So, you’ve just gotten engaged. Congratulations! Now begins the (often daunting) challenge of planning your wedding. Whether you’ve dreamed of your big day for your whole life or couldn’t tell the difference between a corsage and a bouquet, no one is truly prepared for the process until it begins.

As experts in all things nuptials, we’ve helped a lot of stressed-out couples navigate the process and have the wedding day of their dreams. We find that destination weddings – also known as travel weddings – are the perfect solution for those seeking a unique, memorable wedding that eliminates a lot of common stressors facing modern couples. Read on to learn more about the most common wedding anxieties – and how a destination wedding can help you soar above them.

Cutting Down the Guest List

One of the most unenjoyable tasks of wedding planning is creating – and cutting down – a guest list. By the time you’ve compiled you and your S.O.'s immediate and extended families, your individual and shared friends, coworkers, and plus-ones, you might be in the hundreds in terms of seats and plates. It can be overwhelming to host so many people on one of the most important days of your life; besides, how well do you truly know so many invitees?

Destination weddings establish a subtle expectation that your big day will be a more intimate affair. You can still invite as many people as you want, but hosting the day abroad sends the message that your closest family and friends will be the priority in terms of invitations.

Sacrificing Your Dream Elements

When hosting a “traditional” wedding, couples often sacrifice their “wish-list” items or top choice amenities in order to accommodate more guests. For example, a seafood-loving couple might want to serve oysters and mussels as hors d'oeuvres, but their 250-person guest list limits them in terms of budget or vendor availability. A bride who dreams of having large, exotic floral arrangements on every table may have to downsize if there aren’t enough bouquets to spread across two dozen tables. 

A travel wedding eliminates these compromises: couples can offer their guests delicious local cuisine and hire area vendors who specialize in bespoke decorations, for a similar cost. With travel weddings, quality can come over quantity. 

Picking a Meaningful Venue

Many couples still report that pandemic-related backlogs are plaguing every one of their local venue options, meaning they may have to resort to a less-than-optimal location that neither party is excited about. It can be frustrating to find that the most meaningful venues are out of reach, and no one wants to host the biggest party of their life in a place that doesn’t hold much significance for them.

Taking your wedding abroad can be the perfect solution for couples facing such hurdles. A couple who connected while working abroad can return to the spot of their meet-cute, welcoming the people in their lives to the location where it all began. A couple who loves snorkeling and hiking can share their passions with guests in a stunning, natural location that provides opportunities to get outside and embark on personal outdoor excursions. The environment of a travel wedding can help share a couple’s story – past, present, and future. 

Going Too Trendy or Unoriginal

Modern couples are besieged by wedding content everywhere they look – from traditional bridal magazines and shows to Pinterest boards and Instagram Reels. Naturally, wedding trends come to the forefront. The donut walls and mason jar centerpieces of a decade past have become the champagne towers and floating tea lights of today. At their best, wedding trends offer inspiration and creativity, helping the couple and their guests make timeless memories. At their worst, wedding trends take away the fun of having your wedding be just that – yours! 

If you’re worried your wedding will look like everyone else’s, a destination wedding is the way to go. With so many opportunities to personalize your day, it’ll surely be a once-in-a-lifetime event that no one will be able to replicate so easily on social media.

Bridging Cultures

Multicultural couples face a unique challenge: combining their respective backgrounds and traditions in a way that’s respectful and equal. 

Rather than having to choose between hometown churches or one family’s caterer of choice, a travel wedding establishes a kind of neutral territory for both families to enrich with their cultures, beliefs, and preferences. For example, a couple with large families of different heritages could select a location like Cancun or Riviera Maya, where global cuisines are readily available, musicians of many different genres are hirable, and family-friendly activities are easy to come by. 

Planning a Honeymoon – On Top of Everything Else

Once the wedding planning is finally wrapped up, few couples have much energy left to pour into planning a honeymoon – which is disappointing, since a honeymoon should be the ultimate relaxation trip that unwinds your wedding stress!

Rather than planning an entirely separate honeymoon, couples who opt for a travel wedding can simply add on to their existing plans. Even if they’d prefer to change city or resort, combining your wedding and honeymoon offers much-needed peace of mind when it comes to planning. Plus, we find that when many couples arrive at their destination wedding location, they never want to leave!

As experts in luxury destination wedding planning and bespoke group travel, we’ve got preparation and logistics down to a “T.” With us by your side, you won’t need to stress about things like finding the best vendors, coordinating your guests’ flights or navigating local marriage laws. Reach out below to get the party planning going!

Courtnie is the founder & CEO of TravelBash. After years as an ambitious fundraiser, she took her passion for travel full-time. She has lived all over the U.S. and abroad and after planning her own destination wedding, she decided to help other couples plan their big day abroad too. She has written “Passport to Paradise: The Complete Destination Wedding Guide,” a top seller on Amazon. She has also been featured in Travel + Leisure, Destination I Do and The Washington Post. As a certified travel advisor, expert event planner and natural connector, she uses her powers to create VIP travel experiences.