Destination Weddings: Site Visits
Sunday, March 7th, 2010
- Hotel/resort site visits set-up? Check.
- Food tastings set-up? Check.
- Wine tastings set-up? Check.
- Wedding Notebook? Check.
- List of questions for each hotel/resort? Check.
- Camera? Check.
- Cellphone? Check (make sure you’ve got international calling capabilities if traveling abroad).
As you prepare for a site visit to your destination of choice, use the list above as a handy guide to help with travel preparations. If your fiance is unable to go on the site visit with you, bring your wedding planner if you are using one or ask a trusted friend or relative to join you.
Site visits are a great way to explore your potential wedding destination, but they’re by no means a vacation. Keep your eyes and ears open from the moment you land at the airport in your city or country of choice. Whatever you experience at the airport, in the rental car line or with the shuttle service is likely what your guests are going to experience. Go into your meetings with hotel/resort personnel alert and filled with questions. Site visits can be grueling – you’re going to be on your feet, walking the property, meeting with staff and taking in lots of information. Hopefully, you’ll have a moment or two to unwind on the beach or at the spa, but it you don’t you won’t be the first who traveled to paradise and never set foot on the beach!
Your site visit is probably your one shot to get a good sense of where you are going to say I DO. Take note of how you feel walking into the hotel/resort for the first time, imagine your friends and family upon their arrival. Will they love it, be disappointed or annoyed because the people at the reception desk are unfriendly? As much as your BIG DAY is about you and your fiance, it’s also about the people who are traveling to celebrate with you.
Take loads and loads of pictures. You can’t have too many – hotels/resorts will start to look the same and memories will begin to fade the moment you board your flight to head home. Having pictures of everything from the reception area to the guest rooms will help you make a cogent decision about which hotel/resort is right for you and your wedding.
If possible, try to narrow down your choices while you’re there. If you’re doing site visits at 4 resorts in 3 days, the goal should be to narrow it down to 2 before you head home. It will be much easier to choose between 2 resorts than 4. The law of averages dictates that out of the 4 there are probably 2 that will rise to the top for you. It may be that the minimum amount required at the resort you thought you were going to love is higher than you’d budgeted for. Or, although you really click with the Wedding Coordinator at one of the resorts, you don’t like anything else about the resort.
And lastly, before you leave, make sure to ask the Wedding Coordinators at each hotel/resort for the names and phone numbers of a few of the brides they’ve worked with to get a better sense of what your experience might be like at a particular venue. Brides love to talk about their weddings, so don’t be shy about calling and asking the hard questions.
Good luck with your planning! And enjoy your site visit – let me know how it goes.
- Hotel/resort site visits set-up? Check.
- Food tastings set-up? Check.
- Wine tastings set-up? Check.
- Wedding Notebook? Check.
- List of questions for each hotel/resort? Check.
- Camera? Check.
- Cellphone? Check (make sure you’ve got international calling capabilities if traveling abroad).
As you prepare for a site visit to your destination of choice, use the list above as a handy guide to help with travel preparations. If your fiance is unable to go on the site visit with you, bring your wedding planner if you are using one or ask a trusted friend or relative to join you.
Site visits are a great way to explore your potential wedding destination, but they’re by no means a vacation. Keep your eyes and ears open from the moment you land at the airport in your city or country of choice. Whatever you experience at the airport, in the rental car line or with the shuttle service is likely what your guests are going to experience. Go into your meetings with hotel/resort personnel alert and filled with questions. Site visits can be grueling – you’re going to be on your feet, walking the property, meeting with staff and taking in lots of information. Hopefully, you’ll have a moment or two to unwind on the beach or at the spa, but it you don’t you won’t be the first who traveled to paradise and never set foot on the beach!
Your site visit is probably your one shot to get a good sense of where you are going to say I DO. Take note of how you feel walking into the hotel/resort for the first time, imagine your friends and family upon their arrival. Will they love it, be disappointed or annoyed because the people at the reception desk are unfriendly? As much as your BIG DAY is about you and your fiance, it’s also about the people who are traveling to celebrate with you.
Take loads and loads of pictures. You can’t have too many – hotels/resorts will start to look the same and memories will begin to fade the moment you board your flight to head home. Having pictures of everything from the reception area to the guest rooms will help you make a cogent decision about which hotel/resort is right for you and your wedding.
If possible, try to narrow down your choices while you’re there. If you’re doing site visits at 4 resorts in 3 days, the goal should be to narrow it down to 2 before you head home. It will be much easier to choose between 2 resorts than 4. The law of averages dictates that out of the 4 there are probably 2 that will rise to the top for you. It may be that the minimum amount required at the resort you thought you were going to love is higher than you’d budgeted for. Or, although you really click with the Wedding Coordinator at one of the resorts, you don’t like anything else about the resort.
And lastly, before you leave, make sure to ask the Wedding Coordinators at each hotel/resort for the names and phone numbers of a few of the brides they’ve worked with to get a better sense of what your experience might be like at a particular venue. Brides love to talk about their weddings, so don’t be shy about calling and asking the hard questions.
Good luck with your planning! And enjoy your site visit – let me know how it goes.
