About Lindsay Wendt-Sheikh Expertise What I can offer people is a kind voice that will work with them to create a beautiful destination wedding and/or honeymoon. I have been in the travel business for 22 years and has traveled the world. My interest in one thing, my love of romantic travel.
Experience I take great pleasure in being a specialist in destinations throughout the Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico and South Pacific and passing that first hand knowledge on to my clients. I keep myself up-to-date by traveling to the products that I sell. Spent 1992 - 1995 working as a chat show manager and travel message board manager for AOL.
Organizations Destination Wedding Association
Publications Bridal Guide Magazine, Rolling Stone, local and statewide newspapers
Education/Credentials CSS - Sandals Certified Specialist for 10 years, Fiji Matai Specialist, Hawaii Tourism Specialist, Caribbean Specialist, Puerto Rico Specialist, Cancun Specialist, Mexico Specialist, Couples Resorts Preferred Travel Agency, RIU Resort Partner Agent, Secrets & Dreams Resorts Master Agent
Honeymoons - Destination Wedding I need a budget idea.
Expert: Lindsay Wendt-Sheikh - 4/23/2008
Question I'm not engaged yet but that should be happening this summer and my SO doesn't want a long engagement. So I want to get some ideas now so I know how much I/we need to save up.
We've always loved the idea of a destination wedding. Just taking our immediate family (which would amount to 15-25 people) and going somewhere tropical and beautiful for a really memorable experience for everyone. We're from the Midwest so a beach wedding is something totally different and that's what we want. We want a wedding on the beach or with a great view and we want a fairly nice relaxing place for everyone to stay. Since it's all family it would be nice if we could rent out a couple villas, but a hotel/resort would be nice too. Can you give me the low end and average cost of something along those lines? I know there are so many things to consider but just in general. I've heard that destination weddings are or can be less expensive than traditional weddings and I'm hoping that's true. Thanks in advance!
Answer Hi,
I would love to help you with your destination wedding. As for costs, yes that is a broad subject to cover without knowing where you are departing from and the various destination, however since we are located in the Midwest, I do know where you are coming from regarding the beach wedding. So I would say if you want to keep the budget for not only the wedding but the travel for the guests, go with an all inclusive resort. That is truly the best bet because everyone pays for everything in advance there is no questions when you get down there or checking out. You don't want your guests remember the hard time to go over the bill when checking out. You want them to remember the good time and your wedding.
As for cost the low end is the Free wedding packages, but you have to be careful. All of them require that you book a certain room type which totally might cost more then going with just the regular wedding package. Many have certain amount of nights that you have to stay and/or your guests are required to. Then they don't include the legal filing fees so that is another $200 - $800 dollars. So you do have to look at the fine print. On one last point, those resorts that offer that type of wedding package usually has 5 - 7 weddings per day. So if you are looking for a personalized wedding, forget it there! They want you to conform what they do. Not my favorite resorts.
On the other hand I like suggesting a few resorts that are going the other way and allowing, actually welcoming a personalized wedding and maybe having 1 - 3 weddings per day. They have also created wedding packages that are affordable ranging from $1900 - $2800 that has features like the flowers, wedding dinner with a four course meal, cocktail pary, photos, even DVD and live music, just to name a few.
Now answering your question about travel related costs, well that one I will have to say that I will not be able to answer until I know more from you. It is not only the departure airport city, but the amount of nights and the travel dates you would be looking at. And with everything changing in the travel business, I cannot go back and say that they did that last year. Lately I had Delta almost double the airfare from Christmas to Cancun out of Atlanta. So it is not like I want to be vague there are just too many factors to even give you a broad sense of what you can expect.
Well, I hope this gives you at least a starting point with the costs of wedding packages. As I stated above I will need to know more about what are area you live in and what time of year you would like to go, to truly answer the remaining part of your question. I wish you nothing but the best! Please keep me posted.
