Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Deciding on Your Destination Wedding Style
Choosing your destination wedding style is a lot like shopping for your wedding dress. You may think you know exactly what you want, but just to be sure, "try on" a few different styles. You may just discover something else that feels really, really perfect for you. You didn't walk in thinking that would be The One, but once you've stepped into it, it transforms you. That original style you had in mind now pales in comparison. Or, you might "try on" a few different styles, stepping out of them even more convinced that your original choice was The One. You're completely confident in your selection, by giving the others some consideration.
First, Formality
Before we step into destination wedding styles tied to locations, let's first tackle your formality selection. How formal of a wedding do you want? Keep in mind that a wedding set in an informal location such as at a beach or in a rustic barn can have many formal elements like chandeliers and fine linens, and that you can easily wear a formal dress at either of these types of locations. We're back to how you want your wedding to feel: formal with upscale elegance or laid-back. So answer these questions:
* Which elements of a wedding do you consider to be formal? (Table settings, floral arrangements, food service style like plated dinners on fine china, etc.)
* Which elements of a wedding do you consider to be informal? (Natural setting, menu options, drink styles, guest dress code, etc.)
Now, circle the ones that match the feeling you want for your wedding, and you'll show yourself a more fine-tuned vision of your wedding's formality.
Of course, you can always have your wedding team create details made of both formal and informal wedding elements, seamlessly planned and coordinated for your one-of-a-kind wedding that captures your love of classic wedding details but still sets a comfortable feel at your ceremony and celebration. Wedding planners and vendors are excellent at blending formality styles in ways that tie the entire event together without the kind of two-separate-weddings feel that can be the effect of working without expert visionaries.
Your Priority Lists
Now let's get into your priority lists, in which you each choose the top elements of your wedding that mean the most to you, that you want the most, and that will get the majority of your wedding budget so that you can do it up right. Here's what a sample priority list looks like:
Sara's Priority List
1. Venue
2. Wedding dress
3. Menu
4. Entertainment
5. Flowers
Sara's fiancé has a list that looks like this:
John's Priority List
1. Venue
2. Menu
3. Bar
4. Entertainment
5. Photography
Sara and John are on the same page with their venue, menu, and entertainment, so those are their shared top priorities. They then know to put their other top picks higher in their budget and planning effort.
Now, Sara and John will also ask themselves what they care least about, what they could potentially not include or spend money on. For them, it might be wedding programs and transportation (not needed, since their wedding takes place at a resort and they'll walk to their ceremony from their hotel rooms). You'll make your own low priority list as well, to help clear the decks at this early stage and give you more of an idea of how your budget will work. (Plus, it feels good to put some things in the Done pile, by virtue of not having to do them at all!)
You'll find Priority List worksheets at the back of this book for your use.
Destination Wedding Styles
Island
I'm sure you can picture it: your wedding processional leading you toes-in- the-sand to where your guests are seated in pretty white chairs set on a beach, with the azure blue ocean stretching to the horizon and a blue, cloudless sky above. Tropical flowers are everywhere, including tucked behind your ear, and a steel drum performer pounds out the notes of your islandy wedding march. The sun is warm on your shoulders, an ocean breeze makes the palm fronds dance above you, and colorful tropical drinks flow at your reception. That's one image.
Think also about a candlelit ceremony in the stone ruins of a sugar mill, with formally set, lantern-lit tables soon inviting guests to a lobster dinner with champagne aplenty as the sun sets dazzlingly over the ocean. Torches light the way to and from your unforgettable celebration.
Also in island wedding style is the island cruise wedding. You and your guests board a luxury yacht for a scenic sail around the islands at sunset, with your delectable island-inspired menu and drinks delighting your guests as your captain points out celebrity mansions set on the island cliffs. When you disembark, your guests are surprised to arrive at a bonfire on the beach, with your champagne and dessert buffet awaiting them.
Don't limit your vision to just beach-setting island weddings. There are plenty of sensational restaurants set on those cliffs as well, for superb service, gourmet menus, and picturesque scenery. And estate homes, which populate many of the world's best islands, open for renting for weddings and group stays. You get celebrity-style treatment by the owners' own personal butlers and staff, and when an estate home is linked to a nearby resort, you and your guests gain access to all of the amenities of the resort. It's a stellar destination wedding experience in VIP style.
