Destination weddings in 2022 and beyond.
The ultimate guide to planning your destination wedding - covering everything from how to choose your location to including every guest via a wedding live stream.
Your guide to destination wedding planning.
Destination weddings are slowly but surely coming back. In fact, when looking at Google’s trending forecasts, searches for destination wedding locations are the highest they’ve been since the start of the pandemic.
That tells us that people are ready to scratch their travel itch. And we’re here to help!
Our destination wedding guide will cover everything from the best destination wedding locations (find 100 of our favorite locations at the bottom of this page!), key vendors for your wedding abroad, how to make sure everyone can help you celebrate (whether they travel for your wedding or not!) and so much more.
Photo credit top: Samantha Laffoon Photography; Above: Mason Photography
Photo credit: Grapefruit Photo
Download our free destination wedding planning checklist. Crafted by our wedding planning pros.
The downside of destination weddings.
We’re going to start with the bad news - but it’s not that bad, we promise.
While there’s no magic number, it’s estimated that only 65-70% of invited guests will RSVP ‘yes’ to a destination wedding. That number can drop significantly based on who you invite.
Guests with children might have a harder time traveling, especially if the wedding falls during the school year. Or invitees might not be able to take time off of work to travel for your wedding.
After the last year, a lot of guests might be nervous to fly. And of course, a lot of that depends on whether your wedding destination is in another state or another country.
Live streaming your destination wedding.
LoveStream couple Karlee & Bryce
On the topic of RSVPing to weddings, most likely, a good number of people who you invite to your destination wedding will not be able to make it. It’s just a fact of life. Whether they can’t afford to travel, can’t take the time off of work or they don’t have a passport, there’s a number of reasons why someone might RSVP ‘no’ to your destination wedding invitation.
That’s where we come in! LoveStream makes live streaming your wedding as easy as sipping a pina colada at a Caribbean resort.
In fact, destination weddings are some of our favorite weddings to live stream. Resorts and hotels often have excellent wifi, leading to a high-quality wedding live stream. Take this couple for example, who married in Hawaii using our single camera package.
Photo credit: Bin Thiều via Unsplash
Destination wedding vs. destination elopement.
Destination weddings are often synonymous with elopements. That said, not all destination weddings are elopements, and not all elopements are destination weddings. But sometimes the two go hand-in-hand. If you have a destination wedding and only invite a handful of guests, it can be considered an elopement.
Choosing between a destination wedding and an elopement doesn’t have to be difficult. Our advice is to plan your special day, invite who you want to invite, hope that they all can make it, and savor every adventurous moment without worrying about labels.
How to start planning.
Steps to planning a destination wedding.
Whether you’re marrying across the road or across the sea, the wedding planning process is similar - though not quite the same!
There’s an order of operations to follow that will make each piece fall into place. We’ve outlined them below.
LoveStream couple Emma and Milind marry in France
Step 1: Location
Choosing the location for your destination wedding is arguably the most exciting and fun part of planning.
Maybe there’s somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit, or maybe you want to get married where your family is from.
Sit down with your partner and discuss your dream destinations, then do some research, and make a decision on the location.
Photo credit: Jason Murphy via Unsplash
Photo credit: Akira Deng via Unsplash
Step 2: Timing
Weather varies so much all over the world. April might be crisp and warm where you live, but frigid in another area of the world. Or your wedding date might overlap with tourist events in other areas, such as Mardis Gras in New Orleans or the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan - resulting in limited lodging and high season prices.
When researching your location, try to find information on the best times of year to visit those places, both in terms of weather and pricing.
Use this information to pick a preferred wedding date (or better, a range of dates you’d be happy with)!
Step 3: Venue
Now that you know where you want to go and when you want to go there, it’s time to secure a venue. If you are feeling a little intimidated by planning a destination wedding, consider resorts or big hotel chains that offer wedding packages.
Otherwise, it could be a good time to hire a destination wedding planner (which our parent company, Bustld, can help with - take our vendor matching quiz to find your perfect destination planner).
