We're really excited about having a destination wedding! So ... what are the options?
We live in Texas but most all of our family is in California ... so we definitely feel we're great candidates for having a destination wedding.
With my family in Southern California and Ken's is in Central California ... we could choose one of those ... we could go somewhere in the middle of the two ... or go somewhere totally different.
Things we've taken into consideration while looking for the perfect destination and venue:
- Our family is mostly all in California
- We will be traveling with 5 kids
- We will be traveling during summer vacation from school
- We don't know yet if we'll be able to get passports for all of the kids (there's a story for this one *sigh*)
- We want to be married on the beach - on the sand if possible
- We're working with a fairly low wedding budget (considering we'll be paying for travel and accommodations for 7 of us)
- We need to be careful about the travel time involved so none of us waste our vacation time in planes and airports
Places that we put on our "maybe" list right away:
- San Diego (North County)
- Santa Barbara
- Hawaii
- Mexico
- Antigua
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Texas Hill Country
Since I'm most familiar with San Diego I started checking into some of the great venues there and I've really had a lot of fun investigating the wedding sites there. I was checking out the website for the Del Mar Power House when one of my best friends called me and said they had picked their wedding site ... that's right the Del Mar Power House! "I'm on their site right now!"
I was a bridesmaid in her wedding last summer and it was fun to be at their wedding while being engaged. You find yourself checking out every detail and getting ideas for your own wedding. It also got us even more excited about our own wedding.
Some of the thoughts while we were narrowing down our destination:
San Diego - Great for our families and a place we both love. Accommodations for 7 of us were somewhat expensive as were the potential wedding costs. If married in San Diego we'd both want to go somewhere else for our honeymoon. This meant we'd have to fly all of the kids back home, work for a week, and then leave again for our honeymoon (Ken can't comfortably be gone for more than a week at a time).
Santa Barbara - See above ... pretty much "ditto" as for San Diego
Hawaii - We kept hearing about "great deals" for Hawaii travel and this was a place we were both really excited about. But at some point in our research we decided that with such a large family we'd be best to go with an all-inclusive resort and Hawaii doesn't offer them. Again, for all 7 of us ... just too expensive.
Mexico - I started doing a lot of research on the internet about the many different places to get married in Mexico. I found some great places and the cost was very appealing. I love the idea of being able to go somewhere that feels like a "vacation" and being able to combine our wedding and honeymoon (weddingmoon as they call it LOL). Mexico was quickly becoming the front runner ... meeting all of the criteria we were looking for in a venue.
Antigua - Ken has always wanted to go to Antigua and I thought it'd be really wonderful to surprise him and make this happen for our wedding (or honeymoon if that was to be separate). My research revealed that it's difficult travel for most of our guests (due to distance). I think we'll leave this as a vacation destination - can't wait!
U.S. Virgin Islands - Since we were having some challenges (you can read about it here) getting passports for Ken's kids ... we decided to check into the U.S. Virgin Islands just in case. There were some all-inclusive resorts and although they seemed similar to Mexico in price (some less) the travel costs were much more for us. This would also be a full day of travel for all of our family in California so not the best choice.
Texas Hill Country - That leaves "home." LOL ... As it turns out there are some really nice places close to home to get married. The problem was that the places we fell in love with (The Oasis in Austin and the Yacht Club in Horseshoe Bay) were pretty darn expensive (for our budget). We'd save money by not traveling with kids but since the guest list would be much bigger here (due to inviting friends and business associates) the cost was much higher. I am glad I forced myself to look here in Texas but I guess we still have our hearts set on a destination wedding.
I'll let you know we've decided on Mexico you can follow along as I investigate some of the great venues in Mexico and see where we decide to get married and have our honeymoon. We're totally excited!
Still deciding on a destination? Be sure you read, "Choosing a Destination" for some great tips. What do you think of the places we considered? How many "maybes" are on your list? How to go about narrowing them down? Use the comments section below and share your thoughts. It will help a lot of other brides. *SmiLes* Suzanne