Vineyard
Your wedding stage is set in the vineyard itself, with your ceremony taking place in a clearing among the arbors, and your tented reception treating guests to the wonderful, earthy feel of this setting. Strings of lights or a tent set off your celebration space, and wine and champagne are served with terrific food pairings for a spectacular experience your guests will love.
Or your wedding might take place inside the vineyard's architecturally gorgeous building, decorated to perfection with candles, fine linens, florals, and vineyard-perfect vines and greenery, again capturing that earthy feel with an upscale blend. At night, large lights in the distance provide an evening view of the vineyard land, and music rings out across the fields in celebration of your marriage.
Overseas City
Imagine a British castle reserved for your wedding, with guests staying in the castle for the weekend, transported to a royal wedding dream come true. The stone castle elicits childhood dreams of being a princess, and the history of the castle itself becomes part of your wedding's story. Fine-mannered servers treat your guests like dukes and duchesses, and an orchestra fit for a queen serenades your group with movie-style romance.
Think about a sun-washed island in Greece, with boats bobbing in the water and your wedding processional moving through the streets to your onlookers' joy (and your own). Take a walk through the cobblestone roads in an Italian village, perhaps at the same church where your ancestors married, and your al fresco celebration presenting guests with platter after platter of authentic Italian fare, fine wine, music sung in Italian, and pastries unlike the versions you've had at home. The lyrical sounds of another culture's language enriches your group's immersion into your wedding adventure, as does a weekend filled with shopping and excursions.
Overseas weddings can be formal or informal: city-set, country-set, or beach- set. While every wedding is filled with color, scents, and sounds, an overseas wedding seems to glow with so much more of these effects. Searching the world for the perfect exotic or overseas setting, with the help of your planner, can turn up a heart-fluttering unique venue for your wedding, a place that no one in your group has ever seen before, making this getaway wedding a dream vacation for all.
Domestic City
A city wedding evokes images of a modern loft with floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking the lights of the cityscape all around. Or a historic grand hotel ballroom decorated in splendor with five-star accoutrements and life-changing cuisine. A city wedding weekend can include outings to the theater with group- discount tickets, all the better if it's a surprise outing, as well as walks down legendary streets, stops at touristy spots, famous eateries, and fashion-forward shopping for all.
Imagine also a rooftop wedding, again with the jaw-dropping cityscape views, elegant décor, and the finest menu and drinks imaginable.
Cruise
Cruise weddings can be aboard large ships, with multiple wedding groups aboard and access to pools, water slides, shows, and buffets on board, as well as exotic port of call excursions adding extra adventure to your wedding experience. You get multiple dining establishments, formal dinner nights, dancing, spa treatments, and shopping on board and wherever your ship may pull in. Or they might be aboard luxury private yachts decorated to your liking for your private wedding of five hours, or for an extended stay in staterooms for your lucky guests. These smaller boats might cruise waterways the bigger ships can't access, sail past skylines and landmarks, and be catered by the ship's own chef and staff.
Think about seasonal cruises, such as leaf-peeping fall cruises along a northern coast with spectacular views. Or an Alaskan cruise delivering you to a natural world of wonder, and again a bucket list destination for many of your guests, thanks to you. At any destination, you will get both onboard and excursion adventures and indulgences, and plenty of time for your guests to work their own itineraries into the mix.
National Park
Imagine your wedding held inside a national park, with mountains, colorful rock cliffs, cacti, and spectacular views all around you. If your chosen national park doesn't allow tented weddings within its confines, you'll find fine hotels and restaurants all around the perimeter, affording you sensational views and a ballroom feel at the same time. Those establishments know how to make the most of their phenomenal settings, and they know best the sunset times, so you may find outdoor tented weddings available on their grounds for your big sky wedding feel, minus the wildlife that may be present in the park.
This style of wedding is based in grandeur and love of nature, a sense of awe at the planet's creation, gratitude that places like this still exist in the world, and the unique pedigree of marrying there. Your guests will feel the same, and there's that bucket list thing again.
