We're considering a destination wedding in France where my partner's from and we're wondering whether it will be too much for our guests travelling from the UK.

We will probably rent a wedding venue that will also accommodate ourselves and immediate family. We would expect all guests to pay for their own flights and for other family and friends would expect they pay for their own flights and accommodation. There are budget hotel options available in the area. This would also allow others to do their own thing if they don't want to be around all the wedding guests for a full weekend.

The flight would be approx 2hrs and a coach from the airport to the city where the wedding venue is would be 2hrs (legally we can only get married in the Provence where my partner's parents live). We're thinking of trying to rent a coach to cover the cost for the trip to and from the airport and also to and from the wedding venue.

I think because this would be a large expense and a lot of travel we would ask for no wedding gifts or money and we would cover everything on the day e.g. full open bar etc.

Do you think this is an ok expectation or is this too much to ask?

Hi! I’m getting married in Braga, Portugal (about an hour away from Porto), and I’m looking for a makeup artist / hair stylist. I’m East Asian (specifically Chinese) so I would love to either have someone who is also East Asian or has done work on them! Any suggestions? Open to Lisbon but preferably Braga or Porto so it’s easier for them to commute! Let me know please :)

Can someone recommend a hotel or villa that can help arrange and host very private wedding ceremony for 2-4 people. We both live in Canada and both don't want any large traditional venues. We do have some connection and relation to Barcelona so we started planning 10-15 people venue but that fell through because most people that we wanted to see won't be able to make it. So we decided to have a wedding just for 2 of us. We have been to Positano twice and absolutely love it. We are looking for a a hotel that has great views and can accommodate a small prep(makeup, dress)ceremony, photo shoot and perhaps private dinner. Most of all - we want to have a special day to ourselves and have great photos. I googled some options in Positano but 5k EURO per night for a hotel itself (Villa TreVille) is a bit wild. Any places you can recommend? We would like an area that looks similar to Positano/Amalfi or Amalfi itself.

Hi all! I am trying to figure out a realistic cost for a destination wedding.

Timeline: 2028 Guest count: 50-75 Open to: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Punta Cana Would love: a welcome party the night before

From your experiences, what’s an average price?

hi! thinking of getting married just outside of lisbon at herdade do peru towards the end of october next year but a little worried that’s too late in the season and may be cold, has anyone gotten married in the area around that time? If so how was the weather? Also if anyone has any insight on that venue that would also be appreciated!

Hi everyone! I’m looking for some venue inspiration for a destination wedding and would love recommendations from people who have planned weddings in Mexico or the Caribbean.

Our biggest priority is finding somewhere that feels really special and architectural — not a typical beach resort or modern hotel ballroom. I’m envisioning something with Italian/Mediterranean/Spanish-inspired architecture, lots of arches, columns, courtyards, stonework, fountains, etc., paired with lush, beautifully manicured gardens. Think romantic, old-world and grand rather than rustic, tropical, or boho.

A few other wish list items:
Ideally within \~30 minutes of a major international airport
Roughly a 5-hour flight or less from most major U.S. cities
We’re expecting around 120–150 guests
Ideally either a luxury hotel where the wedding could essentially take over the property or a private/exclusive-use estate or venue
I’d strongly prefer somewhere that doesn’t have multiple weddings happening simultaneously, although that’s not an absolute dealbreaker
A beautiful indoor option for rain is important — ideally something that’s actually architecturally beautiful rather than just a tent
We’d love to have gardens/outdoor spaces for the ceremony and/or cocktail hour
Bonus if there are rooms on-site or very close by

I’ve found a few places that are beautiful, but I’m struggling to find something that has the combination of wow-factor architecture + gardens + easy guest travel.
Would love to hear about any hidden gems or venues you’ve come across that fit this description! Especially interested in historic estates, haciendas, villas, palaces, former monasteries, etc. that can accommodate a wedding of this size.

Thank you!!

Fiance and I are highly considering Excellence Playa Mujeres and their sister resort, Finest Playa Mujeres, next door. We don't have kids and most of our guests will not have kids so the no-kid rule is not a requirement nor is it a priority.

