MARY E THOMPSON

it's a curvy road to happily ever after

Destination weddings

Taking It Local

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So far we’ve talked about finding the perfect spot for your destination wedding and treating your guests while they’re there. In this last post, we’re going to talk about bringing the local area into your wedding.

Planning a wedding is stressful. No matter what, it’s going to be tough. But the actual wedding and the memories you make will make you smile for years. To make it even better, make it unique to you and where you spend your time!

Bring in the local flair!

Okay, you’re thinking I’m nuts. I get it. Bringing in something local will not make it unique to you. You’re not from there or living there or whatever. But if you chose to get married there, it’s a special place. And showing your guests a little about what you love about the area is absolutely going to make it unique!

So how do you do it? I’m so glad you asked!

Food

The easiest way to bring the local area into your wedding is to incorporate some local foods. Think barbecue in the south, a luau in Hawaii, or chicken wings if you come visit me in Buffalo! Every area has local foods that represent the culture of the area. Maybe you have a favorite restaurant in the area. See if they can fix an appetizer if you don’t want them to prepare the entire wedding. Or a special dessert. You can also try something completely new! If you’re going to an area you haven’t been to before, ask family, friends, or the person helping you plan your wedding (I highly recommend working with a local) for suggestions. It’s a wonderful way to honor the place you’re visiting and introduce your guests to something new.

Traditions

You might not think of local traditions immediately, but it wouldn’t take much to learn about them. In Hawaii, leis are a part of everything. They welcome visitors to the island, are used in many local traditions, and there are special ones for a wedding. I can’t imagine a wedding in Hawaii without leis. Just like a beach wedding wouldn’t be complete without sand in your shoes, local traditions can be a lot of fun to bring into your wedding.

Things To Do

We talked last time about treating your guests and planning events together, but I thought that was important enough to mention again here. Show your family and friends around the area where you’re staying. Your wedding doesn’t have to be just one day when you have a destination wedding. You can spend a week or a few days with your loved ones, showing them around your chosen location. In Boy vs. Girl, and all of the Opposites Attract stories, the couple getting married, and sometimes their friends and family, go surfing! You can take a tour of the local area, go visit a famous landmark, or meet at your favorite restaurant. Any number of things can bring all your guests together so they can see exactly what you love about the place you chose to celebrate your love!

How can you take your destination wedding local?

 

Boy vs. GirlHow do you resist what you want?

Been there, done that. Had the scars on my heart to prove it. I was not getting involved with anyone else. It wasn’t worth it. But she didn’t want anything except a fling. We agreed from the start. Then everything changed. I wanted more. But I was the only one. 

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Treat Your Guests

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If you missed my last post about choosing a great location for your destination wedding, you can read that here. 

Congratulations again!

Planning your wedding is so much fun, but it can be stressful. When you plan a destination wedding, things can be both easier and harder.

Once you’ve decided where you’re going to get married, you need to talk to your guests. Destination weddings tend to be smaller since a vacation is involved, but that just means you won’t be inviting your mom’s first boss that she still sends a Christmas card to, but hasn’t seen in twenty years. Count your blessings!

The guests that do come to your wedding will be the people you’re closest to. They will be your parents, your best friends, your siblings. They’re going to be paying a lot of money to share in your wedding with you, so treating them, and treating them well, will be very important.

Most of you won’t be able to pay for your guests to travel. If you can, you’re a rock star, but if you can’t, don’t feel bad. Most of us wouldn’t be able to pay for flights, hotels, and meals for multiple people for an extended stay in a fabulous location. That’s okay! Your family and friends can handle it, and the number that are willing to is a testament to you and how much they love you. If they can’t come, don’t feel bad. Maybe you can plan a night out when you get home with family and friends who couldn’t make the trip.

For those who do make the trip, I want to share a few things you can do to make them feel special and to help them have a great time.

Plan Ahead

Before you even tell them about the wedding, find accommodations they will enjoy. If everyone coming is family, or close friends, consider looking into large houses for rent. You could offer up the idea of everyone sharing one large space and splitting the cost instead of everyone getting a hotel room. If you don’t think that will work, do research into local hotels and hold a block of rooms at a discounted price for your guests. Having everyone stay in the same location will make it possible for them to carpool to events or plan things together. If you do a little research ahead of time, it’ll make things easier for them.

Get Together

Depending on how long everyone is in town for, you could plan a group activity. Wherever you’re going, there’s bound to be a lot to do. Think of something the majority of your guests would enjoy, whether it’s surfing in Hawaii, a museum tour in DC, or hiking in the mountains, take time for everyone to get together. Plan it well in advance, and if possible, you can pay for it. Your guests will appreciate the time with you and your soon-to-be spouse in a low-key environment.

