Do I Need a Venue Site Visit Before My Destination Wedding?

So far we’ve learned what a venue site visit is and what all to do when you’re here, but are you still wondering if you really need to head to your destination before your wedding day? If you’re feeling stuck asking if a site visit is absolutely necessary before your big day, keep reading – you’re in the right place!

Do we recommend every couple do a site visit?

We’ve already listed all of the advantages of doing a site visit to review the wedding venue before exchanging “I dos”. However, you may be surprised to hear that we don’t recommend one for everyone. Actually, we’ve found that a pre-wedding site visit wasn’t necessary for approximately half of our couples! There are many reasons for this, including some of the following:

• The surprise factor is exciting for you!  
  • You want to experience the destination for the first time with your guests. This is a huge plus.  It’s enjoyable to share a destination you love with your guests, but it’s also a bit more magical to experience it for the first time with your guests.
  • This is very personality based. If you feel comfortable with not seeing your venue in person, we say go for it!  Our years of experience enable us to guide you in the right choices.
• You have been to Costa Rica before.
  • You get the vibe, you know you love it, and you feel pretty comfortable not seeing the actual venue.
• If it will put a dent in your event budget. 
  • Ultimately, if doing a site visit will impact your event budget, the funds will be more impactful going towards your event and we can guide you in choices. Though, if it helps with budgeting for the site visit, you can consider opening a mileage rewards card. Our favorite is the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards card which at the time of this post, this link offers you 50,000 for opening the card, just by spending $1,000 in the first 3 months.

Not doing a site visit but still want those traditional planning experiences?

Cake tasting? Custom cocktail trial? No problem! While we love that our couples trust us with their feet on the ground, we know it’s fun to have some of those tangible experiences.  We can often arrange a cake tasting and cocktail tasting for the day after you arrive, if arriving a few days before the wedding, to confirm those selections and experience all the magic.

All in all, we recommend making a site visit when it’s the right fit for you.  We understand just how difficult it can be making these decisions for the biggest celebration in your life and we love the clarity those visits give couples. If you make the time to come experience all the little things before your wedding weekend arrives, you’ll feel more prepared for all the big things to come. 

But if making a site visit isn’t the right fit for you, you can definitely still plan your dream wedding without visiting in advance.  You can rest assured that our team of experts has spent years vetting these venues for you and we are dedicated to bringing your destination wedding dreams to life.

Planning your destination wedding and wondering when to plan a site visit? Our next blog gives you all the info you need!

Note: Some posts may includes affiliate links. If you buy something through those links, we may receive points or compensation from that company. This supports a very small part of generating our website content. Our focus is creating experiences, so the few recommendations we share are ones we have always shared in the past, without affiliate links, because we either use those products ourselves (happy Southwest Rapid Rewards card member for many years!) or we think it’s a great choice for your travel or event.