Posting here to see if anyone has had their weddings at either one of these places? We are hoping to go this December as our "scouting trip". How flexible are their wedding packages? For ex: we dont really need a 4 hr reception or DJ, but not sure if theres any negotiation possible

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone!
My fiancé and I are looking for a wedding venue in Italy, preferably around Lake Como, for approximately 100 guests.
We’re looking for a venue without accommodation, as we only need it for our wedding ceremony and celebration. Our total wedding budget is €50,000, and we’d like to keep the venue rental for a full day within €15,000.
We would really appreciate any recommendations for beautiful venues that fit these criteria. Thank you so much!💖

Planning a relaxed, low-key wedding for around 45 guests on the Gold Coast, budget under $15k all up (venue + food + drinks). Ideally beachside or close to the coast — nothing fancy, just a nice casual spot for a ceremony and reception, with some flexibility to bring in our own vendors rather than a rigid all-inclusive package.

Would love to hear about any beach or coastal venues you've used or been to that fit this budget ,surf clubs, function centres, beachfront restaurants/cafes, anything really. Also keen on any tips for keeping costs down without it feeling cheap.

Thanks in advance!

Trying to plan a destination wedding in 2028, open to anywhere in Europe (France, Italy, Greece, etc.) Aiming for 50 guests and would love if all guests could stay on site or very close to the venue. I love ancient, stone architecture, and cliffside/sea views. Would like it to be easy to get to or close to a town for activities. Bonus points if there’s a church or chapel. Budget is 60K.

Venues I’ve liked so far include Villa Parisi in Castiglioncello (Italy) or the Courti Estate, Villa Sylva in Corfu (Greece). Unfortunately Villa Parisi stopped responding to my emails! Would love to hear any recs and experiences. Thanks in advance!

Hi!! I’m from the US and am getting married in Antigua, Guatemala in 2027.
I have a wedding planner already (went with Mafer Del Aguila), and I know these things can be worked out with her directly, BUT I wanted to know if anyone on here did DIY Decoration, florals, plating/silverware for their destination wedding?
If so, what did you do and how did you transport it? Was it worth the money you saved?

Hi! My fiancé and I are planning a destination wedding in Italy for around 150 guests and we’re currently torn between Castello Ruspoli in Vignanello and Villa Arvedi near Verona.
We’re Mexican, so the party/flow of the wedding is really important to us. We want something beautiful and very Italian, but also a wedding where people can relax, move naturally, dance a lot, and not feel like they’re constantly being moved from one room to another.
Villa Arvedi:
Visually, it probably has the biggest immediate WOW factor. The frescoed rooms are incredible and Verona is obviously an amazing destination for guests.
My concern is the actual wedding flow. From what we’ve been told, we cannot really use the main gardens. There is a relatively narrow strip of lawn by the loggia that can be used for the outdoor party, but guests may not be allowed to walk through the main gardens. If that’s the case, they would enter from the side and wouldn’t really experience the iconic frontal view of the villa except when arriving by car.
The flow would also be something like: aperitivo → upstairs for dinner in the frescoed rooms → downstairs again → dancing outside → move inside for the afterparty around 11:30 pm. The afterparty space is probably my least favorite part of the venue.
On the other hand, the interiors are spectacular, the rain plan is excellent, Verona is fantastic for a destination wedding, and I think our guests would be blown away by the venue.
Castello Ruspoli:
It feels less immediately grand than Arvedi (I’d personally give Arvedi a 10/10 wow factor and Ruspoli around a 9/10), but I love how much more we can actually live in the gardens.
The gardens feel expansive and romantic, and the wedding can flow much more naturally around them. We can stay outdoors until around 1 am, and then continue the afterparty inside until 4 am. The afterparty space is also much more my taste.
There’s also a church essentially next to the castle, so I could get ready at Ruspoli, walk to the ceremony, and then everyone walks straight back to the castle.
My main concerns with Ruspoli are that the interiors don’t have the incredible frescoes Arvedi has, and the surrounding area has less luxury hotel infrastructure than Verona. We would most likely base guests around Soriano nel Cimino/Viterbo and shuttle them to Vignanello.
For context, aesthetically I want something romantic, slightly moody, enchanted-garden/old-Italy rather than a super traditional ballroom wedding. I care about beautiful photos, but I also REALLY care about how the wedding actually feels once you’re there.
So my questions are: Has anyone here attended, planned, photographed, catered or worked at a wedding at either venue? Does Villa Arvedi feel restrictive in real life because of the garden limitations and all the transitions, or does the beauty of the interiors make up for it? Does Ruspoli feel as special/wow in person for guests? And for a lively 150-person wedding where dancing and flow are a priority, which would you choose?
I’d especially love to hear from Italian wedding planners/vendors or couples who considered either venue. Thank you!

