Destination weddings are hotter than ever – and I don’t just mean because most take place in the Caribbean as far as Canadians are concerned!
Approximately 15% of Canadian couples will choose to marry in a sunny locale such as Jamaica, Punta Cana or the Mayan Riviera, three of the most popular spots. That’s quite a significant number. Though perhaps not surprising when one considers the fact that Canadians experience a miserable 6 months of winter and winter-like weather a year! And with the average cost of a wedding getting closer and closer to $30,000… it seems like a natural alternative for a couple conscious of their costs.
So do you need a Toronto Destination Wedding Planner to help you with the planning of your destination wedding? Surely it can’t be that hard, right?
Well, first you will need to book a group. Many people are used to booking their vacations online on any number of sites. But with a wedding group it is not that simple. For anything more than about 6 couples, those online sites will invite you to “call them” for assistance. Basically off you go to the call centre to talk to an agent.
So you are going to need help one way or another with the actual booking of the hotel & flight (usually offered as packages by tour operators) and you have a choice. You can a) use the agent at the far away call centre from one of those booking sites or b) you can walk into a Flight Centre at the mall and start working with an agent there or c) you can look for a Toronto Destination Wedding Planner who also is a travel agent.
There is an obvious benefit to working with someone that you can meet on a regular basis and who can offer you personalized service. Marketing of the big booking sites will lead you to believe that they are going to offer you the best price but not so! The Tour Operators do not allow undercutting in the industry. So pricewise, there won’t be any benefit in going with the unknown agent.
The agent at the travel agency in the mall is going to be available face to face but generally speaking, these agents do not get involved past the booking of the group and providing you with the name of the onsite wedding coordinator. Then they’re done because hey, they are not in the wedding planning game. They may even hate organizing wedding groups as you really have to have a passion for weddings to be effective in this role and many don’t want the hassle or drama that can sometimes come with weddings.
So the final option is the Toronto destination wedding planner who is trained and TICO-certified through a reputable travel agency that they work with. Here you get all the benefits of working with a travel agent but in addition, you know this person is a wedding planner at heart and that is what they do, that is what they live for. They not only will help with all the usual arrangements of booking the hotel and flights, but will also take a more involved approach in working with the wedding coordinator at the resort to ensure that everything is arranged just the way you want it in advance. They will know all the right questions to ask of the wedding coordinator on your behalf. They will also advise you of all the legal requirements for getting married at that destination. The other huge benefit is that they are available to accompany your group. This may not be necessary when there are only 12 people attending your wedding but when there are 50, 75 or even 100 people going down south for your wedding, having an actual wedding planner there with the group to act as the group’s personal concierge is invaluable. While there is no fee for just booking the travel and general elements of a wedding, there is usually a nominal fee if the destination wedding planner is going to accompany your group for that week you are away but the accommodations are almost always provided free by the tour operator when a certain number of rooms are booked. So it provides a great deal of peace of mind to have your planner there to arrange the group excursions, arrange the group dinners, assist your guests wherever necessary, work with the wedding coordinator in advance to make sure every detail is in place for your wedding, etc.
A Toronto destination wedding planner who is also an agent can also help you identify the right vendors; sometimes the ones offered in the packages at the hotel are not the right ones for you. They can source the right vendors and negotiate the pricing. Often couples will bring photographers from Toronto with them for the week and a Toronto destination wedding planner can help you with that.
So the bottom line is you can’t book a group yourself and you have a few options on who you get to do this. Consider the options carefully and think about the benefits of each. You might find working with a Toronto destination wedding planner will be just the right ticket!
