6 minute read
“I do” destinations…from Vegas to Venice
By JEANNIE EMSER SCHULTZ
Once a rarity, destination weddings have become commonplace with creative couples saying “I do” in exotic locales including beaches, ski slopes, vineyards, European castles and Cinderella weddings in any of Disney’s three park properties.
There were 350,000 destination weddings in 2022 (roughly 25% of all U.S. weddings), with the most popular U.S. destination states (per Group Travel) being Nevada (Las Vegas), California and Florida. The Caribbean, Mexico and Hawaii listed as the most popular sites outside the continental U.S. An ever-increasing number of organizations in foreign countries are taking advantage of the destination wedding surge to extoll the virtues of tying the knot in their locale with weddinghoneymoon packages offering fairy tale settings.
So how to begin planning the perfect destination wedding? The first hurdle is… “should you” or “shouldn’t you?” Are destination weddings a dream solution or a nightmare?
Money savers or budget busters? (Answer: they can be either.) Second marriages, vow renewals or couples who are self-funding their nuptials may enjoy more say than if parents are footing the bill. (Will Mom have a meltdown at the prospect of the ceremony not being in the local church or available to elderly relatives not able to travel?)
Hurdles #2 and #3 are symbiotic: “ample planning time” is as crucial as the “time of year” chosen. It is advised to choose a location before you pick a wedding date to avoid the conflicts or limitations of some resorts’ high season or choosing a beach wedding that coincides with hurricane season. Google “weddings in Tahiti” or “Italy” or nearly any location, and you’ll be bombarded with websites for both U.S. wedding planners as well as ones located in foreign countries. Many hotels and resorts also have their own wedding planners to aid couples.
Wedding planners, in fact, are an advisable expense for destination weddings. Professional planners can often help with travel arrangements as well as being current on the regulations of marrying in foreign countries including: licenses; age and document requirements; if same-sex marriages are legal (e.g. they are NOT yet in Jamaica); peculiar local regulations (such as the Cayman Islands disallowing live outdoor music on Sundays, so Saturday outdoor receptions must wrap up by midnight);or, as a non-resident, in which countries may a wedding ceremony be only symbolic, not legal (you would need to first be legally married in your own country).
(Jerry Hall learned this the hard way when filing for divorce from Mick Jagger, only to be told their 1991 Hindu ceremony in Bali had not been legally recognized by either the UK or Indonesia!) And, for example, should you choose to wed in Tahiti, expect to say, “Je le fais” instead of “I do,” as all weddings must be conducted in French.
My own destination wedding plans encountered such stumbling blocks as we considered Bermuda…until learning of its six-week residency requirement (at that time).Ultimately, we discovered an organization in Hawaii which could marry us on any of the islands… “in the jungle, on the beach, near a waterfall, the summit of a volcano (inactive!) at dawn, or on a cliff overlooking the ocean at sunset.” We chose the latter in Maui. (One of those peculiar requirements for a Hawaiian marriage license—since cancelled—required documentation assuring the bride had either previously contracted measles or been vaccinated against them!)
For our traditional Hawaiian ceremony, we and our witnesses chose Hawaiian print outfits, with the wedding package including flower leis, a wedding bouquet, photographer, videographer and being collected at our hotel by a chauffeured Rolls Royce limo (sporting a trunk sign that announced “Just Mauied!”). Post ceremony we were treated to champagne as our Hawaiian officiant, complete with ukulele, sang “The Hawaiian Wedding Song” (claiming a wedding in the Islands isn’t considered official until that song is performed).
We followed the advisable suggestion to go with a reception after returning home so family and friends could celebrate with us (and view photos from our wedding!).“Cons” of a destination wedding can include hurt feelings/jealousy by those who may not have the available time or finances to travel. And, unless you are planning to fund travel/hotel expenses for the wedding party, you might shave their expenses (and any guests who attend) by considerately insisting, “Your presence will be our gift.”
Destination wedding costs naturally vary. A Tahitian beach ceremony might be less than renting an Italian villa, but airfare to Tahiti will cost more than a flight to Europe. All-encompassing websites such as destinationweddings.com can help you calculate your own costs with a questionnaire based on dates, location and number of guests. Destination wedding “pros” can include an adventure. (One friend married wearing scuba gear on a boat in the Cayman Islands. After saying “I do,” the couple jumped into the ocean). Another colleague and her fiancé (both avid Browns fans) selected a Jacksonville, FL beach ceremony at dawn to be able to attend the afternoon Browns-Jaguars game.
A recent U.S. News & World Report listed the current Top 12 European Wedding Destinations as: ITALY (Tuscany, Venice, Amalfi Coast, Lake Como); FRANCE (Provence, Parisor Loire Valley wine country); GREECE (Santorini, Mykonos); PORTUGAL (Porto); SPAIN (Mallorca); SCOTLAND (Edinburgh); CROATIA (Dubrovnik on the Adriatic).Sicily is also making inroads as a destination following the popularity of The White Lotus hit TV series.
Destination weddings have been the celebrity nuptials of choice with George Clooney, John Legend, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian, Tom Cruise and Rachel Ray choosing Italy; Cindy Crawford, Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz marrying in The Bahamas and Halle Berry, Alicia Keyes and Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie holding their vows in France. If budget isn’t a consideration, couples can even wed in the same resorts chosen by celebrities, such asthe Taj Bhawan Palace in India where Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas exotically tied the knot. Victoria “Posh” and David Beckham married at Luttrellstown Castle near Dublin, and closer to home, Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello chose The Breakers in Palm Beach. The key to planning a destination wedding is research-with-a-capital R. A plethora of helpful websites are available with some of the most informative ones the aforementioned destinationweddings.com, as well as withjoy.com, skitheday. com (for ski weddings) and brides.com (the latter even offering “11 Real-life Castles Where You Can Be Married”). Free wedding planning tools are also available at theknot.com.
