Hi everyone! My fiancé and I are currently planning our Indian fusion wedding, and I’m seriously considering switching from a wedding in the US to a destination wedding. I’d love some advice, especially from anyone who’s had or attended a destination wedding!

Originally, we were planning a wedding in the US with around 150 guests max. We weren’t planning on allowing plus-ones unless we personally knew them, and we were going to limit children as well. However, after researching venues, catering, decor, DJs, photography, and everything else that goes into a multi-day Indian wedding, we’re realizing it could easily cost $120k+, which is honestly insane to us.
We’ve started looking into resorts in Mexico, the Dominican Republic/Punta Cana, or somewhere relatively close to the East Coast, and it seems like we could have a 3–4 day wedding for around $60–70k with a lot more included.

Here’s where I’m torn. Some resorts offer complimentary wedding venues, food, and an open bar if you have 100+ guests staying at the resort. Cause of that, we’d actually be willing to invite more people, including plus-ones and children we originally weren’t planning to invite. However, I’m worried that even if we invite 150+ people, we might not reach 100 attendees because of the travel costs, PTO, childcare, etc. We genuinely want to celebrate with as many of our loved ones as possible. I know destination weddings typically have lower attendance, and that’s probably my biggest hesitation.I’ve also considered setting aside part of our budget to help cover flights or hotel accommodations for certain close family members or friends who might otherwise be unable to attend. We’d also plan on sending save-the-dates/invitations much earlier than usual, potentially 12–18 months in advance, so people have time to save money, request PTO, and make arrangements. Lastly, we’re debating whether a holiday weekend or summer wedding would make more sense, especially for families with children. But I know flights and resorts can be more expensive during those times, so I’m not sure if that would actually help.

A few questions I’d love advice on:
1. If you had a destination wedding, what percentage of your invited guests actually attended?
2. Did you regret having a destination wedding because certain people couldn’t make it?
3. For Indian/multicultural weddings specifically, were the resort packages actually as affordable as advertised, or did outside vendors, decor, food, and additional events drive the price up significantly?
4. Did anyone help pay for certain guests’ travel or accommodations?
5. Would you recommend a summer wedding, holiday weekend, or a regular weekend?
6. If you needed 100+ guests to qualify for resort perks, how did you estimate attendance before committing?

I’m also curious about the guest experience. I love the idea of everyone being together at a resort for a few days, celebrating and making a vacation out of it, but I also don’t want people to feel financially pressured to attend.

Thank you!! ❤️

My Fiancé and I love Bowls! Burrito bowls, poke bowls, sushi bowls, etc. and we like the idea that our wedding would be a build your own bowl buffet.

It would have different options for bases, proteins, varieties of toppings/mix ins and sauces.

However I am receiving mixed thoughts from Friends and Family about whether or not this would be a good idea.

Has anyone been to a wedding or event that did a “build your own” theme and what is your honest review of it?

Thanks :)

Got engaged in September, wedding is set for June 2027, and I thought I’d be excited about the planning part. Instead I’ve spent three weekends on Pinterest and I’m more confused than when I started. Everything looks the same after a while: sage green, dusty blue, old money, now “plum and olive” is apparently the thing, and half the pins are from 2022 anyway.

What I’m trying to figure out:

• Where do you actually look for trends that are current, not recycled? Is there anything beyond Pinterest and The Knot articles?
• Did you pick a color palette first and build everything around it, or did the venue decide it for you?
• Digital invites and wedding websites: are people still doing paper, or has everyone moved to a link they send on WhatsApp? My mom is horrified by the idea of no paper invitation.
• Any 2026 brides who feel their choices already look dated? What would you change if you were planning for 2027?

