How to choose a Wedding location?
 

My fiance and I are looking to get married somewhere warm and sunny next year. The majority of our guests will be flying from PHL and DFW.

Anybody got recommendations on where I can check historical fare data or at least current fares for this time of year to rule out any high fare destinations. I'm looking for something quick but accurate and I want to be able to check out the Carribean and Mexico as well as some Florida fares.

Please let me know if you have suggestions.

Thanks.

www.farecompare.com works great for the historical data stuff. beta.itasoftware.com also works great for current fares that allows you to search for fares based on a number of different options.

Problem with farecompare is the historical stuff is really only US based...

I'll try the ita site and see hwo that works. Anyone else have any experiences with looking for a location for a wedding or other event far ahead and wanting to find approx fares???

Keep in mind that with a lot of resort destinations (especially the Carribbean), flights tend to operate weekly instead of daily. To expect your guests to stay from Sat-Sat could be a bit much, so I'm sure it would be appreciated to select a location that has daily service, or at least reasonably timed flights so folks who don't have a lot of vacation can still make it by leaving Friday afternoon and returning on Sunday. ;) :)

BTW, congrats! ^

Start by assessing your miles and points and how to maximize them.

You also might check out special wedding programs that the airlines have. Your guests get discounted rates if they fly with the airline. AA has info at http://www.aa.com/content/businessPr...ngTravel.jhtml, and I know there are other airlines that have similar programs. Obviously, if you choose one of these, then you're limited to the cities that the airline flies to.

And congratulations!

One of my nieces married last year in Patzcuaro, a small city near Morelia, Mexico (served by daily 2 hour CO RJs out of IAH). Inexpensive, everything downtown "walkable", decent small hotels, OK food, a car & driver both ways from Morelia (itself a lovely city) cheaper than a rental ($50 + $5 tip one way for all 3 people with baggage, about 50 miles).

Want to make the whole shooting match even easier? Check out the old Galvez Hotel (or the Tremont) in Galveston or the Havana Riverwalk in San Antonio. Why make life hard for thee and thy guests?

Thanks to all of your for your advice... It's been very helpful and I'd love for you to keep it coming... Pretty much everywhere we have been looking has regular, daily flights on at least one ariline from the major cities our guests will be traveling from.

The discount rates are a very helpful tip. I have heard of this before, and it would be great to save anyone who is planning on coming a little money...

I'll definitely have to check out Patzcuaro. Staying in Texas won't make it any easier for most of the guests. More will be traveling from Philly than anywehre else, and there's people who may come from all over. Rather forgoe the ambiance of Texas and make people travel a little farther/longer.

Keep the advice coming... Thanks.

I have a friend who did somewhat the same thing. Just realize that not everyone will travel. It's good you're giving notice. Make sure to have a reception when you get home, so that the folks who can't go still are involved.

Other than that, I'd follow Kanye's advice from Gold Digger or Vince Vaughn's advice from Old School. They'd be, "Holla we want pre-nup" and "*cough* don't do it *cough*".

Have a fun time.

If I was one of your guests I would not be happy.

One thing is having to take time off, and get the fares, hotels etc.. to attend the wedding of someone who lives far away.

Even doing all this because your friend feels the need to get married in a particular location for deep-rooted sentimental reason would be OK.

But just because you want to marry somewhere warm and sunny... personally, I'd be pretty angry.

For me, a wedding is all about friends and family. Because our own live in three countries, our main struggle was finding ways to make the event easier to attend, we never set out to make their lives more difficult.

Why would you force your guests to go on a holiday they may not want at a time that might not be appropriate? Do they have to prove their love or friendship to you this way? And will you still be expecting gifts from them on top of the expense of time and money needed to attend your ceremony?

Sometimes it is cheaper to fly everyone off to a warm destination than organise a wedding locally (in that case, you pay for your guests flights and accommodation yourself) but this doesn't seem to be what you had in mind.

Thankfully, I've never been put into this position by a 'friend'. If you want to go somewhere warm and sunny, go there on honeymoon. To force all your aquaintances to go to a random place on a whim seems utterly disrespectful to me.

I'd be amazed if at least one of the people you invite doesn't feel this way. You just might never hear get to hear about it (because they can't be as rude as I'm able to be as a stranger on a forum).

I'm genuinely sorry to prick at your bubble. If you're sure enough about your friends to know, really KNOW, that they would want and welcome this plan, then you have my best wishes and sincere hopes that your ceremony is a success. If not, then I implore you for their sakes to think about it.