The wedding industry is guilty of using a lot of jargon and it can get confusing to distinguish between different types of wedding services and wedding professionals. Some terms are used interchangeably while others mean completely different levels of services.
If you’ve decided to go for an international / destination wedding and you’re not sure what type of wedding planner to look for or even if you need one, this article is for you.
We’re discussing the key aspects of local planners and destination ones, what are the main differences between them and how you can choose which is the best for your wedding.
Local wedding planners
They’ll usually won’t refer to themselves as local, but simply wedding planners and this is the most typical wedding planning business you’ll find anywhere in the world.
Local planners serve their local market first and foremost, either couples that live and work in the area or couples that used to live there and now moved out of the country. Local wedding planning services are great for couples that want more traditional weddings or the ones looking to optimise their overall wedding budget.
If you’re planning a destination wedding, a local planner will be your eyes-and-ears on the ground, while you will maintain contact with them via online communication. You can expect them to be true locals or old-time expats, to know the local language (like a native) and to have a great sense of what can be done in a variety of circumstances (local regulations, limitations, laws, documentation etc).
While they have extensive knowledge on the best venues and most reputable local wedding vendors, some traditional planners use pre-packaged services or default to creating a one-size-fits-all vision. This type of wedding planner will stick to the vendors and venues they already have a great working relationship with and will be unlikely to use services outside their trusted comfort zone. This leaves little room for you to personalise the wedding and while it will be yours, it will not particularly be so much different than any other.
On the plus side, if you’re only looking for support on the last month or the day of coordination, local wedding planners will be able to offer you a robust event management service.
Destination wedding planners
Destination wedding planners are the ones that work wherever their clients ask them to. They serve couples from all over the world, with a majority of clients coming from their home-base, but looking to celebrate at a distance.
Their main speciality is mobility on location – from Nice to Ibiza, to Santorini, to the Alps and then to Los Angeles, Bali or some other drop-dead-gorgeous wedding spots all over the world.
Their main skills are relying on fast connection building, great aesthetics and juggling business logistics. One day you’re planning a wedding in a city and the next you’re preparing for a meeting with a prospect on the opposite side of the continent.
Destination wedding planners are great for couples who place high expectations on the uniqueness of their wedding and also for the ones that need guidance in bringing cultural elements that are not typical for the location of the wedding (for example, a hindu wedding in Paris).
They are also a great source of contacts from all over and can get you the best band, best photographer, best xyz on earth, literally, if that’s what you’re interested in!
On the downside, destination wedding planners have less in depth knowledge of any particular market. They will tend to be less sensitive to local trends or other aspects that might influence the planning process. For example, seasonality or local celebrations – big conferences happening that make all hotel rooms unavailable, sports events that concentrate a lot of events services manpower, festivals and so on.
Experienced destination planners will overcome this with their connections and will outsource most of the services with ease, including they will partner with local planners on occasion to integrate the best service for their clients.
Resort destination planners
Within the market, there are destination wedding planners and, to differentiate, resort destination planners, which often also carry travel-agent-like responsibilities or they are, in fact, more travel agents than wedding planners per se.
They make their business around specific resorts, usually in fascinating foreign locations around the world and rely on partnerships with these resorts for their business operations. Their main focus is on creating a great experience for your guests, help with the logistics of room blocks and travel and assure you have a smooth communication with the resort or venue.
While this service is popular among US destination couples looking to get married in the sunny beaches south of their border, in Europe this is not a wide-spread service due mainly to a different tourism infrastructure.
Local wedding planners serving destination couples
Around the world there are many areas that attract a significant number of destination couples each year. Iconic destination European spots include the most romantic Italian villas, the opulent French castles, the white and blue villages across Greece’s islands, the lively Balearic islands in Spain, and, more recently, any beautiful place with a riverside, mountainside or beachside view. Costa del Sol, especially Marbella, Malaga, Estepona and Nerja, are now well established Spanish destination locations for couples from all over the world.
These hotspots for international weddings made room in the last years for a hybrid service – the local destination wedding planner.
While they will call themselves either destination or simply wedding planners, you will notice they usually serve destination couples looking to get married in a specific area in the world. These planners are fixed in one particular place, but their main differentiator is they work solely with couples coming from abroad.
It is a type of service that works significantly well for destination weddings, having a bit of the both worlds – exquisite local knowledge and the willingness to go far and beyond for couples looking for a one-of-a-kind celebration.
Our own services are built for destination couples looking to get married in the South of Spain. We take pride in integrating both the unique local spanish flavours and the international aesthetics and level of service expected for high-end celebrations.
We are always excited to work with couples from all over the world, bringing new and distinctive features to any celebration, while helping them escape the norms and traditional pressure and craft an unrepeatable event – each and every time.
When you consider hiring a wedding planner for your wedding abroad, we want you to factor in everything – the level of support you need, if you’d be having a more traditional or more modern celebration and the overall budget you’re willing to invest in your wedding. No matter what your decision is, we hope you will have the help you need and nothing less!
If you have questions about our services or want to discuss about your wedding plans, let’s chat!