Not looking for vendor recommendations, I just want to hear how real people decided instead of scrolling for another month. Thank you, and sorry for the rant.

my fiancé and I are both vegan and are planning a fully vegan wedding to align with our values. with our venue, some of the food options they have mentioned are:
- vegan taco bar (with jackfruit chicken tacos and impossible beef)
- a vegan pizza bar (with vegan margherita, pepperoni and veggie pizza)
- vegan eggplant parmigiana or mushroom ravioli

i don’t think any of our guests are vegan, but I do want it to be food our guests will hopefully still find enjoyable, so I wanted to see what non-vegan people would most want to eat out of those options mentioned above? thanks :)

Like how a father/daughter dance you pick a song with meaningful words. I wonder if there would be a way to have the dj announce the next song (during dinner or something, where it doesn’t impede anything) is from us to our guests. Because “I Knew It, I Knew You” by Taylor Swift is SO about all the people at my wedding who I don’t always see but I love. But idk if this is doable without being totally lame and weird. And maybe other people don’t listen to lyrics closely like I do. Maybe someone here is a DJ and has a cool idea or something, idk.

I am a 30 year old Female and this is a throwaway account.

I really need some perspectives here. A little backstory, my sister, Chelsea, who is 34, got married about 5/6 years ago to a wonderful woman, let’s call her Nancy, 36. Our parents are very Christian-religious people and they did not participate or help in any way towards the wedding (like dress shopping or helping finance or plan it) as my sister was marrying a woman. By the time the wedding came, they did not attend the wedding. Their reasoning was that they didn’t accept my sister being gayness gay and mentally “separate” that part of her until she is “back on the right path.” That attending the wedding would be against God’s will, so they didn’t want any part of it out of fear of not getting into heaven.

Their absence was very clear and very emotional, especially when it came to the father-daughter dance. Instead of dancing with our dad, my sister had the song “True Colors” playing. Then, one by one, my sister had different friends and family slow dance with her. By the end of the song, Nancy’s dad, my sister’s father-in-law, danced with her. There was not a dry eye in sight. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t about my parents’ absence, but about celebrating their love, and we all had an amazing time.

Since then, my parents and their extended family have been back and forth fighting. Not only about this, but I would say this was the catalyst for these fights. My parents kept saying, “She’ll get over it,” along with plenty of other unnecessary things political and biblical things that shouldn’t have been said.

It has been 5 years since the wedding, and my sister and Nancy now have 2 beautiful boys. Our parents have been really involved with them, putting a lot of love and effort into the grandkids and being involved with Nancy’s parents, too. And that’s where I’m torn.

The reason why I’m bringing this up is because I will be getting married, and I’m considering not inviting my parents, but the guilt is eating me alive.

On one hand, My sister deserved to have that wedding experience with our mom, from dress shopping to even talking about the wedding, without getting backlash or no response. Same with my dad. I cannot picture myself having a slow dance with my dad, with everyone from my sister’s wedding looking at us, especially my sister.
I’ve talked to her before about it, and she says that I can do what I want and that she’s fine with it. I do want to try and have that conversation again with her because the guilt is still there.

On the other hand, I don’t want to disappoint my mom. It’s her first time living too. I have horrible anxiety, and although I’ve taken steps to manage it, my mother is the biggest hurdle for me. Even if I tried to talk to my mom and dad, I feel like my mom wouldn’t listen or would get too emotional for us to have a conversation, and my dad would just be silent as always.

I think I want to talk to my sister again and see if I should invite our parents as just guests and nothing more.

My fiancé says he wants them to put up money for our wedding but then just not invite them and tell them to “get over it.” It’s not like I don’t agree with him. The amount of times my fiancé has wanted to stand up for me and I’ve shut it down to keep the peace, and now it’s just boiled up to this point and I feel stuck. I don’t want to draw attention to them and hostility back into our wedding when it should be about us.

It’s not like there haven’t been any other weddings in the last 5 years, but I also don’t want to make my sister feel uncomfortable since I will be the one getting married.

I think I want to invite them but make them not a part of it, just guests. But I want to hear other peoples opinions on this. Would you invite them as guests, or not invite them at all? How would you handle this situation? How should I talk to my parents about it without blowing it out of proportion?

I heard they are booked out :(

But was wondering if anyone is thinking of canceling their wedding at Kualoa Ranch?

We love the venue and would like to get in touch with someone who is thinking of canceling as we are a local couple to O'ahu and in need of a venue.

Thanks!

