Maybe it's because I'm a bit older now {and a little less inclined to have a big bash of a wedding}, maybe it's because I can cozy myself under Christina's wing and know the David Beahm team would have us covered and then some... Or maybe, just maybe, it's because destination weddings are the best way to throw the party you really want, with the people you want, in the place you want.
In this month's post, Christina takes a heartfelt look - not at where to throw your destination wedding - but why you should throw one in the first place. Enjoy! - JW
Hello summer!!! The return of flip-flop season and the smell of coconut sunscreen are met with rapt anticipation in New York City. Perhaps, it is because, for many city-dwellers, we know that Havaianas and Hawaiian Tropic means a vacation is just around the corner. In fact as I write this blog – I’m packing my suitcase, planning for an escape of my own. But with all this preparation for my trip, it’s also got me thinking: it must sometimes seem overwhelming (and perhaps even unsettling) for a couple to consider a wedding outside of their hometown! I want to dispel that notion here and now: yes – there are always things to plan; arrangements to make; chances to take – but the intrinsic value of a destination wedding can outweigh these fears and result in memories for you and your guests that will last a lifetime. Therefore, in this month’s blog post, I am not going to write about where to throw a destination wedding or how to throw a destination wedding – I am going to write about WHY!
Have you always dreamed about a ballroom wedding in the swankiest hotel in your hometown? Well then, by all means you should host your wedding amongst gilded architecture and crystal chandeliers. Some of the most beautiful weddings we have ever created have been in hotel ballrooms. But what if you spend every winter with your beloved on a romantic ski trip? Or what if the two of you are beach bums and can’t get enough of the sun and surf? Did you fall in love amongst the vineyards of Tuscany or by the sugar mills of the Caribbean? Then why can’t, or rather, why shouldn’t you invite your guests to share in that experience with you. I am a firm believer that our memories make up who we are; and your wedding should be the most perfect expression of your individual lives as they are coming together that day. One of my very favorite brides grew up in a rural area of the South and had fond memories of being a small girl and every day running in and out of her house to the sound of a swinging door on the porch making a delightful “WHHHHHAP!” So she decided to host her wedding under the Spanish-moss-laden oak trees of Georgia and we gave her a vintage screen door entry to her dinner tent that made the beloved “WHHHHHAP” much to her giggles and delight throughout the evening. For every guest that asked about that door, our bride was able to share a precious bit of her childhood with them, and in turn, brought them a little further into her heart.
2. Only the important people matter.
Is the guest list growing? Can’t seem to stop it? Did you start at 100 invitees and somehow that number magically quadrupled? If you are like me, then you come from a family where the more people invited to a wedding, the better. If your cousin’s, boss’s dry cleaner isn’t there, then it just isn’t a party. Now, perhaps you do want to invite your whole town á la “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding,” – in which case – I say go for it! However, I know many couples feel obligated to invite coworkers or distant relatives with whom they share very little in common. Destination wedding to the rescue! Because of its very nature – a destination wedding provides you with a delightful excuse to keep that guest list limited to the most important people in your life. All of a sudden those potential invitees, who you are sure would feel left out if they were not invited to your wedding down the street, suddenly understand (and are sometimes even appreciative) of being excluded when attendance at your wedding requires an airplane ticket!
3. A destination is a gift of its own.
For those invitees who DO make the sacrifice and DO take the time off to come celebrate your union – you have rewritten the script and you have given them the wedding gift. Without even realizing it, you’ve granted your guests permission to enjoy themselves at your celebration – and what a present that can be! Think back on how many times you, yourself have been at a wedding, and simply because you are close to home, your obligations call upon you. The dogs need to be walked; the babysitter is only booked until 11pm; or you have to work the next day -- so you miss the cake cutting or that special moment when the Father of the Bride and the Bride performed a choreographed dance that everyone raved about. When you invite your guests to a destination wedding, you invite them to relax, unwind, explore, and most importantly celebrate freely alongside you (sans the responsibilities of everyday life).
4. You can’t find an alligator in the city!
Ok, well maybe you can but it’s probably stuffed or behind glass and that’s not very exciting at all! To my point, a destination wedding offers your guests unique experiences that perhaps they’ve never ever imagined. Yes, any and every big city has a number of fantastic sightseeing activities for a wedding guest (especially our beautiful city of New York). But swimming with the sting rays in Grand Cayman, petting a baby alligator in the deep South, gliding past George Clooney’s house on Lake Como, eating sea urchin right out of the Aegean Sea in Greece – those are the memories that your guests will talk about in years to come. For a group of people who are coming together for the first time, wild and unexpected experiences are a way for everyone to get to know each other. So when that odd amalgamation of guests finally congregates as you prepare to walk down the aisle – you will have created a family joined together by -- and there to celebrate -- your love.
Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.”
— Pico Iyer
Editor's note: For more information on how to host the destination wedding of your dreams, visit the David Beahm web site, peruse their little black book of locations, and contact Christina Matteucci, of course. xx
All photos courtesy of David Beahm Design
There are so many reason to have a destination wedding and I like have you crafted your four fabulous reasons for having one.
ReplyDelete