Photo credit: Cullen Jones via Unsplash
Photo credit: Laney Logan Photography
Step 4: Travel and Accommodations
You’ve picked your venue, now it’s time to figure out how you and your guests will get there, as well as where you’ll be staying.
Again, this is so much easier when choosing a resort or hotel venue, as you and your guests can stay in one place.
If your venue is a little further off the beaten path, start inquiring with hotels, hostels and home rentals to figure out how many guests you can actually invite. You don’t have to book anything quite yet, but the sooner you work out these key details, the better.
Step 5: Guest Lists and Invites
Next up is building your destination wedding guest list and sending out invitations. For a traditional wedding, it’s not uncommon for 15% of invitees to decline. For a destination wedding, that number will likely be higher (usually 30-40%), so take that into consideration when deciding how many people to invite.
Photo credit: Cait Carr Photography
Making sure everyone can help you celebrate.
It’s a good idea to include a virtual element of your wedding when marrying abroad. This gives guests who can’t make it a chance to participate and help celebrate. Not surprisingly, we recommend choosing a wedding live streaming service so that you can focus entirely on your special day, without having to worry about interacting with Zoom or similar.
LoveStream’s wedding live streaming services include day-of remote producers to help troubleshoot whatever may come up, whether it’s internet issues, camera angles or tropical birds landing on the streaming devices. Our full-service approach to live streaming weddings makes us the perfect partner for your destination event.
You want to give guests as much notice as possible for your destination wedding. Aim for twelve months. If your wedding date is sooner than that, be sure to prioritize sending out invitations, even if you opt for virtual wedding invitations to expedite the process.
Step 6: Vendors and Documents
Finally, you need to book any vendors and acquire the appropriate documents. This includes travel documents, like passports as well as marriage licenses. Be sure to do your research and talk to your venue or planner to ensure you are checking all the legal boxes of getting married abroad.
Photo credit: Alexandra Elise Photo
Vendors for a destination wedding.
Must-have vendors.
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Destination Wedding Planner
We briefly touched on this, but hiring a destination wedding planner will make your life soooo much easier. It’s better to hire them early in the process so they can help you throughout.
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Attire
When choosing your attire, consider how it will travel, how much space it will take up in a suitcase and whether or not it will require steaming at the venue.
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Officiant
You will of course need someone to perform the marriage. Be sure to check with the laws of both your current residence and your wedding destination to understand who needs to perform this.
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Photographer
Search for photographers near your destination or bring along your favorite photographer.
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Florist
While not truly necessary, boutonnieres and bouquets look great in photographs and make the event feel more formal.
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Food and Beverage
Food is one thing that can always bring people together, even across the globe. Find a local caterer to provide food, dessert and drinks for your event.
Wedding live streaming service.
The final destination wedding vendor. Trust us - you’ll want to share your wedding with people who can’t be there to celebrate in-person. If you choose LoveStream to live stream your wedding, you will have instant access to the recording via your website that we provide you with. You’ll also receive a full downloadable copy of the event as it aired to keep forever. What better way to celebrate your wedding?
Learn the other benefits of choosing LoveStream here.
LoveStream couple Kathleen & Joe; Photo credit: Dani Nicole Photography
100+ Destination Wedding Spots
Now for the fun part! We’ve collected more than 100 of the best, most breathtaking and unique wedding destinations in the world. With everything going on in the world right now, be sure to stay up to date with local and international travel guidelines before planning your wedding.
