Planning a Long Distance Wedding
Planning a wedding is always a big job, and it is even more challenging when you are planning a long distance wedding. Whether you are getting away to a tropical beach, getting married in the town where you grew up, or some other place that struck your fancy, planning your wedding from far away is different than arranging for one right down the street. A long distance wedding requires that the bride and groom be organized, decisive, and flexible.
Prepare to give up some of the control. To be able to pull off a long distance wedding, you will have to find someone at your wedding destination that you can trust with a lot of the details. This is not so hard when you are having a destination wedding at a resort, because they usually have an event coordinator on site who will manage everything. For other locations, the bride will need a wedding planner, relative, or very trusted friend to do a lot of the legwork for her.
Wedding Shoes
Let's say that you live in California, but are getting married in your hometown in Pennsylvania. You will need a person in your hometown to research venues, caterers, florists, bakers, musicians, and photographers. Usually, they will go and do the preliminary investigating, and narrow it down to the two or three best options. At that point, it is time for the bride to make a trip to Pennsylvania to make the final selections. Be prepared to cram a lot of wedding planning into a short amount of time!
In most cases, the vendors that you hire will consider both the bride and her point person to be contacts. Depending on who the person is and how much you trust her, the long distance bride might end up leaving a lot of the little decisions up to their hometown assistant. For instance, if that person is your mom, you might tell her the general colors and flowers that you like, and let her work with the florist to create the bouquets and centerpieces. Of course, long distance planning is much easier than it used to be, now that everyone has a digital camera and the internet.
One of the biggest decisions to make when arranging your wedding from a distance is what to do about your bridal gown. That is the one thing that simply cannot be delegated (and who would want to?). Usually the bride is best off buying her gown in a salon where she lives or one near her wedding site. If you will be making multiple trips home during the planning process, it can actually be easiest to work with a salon where your wedding will take place. This is because it is difficult to travel with a wedding gown. In addition, if your gown does have to be transported, you will need to have made an appointment to have it pressed once you arrive. Bridal gowns do require multiple fittings, so only buy one at your destination if you can realistically get there for alterations.
Accessories are much easier. You can find beautiful handmade wedding jewelry online, so you don't have the same concerns as with the bridal gown. Also, dainty handmade wedding jewelry is a whole lot easier to transport than an enormous dress! Just be certain to pack it in your carry on luggage if you are flying. The same goes for your tiara and shoes.
There are many factors that go into deciding where to be married. Often emotional ties are more important that convenience. Planning a wedding long distance may not be the easiest way to do it, but it will certainly be worth the extra effort to have the wedding of your dreams.
Planning a Long Distance Wedding