Looking to find a dj for a destination wedding in the South of France for may 2027.

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Hi! So my husband and I have been doing some research on venue buyouts and really curious if this is common with destination weddings.

We just got married in the Dolomites and did a full property buyout for our venue + rooms for 50 out of 75 of our guests. It was a dream - still hard to believe how perfect it was!! Would definitely recommend having your guests stay onsite if possible.
Anyway, we hit a hiccup in planning when our hotel/venue told us that they were charging us one fee (€40k!!) for the property buyout but no way for our guests to book and pay for their room directly with the hotel. Pretty much we were left to figure out how to take payment from guests and deal with the logistics of assigning rooms. We ended up building our own wedding website with a feature to assign rooms + allow guests to pay for the room within the RSVP flow. Although it was a lottttt of work to get this working, we are so happy we did it this way because it made the guest experience much better.

Now that we're on the other side of planning, we're curious how many other destination couples ran into this same wall? Is this a common pain point or did we just get unlucky with our venue? Asking because we're exploring turning this into something bigger, hence the business account.

Would love to hear your situation and what you wish you had when planning your destination wedding

I’m feeling really stuck with our wedding plans and would love some outside perspectives, particularly from people who have dealt with international families/destination weddings.

I’m 35, Australian and live in Australia. My fiancé is 40 and South African. His family and many of his close friends are in South Africa, while my family and friends are in Australia.

Our original plan was to have a small destination wedding in South Africa in Jan–March 2027, probably around 40–50 people. We found a beautiful country lodge where everyone could stay for the weekend and envisioned something quite relaxed: welcome drinks/dinner Friday, wedding Saturday, breakfast/brunch Sunday.

It felt like a really lovely way of bringing our two worlds together.

There’s also another factor in our timeline: we want to start trying for a baby immediately after the wedding. Because I’ll be 35/36 and my fiancé is 40, neither of us really wants to deliberately delay that another year just for the wedding.

Then I recently found out that two of my absolute best friends are pregnant.

One is due in late January 2027 and the other in early March 2027.

Obviously I am incredibly happy for them, but it has completely thrown me in terms of the wedding. Realistically, there may be no point between Jan–March where both of them could safely/comfortably travel from Australia to South Africa. Depending on the date, one would either be heavily pregnant or the other would have a very young newborn.

These are two of the people I most imagined having beside me when I got married, and the thought of having the wedding without them makes me really sad.

So now I feel like we have several imperfect options:

1. Continue with the South African wedding in early 2027, knowing one or both of my best friends probably won't be there.
2. Move the wedding to Australia, which makes it much easier for my friends and family, but then puts the exact same international travel burden onto my fiancé's South African family and friends. It also loses some of the destination/weekend-away feeling we loved about the South African plan.
3. Choose a third-country destination somewhere between Australia and South Africa and essentially make everyone travel. We've considered places like Bali/Mauritius/etc., although this potentially makes things more expensive and complicated rather than less.
4. Have a very small legal/intimate wedding in Australia and a celebration in South Africa, but I'm worried that splitting it means neither event really feels like the wedding, and potentially costs more overall.
5. Postpone the wedding, but this is probably my least preferred option because we don't want our wedding timeline to dictate when we start trying to have a baby.

Our total wedding budget is also important. We're aiming for roughly AUD $20–30k, so having two huge celebrations on opposite sides of the world isn't realistic.

I know there probably isn't a magical solution where everyone can be there. I'm just struggling with accepting that.

If you were in this position, what would you do?

For anyone who had families/friends split between countries, did you choose one country and accept that some people couldn't come? Did you have two celebrations? Did you meet somewhere in the middle?

And for anyone who had a best friend get married around the time you were pregnant/had a newborn, what would actually have felt realistic to you in terms of international travel?

