St. Paul United Methodist Church

Destination Weddings

Destination weddings are all the style these days. Seems like everyone wants to have their wedding in a villa in Tuscany, a beach in Hawaii, or on top of a mountain somewhere. A traditional church wedding and reception are soooo last century, or so it seems. Now, I like a destination wedding as much as the next person, but there are some things you might want to consider before you decide to do one.

1. Cost: Flying your entire wedding party to Europe is an expensive proposition. Not only expensive for you, but expensive for every one that goes along. When you factor in airfare, lodging, meals, and other items, it can cost a couple of thousand dollars a week for each person who goes along. That is on top of buying a dress and shoes to wear, a present and a card. Unless everyone is pretty well off financially, then the expense is likely to end up as a charge on their credit card that they will still be paying on long after their vacation tan fades. Just because you like Cancun and want to vacation there on your honeymoon doesn't mean that your family and friends want to as well. Not only that, but you will probably want to have a second reception or party back home for all those friends and relatives that were unable to attend the wedding, so add that to the total cost. The price of a destination wedding keeps on adding up.
2. Weather: In your mind you envision a perfect wedding day for your outdoor wedding, with sunny skies, fluffy clouds, and mild temperatures. In reality, the weather may not cooperate with your dreams. Instead of your vision of a mild sunny day, your wedding party and guests may be sweltering in their tuxedos in the tropical heat and humidity, or shivering in a sudden cold snap in their bridesmaids dresses in a mountain meadow. It might rain, or the wind might come up. Something to think about before you plan a wedding and reception outdoors.
3. Uncontrollable events: Destination weddings, especially in public places, are subject to uncontrollable events. Things happen that you don't expect to happen. For instance, we recently went to a wedding held on a public beach in Hawaii. The picture below was taken during the ceremony. Just a couple of seconds after the picture was taken, the dog in the background lifted its leg and relieved itself on the sand in front of the wedding party. At least all the people walking by, playing in the water, and lounging nearby mostly kept to themselves. Having a dog wee wee in the sand next to the bride and groom is sort of cute, but not all uncontrollable events end up that way.

Here's an example of an outdoor wedding that didn't quite turn out like they expected, from a letter we recently received. "Ted and Mitzi (names changed to protect the innocent) finally got married after going together for 7 years. Their wedding was beautiful but for the canceled pre-wedding pictures that were to be taken at the Rose Garden - her mother and sisters didn't arrive until 4 pm. Then not dressed and still had to decorate the wedding cake. And when the wedding started a kid screaming at the top of his lungs on the other side of the trees while running by twice, and an airplane flying overhead, a train going by, the generators quit twice. Then an icy-cold wind came up and blew the big vase of alter flowers on the floor, breaking it and spilling water all over. By then Mitzi was crying so the pastor quit the service, put his hand on her shoulder and consoled her saying that this sort of thing had happened at other weddings. The food was late in arriving and the icy-cold wind drove 90% of them home or somewhere else so there was very little dancing done."

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Updated: 9/10/2007