I'm in my mid-30s and haven't had friends since my childhood/early 20s, mostly by choice but partially by circumstance. I'm quite quiet and reclusive, I enjoy solo hobbies, and I'm a lecturer so basically the only people I interact with at work are my students. I also moved country several times and finally settled in a country (the US) a few years ago. As a result I don't currently have any friends. The closest I have would be childhood/University friends, who I haven't spoken with in a decade plus and who honestly I don't have any interest in reconnecting with. They were solid guys and we were good friends in our time but that chapter is over. Overall I just don't like the organisation, low-level stress, and time commitment it takes to maintain friendships in your 30s. Just not interested in it and I'm happy this way.

I met my (now) fiance here 4 years ago, and we're planning a wedding of some form next year. She has had a really nice friend group since High School, so she'll have a full bridal party. In discussions about wedding planning we realised not only could I not come up with a list of Groomsmen, but I don't even have anyone I could pick as a Best Man. She understands and isn't upset by it (she's the best), but I'm looking for some honest opinions on how it would be received by the people attending? Is it just going to be incredibly jarring to have a Groom with no-one accompanying?

We do have the option of scaling down the wedding to just immediate family and friends, to make it less noticeable. Another option is to have a small but very Bride-focused wedding (I love this option) where it is just my parents and siblings, but all of her family and close friends.

I really don't want to start tracking down people I haven't spoken to for a decade + to try and wrangle them into it. I do have a brother, but we don't know each other very well. He got married last year and I wasn't in his wedding.

Would be grateful for some thoughts. Thanks very much

This is so embarrassing. By all means tell me so. It's been over a year since I got married and I still have all my thank you cards, stamps and envelopes ready to go. At first it was just taking a breather post wedding, totally normal. Then some things came up. Then some other changes. Blah blah blah none of them are legitimate excuses really. Would it be totally lame to still send them out? I still have all the registry history online, so it will be easy for me to still personalize the cards. Or should I just do a regular thank you message? I got too bold and figured it would be no problem to hand-write sixtyish thank you cards but clearly it was more than I expected. 😅

Our wedding was gorgeous and honestly I might not have known people were missing if I didn’t know the seating chart so well.

So first off we had 4 people that we knew couldn’t make it the week of the wedding. Valid reasons and we actually were able to fill 2 of the seats with a last minute invite. Then the day before the wedding at the rehearsal dinner my friend tells me her boyfriend is sick and can’t come. Ok, he’s sick and I don’t want to be sick so ok.

Then the day of the wedding, ceremony happens, we’re thrilled, cocktail hour happens and then we go to sit and eat at reception and I see 2 tables looking very empty. Another 5 people didn’t show up and NO ONE TOLD US. No text, no call, nothing. After speeches when salads came out I sent my husband to find out what happened because they were all on his side of the family. He comes back and tells me 1 person is sick but their mom still came because she was ok. Another pair, the husband got sick (that they asked us to be added very last minute and screwed up the seating chart) so the wife stayed behind because she felt bad going without him, and another couple just absolutely ghosted everyone and no one knows what happened. The last couple REALLY angers me because they RSVPed to the bridal shower with her daughters and none of them showed up and ghosted us there too. They didn’t even tell us why and I had to reach out and ask wtf happened. And I got a lukewarm apology days later.

Honestly these ghosts/no shows really were the only thing big that went wrong on the day. I knew how expensive the wedding was so to watch 8 people not show and having paid for their plates….it just annoyed me. And of course none of them gave us a card with well wishes or anything of the sort. Even now a week removed none of those people, even the ones that couldn’t make it a week prior, have reached out to ask how it was or apologize themselves (more so for those who didn’t bother to tell us but passed the burden to family).

I’ve had to cancel day of my good friends wedding because I woke up with COVID, but I made sure to text friends to pass along the message, I found out the maid of honors number and texted her to let the catering staff know not to plate our food and sent the bride $300 to make up for our absence. Now experiencing the other side of the coin I’m so glad I bothered with all that effort. Because NO effort is really….rude tbh.

Hi all! My wedding is October 2nd 2027. I've been speaking to a caterer I'm interested in, but they're requesting 50% by January 1st (completely understandable) and the other 50% by April 1st.

Am I crazy for thinking that's way too early to have everything paid in full? 6 months before the wedding? I won't even have an accurate headcount of guests 6 months before.

