I’m so excited! My first destination wedding client returned from Punta Cana last week. It was a small, intimate wedding with about 20 people. Now that they’ve returned from a successful wedding, it got me thinking that I should create a blog post for anyone needing help planning a destination wedding. At the end of this post, I’ll share a photo of my actual wedding group. There are so many moving pieces to this… let’s start with Step 1.
Step 1: Qualify the Client
Step 1 of working on a destination wedding client is no different than working with any other client. You must qualify the client first. Here are the questions you should be asking them before working on a quote:
- How many guests are in their party?
- Will there be any children in the party? If so, you know to scratch from your list Adults Only Resorts.
- How many rooms will be needed for the room block? For AM Resorts (Sunscape, Dreams, Now, Secrets, Breathless, Zoetry and now Reflect Resorts), a minimum of 5 rooms is considered a “group” with suppliers like Travel Impressions. Other hotels consider 10 rooms or more an official block.
- Will they need you to book everyone’s airfare from their departing airport? Or is everyone getting their own international flights?
- Do all of the wedding guests know they will need a passport for this if they are a U.S. Citizen?
- What is their budget for this? I’d clarify if that budget is just for the wedding portion or for the resort stay as well?
- Are there any destinations they do not want to have the wedding in? For example, they have been to Cancun so many times they want the wedding to be somewhere else. If it’s an LGBT client, Jamaica isn’t the friendliest place for gays to visit so I would recommend Mexico or DR instead. There’s no sense in you wasting time getting pricing for destinations they have no interest in traveling to.
Step 2: Get Quotes
By now you should have a better sense of your clients’ taste and what they can afford. You should also know their travel dates and specific date for the wedding. Pro tip: do your research ahead of time as some countries require the wedding couple to be in that country for a specific number of days before the wedding. My clients legally had to be in Punta Cana had to be there for 3 days minimum before the wedding. So please make sure to do your research to educate the client. My clients chose to have a symbolic ceremony, so it was not legally binding in Dominican Republic. They were legally married in the U.S. That’s honestly how most destination weddings are done but you can check with your clients and see if they prefer to be legally married at their destination.
Now that you have what you need, you get a group quote. My go to supplier for hotel only groups is Travel Impressions. It’s a quick $50 per person deposit for the resort. Remaining balance due within 45 days prior to travel. Too easy. Plus, I can add/reduce the number of rooms very easily. Based on my clients’ budgets and needs, her ideal destination Punta Cana and the fact that there would be children attending, I proposed:
- Dreams Punta Cana
- Iberostar Punta Cana
- Majestic Elegance
- RIU Palace Bavaro Beach
- Grand Bahia Principe Punta Cana
My couple went with…. DREAMS PUNTA CANA! I was so happy she chose that. I had visited that resort in May 2017 and loved it. The restaurants are all good – both the buffet and a la carte options, there is literally something to do for everyone in every age group. There’s a Kidz Corner for the wee ones and there’s an area for tweens with a pool table, movie theater on the beach and so much more.
Step 3: Coordinate with Wedding Team at Resort
On to the next phase of planning a destination wedding. Now that your client couple is happy with the resort, the destination, and we have the rooms being held for them, it’s now time to reach out to the Weddings Department at the resort. I worked with a fantastic wedding team at Dreams Punta Cana: Jouberkys, Carolina, and Rosanna! They made everything so smooth and organized for me.
Clients will get to choose from a few wedding package options. Typically, they are on a Bronze, Silver, and Gold level structure. Where Gold will offer you the most within your package at a higher cost. My clients chose the Ultimate Wedding Package for up to 20 guests. The price is $3599 and below I show what is included in the package for up to 20 guests:
- Symbolic Ceremony
- Wedding Organization and personal touch on-site wedding coordinator
- Hair styling for day of ceremony
- Bride’s make up application for day of ceremony
- Bride’s bouquet and groom’s boutonniere
- Complimentary room for the groom night before the wedding (based on availability)
- Ceremony decor with 20 chairs
- Wedding cake and sparkling wine
- Private cocktail hour with hors d’eouerves
- Natural floral centerpiece for the table
- Private dinner reception (Gold Menu) up to 20 people
- Special turn down service night of the wedding
- Live Caribbean music trio
- Late check out for the couple
- 36 full color photos and wedding album
- Free anniversary nights 1 year later
- Edited video of ceremony (15-30 minutes depending on length of ceremony)
Pro tip: Not only will you make commission from the room block, AM Resorts (and most resorts actually) pay you a 10% commission on the wedding. So an extra $360? I’ll take it.
