Destination Bliss Volume 4 · Weddings | Page 46

5 TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR DESTINATION WEDDING FROM A BRIDE WHO’S BEEN THERE Lisa and Jordan are tying the knot at The Grand Moon Palace in Cancun, Mexico on Dec. 3, 2018. Here’s what they’ve learned. 1. TRAVEL AGENTS ARE SO HELPFUL Finding the perfect resort was by far the hardest decision, there are so many beautiful destinations and resorts to choose from. Our travel agent was extremely helpful in filtering through the options and finding the one that fit all of our needs. We directed all of our guests to her for bookings and questions. It was a huge help to have someone else handling this part of the process. 2. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE AMAZING REWARDS PROGRAMS A big factor when picking our wedding resort was the resort rewards program. Most resorts have reward programs where the couple gets a kickback for having their wedding there and bringing guests. Make sure to consider the rewards programs when you pick one. They can save you money on your wedding, give you free nights at the resort, and other upgrades! 3. PREVIEW EVENTS AND SITE VISITS ARE SO IMPORTANT It’s hard to plan a wedding at a place you’ve never been before, so I highly recommend a site visit. During our site visit we saw locations that were not listed online for the reception, met the photographers, and tasted the food. We met with our event planner and confidently made decisions for our wedding day! 4. YOU CAN GET EVERYTHING THROUGH THE RESORT Planning a destination wedding is stress-free because you only have to work with one vendor for everything. The resort gives you an event planner to keep everything organized. Most of our planning was done via email with our wedding planner. We selected flowers, photography, hair and makeup, food and music through the resort. 5. IT SAVES YOU MONEY We were able to save a lot of money by having a destination wedding. By getting legally married before going down to Mexico, we cut out hundreds of dollars in legal fees. We saved on wedding planner fees since our resort offered a wedding planner, and we saved on the resort cost by getting group discounts for our guests. We plan to save money on flower and décor as our venue is already stunning on its own. Lisa and Jordan on their site visit! BY LISA ALITZ