Wedding Planning - Choosing a Wedding Destination
Many couples, reasonably enough, choose to be married close to home. But more and more, people are reaching for other states or other countries for their wedding destination.
The reasons aren't hard to understand. If you plan to have your honeymoon someplace far away, it can be very convenient for the bride and groom to get married in that same area. It also lends an air of the unique, romantic or exotic. Getting married in Tuscany, for example, could easily fill all those roles.
But how to choose? There are fifty highly popular areas and hundreds that would be excellent choices. Fortunately, there are some simple guidelines that will help narrow the options to manageable size.
Budget is, for most people, the first consideration.
But the low-cost choice is sometimes less clear-cut than one might think. There are dozens of sites that offer package discounts on all inclusive vacations for honeymoons. That can also include facilities for a wedding ceremony and reception.
Also, there are Wedding Registries that allow friends and relatives to offer wedding gifts in the form of places to go and things to do. That can be anything from a complete trip to just airfare or a night in a hotel in one city.
So, the cost may well turn out to be substantially less than at first it appears. Even those, like most of us, who have to consider budget will often want to stretch a point for the wedding. After all, it's not something we do every day. We can often trim other areas in order to make room for something special.
Once that hurdle is passed, the world becomes full of options.
Ceremonies and receptions in Las Vegas are common. That will be no surprise. The city offers everything from wacky two-minute weddings with Elvis as the residing official to the most elaborate and elegant events at The Bellagio and other fine venues.
A romantic tropical isle like Tahiti can offer everything a couple is looking for. If your guest list is small, it may not be too much of a stretch for everyone to fly over and attend. Then it's off to one of the finest honeymoons possible. With some of the deals mentioned above, it can be very affordable.
Europe remains wide open and a favorite for many. Germany offers weddings on a canal boat. A couple can get married in a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. The lush, romantic countryside of Ireland is perfect for nuptial vows. Venice is one of the most popular destinations for anyone planning a wedding and honeymoon.
Though money is a factor the main criteria is simply to choose the desired atmosphere. The details, including the exact destination, will then easily fall into place.
Legal issues are a mixed bag, but thousands of couples overcome them every year. Every state recognizes the ceremony performed in another. Most ceremonies outside the U.S. are legal and honored in the U.S. without doing anything special. But getting married in a foreign country does require some additional planning. That, in turn, means taking extra time to make arrangements. Fortunately, that's easier than ever.
Set your budget, choose your location, then research the venues and any local laws. Three simple ways to choose your ideal wedding destination.
