
WEDDING PLANNING INFORMATION
A Destination Wedding Travel Planner will help you find a destination, resort, and wedding package that matches your wish list and spending plan as closely as possible. Once they narrow down the options for you and you make your resort choice, a destination wedding travel planner will normally assist you in confirming your wedding date and wedding package choice with the resort through a wedding day contract. From there, they will assist you with confirming a group rate for your wedding room block and begin educating and assisting your guests on how they can book their room in your contracted room block. In most cases, the resort’s on site wedding coordinator will assist you from there on your wedding specific details. Or you can hire an outside wedding planner for this role.
What exactly does a destination wedding travel planner do for us anyway?
As your Destination Wedding Travel Planner (often referred to as a Destination Wedding Travel Agent or a Group Travel Agent), we will help you choose a destination, resort, and wedding package that matches your wish list and spending plan as closely as possible. Once we narrow down the options for you and you make your resort choice, we will assist you in confirming your wedding date and wedding package choice with the resort through a wedding day contract. From there, we’ll assist you with confirming a group rate for your wedding room block and begin educating and assisting your guests on how they can book their room in your contracted room block.
In most cases, your resort’s on-site wedding coordinator will assist you from there on your wedding day-specific details or you can hire an outside wedding planner for this role. And our team will be with you for all room block and transportation-related details, from the beginning planning stages through your wedding date.
What makes us different than everybody else?
Good question! We have a lot going for us, so let me lay it on the line for you –
1.) We (Shea and Cheryl) are a husband and wife destination wedding travel team, so you always get the two of us and our amazing staff. That means no 1-800 numbers to call or call centers to deal with. You receive personalized service directly from the team in our office. Cheryl is the one that you will work with first to help you choose a resort for your wedding and to secure a room block. Shea is the one that creates your one page wedding website and works directly with you and your guests to book their room, facilitate deposit and room payments, and explain their travel options.
We’ve been married for 13 years and work in the office (and on the road) together every day and we love it!
2.) We’ve been voted the Best Destination Wedding Planner in Texas for the last 5 years in a row! I know, kind of cool, right!?
We work with couples all over the United States – only about 10% of our couples actually live near us. The majority of our couples live in D.C., Houston, New Jersey, Florida, you name it (someplace other than our two home bases in the Austin and Playa del Carmen areas) and we help them plan their destination weddings in Mexico. Kind of weird, I know. But we love destination weddings and it works for us – and it works for our couples too!
3.) We will be honest with you about your budget – Big-spending plan, little spending plan, somewhere in between – it doesn’t matter, everyone has one. One of the first things we do with our couples is deciding on a realistic spending plan for your wedding and for the travel portion for the guests attending your wedding, then start putting it into an action plan.
We’ll be very honest and to the point with you about what you can truly afford. If you’re describing a $50K wedding and you only have $20K budgeted, we’re going to let you know in the beginning – before we move forward, so you can make wise decisions. And we’ll make great suggestions to help you get the essence of what you want, without the resulting tears from inaccurate expectations.
With all of that being said – it’s really YOU that either sticks to the budget or strays. We can’t spend your money for you. And we can’t stop you from spending your money either.
4.) We have a private meteorologist on staff. Nope, not joking. Since a majority of our events are outdoors, there is no way that I’m leaving such a huge detail, like the weather, to chance on your wedding day. And Rob is amazing! He does everything from giving us the likelihood of inclement weather when we’re reviewing potential dates to updating us hour by hour (and sometimes minute by minute) on the actual wedding day as to weather-related situations. We’ve moved locations, ceremony times, and more based on his expert knowledge. In all of the years we’ve worked with him we’ve only had to use the Weather Back-Up Plan B twice!
5.) We’ve been doing this a long time! We’ve been wedding and travel planners for 10 years. This is our full-time career and we LOVE what we do! We’ve seen a lot of things in our 10 years as event planners and our experience can help you easily navigate the destination wedding process. We’re also well respected in the destination wedding travel industry and often speak and train other wedding and travel pros at industry events worldwide.
6.) There’s more. I could keep going – but in the interest of time, I won’t. You should just hire us anyway and be done with all this nonsense already. Besides, you’re probably reading this at work, and I’d hate for you to get caught planning your wedding when you’re supposed to be working – so get back to work! But contact me to book your appointment first, of course!
How many destination wedding couples do you guys work with each year?
That varies from year to year but we typically work with approximately 35 – 50 wedding groups per year for destination wedding travel planning.
What's the best resort for a destination wedding?
That is a fantastic question but, unfortunately, there is not one catch all resort that is perfect for every wedding. The best resort for you and your guests will depend on many factors – location preference, overall anticipated guest count, time of year, overall wedding and resort experience you prefer, spending plan, and much more – and we’ll ask you a ton of questions on your discovery call to help determine the best destination wedding resort for you and your guests.