How to save money on destination weddings

Wedding Week - Day 3

CINCINNATI - A great way that local couples are exchanging vows is with destination weddings. Not only do they get the dream-like setting, but they actually save money.

The national average cost for a wedding is currently $25,000; but if that is too far out of the wedding budget, then consider taking a mini vacation to drastically lower the cost. In fact, the actual destination wedding can cost as low as $3,000.

Where are people going?

Beliz, Hawaii, California, North Carolina and Fiji are just some of the places wedding planner Rosie Cornist is seeing her clients travel to to tie the knot.

"It cuts back the cost for brides, so they're choosing destinations because they don't have to have that guest list of 150 and so on," said Cornist, who owns A Rosie Occasion .

"You keep your guest list down and you probably can do a very, very nice wedding for $10,000 to $12,000 for 40 guests," noted Joyce Smith of Weddings Unlimited, Inc. She found that such a great price works best with weddings in the Caribbean, Mexico or Florida.

"The trend here... it's within a travel distance with their automobile like to go to Gatlinburg or to go down to some location in Florida. Getting out of the country has not been a heavy trend." Smith also mentioned that fewer people are going to Europe because of the higher cost in airfare and the down economy.

A Local Couple's Experience

Kelly Gunn laughed when she thought back to her destination wedding and the initial reaction from friends. "People would joke with us all the time, [saying] if we get divorced, then we owe them money."

Kelly and her husband, C.J. Gunn, got married along the beach in Negril, Jamaica almost four years ago. The Mt. Auburn couple is originally from Louisiana, and wanted a warmer and tropical atmosphere for their big day.

"We had a lot of different people coming from a lot of different places, and we wanted to keep it under or around $1,000 and Jamaica allowed us to do that," said Kelly.

Guests paid $1,000 to cover their air travel, a week hotel-stay, and all-inclusive food and drinks.

"[The resort] reserved one of the restaurants specifically for our party so if we had had an actual wedding with a reception, we would have had to pay between $50 and $100 per person just for dinner. And that's not something we had to do because it was already included in the price people paid for the wedding," said Kelly.

The couple had planned for only 20 close family members to attend, but 80 friends and relatives actually showed up-- turning it into their own vacation. However, the unexpected guests were not a problem, since each person paid for their own trip. Also, due to the growing number of guests, the resort gave the couple their hotel room for free. Travel Consultant Connie Childs of All Inclusive Vacations said that it is not uncommon for some resorts to even give couples the actual wedding at no cost.

Kelly and C.J. also saved money on attire by wearing linen on the beach.

Unexpected Surprises

The Gunns pointed out that couples interested in destination weddings should realize that everything will not be perfect on their "perfect day." For example, the flowers Kelly ordered were not the same flowers that appeared at her ceremony. She was told by the resort that the flowers she wanted were out of season.

Another tidbit that may be an issue for some brides-to-be is the actual beach. The Gunns noted that the beaches are public. Therefore, there may be tourists swimming in the ocean behind the ceremony, which will appear in the wedding pictures.

"So if you're somebody who thinks 'I want this this and this and it has to be this,' then you may not want to do a destination wedding because you don't know what you're going to get and you just have to be flexible because what are you going to do?" asked Kelly.

C.J. added "You can't see it. You can't touch it. You're doing everything from a distance. And in our case, it was in Jamaica and by culture they're just way more laid back. 'No problem mon!'"

Important Tidbits To Remember

• Most couples either organize their destination wedding through a travel agency, or a wedding planner who then works with a travel agency.
• Some engaged couples feel they should pay for their guests' hotel stay. If so, then they should keep the guest list small. Otherwise, not much money will be saved in the long run.
• If a couple is getting married outside of the country, then they usually have be there at least 48 hours prior to getting married.
• If vows are exchanged in Mexico, then prepare for the marriage license to come back in Spanish. It can be translated once it is mailed to the United States.

Local Event To Learn More

For those couples interested in learning more about destination weddings or honeymoon information, consider attending Sandals' Caribbean Couples Night.

It takes place Thursday, May 26, 2011 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Nina's Florist in Springdale (11532 Springfield Pike).

There's limited space,