Location, Location, Location
Obviously, this is the biggie. By definition, a destination wedding takes place out of town. But even though there are many popular destination wedding sites, a destination wedding can take place anywhere, even in a little town no one's ever heard of (well, almost no one). The location doesn't have to be extravagant or chic or posh; it just has to be somewhere other than your hometown and other than where you currently live.
How Do You Choose?
If you can choose from the entire planet, how do you finally settle on one spot? Well, some brides fall in love with a resort they've spent some time at already, while others may attend a friend's destination wedding and be inspired by something they've seen there. Many brides sit down at their computers and start scouting out locations by doing some research. They let price or availability lead the way, and then narrow down their options from there.
Choosing a spot isn't always easy, but it's not nearly as difficult as it may seem if you don't already have a site in mind. Let your intuition — about location, season, climate, the amount of travel involved, price — jump-start your thought process, and go from there.
Make It What You Want
Some brides hear the words “destination wedding” and conjure up images of a drunken cruise ship ceremony presided over by a showgirl and a steward. Other brides crinkle their noses thinking that saying “I do” on a beach is somehow less of a commitment than reciting those words in a cathedral (or in a country club, for that matter). The truth is, a destination wedding can take any form, from lighthearted to serious, just as an in-town wedding can. Furthermore, as long as you have taken care of the marriage license requirements (something we'll talk more about in Chapter 16), your marriage will be 100 percent till-death-do-you-part legal.
E~ssential
Can't decide between a formal, religious ceremony and a breezy “I do” on the beach? You don't have to! Your wedding doesn't have to be all serious or all fun. It can be both, and this is what a destination wedding does beautifully. By simply taking your wedding out of a traditional setting, you're opening up all sorts of unexpected possibilities — for yourself and for your guests.
No matter what the crux of your ideal wedding ceremony, whether it's religious or not, you'll be able to plan a destination wedding around it. Now, this isn't to say that you should try to plan a solemn wedding in a casino. You need to have realistic expectations about what your chosen destination can deliver — or you need to be willing to change the locale.
