Those of you who had/are having DWs..?

[Scooba]

Actually I want everyone to answer. My Destination Wedding is going to cost most for guests than I thought it would.

Those of you that have had or are having a destination wedding...how much did it cost or is it going to cost your guests to attend, say for a couple for a week with airfare??? Or any figures would be helpful.

Anyone else, how much would you pay to go to a DW?

What is fair to expect people to pay?

How much is a vacation supposed to cost?

 

[Mara]

not sure how much everyone paid but i think it was around $400 for airfare from CA to Hawaii per person RT then the per night room costs varied since they were cottages and some friends all stayed together etc. so anywhere from $50 a night for a room in a 3 bedroom place to paying $250 a night for a 2 bedroom cottage for a couple.

but for us the first time we went to scope things out it was like $300 for airfare and then it was something like $170 a night for 5 nights. oh and like $200 for the week for a car. so our scouting out trip for us cost about $1650 for us both.

we had 30 people total...about 16 good friends and about 12 family members and then our photographer and his gf (who were like guests too...)...it was perfect, and of course hawaii was somewhere everyone WANTED to vacation at so it made it easier. when we were planning for hawaii we went around to everyone we really wanted there and asked them if they would come. when we felt like most people would....that clinched the idea for us. we also gave people about 5-7 months to plan for their trip. so lots of deals could be had.

hope this helps.

 

[Scooba]

Thanks for answering Mara, i guess I''m too far off. Our scouting trip is costing $2000 for 4 nights with airfare, and we are visiting 2 resorts, one more expensive than the other so I hope I love the cheaper one.

I should have mentioned that mine will be at an all-inclusive resort, so anyone who knows that pricing would be helpful. Even if you have just vacationed at an all-inclusive lately and you wouldn''t mind saying what you paid would be helpful.

 

[flutterby]

Where are you looking at going?

I am having my DW in Vegas. For most of my guests (who booked in advance) it was 1100 per couple for flight from Chicago to Vegas and 4 nights at Mandalay Bay. It is now pricier. Currently guests are paying 1200 per couple air and hotel for for nights at Luxor for 1100. Still not all that bad.

I went to a wedding at Radison Cable Beach in Naussau a few years ago, and with airfare and 4 nights hotel paid around $1500 pp. It was all inclusive and so wonderful!

My little brother is getting married at Moon Palace next summer and it will cost guests around 1000pp.

So I guess I would say it depends on how much money your guests have. I have some friends that thought going to vegas for mine was pricey. I usually say any more than 1k per person is coming close to too much!

 

[Tybee]

Our resort is not all inclusive, and many of our guests are sharing villas on the island.

When we planned our wedding, airfare to St.Thomas ranged from 300-500 dollars. The ferry to St. John is about 15.00 Staying in a swank villa would cost about 500 dollars for a week. To stay at the resort where our ceremony is would be about 300.00 a night.

Sadly, with fuel prices being what they are, it costs about 600 to 700 dollars per person to fly to St. Thomas.

We planned our DW by design to keep it small. This was the way that we could invite everyone that we felt we HAD to invite, but still keep the number who actually came under 100. We knew that the people who really wanted to be there would make it, and those who might not be super close to us would opt out.

We invited a total of 157 people, at this point we will have 56 guests at our wedding and we still haven''t heard from a few (I need to call them, our RSVP date was June 1) not including children-- we have about 8 of them.

Every time a friend tells me how excited they are to come to our wedding it really feels speciall to me. I get so giddy inside. It''s really special to know that they''d travel so far for you!

 

[Scooba]

anyone else have any input on this?

 

[jaz464]

My wedding is in the Bahamas. With the exception of us and my parents who live in FL (a 45 min flight to the Bahamas), everyone else lives in Wisconsin. Plane tickets will be about $330 round trip. Rooms range from $75 a night (with an entertainment card discounted from $150) to $250 or so a night. Most guests are coming on Wed. for our Friday wedding and leaving on Sunday. Car rental is very very expensive there and not very popular so as far as I know, no one is doing it. Everyone takes taxis there. So to get around the island guests will have to pay taxi rates ranging from $15-$25 per trip. We are having about 30 guests.

 

[BrightSpot]

My wedding was at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica (Couples Swept Away in Negril--we LOVED it!). Airfare was around $350 per person ($700 for a couple) & all-inclusive hotel ranged from $2300-3100 per couple for a week, booked through a travel agency. Rates were higher for rooms booked directly through the resort. Some people did stay for a week (they arrived before we did & left 2 days after our wedding), but most stayed for 3-5 nights. Our resort had a 3 night minimum stay requirement. We had 31 guests & all but 7 people stayed at our resort. We paid for day passes for guests who stayed off-site to attend our wedding & reception at $150 per person. There were a lot of people who couldn''t attend our wedding due to financial & other constraints, but those who did join us had a fabulous time.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you''d like more information. Good luck with your planning!

 

[regalada]

Our DW is in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Flights from the East Coast are about $300, from the west coast, $600, and from Germany (where his family is from) about $800.

Hotels are going from $100 per night for a modest hotel or apartment, to $250 a night at the hotel where the wedding is taking place. Most people will come down on a Saturday for our Monday wedding. We are having 24 guests, of those 10 are coming from the US or Germany while the others live in PR. We are picking up the tab for our mothers and helping out a couple of friends who could not make it otherwise and who we would miss too much if they weren''t there. We can lodge a few people at my friends'' houses so that will save us some money. We are hoping most people choose to stay in the old city so that rentals cars are not necessary.