My fiance and I got engaged in September and are starting to do venue research. The vibes we're going for are whimsical enchanted fairy garden. Besides state parks, the MN Arboretum, and some garden venues, we've come across Camrose Hill Flowers in Stillwater, MN and both have hesitantly fallen in love. The lack of any pricing information available without scheduling a tour make us nervous it will be far out of budget and break our hearts. Has anyone had any experience with Camrose Hill Flowers and could give us an idea of what we're getting ourselves into? Also any recommendations for other venues in the Twin Cities metro area that might give the same feeling while not breaking the bank would be appreciated!

Budget is still kind of nebulous but we would love if we could end up staying less than 10k total. Guest count likely around 75, 100 max.

For context my best friend is a gay male so I want him to be my gay of honor and I asked my long time friend to be my matron of honor well, I have another really close friend that she’s literally my best friend and I want to ask her to be my maid of honor but idk if it’s outrageous having 3 people of importance lol helpppp

I’m getting married in March and it’s gonna be a small and short ceremony but the logistics behind who, if anyone, will walk me down the aisle is a big question mark. My mom got married to my stepdad when I was 9, and I never met my biological dad til I was an adult. So it’s a definite no for my bio father even being invited.

My relationship with my stepdad is ok now, but it hasn’t always been. They got divorced technically and are now back together but I still just feel like he wasn’t there for me the way a true father figure would be.

This is what is confusing me, it’s neither a bad or good relationship, it could go either way. He’d definitely be sad if walked down myself, but it also wouldn’t be completely surprising because of our lack of a close relationship. He is still invited, because my mom has to go, so it’d just be awkward to blatantly omit this tradition.

I feel like if anything my mom would be the one to make a fuss over it, she has strong opinions.

On one hand I wouldn’t mind the company down the aisle because I’m a very anxious introverted bride, but on the other hand I want to be the strong independent woman who doesn’t need to be given away.

Has anyone else struggled with this aspect of a wedding? Is this tradition still pretty common? I havent been to a wedding in like years and even then it was two men so they walked down together.

Hi!! My fiancé and I are getting married next December, so we aren’t particularly in a rush to choose a first dance song, however, I’d like to have a few options.

Our first choice had always been “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isabell (possibly doing the cover by Noah Kahan as we saw him perform it live), since we have always viewed it as “our song”. And to throw in a fun fact - after he proposed it was the very first song that came on!

Anywho, I told my mom this and she said it’s too sad/morbid - now it’s all I can think about, which is having me reconsider! Thoughts?

I can’t figure out what veil & shoes would go with my dress. Can someone help

So we’re choosing between a Friday and a Sunday and we’re leaning towards the Sunday. Sunday is £500 cheaper.

Sunday:
Means we can have people helping us on Saturday with decor and travelling without people taking more time off. Will be more chilled in the lead up and can spend more time with everyone beforehand. Many of our friends life further away so will need accommodation and a day off anyway.

Friday:
Still only need one day off. People will have the rest of the weekend to recoup. People will still likely leave to go home on the Saturday as the venue is an hour from anyone, and our friends are just like that anyway. So we wouldn’t necessarily get more time with anyone.

My partner and I are getting married in Switzerland (he is Swiss, I am not).

Due to personal circumstances, we are planning a small (12 people) wedding celebration after the civil ceremony.

We discovered that we could book out a wagon at a train with a plated meal service + aperitif, which would have a custom round-trip journey.

Both of us love trains and the Alps, and we were pretty stoked about this idea. I really wanted something a bit more 'unique' for the celebration without going too crazy since we have 3 senior members joining us (grandparents).

I am just worried that the guests might not like it as much? Maybe it's considered lame, and a traditional fancy restaurant approach would be more popular? I'm posting this to hear other people's opinions: am I overthinking this?

Hi everyone!! I posted about our wedding reception timeline a little while ago and got some really helpful feedback. We’ve since made a bunch of changes, hired more vendors, and figured out a lot of the logistics. I’d love for you guys to pick apart our updated plans because I learned so much last time!! 😂

Our venue/setup:

We’re renting a community hall with a huge outdoor grass area and indoor hall. It’s a very affordable venue, but it doesn’t come with staff or event coordination. We will already for married just the two of us on a trip, so we’re doing a reception-only wedding with our friends and family!