North & South America
1. Ambergris Caye, Belize
2. Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska; Photo credit: Josiah Ingles
3. Antigua, Guatemala
4. The Bahamas
Pig Beach, The Bahamas; Photo credit: Marissa Daeger via Unsplash
5. Bar Harbor, Maine
Bar Harbor, Maine; Photo credit: Frank Winkler
6. Big Sur, California
Big Sur, California; Photo credit: Leo Korman via Unsplash
7. Boston, Massachusetts
Boston, Massachusetts; Photo credit: Daniel Bernal
8. Buenos Aires, Argentina
9. Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
10. The Cayman Islands
11. Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Galapagos Islands; Photo credit: Dustin Haney
12. Garden of the Gods, Colorado
13. Granada, Nicaragua
14. Havana, Cuba
15. Jackson Hole, Wyoming
16. Kauai, Hawaii
17. Lake Tahoe
18. Las Vegas, Nevada
19. Machu Picchu, Peru
20. Mexico City, Mexico
21. Montego Bay, Jamaica
Montego Bay; Photo credit: E Mens
22. New Orleans, Louisiana
23. New York City, New York
24. Niagara Falls
25. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
26. Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
27. Roatan, Honduras
28. Saint Lucia
29. San Juan, Puerto Rico
30. Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, CA; Photo credit: Yifan Ma
31. Toronto, Ontario
32. Vancouver, British Columbia
33. Washington, D.C.
Europe & Africa
34. Amsterdam, Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands; Photo credit: Ethan Hu
35. Athens, Greece
36. Bologna, Italy
37. Barcelona, Spain
38. Berlin, Germany
Berlin, Germany; Photo credit: Stefan Widua
39. Bordeaux, France
40. Braga, Portugal
41. Budapest, Hungary
42. Cape Town, South Africa
Cape Town, South Africa; Photo credit: Shashank Kumar
43. Carcassonne, France
44. Cardiff, Wales
Cardiff, Wales; Photo credit: Jonny Gios
45. Causeway Coast, Ireland
Giants’s Causeway, Ireland; Photo credit: Kevin McMahon
46. Copenhagen, Denmark
47. Edinburgh, Scotland
48. Florence, Italy
49. Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal; Photo credit: Claudio Schwarz
50. London, England
51. Madrid, Spain
52. Majorca, Spain
Majorca, Spain; Photo credit: Eugene Zhyvchik
53. Mauritius
54. Milan, Italy
55. Mombasa, Kenya
56. Mont Saint
57. Monte Carlo, Monaco
Monte Carlo; Photo credit: Tomica S.
58. Paris, France
59. Prague, Czech Republic
60. Reykjavik, Iceland
61. Rome, Italy
62. Santorini, Greece
Santorini, Greece; Photo credit: Jonathan Gallegos
63. Seychelles Islands
64. Sibiu, Romania
65. Venice, Italy
Venice, Italy; Photo credit: Adrian Krajcar
66. Victoria Falls, Zambia
67. Zanzibar, Tanzania
68. Zurich, Switzerland
Asia & Oceania
69. Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland; Photo credit: Matthew Buchanan
70. Bali, Indonesia
71. Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok; Photo credit: Dan Freeman
72. Bay of Islands, New Zealand
73. Bohol, Philippines
74. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
75. Cairns, Australia
76. Christchurch, New Zealand
77. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai; Photo credit: ZQ Lee
78. Gold Coast, Australia
79. Hong Kong, China
80. Jerusalem, Israel
Jerusalem; Photo credit: Snowscat via Unsplash
81. Koh Samui, Thailand
82. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
83. Lake Ashi, Japan
84. Milford Sound, New Zealand
85. Moorea, Tahiti
Moorea, Tahiti; Photo credit: Reiseuhu via Unsplash
86. Mt Fuji, Japan
87. New Caledonia
88. Nha Trang, Vietnam
Nha Trang Bay; Photo credit: Arvydas Arnasius via Unsplash
89. Okinawa, Japan
90. Perth, Australia
91. Phuket, Thailand
92. Queenstown, New Zealand
93. Singapore
94. Sri Lanka
95. Sydney, Australia
96. Tasmania, Australia
97. The Maldives
98. Tibet
99. Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo, Japan; Photo credit: Timo Volz via Unsplash
100. Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
101. Victoria, Australia
102. Waiheke Island, New Zealand