A day in the life of a destination wedding planner

Meeting the couples

How do you meet your prospective clients?

Initial outreach is via email, followed by a one-hour introduction video call for a more personal wedding planning experience. With so many clients living across Canada and internationally, video is a great way to communicate with our couples. During our initial consultation, I love to start the conversation learning more about the couple, how they met and ultimately, why they decided on a destination wedding. Then I find out what their dream day or week looks like and what the two most important elements are. If a couple is most interested in amazing food and music over flowers and décor, I will invest most of my planning expertise to ensure those elements are a key focus.

Planning the wedding

After meeting with couples, what are the next steps in the wedding planning process?

After the initial planning stage, we immediately begin working with the venue and vendors to organize the couple’s time in destination and set them up for success. We provide our couples with worksheets, budget sheets and timelines to keep them organized and on track. Behind the scenes, there is a lot of email correspondence, creative thinking and attention to detail to ensure the couple’s vision is correctly communicated to our teams in destination.

What are some of your favourite resorts to work with?

There are so many wonderful resorts to choose from, so I can’t pick a favourite! That said, Blue Diamond Resorts and AMR™ Collection are amazing to work with. Offering multiple brands and properties sprawling across Mexico and the Caribbean, there’s a resort and destination for every couple. From a wedding planning perspective, each has consistency in their offerings, making it easy to provide our clients with plenty of options for their dream day! Something that I always recommend couples do is visit their chosen resort before the wedding as there are many factors to consider, and it’s a chance to meet with the amazing wedding teams in destination that will ensure their nuptials are a big success!

Are there any destination wedding trends you’ve noticed lately?

Smaller, intimate groups continue to be popular for destination weddings. Couples are really focusing on the value of having their favourite people together in one place to spend quality time with! Couples are also focusing more on curating an experience for themselves and their guests throughout their wedding week. From unique entertainment options to welcome bags for guests with destination essentials to enjoying an excursion and the local surroundings, couples want their destination wedding to be a one-of-a-kind event.

What are some of the things couples should consider when hosting a destination wedding?

Couples may have fewer guests than expected and that’s ok! People decline invites for many reasons, and trust us, none of which are because they don’t want to celebrate their loved one’s nuptials. We love a small intimate group for a destination wedding as it allows the couple to really take it all in and enjoy quality time with everyone – which we all know can be extremely difficult at weddings, at home or abroad! Destination weddings come in all different shapes and price tags so couples should do their research and determine what they want for their big day and what they can live without.

Celebrating the big day

Can you take us through what your day looks like when it finally comes to the big event?

We all know there’s no such thing as the 9-5 on the wedding day, but depending on the schedule, my day will typically begin around 9:00 or 10:00 a.m. I always check in with the couple throughout the morning to ensure they eat (important!) and have what they need for the events to come. From there, the majority of my time is spent setting up, delivering florals and ensuring every moment runs smoothly. Our “workday” typically ends when the reception begins, so from morning to night we are overseeing every little detail to make sure everything is perfect and everyone – especially the couple – is having a great time!

Finally, if you had one piece of advice to give destination wedding couples, what would it be?

The day flies by so incredibly fast, try to take it all in and don’t focus too much on the little things. If something doesn’t go exactly as planned, acknowledge it, move on and enjoy everything else that went right. Remember, no one except for you knows what was planned!