Destination weddings are quite different to weddings in your home country, not least because of the often-complex logistics, language limitations and limited time available to be ‘on the ground’. What couples often don’t realise, though, is that your budget works differently too. Having planned weddings throughout Europe for many years, I’ve compiled a list of the 5 unexpected destination wedding costs you might not be aware of. This will hopefully give some food for thought when considering what kind of wedding you want to have, with helpful links and guidance along the way.
Destination wedding costs you might not expect:
1. Transport
It’s a wonderful truth about destination weddings that your guests have made a big effort to be there to celebrate with you, and providing some sort of transportation for them at key moments is considered a nice way to show your gratitude for that. We often have a scenario where our couples’ chosen wedding venue is quite remote, and guests are staying in several different hotels within a recommended area. It is rarely possible or easy to just call an Uber or local taxi firm and expect that all guests will be able to get to and from the wedding that way, particularly with larger guest numbers and lesser populated locations.
Most commonly, our couples provide transportation in the form of coaches – usually proceeding along a route that visits several of the hotels where guests are staying and bringing them to the wedding venue, with the reverse being true at the end of the night. This (or something similar) can optionally be repeated for welcome and farewell events, though we tend to recommend the wedding day as the most important one.
The cost of this transportation should be considered in your budget, along with the type of vehicle you’d like to use. Many of our couples use local coach companies to transport large numbers of guests at once, however we have also hired a whole fleet of Mercedes MPVs to navigate the streets of Florence before!
2. Welcome gifts
Elegante by Michelle J couples historically love giving welcome bags or little gifts to their guests. This is one of the more enjoyable destination wedding costs to think about if you love gifting, and the beauty of it is that it’s very adaptable to your budget. Giving your loved ones a little something on their arrival in your destination country is a thoughtful touch that sets the tone for your whole wedding weekend, helps them settle into and embrace the location, and can remind them what to expect. There are a few different ways you can go with welcome gifting, but they can include:
- Schedules for your wedding events, including locations, timings and dress codes
- Details such as where and when the transportation can be used
- City/destination guides for the local area
- Recommendations for cultural things to do to enhance their trip
- Gifts such as jars of local olives, bottles of venue-made wine or simply thoughtful handwritten notes
- Cards on which guests can request a song, leave a piece of advice or a nice message
We often help our couples with handing out welcome bags, either by hand delivering them to hotels or by displaying them at welcome parties – the exact details depend on what’s inside and how soon you’d like your loved ones to have their gifts.
Want to know more about creating amazing wedding welcome bags? Click here.
3. Extra events
Speaking of welcoming your guests, one of the unexpected destination wedding costs we think is important to cover is this: the cost of extra events. When planning a wedding in your home country, pre- and post-wedding events are totally optional and, when they do take place, are often quite informal or low-key. However, at a destination wedding it is becoming more and more expected that welcome and farewell parties will be on the schedule.
We love helping our couples design their pre- and post-wedding parties, because they’re a real opportunity to start the celebrations early, allow everyone to mingle ahead of the wedding day (resulting in an even livelier atmosphere), and really make the most of the destination you’ve chosen.
Whether you like the idea of sunset drinks and nibbles on a city rooftop, lounging around a pool helping yourself to a hair of the dog, or an adventurous group activity to see the local sights, we’ve got the art of wedding events covered.
Read our guide to throwing a stylish wedding welcome party here.
4. International suppliers
Next on our list of unexpected destination wedding costs is the potential expense of bringing suppliers from overseas. Wherever possible we try to work with local suppliers in your destination country, as we love to support the talent in the area and strive to bring authenticity to your experience. However, occasionally it just isn’t possible to find the team we really need.
Depending on the remoteness of your wedding destination and the development of the wedding industry in the area, it may be necessary to bring suppliers over from your home country to work on your wedding. Sometimes we simply can’t find the right fit for you abroad, or we want something very specific that isn’t available – in this case, flying them in is the option that will give you the best possible experience.
You can find out more about why and when we might choose to do this in our blog about the 7 factors influencing the cost of a destination wedding – click here.
5. Luggage and travel
Finally, an unexpected cost for your destination wedding that has less to do with love and more to do with logistics! Planning a wedding involves a lot of stuff, some of which we’ll source in your destination country and some of which will have to travel with us. When my team and I travel to your wedding, we often bring with us your menus, place cards, welcome bag items for assembly…not to mention our own event essentials kit with everything we could possibly need over the course of your wedding!
Of course, there are no hidden costs for our luggage – but you’ll find that you also have more than you would take on a normal holiday, so it’s worth considering what will need to come with you. A great example of this is your wedding dress, which needs to be carefully transported especially on a plane. We wrote a whole blog about travelling with your wedding dress here.
You may also decide to upgrade yourselves to better seats on the plane, a chauffeur on arrival, a nicer hotel room…which are all things that couples often don’t consider until closer to the time. Giving this some thought ahead of time can help this remain a pleasure, rather than turning into an extra expense you’d forgotten about.
Additionally, I typically do 2-3 planning trips with my UK couples and sometimes 1-2 with US couples, though it is possible to make it work without if necessary. These should also be factored into your budget, and are an invaluable part of the process.
Planning a destination wedding is one of the most exciting experiences you’ll have in your life and, having worked with a multitude of couples over more than a decade, I’ve seen these unexpected costs pop up and surprise people time and time again. Elegante by Michelle J couples now have the benefit of this because they’re well prepared, and hopefully now you are too. Remember that weddings overseas can be designed to fit many different budgets, and a good wedding planner will be honest, transparent and helpful when it comes to what you can do with yours.
GET IN TOUCH to book a complimentary consultation with Michelle.
You might also like:
How to plan a wedding in Italy from the UK and from the US.
Images in this blog by Alex Wysocki.