How to Host the Perfect Destination Wedding

If you’re planning a destination wedding, you likely find yourself daydreaming about the romantic locale, exotic food, and a built-in honeymoon. But another big part of it is making sure you’re providing an easy and comfortable experience for your traveling guests. Here are some tips to make it a dream experience for everyone!

Help with Travel Arrangements

With your guests going the extra mile (literally) to be at your destination wedding, they’ll appreciate any guidance you can give them to make the trek easier. On your wedding website, include information on lodging recommendations, the closest airports, transportation from the airport, and whether or not they will need a rental car. Not only will this help them, it can also save you from fielding messages from your entire guest list about travel logistics.

Welcome Party

When guests are traveling for your wedding, and more than likely staying multiple nights, hosting a welcome party the night before the wedding day is a nice way to show your appreciation for making the accommodations to be there. While a free dinner is always nice, don’t feel obligated to cover that. Drinks and apps are perfectly acceptable for a welcome party – just host the rehearsal dinner before the celebration begins.

Welcome Bags

Take the extra step to make your guests feel welcome by providing goodie bags at hotel check-in or the welcome party. These can include snacks, wine, water bottles, or practical items like sunscreen and a map of the area.

Suggested Itinerary / Activities

Whether in the welcome bag or just on your wedding website, offer a list of activities or suggested itinerary for your guests who are traveling to a new area for your wedding. Since your wedding is only one night of a whole weekend, make it easy for your guests to make the most of their travels with recommendations for restaurants, tours, activities, and sites to see.

Digital Wedding Experience

The one obvious downside of a destination wedding is that you will have loved ones who won’t be able to make the trek to attend your wedding in-person. But with new tools like Guestinations, you can allow your at-home guests to celebrate with you virtually. Guestinations not only provides a livestream of your wedding on a custom webpage, it also includes a digital storybook to help capture all the special moments from your wedding journey from multiple perspectives before, during, and after the wedding.

This digital storybook makes it easy to collect and enjoy candid pictures and videos from your friends and family that are displayed along with the livestream. In the app and on your custom webpage, a timeline feature allows guests — both virtual and in person — to scroll along to see content from throughout the wedding experience.

Assign a Contact Person

Even with plans and details perfectly articulated on your wedding website, there will inevitably be guests who still have questions on the weekend of the big day. Ask one of your bridesmaids or groomsmen or a family member to be the contact person for last-minute questions from guests or hotel concierge, and include their number on your wedding website and in the welcome bag. That way you have more time to focus on celebrating than being an event coordinator.

Destination weddings can be some of the best and most memorable weddings people will ever attend. Use these tips to make the experience that much smoother and more enjoyable for not only your guests, but also for the happy couple!