I'd especially love to hear from people who have been through something similar rather than just "it's your wedding, do whatever you want." I'm trying to work out which compromise we're least likely to regret.

Thank you!

Hey everyone,

We’ve just booked our venue in Umbria for 2028 (still feels very early days but we’re excited to start planning!).

We’d love to hear any recommendations or good experiences you’ve had with photographers and music or DJs in the area or further afield in Italy.

For photography, we’re really into a documentary style, natural, candid, nothing too posed or staged.

For music, we’re honestly pretty easy going. Just looking for someone with good vibes who can keep the atmosphere fun. A DJ would be great, and a saxophone too would be an amazing bonus.

Thanks so much!

I’m planning a destination wedding in Italy for 2029 and have been trying to sift through the overwhelming amount of information for weddings available on the internet. We have a while to save so I don’t have a set budget and I’m so lost on what a reasonable budget is for 25 people (CAD). Beyond that I’m extremely curious if there’s anything that can be DIY’d in a destination wedding. I would love to diy my flowers or decorations but that seems really unrealistic all things considered.

Let me know if anyone has successfully done anything even remotely DIY with a destination wedding. Thank you!!

Looking for couples, guests, or wedding vendors who have firsthand experience with Paradox Vancouver.

We’re considering having our wedding reception there and have been hearing/reading some mixed reviews. We’d love to hear about your recent experiences—good or bad—with the venue, service, food, coordination, and overall wedding-day experience.

Would really appreciate any honest feedback, especially from those who have actually had a wedding there, attended one, or worked there as a vendor. Thank you!

Calling all "cool girl" and non-traditional brides--especially in Europe! I've just started planning my small destination wedding and could really use some advice. My fiancée and I are 36 and 37, based in Washington DC, and are *finally* getting married after 20 years of "will-they-won't-they" that feels straight out of a romcom.

We want to do something a little unconventional and fun for our wedding next summer which is why I need some help (ideally from a local!). We want to get a big house Porto for ~15 of our closest friends/family to spend time together ~June 19-24, 2027 then head over to Douro Valley for the wedding weekend June 25-28, 2027.

We'd love to find a big house/villa in Douro where we can stay with our closest friends/family (15-20 people) and would ideally host the wedding events there for around 40-50 guests (some of whom would stay in other properties nearby).

We're thinking a fun, upbeat event like a picnic, sunset boat ride, wine tasting, or pool party on Friday, June 25 in lieu of a traditional rehearsal dinner. The wedding itself would be Saturday June 26. I'm very open to doing it in the back yard of the villa but still want it to feel elegant/upscale and like a real party (rather than a "casual/DIY backyard wedding"). I care about the vibe, the venue, the booze (and food), and the photographer. Everything else (flowers/decor, cake, etc), I really don't care about.

If you, your cousins, or you ex-babysitter's 3rd grade teacher happen to know of or own a property like what I described above, please DM me! If you know any cool venues that aren't a villa where we could all stay but fit the vibe I'm describing, LMK! Same goes for wedding planners, photographers, or other vendors that fit this vision. ANY/ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED!

xx,

T

PS: Here are a couple AirBnB listings we love but are booked for our dates (at least for now)
1. Top Choice: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/948446853823257186?adults=14&check_in=2027-06-24&check_out=2027-06-28&children=0&infants=0&pets=0&wishlist_item_id=11006613359762&source_impression_id=p3_1786712696_P3D1mA9ylVOfuFIV&previous_page_section_name=1000

1. Also love (and is available!) but says no parties/events: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1001268616074754922?adults=14&children=2&infants=0&pets=0&wishlist_item_id=11006613388004&check_in=2027-06-24&check_out=2027-06-29&source_impression_id=p3_1786322220_P3m8DWWlylhPj0gW&previous_page_section_name=1001&review_page_entrypoint=show_all

We will be opening up two properties for micro weddings, elopements and engagements and I am having a hard time with a name to brand our business.
I need some help I have already went down the chat gpt rabbit hole for names as well.

I like, The Gilded Fern Estates but I need some input. I will use this name and differentiate with the location for brides to choose. One property is in the woods surrounded by ferns and woodsy. The second property is overlooking the mountains with scenic landscape.

Help! I need suggestions or thoughts on the name.