Traveling To A Wedding
I love traveling for a wedding, and one of my beautiful nieces got married last month! We were fortunate to be there for the engagement in Alaska last summer, so we were eagerly awaiting the wedding. There is nothing sweeter and better than watching the younger generation in love and building a life for themselves.
And you know I love a happy ending!
The downside of living in Fabulous Las Vegas is that none of my relatives live anywhere near us. As a matter of fact, they are as far away as possible.
So we needed to get ourselves to Virginia for the Saturday night wedding.
The first week of school. Sigh…it’s just work—it’s not my life.
Traveling To A Destination Wedding…Or a Wedding In A Destination?
This past summer, while I was excited for traveling to our wedding at a destination in Virginia, a friend of mine was planning his daughter’s destination wedding in Mexico.
Whole different can of beans, people.
A destination wedding…
I actually considered doing this…but not for my wedding. I’ve long wanted to do a vow renewal with Sweet Husband. And…my dream destination…you guessed it…I want to do it at Disney World. So, I’ve looked into the details of “getting married” at the top wedding destination in the world. As surprising as it might seem, the packages that they offer start at a fairly reasonable rate, but can extend past “20% down for a new house” prices. While I haven’t done it yet…we’ll see if Sweet Husband reads this blog for inspiration…
Planning a destination wedding entails NOBODY living where the wedding will actually take place. Fortunately, the most common destinations people choose for getting married are well equipped to plan your perfect day from start to finish. My friend’s daughter had many decisions to make to craft her perfect wedding event, but she was choosing from a pre-made list offered by the resort where everyone would stay, traveling, and that hosted the event.
By nature of the beast, significantly smaller than a regular wedding, the guests who attend tend to be close family, and the logical thing to do is incorporate the location into a regular family vacation. For most destination weddings, people travel long distances, and tend to create a week-long vacation out of the one-night wedding festivities. Guests for my friend’s daughter, for example, mostly extended the holiday to an entire week, so they could enjoy the resort in advance of the wedding festivities.
A wedding at a destination…
Our trip last month for our sweet niece’s wedding was located in her mid-size college town in Virginia. It’s an absolutely lovely town where she has lived her entire life, and my brother will continue to live after retirement. It just isn’t a sought-after vacation destination.
She could have gotten married in an airport—we would not have missed it.
It is, obviously, quite inconvenient to go to a wedding that isn’t near where you live. When you add in the time change, we had to do an obscene amount of traveling to get to the wedding. Our travel day started at 3 am our time, and we got to the wedding hotel at about 11 pm local time. It was a beast of a day. It also forced us to take an extra day for those travel constraints—the bride had to extend the hotel room block to accommodate our schedule.
Since it wasn’t a “destination” to us, we made the entire trip about the wedding and the accompanying plans, which worked out great. While I didn’t get to spend an extra day or two on a tropical beach, it was a fantastic destination, thanks to the foresight and planning of the bride and her fantastic mother.
When To Make Your Plans
You can find plenty of blogs that give you the exact right day to purchase airfare at the absolute lowest possible price.
That’s not me, Boo Boo.
I buy as soon as I possibly can. Then…I stalk the websites to find lower prices. Your money, your choice.
Literally, at the wedding last month, the bride’s brother had recently gotten engaged himself. I immediately asked his new fiancee for a wedding date, so I can get it on the calendar.
So, as soon as the information is available, I book all of my plans for any trip, this one included. That gives me months to keep an eye on all of my plans, hopefully rebooking when and if prices drop. For another wedding several years ago, for example, right before the wedding, the wedding hotel had a big sale and I rebooked for substantial savings.
Your Budget For The Weekend
One of the main reasons I plan so far in advance is that I am extremely careful with my budget. As you know, the number two line item in my budget is travel (Investing is number one), and I have many plans for the future. Those traveling dollars need to be stretched to accommodate all of the different things Sweet Husband and I want to do in addition to the fun and exciting trips—like this one—that we need to account for.
I suggest you always stick with the chosen wedding hotel, for several reasons: First, it has offered the wedding party a discounted rate, so I’m sure it’s fair. Second, the hotel becomes the center of all socializing and meeting with different wedding guests. Third, it is convenient for the wedding party if all of the travelers are in one place.
I used flight miles for this trip, so the flights were free. BUT…that meant we were on Southwest, which meant a three-hour drive (each way) after our plane landed. So, we could have flown directly into the town for the wedding, but that cost was prohibitive to us. Time or money, Boo Boo, time or money.
Our food budget for weddings is always doubled, because we love to see our far-flung relatives, and expect to share several restaurant meals with them. While we switched off with Big Brother Bob this trip, we want to be prepared to shoulder the costs—it’s totally worth it.
Your Wedding Gift
Here it is…the controversial part of the blog…
I give the same amount to all nieces and nephews on their wedding day. No matter what it costs me to attend the nuptials.
I know many people cut down their gift if they have to incur expenses to attend the wedding, but I don’t follow that thinking. In our opinion, weddings are a joyful and hopeful event, and we want to do everything we can to help the young couple get started.
People did it for us 33 years ago. We have never forgotten that.
Once You Are Onsite
Be Prepared For Anything
We went into the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, so even though we had no plans, we still brought hiking shoes and clothes. If the happy couple decided to ask us to join them in the mountains, we certainly didn’t want to say no.
Keep Yourself Available
Before we got to town, we kept in closer touch with Big Brother Bob and Coach Bill, but didn’t make any concrete plans. We wanted to make sure that we were ready for any invitation. So, when the bride invited us for a late night dinner, we jumped on the opportunity—even though it was the end of a brutal travel day. We didn’t come to sleep!
It’s Still Kind Of A Vacation
Plan a special meal alone
Did I mention the kids got married the day after our wedding anniversary? Second time this has happened in three years! So, we did hope to spend a little time alone before all of the wedding festivities kicked in. We decided to have a nice lunch, but made sure that we were available after that to meet up with my brothers and have some time together. There is nothing wrong with carving out some private time during a wedding weekend. We were just sure to make it at a time when nothing else was planned.
Go to that tourist spot
The bride’s family kindly gave us suggestions for what to do and where to go during the down time that weekend, and we appreciated the suggestions. No matter where you go in this fantastic country, there will be things to see and places to go. Take advantage of whatever new locations you are privileged to visit.
No Matter What
Go to the wedding. Celebrate the love and hope of the future.
Loyal readers of my blogs know that the dark times will ultimately come, no matter how hard we try to outrun them. As much as you possibly can, enjoy the good times with good people. Watching my brother walk his daughter down the aisle, I felt like I was bearing witness for both of our parents, and I was proud to be there.
Don’t miss out on your life, my friends.
And give. Generously.
THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR!!!
Thank you for reading all about traveling to a wedding!
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