Outside: Two marquee tents (20×30 and 20×20) with dinner tables and chairs underneath and string lights. We’ll have some picture areas, lawn games, non alcoholic drinks/coffee bar set up, food area beside the covered outside area, and space to mingle.

Covered outside area: Open operated by a local restaurant (was going to ask for 2 bartenders)

Inside hall: Dance floor, guestbook/advice cards area, photobooth, cocktail tables (6) and round tables (3) with chairs for around the dance floor.

Bathrooms: Two individual single-occupancy bathrooms inside the hall. We also have a trailer washroom being delivered that provides 2 additional bathrooms. This will be parked somewhere outside.

Guests can move freely between all three spaces. We love the idea that people who want to dance after dinner can be inside, while those who prefer to socialize can hangout outside or under the tents.

Vendors we’ve arranged:

Catering and bar: A local restaurant will be providing the food, running the bar and supplying the staff for both.

Photographer: Four and a half hours of coverage, including bridal party/family photos, cocktail hour, dinner and some formalities. (I’m hoping for 4:30-9pm but not sure if we should do longer?)

MC/timeline coordinator: We’ve hired someone to manage announcements, transitions, playlists, vendor arrivals and the overall timeline. We don’t want to rely on our bridesmaids to run everything!

Photobooth: Professional company coming to set up inside during dinner, operating 8–10 PM.

Cleaners: We’ve hired someone (bringing an assistant) to help throughout the evening with cleaning up any cups or plates, changing garbages, cleaning up from dinner, cleaning bathrooms throughout the night.

Mocktail bartender: We've hired someone to run a separate, fully staffed non-alcoholic bar beside the main bar. They'll be serving two signature pre-batched mocktails and chilled energy drinks and water that will be served over ice in cups as well as coffee and tea available. We wanted guests who aren't drinking alcohol to have their own fun bar experience rather than just a table with water bottles.

Rentals: A rental company is providing the tents, tables, chairs, speakers and other equipment. We’ll be setting up most of the decorations and indoor spaces the day before with outside under tents set up day of.

Trailer washrooms: 2 additional washrooms outside.

Any vendors there will be provided a meal.

We’re still not hiring a DJ because we’ve decided to create our own playlists for each portion of the evening: Cocktail hour, dinner, first dances, dancing. The MC/Coordinator we’ve hired said she can handle all playlist transitions.

Here’s our updated timeline:

4:30 PM: Bridal and groom party photos and family photos.

We’ll be doing photos with our bridesmaids, groomsmen and immediate families before guests arrive. We’re hoping to have these mostly finished by 5 PM so we can spend cocktail hour with everyone.

5:00–6:15PM: Cocktail hour, mingling and guest photos.

Guests arrive and head to the outdoor area.

Open bar for when guests arrive
Mocktail bar for when guests arrive
Appetizers and charcuterie board available
Background music playing
Lawn games available
Inside: guest book&advice cards

We also want to try to get a photo and mingle with every couple/family/group during this time rather than having to do table-to-table photos later. (Could still do table visits as well)

Maybe a group photo before dinner??

6:15-6:30PM: Guests find their seats.

We’ll have a seating chart and our MC will help direct everyone toward the outdoor tents.

6:30–7:45 PM: Entrance, dinner and speeches

Once everyone is seated, we’ll have a little entrance together, followed by a short welcome and thank you.

Our caterer has a food truck that will be parked near the porch. Guests will choose their main (beef, chicken or fish) when they RSVP, so they can pick up that at the truck while sides will be served buffet-style beside.

We’re planning to coordinate the food service so people aren’t standing in one giant line.

We’ll also be doing short speeches during dinner rather than stopping everything for a separate speech section.

The open bar will be closed during dinner, reopening open bar when dinner is finished. Bartenders will be serving wine during dinner.

Mocktail bar will be open throughout dinner.

7:45-8:05PM: Elopement video and first dances

MC announces bar reopens and will direct guests to go inside for a short video and first dance.

This is one of the more sentimental parts we’re really excited about!

We’re filming** **parts of our elopement, including getting ready, first look, vows on the mountain. (Short video).

We’ll put together a short video to show our family and friends so they can experience a little piece of our actual wedding day. Everyone I’ve told said they absolutely love the idea and can’t wait to see it.

