for the people that you absolutely cannot get married without (excluding your one true love obviously!). While the cost of having a destination wedding may end up being cheaper for you to host rather than a traditional “at-home” wedding, the cost to attend your wedding is usually more for your guests – particularly if many of them live in the same location that you would have held a “traditional” wedding. I want to go over a few of the ins and outs of who pays for what when you choose a destination wedding so that you’re prepared and comfortable to start planning your perfect big day!  The Wedding Itself It’s more and more common for the wedding couple to pay for their own wedding, however this is personal to each couple and their family, but one wedding tradition holds true – typically the wedding couple and/or their parents pay for the wedding events, welcome dinner or cocktail party, ceremony and reception (more on why reception/dinners aren’t always included for weddings at an all-inclusive resort in a future article – stay tuned!). Travel, Transportation & Accommodation (you know... Plane, Shuttle & Hotel)
Tours or Excursions Off-Resort This is where you will find some difference of opinions relating to off-site tours or excursions. You may opt to arrange a group adventure, and you can go either way and not feel bad about who pays here. In my experience, it’s about an even divide of couples that may pay for a group tour. There are ways around the budget should you feel like you need to do something. You can pay for a portion of the cost for all guests that want to join – that way it’s not as expensive for you or the guests. Another alternative, instead of paying for the entire group of all your guests, you can do a special excursion just for your wedding party and/or parents as a thank-you in which you can take care of their cost. Additionally, you can still do the entire group but maybe only pay for your wedding party or special guests. If you don’t want to leave anyone out, there is nothing improper to leave it up to the guest to join. Throw out a tour you plan to do and invite everyone to join you if they wish with no obligation should they not want to pay for the extra experience. You will want to plan this one a little earlier so you can get a headcount of who wants to join you – then coordinate with the tour company to ensure you all can book together or possibility offer group discount based on headcount. I suggest organizing this way, because if you let everyone book into your tour on their own, there is a risk that the tour time you booked may no longer be available if it sells out or has an occupancy limit you may not have been aware of. These group events are best to arrange at the same time to ensure everyone will be together.
A simple rule of thumb to remember when trying to determine who should pay for what when it comes to your destination wedding is the following: If it’s wedding related, you should cover the cost, and if it’s travel related, it’s the guests’ responsibility.
I hope you found some valuable insight to get you started. If you feel overwhelmed or would like assistance to narrow down the perfect destination or resort, we are here for you! This is what we do every day! We spend most of our vacation time touring resorts, meeting with the wedding coordinators and training for destination weddings, so we can make it very simple for you. We save you time by filtering out all the bad advice and countless options for you. Let us take the guesswork out and match-make you to the destination and resorts that fit your style, vision and budget the best. Together we will find your most perfect wedding resort and we take care of the logistics after that. All you have to do is the fun wedding planning and creating an unforgettable event your friend and family will remember for a lifetime! Schedule your free consultation to see how we can assist and learn more about our services! At some stage during your destination wedding planning process, you’re likely to be exposed to the idea that some of your guests might want to stay in a different hotel than where you are hosting the other guests and your dream wedding. Closely tied to this, are going to be guests who question why they should book through your destination wedding website or destination wedding travel agent if they find a cheaper travel deal somewhere else. This article is going to help you understand how to navigate those questions and give you insider knowledge about the disadvantages that could give you extra unwanted headaches if your guests decide to go rogue! While your guests are free to do what works best for themselves and their families, there are factors that should be considered when advising your guests and answering questions about attending your destination wedding...  Most often, destination wedding guests will stay on-site for a few days so that they can take part in all of the wedding activities and the big day itself. Some may decide to either stay a few more days or head to a different nearby hotel to have their own mini vacation, so this works out perfectly for everyone! Woot, who doesn’t love perfect outcomes and easy guests?! All-inclusive resorts don’t operate the same as traditional local hotels, so if you have guests who want to stay at a different resort the entire time, you (and they) need to understand that they will NOT be allowed to attend your wedding without buying a wedding day pass* to get on to the property – and passes range from $70-150 per person with strict limitations about how long they can stay on-site, as the resorts have restricted hours for when off-site guests can arrive and must depart the premises on the wedding day ONLY. *Important note to consider is that day passes are NOT guaranteed. Due to safety and fire codes, if the resort is at capacity, they will not be allowed to provide day passes to anyone, regardless of how much someone is willing to pay or if they are supposed to be a part of your wedding. You will also have to break the news that they won’t be able to hang out with you at your resort any other days, besides the wedding day with that pass. Therefore, you would have to make off-site