Do you need a wedding planner for a destination wedding?

Planning a destination wedding is often more difficult than planning a traditional wedding, simply due to the distance between and the venue. You’ll have a lot of decisions to make, such as whether you want to hire local vendors or fly your team out.

While a destination wedding planner isn’t a necessity, having one can certainly take a lot of stress off of your plate.

Wedding planning involves a lot of back-and-forth discussions, meetings, tastings and other events. Adding a far-away location into the mix makes this all the more difficult. You’ll be working with a venue you may never have visited, or you might speak a different language than your local vendors.

A wedding planner can help wrangle all of the what-ifs so that all of your questions can be answered quickly and concisely. If they specialize in destination wedding planning, they might even have industry connections and insider tips that can help you save money on your event.

If you don’t have the budget allocated for a planner, consider choosing a venue or resort that includes planning services or a coordinator. If you aren’t able to meet all of your vendors in-person, you’ll want to ensure you have someone at the destination who is in your corner and who can handle those decisions for you.

When You Don’t Need a Planner

You will likely be fine without a wedding planner if your venue has an all-inclusive option that includes catering, photography, entertainment and other vital vendors. You also might not need a planner if you are having a low-key event without the big party.

When You Need a Planner

We would strongly suggest that you hire a destination wedding planner if you are throwing a full wedding with a reception and your venue is not all-inclusive. It can be difficult enough to plan a wedding in your hometown, let alone try to coordinate vendors thousands of miles away.

If you are throwing something like live streaming your wedding into your big day, having a planner or coordinator with you can also be beneficial to ensure everything is set up and ready to go when the ceremony starts!

Photo credit: Cortiella Photography