Share Ideas

You know the location. Maybe it’s not a place you’ve been to often, or at all, but you’re planning your wedding there. You know it better than your guests are likely to. Put together a visitor’s guide of your favorite places and things to do. You can email it to all your guests before the wedding so they can plan ahead, and include a copy in a gift basket you leave in the room for them. This way they have built in ideas to stay busy without having to figure it all out themselves.

Give Back

One of the sweetest things you can do for your guests is give them a gift. They traveled to be with you for your wedding. They’re the people you’re closest to in the world. You love them, I know you do. So give them a gift. Maybe take whatever you would normally have as a favor and include it in a gift basket. Take a few local items, a couple things that mean something to you, and a few useful items for their trip. Most hotels will be happy to leave gift baskets in the rooms your guests will be checking in to.

If you’re going to a beach location, add sunscreen and a hat to a small beach bag with a map of the area that has all your favorite beaches marked. You could throw in a few bottles of water or a bottle of wine, too.

If you’re headed into the city, give a gift card to a favorite local restaurant. Add in a flyer about the museum down the street and a pint glass from the local brewery you always stop by first.

If you’re keeping it quiet at a lakeside retreat, give your guests a welcome basket with snacks and bottles of water (reusable with your name and date could be fun and useful). If a grocery store is far away, they’ll really appreciate the food. Add in walking or driving directions to your favorite spots to keep them entertained.

Be Present

The hardest thing with any wedding is feeling like you got to visit with all your guests. For a destination wedding, you might luck out and have a longer period of time with your guests. If you do, try to be there with them. Plan a trip to the spa with your mom, sister, and girlfriends. Plan a date night with your dad. Spend time with your grandma when everyone else is out doing something else. No matter what you think, your life will be different when you get married. You’ll still see the people you love, but it might be more of a challenge, and it might not be one on one. Take some time to see the people you love the most and tell them how much you appreciate them sharing your special day with you.

They love you!

No matter what you do, your guests love you. They want to be there with you, and adding in a little something extra that they don’t expect will be a nice surprise when they show up to celebrate. Have fun with it!

What would you do to treat your guests?

 

How do you resist what you want?

I never should have gotten involved. I was smarter than that. But she was impossible to resist. And after I stopped resisting, I wanted more and more of her, from her, with her. It was my fault. I knew better. I still couldn’t stop myself. 

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Where will your dreams take you?

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Congratulations! You’re getting married. The easy part is over. You found the one person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Now you need to plan the wedding.

And you thought finding him was hard. Ha!

I’m just kidding, well sort of. Planning your wedding is not as easy as we’d all like to think it is. You can have anything you want. It’s your big day. But I know that isn’t always practical.

What could be a lot of fun is a destination wedding. Where would you go?

Destination weddings have become more and more popular over the last few years. It’s a chance to get away from all the stress of every day life and relax with your closest family and friends in a different location. No, it isn’t cheap, but you can do it in a way that doesn’t break the bank.

First, you have to figure out where you want to go.

Did you meet somewhere that’s special to you? Did you go on vacation somewhere that you love? Are you planning a honeymoon? Those answers could help guide you to your ideal destination wedding location.

Just for you

If you met somewhere special, it might be a good choice for a destination wedding. My husband and I met in college, and we love our alma mater. We’ve been in the crowd at football games when fans have actually gotten married at halftime, or been brought onto the field before opening kick-off to be announced. That would be pretty awesome!

There are all kinds of ideas to use the place you met, especially if you don’t live there anymore. Take a trip down memory lane, literally, and turn it into a wedding adventure for all your guests!

Going back

Where was your first vacation together? Or your favorite vacation? If you’ve ever been someplace together that you loved and wanted to return to because it became your place, maybe you should get married there. A destination wedding doesn’t have to be somewhere tropical or popular. You can go back to the lakeside cabin you rented your first weekend away. Or to the mountain resort you stayed at on a skiing trip. Or, yes, you can head back to the beach where you first said I love you. Think of a place that is special and meaningful to the two of you, and go there!

Two birds, one stone

If you’re planning to go on a honeymoon, you can always plan your wedding at the same location. Friends of mine eloped on a cruise ship. They got married on the ship before they left their first port of call and spent the rest of the cruise on their honeymoon. When we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii, a couple and their families wandered off the beach in wedding wear into the luau we were at, clearly having just been married on the beach at sunset.

One of the obvious downsides to getting married in the same location where you’re going on your honeymoon is you might spend your honeymoon with family and friends instead of with just your new spouse, but if you’re okay with that, go for it!

What speaks to you?

Planning your wedding is one of the most personal things you can do. You’re blending your private life with your future spouse and your public life with family and friends. It’s a chance for you to show your family and friends the things you love about each other and love to do together. And the right destination will definitely start your marriage off in a way that’s special and meaningful and perfect for you.

Where do you dream of getting married?

 

I needed to do something to take my mind off being stuck on an island and unable to get in the water. He was a really nice distraction. Until I started to want him more than my dream. 

Available now!

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