10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Planned A Destination Wedding

The anticipation of your wedding day feels like it couldn’t come any sooner. You believe you’ve thought of everything that could go wrong and swear you prepared for it. But once your wedding comes and goes, you sit there thinking about everything you wish you knew beforehand.

As a 2025 bride, I wish I had considered a handful of things before committing to my destination wedding in Mexico. Although there is a list of things I wish I knew earlier, they didn’t severely impact my big day. Still, knowing these 10 things in advance would have made the wedding weekend seamless.

Keep swiping for 10 things I wish I knew before I booked a destination wedding.

1. The Resort Wedding Department Will Ghost You

One of the most unexpected experiences during my destination wedding planning experience was being ghosted by the wedding department. After handing over thousands of dollars to lock in your wedding date, you’d expect they’d be gracious enough to answer your emails and calls in a timely manner, but nope, that doesn’t matter with destination weddings. I noticed this behavior after I sent off one email, which they ignored for two weeks, followed by another email that went unanswered for an additional two weeks, leading to phone calls that went to voicemails.

After six weeks, the wedding department finally responded to my first email and apologized for the delay. They even promised to communicate more efficiently moving forward. However, the team’s apology meant nothing because the same behavior continued for an entire year leading up to my wedding.

Despite my endless complaints, I learned that resort wedding departments only prioritize responses to wedding groups that are two months away. So, for anything before that, prepare to be ignored and ghosted. You’ll get an answer eventually, but not promptly. The best advice I could give is to be annoying and continue sending those emails because they will get answered, but only when the wedding department deems it important.

2. Prepare For A Language Barrier

If you select a destination where the native language is different from yours, prepare for the language barrier. As a bride, trying to communicate your dream wedding to vendors who don’t speak your language can be a challenge and sometimes frustrating for both parties trying to understand each other.

You can avoid language barriers by learning the language, hiring a translator, or ensuring the selected venue has fluent speakers of your native tongue. I hired a wedding planner based in Mexico to help me navigate these language barriers and execute my wedding vision.

However, language comprehension became a huge challenge for my guests trying to communicate their needs to the resort staff. Frustrated guests complaining to me about the miscommunication became an ongoing issue, which I was unable to help resolve.

3. Know Where All Your Wedding Events Are Happening

I encourage all couples to do a wedding site tour before booking your destination wedding location because it helps you understand how the flow of events will operate depending on the venue. However, even after the wedding site tour—which usually happens a year before the wedding—revisit the venue to make sure everything still aligns with how you envision your big day during the wedding weekenfd.

During your final walkthrough, ask exactly where everything you requested will go so you can clearly understand the layout and ensure no one overlooks any of the details you planned. I wish I had asked more questions throughout the wedding weekend because skipping those conversations led to two elements of my wedding weekend getting left out. Although those items didn’t affect my big day, I knew they would have added an extra touch of magic.

4. The Newer The Resort, The Better… But Prepare For Bad Customer Service

If you’re inviting guests to a destination wedding, you want to give them the best experience. For my guests, I knew I needed a brand-new resort that was modern, clean, and had excellent cuisine. During my research, I learned that the newer the resorts, the better the experience, because they’ll offer you more promotions and discounts, so you’ll lock in your big day with them.

However with all pros come cons, because although the resort met our needs, there were a lot of issues on the backend with the resort’s logistics and customer service. It was obvious the resort staff was still learning the ropes of the business, with many questions going unanswered, or not used to working with an influx of guests. So, although everything else was amazing, prepare for hiccups. Just like any new business, everything isn’t going to run smoothly in the beginning.

5. Choose A Wedding Dress That’s Easy To Travel With

One of the first mistakes I made but don’t regret is buying a wedding dress that wasn’t meant for traveling. Brides should select a dress that won’t cause them too much of a headache and expense to travel with. I bought my Nicole + Felicia dress five months before selecting my venue, not thinking about the travel aspect. I got a rude awakening during my dress fitting when I was told I had to purchase a seat on the plane for my dress.

My dress was so large it couldn’t fit in the cabin overhead or flight crew closet, so I paid $160 for a window seat, and yes, my dress took up the space of the entire seat, even spilling over into mine. My husband was not too happy to walk around the airport with such a large and heavy dress. Although he shed tears seeing me walk down the aisle in my gown, he recommends other brides not to put their husbands through the pain he had to endure with my dress.

6. Consider If Wedding Favors Are Worth Traveling With

I traveled with three suitcases loaded with welcome bag trinkets for my guests, bridesmaids’ gifts, and groomsmen’s gifts. Although it looks aesthetically pleasing for decor, and it’s nice knowing you gifted your guests with something for them to take home. Honestly, I don’t think the wedding favors are worth traveling with for a destination wedding.

Throughout the weekend, I barely saw guests using anything from the gift bags. If I could go back, I’d use the money I applied for the favors to cover an extra hour of the photo booth or on beauty services for my bridesmaids.

7. Prepare To Travel With At Least Five Suitcases

My husband and I traveled with seven suitcases and had to pay for each one, which adds up. When having a destination wedding, you pack your luggage with everything you can think of, trying to be as prepared as possible, especially in a foreign country.

However, all those what-ifs you loaded in your suitcase mean a lot of luggage to move around the airport with and to keep track of. Luckily, since most of our suitcases were filled with favors that were given away, we didn’t have to travel back with as many.

8. Resort Guests Will Crash Your Events

As much as you try to fight it, wedding crashers will find their way into your festivities and not the way you might expect. We had our wedding at an all-inclusive resort in very open venue spaces, allowing other resort guests to watch our events from afar.

At our welcome party, we had a fire dance performance and water drum performers. As the show went on, we noticed a group of nearly 30 people watching from a distance. It was slightly intrusive but didn’t bother us because they kept a respectful distance. Even during the wedding ceremony, resort guests lined up on the outskirts to watch, which would bother some brides, but for me, I liked the attention! This meant more people to admire all the hard work I put into the wedding.

9. The Wedding Guest Ratio From Bride To Groom Might Not Be Equal

My husband and I invited an equal number of guests to represent both of our sides of the family and friends. However, when it came down to actual numbers, one side outweighed the other. In fact, we realized guests from my side made up nearly 70% of the guest list.

There were moments when we wished we had the wedding locally so we could have equal representation, but we reminded ourselves that the reason we chose a destination wedding was to control the number of guests and keep our expenses low. Looking back at our wedding weekend now, we have no regrets about how the weekend played out, but do wish more guests from his side were able to attend.

10. Consider Your Guests’ Presence Their Presents

Although a destination wedding can cut costs for the bride and groom, it also means you’ll receive fewer gifts since you’re requiring your guests to travel out of the country for your big day. When you think of a destination wedding and gifts, consider your guests’ presence as their gift. We received a significant amount of gifts, but our guests’ energy throughout the weekend left an irreplaceable memory of the celebrations.

Although I didn’t know these 10 things before committing to my destination wedding, I was aware in advance that my wedding would cost significantly less internationally compared to in the United States. Having my wedding in Mexico, I was able to get all the glitz, flair, and luxury I desired within my budget, along with several entertainment aspects.

To my upcoming brides, consider where you want to have a destination wedding, and then, go for it. If you want to stretch your money, give your guests an amazing vacation, and have a pre-wedding vacay and post-nuptial honeymoon all in one, then this sounds like the right move for you and your boo!

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Booked A Destination Wedding