Garden
Speaking of magic, garden weddings are magical by nature, in that they are surrounded by the beauty of nature, an open-air step into a world of wonderment. Florals and greenery take the spotlight here, draped from trees and bursting forth from the ground, with some gardens' shrubbery art and waterfalls also adding to the mystique, and birds and butterflies visiting the wedding as if illustrated into the movie-worthy scene. Outdoor cocktail parties serve gourmet, garden-fresh fare, and the reception may be tented in fine formality or held in the nearby building for architectural wonder as well. Formal or informal, a garden wedding captures artistry of nature as well as the artistry of your floral designer and event planner.
Lake
I'm seeing lake-style weddings picking up in popularity, given the number of fine lakeside restaurants, resorts, houses to rent, and lakeside open-air spaces that can be booked for events. Even those childhood camps you may have loved are opening their off-season doors to weddings, and when the couple camped as kids, it can be tremendous fun to bring their loved ones into that beloved camp scene for a festive wedding and fun wedding weekend events. The camp lodge can be decorated in setting-matching style, or done formally with garlands of roses and greenery, gardenias, and orchids for upscale flair. Speaking of upscale flair, camp-type foods like short ribs and burgers can be prepared upscale-style with gourmet toppings and Kobe beef, artisan breads, and culinary treats like seviche to tie into the lakeside seafood feel.
Some wedding groups even lodge their guests in the cabins for an authentic experience, adding to their itineraries events like boating, hiking, horseback riding, and competitions like they enjoyed during their camp-going years. It's a style of wedding ideal for sharing stories of carefree childhood days, which beckons guests to share their own memories around the campfire while making s'mores. And beer is available out in the open, not just in the camp counselors' cabins.
A camp wedding or woodland wedding opens up some excellent décor and DIY opportunities for your wedding as well. Think of the words that remind you of camp — carefree, fun, adventurous, etc. — and apply them to this wedding style.
Resort
A fabulous resort welcomes your wedding to its manicured grounds, likely with a sensational view, fine dining, and a wedding package that can give you the presidential suite for free. If you buy out the resort for a big wedding, it'll be just your people lounging by the pool and filling the restaurants for mini parties left and right. Choose your style of wedding, from formal ballroom to a cookout on their lawn, and the resort's team will make it happen.
You may get that beach wedding you desire, with your reception held in the resort's ballroom for formal touches blended with informal or themed wedding décor, and your wedding weekend events can take place at the resort or via a venture off the grounds to other area attractions. For instance, a wedding at an amusement park's resort lets you and your guests spend a day going on rides and sharing in the excitement of their displays.
Winter Destination
Picture a pristine, fresh snowfall blanketing the ground and dusting the trees for as far as you can see in a wooded or mountainous setting that just takes your breath away. Picture a wood beam ceiling in the ski lodge, with guests sipping cognac and brandy by an oversized, roaring fireplace. Warmth all around. Your wedding takes on a snowy theme, with lots of white and crystals connoting icicles formed just for your big day, a sea of flowers, and lots of warm, spiked drinks for your guests. Imagine the excitement of your favorite ski excursions, your passion for skiing and snowboarding shared with your guests. Perhaps even your wedding signs written on snowboards at your wedding celebration.
Imagine arriving at your wedding in a horse-drawn sleigh for a movie-inspired grand entrance, and your guests primed for a destination wedding that's so unlike all of the tropical ones they've attended in the past. Your wedding reflects who you are as a couple, your great love for the winter season, and upscale design elements with a winter touch. Add in the indulgences of a great winter resort, including fine dining, indoor pools, spa treatments, and adventures to embark upon in the resort area.
Ski resorts don't always have to be booked in the winter, so let me add the beauty of a ski resort in the off-season, such as in autumn before the snow arrives, with fall foliage all around and no worries about ice or storms as you and your group venture out for winery tours, brewery tastings, shopping, and fall-themed spa treatments for those who wish to have some Me time.
So think about your formality and favorite styles shown here and that you've come up with on your own, and think about how you want your wedding to feel for you and for your guests. And you'll be on your way to the next big choices.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Weddings Away"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Sharon Naylor.
Excerpted by permission of KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP..
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