Destination Weddings – 13 Top Tips
Destination Weddings – 13 Top Tips
Organizing a destination wedding, blessing or renewal of vows ceremony can be much more complicated than organizing an event in your local area. Here are a few tips that can help you along to ensure your day runs as smoothly as possible.
1 – Get Help
If you haven’t already, check out the local wedding planners to see what services and packages they offer.
Organizing a wedding in your local area can be daunting enough but in a different country can be a minefield.
A Wedding Planner will shoulder the burden of researching, interviewing, and securing local suppliers especially if the said suppliers do not speak your language. They are also the behind-the-scenes fairy godmother, vetting special requests such as hair and beauty, dry cleaners, and so on.
They also get everyone where they need to be on time and ensure that you have a “go to” person to send your guests when all the itinerary queries get a little too much.
2 – Itinerary
Unlike a wedding in your local area, guests are dependent on you once they reach the destination. Create an itinerary of pre and post wedding events along with an itinerary of the day, important contact numbers and addresses. This will avoid them asking you when & where they need to be and will help them in the event they get lost or delayed.
3 – Pre-wedding visit
You’ll need to take a trip to the destination to visit local venues and suppliers such as the church, reception venue, hotels for you and your guests, rehearsal dinner venue and local suppliers such as florists, photographers and hair and beauty salons.
Food tastings and hair and beauty trials can be organized in this trip or a second trip may need to be made depending on the size and complexity of the wedding and the arrangements. You can also take advantage of organizing activities (golf, spas and excursions) for everyone while they are in the destination.
4 – Supplier checks
If you’re hiring a supplier without any experience of their work, ask for a portfolio of pictures and references from previous clients who held a similar event as yours.
5 – Build up a relationship with your suppliers
Building a relationship with your suppliers is paramount. They are not local businesses that you can pop in and see whenever you wish, so stay in contact with them as much as possible with updates and thank you emails or calls.
A little goes a long way; the level of service they offer you can make or break your wedding day so building a rapport can help you deal easier with any issues that may occur or even help you negotiate little extras.
6 – Bring your own professionals
Don’t be afraid to fly in your own pros for important aspects of your day such as hair, makeup and photography.
7 – Inform guests of the destination
Before you invite your guests to join you on your very special day, give them a well informed explanation of your destination of choice to enable them to politely decline should finances be tight. Gran Canaria is great destination for your wedding, blessing or renewal of vows. Flights and accommodation are available to accommodate all budgets and tastes. It’s a great holiday destination, enabling your gues
ts to combine your wedding with a fantastic holiday for all the family. It’s only 4 hours from most European countries and it’s known for its all year round sunshine, making it the perfect winter and summer wedding destination.
8 – Be realistic
Try not to be too upset if some of your closest friends or family cannot attend. Although you are footing the bill for the wedding, the cost of travel, accommodation and car rental costs can mount up. Your chosen destination might be the perfect holiday for you; but it may not be the type of holiday that they want to take.
9 – Dress to impress not stress!
Take into account the climate when choosing that perfect wedding dress. Choosing a satin ball gown to get married in the summer sun may have you more stressed than impressed.
Check out the average temperature and weather conditions for the chosen month in the local town where you plan to get married. Remember, temperatures can vary from resort to resort so don’t just take the temperature rating for the capital of the country if you’re to marry in a totally different area.
10 – Relax & enjoy!
One advantage of marrying on an island or in a tropical destination is its relaxed and laid back atmosphere.
Keep an open mind on slight punctuality differences and minor mishaps; they can even make for some of the best memories.
Also take into account that supplies available on islands can be limited so slight differences in the products you order may occur. Flowers are a great example of this; their availability differs from season to season.
11 – Packing your suitcase!
Be sure to pack lots of strapless tops if you’re wearing a strapless dress or wedding gown and slap on the suntan cream. You would be surprised how much you can catch the sun by just walking to the local supermarket in the
morning. You don’t want noticeable strap marks or post sun burnt peeling skin on your wedding pictures.
Also don’t forget to leave ample room for your wedding gown and contact your airline to get advice as to how your gown will be transported so you can pack it accordingly. It’s very disappointing to get to the check in desk carrying your perfect wedding dress only to find that it needs to be checked in with your suitcases or will be thrown in the overhead compartment with other passengers bags.
Always pre arrange for your wedding dress to be steam when arriving at your resort, 9 times out of 10 it will get slightly creased in transit no matter how much care you take.
12 – Wedding gifts
Organize for all wedding gifts are sent directly to your home address. If you do happen to have some gifts brought to the destination, arrange for family and friends to take them home with them to keep until you come back from your honeymoon. Alternatively pack an extra bag to bring them home yourself just in case.
13 – Welcome Your Guests
It can be customary to leave a wedding basket of destination essentials for your guests that have travelled a long way to share your special day with you. It can include samples of local cuisine or artisan goods, sun cream, local wines or spirits and can be adapted to your own budget. Coupled with a thank you note, it’s a lovely way to show your appreciation to your guests for taking the time and effort to come and stand alongside you on such a memorable day in your life.
If you’re interested in Gran Canaria for your perfect destination wedding, blessing or renewal of vows ceremony,
contact me, I’m more than happy to answer any questions or queries no matter how large
or small.
Bernadette Garside
Civil Ceremonies – The legal paperwork
Beach Weddings in Gran Canaria!
Want a dream beach wedding in Gran Canaria?
Well now you can!
The Government delegate to the Canary Islands has welcomed the idea of weddings on the beaches allowing the islands be sold to tourists as a wedding destination.
Beach weddings have long been a dream on Gran Canaria, that national laws prevented from happening officially.
We have many people enquiring about beach weddings, but until now it simply has not be legally possible, if all goes well we should now be able to offer The Perfect Wedding on the beach in certain areas designated by the local town hall in conjunction with the coastal authorities.
Great news for couples planning to marry here and great news for Gran Canaria
Permission has been sought for years, both by the tourism sector as well as some municipalities of the Islands.
The new Costas act, according to news reports, could make such events now be possible in certain areas, provided that “they have no negative impact on the public domain”.
“To celebrate a wedding on a beach in the Canary Islands would mean needing to apply to the provincial department for demarcation of Costas and the payment of a deposit and a fee for the occupation and utilisation of public property” Bento explained in an audio file released this week.
The Spanish Government’s delegate in the Canary Islands, Maria del Carmen Hernandez Bento, underlined the need to find a balance between such activities and requirements to ensure that the public can freely enjoy the beaches.
Wedding authorizations for a beach wedding would need to have favourable reports from the relevant municipalities and the regional Ministry of Territorial Policy, added Bento.
There are still a lot of items to clarify, and possibly some bureaucratic red tape but in the very near future we hope to be turning many couples dreams into reality on our beautiful beaches.
We can help you with all the paperwork process, holding your hand every step of the way, ensuring your wedding planning and wedding day itself is a stressfree and enjoyable day to remember!
Watch this space and we will keep you abreast of all the latest updates.
Alternatively, we love to talk weddings, so feel free to contact us for more indepth wedding information.
Bernadette Garside
Founder of The Perfect Wedding Company, Gran Canarias Wedding Specialists
Tlf.: (0034) 653 642 208
Website: www.perfectweddingcompany.com
Email: [email protected]