Step 4: Lock in Wedding Date and Time
Now that clients have selected their ideal wedding package it’s time to lock in the wedding date officially! After the weddings department team told me their wedding date was available, I had to submit the following to make it official:
- $500.00 Non-refundable deposit up front
- Signed paperwork agreeing to terms and conditions
- Scanned driver’s license front and back
- Scanned credit card front and back (card must be signed)
This phase of planning a destination wedding is done!
Step 5 Coordinating with Wedding Guests
Now that everything with the wedding is locked in it’s time to start coordinating with the wedding guests. You already have the wedding room block by now and the contract expires after 2 weeks, so you’ll need to get everyone’s minimum deposit in by now (for Travel Impressions, remember it’s only $50 per person).
I added everyone to my CRM database tool, VacationCRM, to keep track of all credit card numbers, billing addresses, etc. so if they needed to quickly make a payment I can assist them with that. I’d send out a mass email to the group reminding them of final payment due dates and sending them other reminders like getting their passport for those who hadn’t started the application process yet. I also let them know about the Dominican Republic tourist card that they would have to get at the airport for $10.00.
LUCKILY… as of April 2018, all tourist card prices are wrapped into the cost of the plane ticket (like literally every country in the world has already been doing!). But it’s good to chat with the guests and keep them all abreast of the destination requirements, see if you can get them to go on any fun tours/excursions while they’re there and make a mini vacation out of it. Pro tip: ALWAYS BCC the huge wedding party mass emails. I always write to the lead client (in my case the bride), and then BCC the wedding guests. That way, if they need to reply to you it will just go to you and not annoy all of the other wedding guests.
Step 6 Tie Up Any Loose Ends
I’d say about 2 months out from the wedding is when you start to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Your guests should all have passports by now or at least have their applications in. Payments should be about done at this time. You just need to tie up any loose ends. If anyone still needs help getting their international flights now’s the time to intervene and send them the best rates you’re seeing.
The weddings department team I referenced above… they worked with my client directly for planning the little knick knacks like decor, flower arrangements, etc. That’s not something a Travel Agent would be handling. We handle the larger coordination like hotel rooms, flights (if needed), and ensuring your client gets everything they were promised from their chosen wedding package. Is a free spa treatment for the couple included in their package? Okay it’s time to start setting that appointment up at the spa. Things like that. Just go through the checklist and make sure you have everything covered.
Step 7 Coordinating Round-trip Airport Transfers
Between 1 month and two weeks out from the wedding is when you should start to have everyone’s flight schedules. Make sure you submit that to the resort where the room block is. Travel Impressions has the $40 per person round-trip PUJ Airport shuttle wrapped into the cost which was nice. So guests don’t have to worry about the logistics of getting to/from the hotel. Safer and more convenient.
Most times, if your wedding guests are all arriving around the same time on the same day, the resort offers a VIP speedy Check In that would have a few people ready to check the group in allowing for a faster check in just for the wedding party which is nice. Nothing’s most annoying than getting off of an uncomfortable plane ride, and long shuttle bus ride to the resort only to have to wait over an hour to check in. I just want to hit the pool, swim up bar and grab some snacks.
Step 8 Wedding Day and Follow UP!
The last step in planning a destination wedding. Wedding Day! Nothing really for you to do on this day. Just keep your cell phone handy in case of emergencies. No calls is a good thing. When my clients returned I sent them a follow up email thanking them for booking with me and asked them for their feedback on not only the resort but also on the wedding itself. It was all positive feedback so I’m very happy! Here’s to hoping I get the opportunity to work on more destination weddings in the future.
Also… because I rarely like to use stock photos (prefer real photos), below is a picture of my ACTUAL CLIENTS who returned from Dreams Punta Cana.