arrangements to spend time with them – which is going to mean outlaying more money for transport to meet somewhere, and having to pay out of pocket for whatever it is that you go do. Additionally, you’ll have to leave the rest of your guests enjoying the property that you oh-so-carefully selected for your dream destination wedding, just so you can catch up with those who chose to stay elsewhere. It’s not ideal. Furthermore, the best destination wedding resorts have a limit on the number of guests that can stay off-site and still attend the wedding. The policies found within the fine print of your wedding package contract will state that you have to have a certain percentage of your guests staying on the property in order to qualify for your wedding package. For your own sanity and to ensure your guests can definitely celebrate with you - it's highly recommended to have everyone stay on property for at least 3-4 nights, which is the usual minimum stay for group room blocks. This way, they can enjoy time with you and attend all the events before they switch hotels to stay elsewhere on their own, or depart after your wedding with the memories and fun that you all created together! What if My Guests Find a Cheaper Deal? If your guests shop around for the best deals on resort vacations, there is a good chance that a few of them will come across a cheap travel deal. There is always something out there that may pop up or a new limited promotion through a certain date – it is inevitable in this digital world. However, it is highly unlikely that the deal that one guest found, will be available for all, so often times your group room rates will be the best deal, not to mention the amenities you can earn on top of that. Online sites tend to offer a few rooms at a cheap promotional rate and then raise the rates once those are sold OR it could be the last of their contracted inventory they are dumping at a cheap rate to ensure it’s off their books. There is also a concern that it might be a “too good to be true” travel deal. The flight might have a 16-hour layover or arrive the next day, which can be an easy detail to miss when booking on your own. The cheaper resort rate could also be due to room inventory being sold are the rooms above the kitchen, parking lots, or nightclubs. Cheap vacation booking sites often contract the most undesirable room locations in order to be able to offer these so-called deals. You may also find that the fine print states that your guest has an additional fee upon arrival, and most importantly, are subject to being moved to another resort if they overbook. Last but not least, those deals are nearly always non-refundable and must be paid in full at time of booking. Many learned the hard way from the recent pandemic that monies paid to a third-party travel website aren’t the concern of the hotel or airline being booked, so those suppliers can’t assist you and redirect you to the company you purchased from. Unfortunately, you are left to fight with the online travel site directly – so if they shut their doors and walk away, like many travelers sadly endured as some operators closed soon after travel became restricted. A company’s finances and sustainability are the last thing someone thinks about before booking a trip, but will now need to start considering for future travel planning. Keep in mind, you will also need to personally track each guest who books outside your room block, and ensure they provide you with their travel details, so that you can pass along the information to your wedding coordinator for headcount and room location. You will also need to make sure that your guests on their own, have transportation arranged too - as they won't be included with the others under your group room block. They will be on their own should any issues arise and will not be included to receive any of the travel instructions, advice, event info etc.. that your destination wedding travel advisor may pass along to those who are booked under your group. If for some reason there is a significant difference in price that continues, let your travel advisor know ASAP! They can go back to renegotiate pricing as there may have been a change to the resort or restructuring that occurred after your contracted rates were supplied. It shouldn't be an issue to get those changed for everyone already booked and for the other rooms holding in your block. Don’t forget you will also most likely earn additional amenities such as free nights, room upgrades and/or wedding benefits based on the number of rooms booked under your group block. Any reservations booked outside the group will not be included in the count to earn those extras, so it could be important to direct your guests to book through your room block. Urging your guests to trust you, the process, and your travel advisor is the best way to ensure that everything goes according to plan with minimal opportunity for problems before your wedding, so that you can then get on with the entire point – marrying your best friend in a paradise and having fun! You will give your guests and yourself peace-of-mind knowing someone will be on your side until returning home.
I hope you found some valuable insight to help you confidently answer your guests questions! If you feel overwhelmed or would like assistance to field guest questions, narrow down the perfect destination or resort, we are here for you! This is what we do every day!
We spend most of our vacation time touring resorts, meeting with the wedding coordinators and training for destination weddings, so we can make it very simple for you. We save you time by filtering out all the bad advice and countless options for you. Let us take the guesswork out and match-make you to the destination and resorts that fit your style, vision and budget the best. Together we will find your most perfect wedding resort and we take care of the logistics after that. All you have to do is the fun wedding planning and creating an unforgettable event your friend and family will remember for a lifetime! Schedule your free consultation to see how we can assist and learn more about our services! |
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