Hi WW community,
I have enjoyed reading these boards and this is my first time posting.
My fiance and I got engaged over a year ago, and we decided to do something a bit wild and different and plan a destination wedding in a place we have never been to, New Orleans!! There is just something about that city -- feats of urban engineering (the city literally sits below sea level), bouncing back from natural disasters -- it really kind of bolstered my faith that humanity has a proven track record for getting though difficult situations, which I really needed during this pandemic haha.
I would love to hear from other brides planning/having done destination weddings and other brides who did weddings around holidays and/or WEEKDAYS. I would also love to hear about timelines people have chosen for save the dates and destination weddings and what your favorite hosting services are for wedding websites with online RSVP options, etc.
Currently I have a venue and day-of-coordination wedding planning services booked for my 10-31-2023 wedding, and I am working on save the dates, which I plan to send out this summer.
Our guestlist will be fairly small. We are each inviting about 15 people, and all guests are getting +1s because its a big trip and outside of the wedding we only plan to host a welcome party the night before (the current plan for the welcome party is treating everyone to coffee and beignets in the French Quarter and then going on a ghost tour) -- we will probably go out for an informal "join us if you would like" brunch the morning following the wedding, but it is not in our budget to officially host a farewell brunch.
Obviously, we are anticipating that many people may be forced to decline or cancel last minute, but we are trying to plan for a bigger attendance and then if it becomes super small, we will just splash out and treat the guests who do show up with extra perks. My fiance and I are both working class (and we have both decided to change careers during a global pandemic, but that's a whole other story), so this is a big financial commitment and many of our friends/family are in similar boats and will have to decline due to financial constraints.
My question is, is having a destination wedding on a Tuesday during a big holiday week a significantly bigger inconvenience than having it on a Sunday during a big holiday weekend? Having it on a Sunday means that people might only have to take 1-2 days off from a M-F job to attend? I have already booked my date, but there is a possibility that Sunday is still available and I suddenly have become worried that I am a monster to ask people to fly across the country (we are in Portland, OR) to a big crowded party week in New Orleans and have to miss at least 3-4 days of work.
I know that the friends and family who do come, will do so because this opportunity sounds exciting to them, and not because they feel obligated. Many have already stated how fun this all sounds.
We are intending to cover the cost of a big AirBnB for myself, my FH and all of the bridesmaids to stay in, and to help with the cost of an AirBnB for the groomsmen to share, to help with the ease the financial burden for the people in the wedding party.
Anyway, this is a super long post, thanks for reading!
Best,
Bridget
