Destination Wedding Budgets

Today I want to write about the horrible, awful, scary topic of wedding budgets. And more specifically, the things you HAVE TO have versus the things you WANT TO have for your destination wedding weekend.

If you are eloping, you may find reasonable packages that include everything you’re going to need to get married. The only things not included are your accommodations and your wedding dinner. If you are traveling with a group of more than 10 people, that means we have to get much more specific with the budget.

It is very possible to have a destination wedding weekend on a budget. Everything has a budget.

I have put together a list of the things you will need to look into.

1) A minister. If you don’t have a wedding planner to run you through all the paperwork, you may pay a higher fee to the minister to help you get that accomplished.

2) A photographer. I’ve had a few clients who have brought their own and that works out just great. But if you don’t have a budding artiste on your guest list who is willing to give up his or her own fun on your wedding day to be the camera slave, you need to hire a professional photographer. Yes, most of your guests will have digital cameras with them. But you cannot be assured they will get all the traditional pictures that you’re going to wish you had a month after the wedding.

3) Flowers. You don’t have to have big lush centerpieces at your reception, candles in hurricanes can be just as beautiful and far less expensive. But you and your attendants need bouquets. Nice ones. They’ll be prominently displayed in all your pictures. Local blooms will wilt if kept out of water when they’re cut. Some wilt just from being cut. Wedding flowers are shipped in (at considerable expense) and assembled by experienced wedding professionals.

4) Food and Beverages. If you’re having a group of people come all the way to the Caribbean to celebrate your special day, it is incumbent upon you to feed and water them while they are there. How much you have to spend depends on the size and format of your event, but as a general rule, this will always be the largest number in your budget.

5) Entertainment. If you’re having a catered wedding reception, you need to have music of one form or another. you may want to have bands, trios, and disc jockeys and you can spend more or less depending on what you choose. But you need to do something. The exception to this is when you have your wedding dinner at a restaurant that provides canned music through their system.

6) Cake. You can have a traditional wedding cake or cupcakes, but you need to do something. You can also serve dessert, but you’re going to want a cake of some form to cut for pictures and posterity. This doesn’t have to be expensive — you determine exactly what you want. But you need to serve something.

7) Accommodations. You have to stay someplace while you are here. It’s your wedding. Don’t look for the cheapest possible option on the island you’ve chosen. Regardless of the time of year, the bridal suite should have air conditioning. You will get hot and sweaty getting ready and you need a cool place to escape at times.

8) Reception venue. You can eliminate this item if you’re doing a restaurant reception, but if you’re having a real wedding then you need to either choose to stay in accommodations that are large enough to facilitate your event (and permit weddings) or you need to pay an event fee to a reception venue for using it the day of the event. Either way, the space for the party isn’t free.

9) Transportation. It’s fine for you to tell all of your guests to rent their own rental cars, you are not expected to incur that expense. But it’s unreasonable to think you’re going to accomplish large troop movements of your group in any other form of transportation. Many small Caribbean islands, does not have a large or reliable public transportation system and all the places you and your guests want to go are very spread out. Everybody needs to have a designated seat in a car. And the bride and groom need their own car — you cannot share with friends! That never works out well. The bride and groom have to be places on time and can’t be waiting around for people not ready-to-go or for the best man to return from snorkeling. It will muck up all your plans.

10) An experienced, professional wedding planner. Let’s face it, hard pinning down some vendors “Island time” is no joke. And “manana” doesn’t mean tomorrow. It just means “not today.” Getting your marriage license in Puerto Rico is easy if you’re holding the hand of somebody who does it every week and knows the folks who need to provide and sign your documentation. And keeping all the trains running on time during your wedding weekend is a full-time assignment for someone — and it shouldn’t be the bride or groom. You are supposed to be spending your time enjoying and entertaining your guests, not worrying about whether the rental company sets up the tent in the right spot or if the flowers have arrived. And you definitely don’t want to be the one who gets the phone call at 3 am that somebody has gotten drunk and cut their foot and needs stitches but nobody in the emergency room speaks English. Or that somebody else is stuck out on a distant beach with a flat tire one hour before your wedding ceremony and needs a ride. Do not trust vendors (hotels, florists, etc.) who tell you that you don’t need an independent wedding planner to put together all the details of your wedding for you. They will not do all the little stuff for you. And they mark up everything! If you do nothing else, wherever you get married, hire an experienced wedding planner to help you plan and execute all the little parts and pieces of what is going to be the most important day of your life so far. You will save yourselves so much money, before all is said and done, that the fee that you pay your wedding planner will seem like nothing.

Most commonly forgotten items include: cake knives, champagne flutes, ring pillows, flower girl baskets.

EVERY BRIDE has a budget. It’s my job to keep it real and keep you on it. I will never lie to a potential client and tell her that she can afford things she can’t for a total of $5,000. I want my clients to love their weddings and be able to pay for them.

Remember, hiring a wedding professional is almost a MUST when planning your destination wedding.

Good Luck,

From your wedding specialists,

Elegant Creations