5 Ways to Save Money While Planning a Destination Wedding

The moment you’ve been waiting for is here—you’re engaged, congrats!—and now it’s time to plan the wedding (and maybe a bachelor or bachelorette party before the big day). You want a destination wedding that will also double as a vacation for you and your guests without breaking the bank for everyone. By cleverly cutting a few expenses, along with making your wedding week checklist ahead of time to avoid stress, you won’t have to sacrifice your dream. Here are five tips for planning an affordable destination wedding that everyone will remember for all the right reasons.

Hold the flight

Consider driving distance instead of having to hop on a flight when choosing your wedding spot

When planning a destination wedding, you might have visions of palm trees dancing in your head, but sometimes the best destination doesn’t require a flight to get there. Explore venues in your region—the Choice Hotels group booking site is a great planning resource—for ideas on ceremony and reception locations where you and your guests can stay the night but don’t necessarily need to fly to get to.

BYOB

Find ways to fill your glass with your favorite booze, for less!

Want to know how to save money on a destination wedding? Bring your own beverages, of course! Work with your venue to see if you can bring in your own drinks from a local vendor. This will keep you from having to transport them and help cut down on the cost of purchasing beer and wine through the caterer (and you can often bring any unopened bottles on the honeymoon or give them away to guests). Plus, bringing your own beverages is the best way to ensure you’re drinking something you enjoy (like the beer you had on your first date, perhaps?). It’s also a great way to save money without having a cash bar.

Skip the cake, but not dessert

Skip the big expensive cake and treat your guests to a fun dessert buffet instead!

We love sweets just as much as the next person (OK, maybe more than the next person), but paying hundreds for a cake that gets ignored while guests hit the dance floor doesn’t make sense if you’re trying to save cents. When planning a destination wedding, opt to forgo the cake cutting—or, at most, have a small cake made just for photos—and offer a small dessert buffet of your favorite treats that guests can snack on all night.

Ditch the welcome bags and favors

Planning a destination wedding means thinking ahead on all kinds of details, like what to pack and what kind of goodie bags to include for your guests. Sure, a bottle of water with a picture of the bride and groom on the label is a nice gesture at the end of the night, but gift bags are often forgotten by guests until they pack their bags for the journey home. Instead of tucking printed wedding info into a welcome bag, distribute pertinent wedding weekend information via a special website or even an email. Guests will be able to reference these quickly as they’re in transit and checking into the hotel. Put the money saved on favors toward another facet of the wedding ... like a killer late-night snack bar!

Play do-it-yourself DJ

Keep the party going with a little help from your friends!

Let’s be honest: Half the fun of a wedding is hitting the dance floor to celebrate the newlyweds. While it’s tempting to book an expensive DJ to set the tone for the evening, consider saving money planning a destination wedding by creating your own playlist and using that instead. Break the playlist down into music for the ceremony, reception, introductions and even the after-party, and then entrust one of your nearest and dearest to hit play throughout the evening. Pick a close friend or family member to do introductions; this will be even more memorable. This will guarantee the music you want to dance to actually gets played ... and your names are said correctly as you make your entrance into the reception as newlyweds!