We’re now planning to show this inside the hall, where we can control the lighting better. There’s a stage so we are going to have the projector screen on the stage so everyone will be able to see it.

After the video, we’ll transition straight into our first dance and parent dances. We’re thinking of having the father/daughter and mother/son dances at the same time to keep things short.

Then we’ll immediately start a good party song to get everyone onto the dance floor!

8:05-11:00PM: Open bar, dancing and photobooth

This is where the formalities end and the party really begins!

- Open bar reopens when dinner finishes
- Mocktail bar open until the end
- Dance floor opens
- Photobooth operates from 8–10 PM
- Guests can move between the indoor dance floor, outdoor tents and bar area

We’ll have separate playlists for cocktail hour, dinner, formal dances and the party. The dance playlist will already be arranged in a specific order so the music progresses throughout the night.

8:30 PM: Dessert

Dessert will be put out without stopping the dance floor. Our wedding coordinator will bring out the desserts. She’ll make a quick announcement that dessert has been served and guests can help themselves.

10:00PM: Late-night snack

Either poutine or pizza as a late-night snack.

Again, no interruption to dancing. Just a quick announcement that food is available.

10:45 PM: Last call

The bar will start wrapping up and we’ll give everyone a heads-up that the reception is ending at 11 PM.

11:00 PM: Reception ends

Our venue is in a residential area and we’re trying to be respectful of noise restrictions. 11PM is the noise by-law.

Guests can head home or join us at our house, approximately five minutes away, for an informal after-party.

What are we still missing?!

Does the timeline seem realistic?

Are there any vendor coordination responsibilities we’re overlooking?

Just to clarify, this timeline is a general plan, not a strict schedule! We’ve already discussed with our coordinator that we’re flexible with timing and happy to adjust things as needed to keep the evening flowing smoothly without rushing anything!

I’m going for a true summer palette with saturated reds, blues, and lots of greenery, but I’m struggling to find the right transition colors without making everything feel too Fourth of July!

Our venue is a ranch, and my vision is a mix of elegant country and prairie. I want the florals to feel refined, with red Indian paintbrush (faux) and blue flowers mixed with greenery and a few wildflower elements to keep that prairie feel. We’ll also have lots of stained-glass details throughout the wedding.

My family isn’t totally sold on the bold color palette and thinks I should tone it down, but I’d love to make it work! Has anyone seen this combination done beautifully, or have ideas for colors and flowers that could help tie everything together without losing the vibrancy? I’d love any inspiration or advice!

The first pic is my original inspo. I’m happy to deviate but want to for sure keep the pops of blue and the Indian paintbrush.

The second pic is my “first try” at arranging the colors thought I wanted, but I don’t love it at all. It felt too spring. My family hated it. The last two pics are what my family likes, even though they still don’t love it.

Important to note- my mom will be arranging my florals and shes very good at it. The flowers in the pics are just samples, we’re focusing on colors not arrangement shape.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! There are two 2027 dates left at a venue I’ve had my eye on in southern Chester County, PA- but they’re both in June 😬 Before I commit, I wanted to gauge how many vendors (MUA/ hair/ DJ) still have openings with this short of notice. The two dates are June 5 and June 12 if that helps! Thank you for your input! 🤍

My cousin is getting married in April. She has sent a wedding invitation to my parents, but it doesn't name me, it just says 'smith family' (not our real name) but it was specifically addressed to my mother and father. As an adult member of the Smith family is this invitation also being extended to me? My parents say yes, but the last cousins wedding I went to I wasn't specifically named in the invitation, (it was addressed "to the smith family") so my parents told me I should come too, flew from Honolulu to pittsburgh for the wedding and apparrantly it caused some drama because I wasn't expected.

So now we have the same scenario. I would just ask, but I know that even if I am not actually invited, by me asking they will just say 'of course you can come!' and I don't want to put them in that position. On the other hand, both my parents are going to be out of the country when the wedding happens and if I don't go, no one from our part of the family will be there.

I don't want to impose myself again, even if it was a misunderstanding, that was an expensive misunderstanding on my part and it was awkward as hell too, and I would rather not relive it. But, my parents are pushing me to rsvp and that I'm just being ridiculous, that of course she wants me there etc etc