Destination weddings: More couples choose beach over banquet hall

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Supplied photo of the Brousil wedding.

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Carol’s Travel Service: 7625 W. 159th St., Tinley Park; (708) 532-5450; www.carolstravel.com/

Travel Brokers, Inc.: 1956 Ridge Road, Homewood; (708) 206-1234; and 1215 N. Cedar Road, New Lenox; (815) 485-0050; travelbrokersinc.com

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Updated: January 23, 2012 2:52AM

In a sandy cove along Mexico’s Riviera Maya coastline, Melissa and Michael Brousil exchanged wedding vows an hour before sunset on March 18.

The Tinley Park couple had been to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula before, so when it came time to plan their wedding last September, they knew right away that the clear blue waters of the Caribbean would make a perfect backdrop.

“I thought it was so wonderful and different and so much fun,” Melissa said. “My mom and his mom both said it was the best wedding they’d ever been to.”

Destination weddings are one of the fastest-growing markets in the wedding industry, said Carol Lekki, owner of Carol’s Travel Service in Orland Park, which assisted the Brousils with their event. The agency has seen such a spike in interest that it now devotes a full-time staffer to handle them and honeymoons.

“More people just don’t want to go through the stress and expense of a big wedding at home,” Lekki said.

At an all-inclusive resort, which is where 99.9 percent of Lekki’s destination wedding couples choose to have their big day, an on-site wedding planner is provided and the reception is simply absorbed into the cost of the stay, meaning guests pay for their own food and drink through their vacation packages.

Mexico leads the pack in terms of popular sites, but other local couples have opted for Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Florida and even Hawaii, she said.

“But they soon learn, the more expensive the travel, the fewer the number of people who will be able to attend,” Lekki said.

An average guest list for a destination wedding includes 30 to 60 people, Lekki said. Events in Hawaii typically only draw 10 to 20 attendees.

Lisa Torgerson, branch manager of the New Lenox office of Travel Brokers, said she has booked 10 destination weddings in the last two years.

“They’re more cost-effective,” Torgerson said. For the couple anyway.

Because guests who attend destination weddings shoulder a greater expense, Torgerson said, they usually aren’t expected to give a gift.

“And they get a vacation out of it,” she said.

Torgerson recently attended her godchild’s wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

“The bride and groom were so relaxed,” she said. “And the setting was beautiful.”

Though a beach setting is a common denominator among destination couples, expectations vary. Some couples want a beautiful setting, first and foremost. Punta Cana provides that, she said.

“But there isn’t a lot of sightseeing there,” she said. “Many people choose Mexico because there are a lot of other things to do, before and after the wedding.”

Some opt for a more remote location. Torgerson recently helped one couple plan a wedding on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Torgerson helped Nick and Jennifer Kurz, of Chicago, plan their Jamaica wedding, which cost about $15,000.

“And we upgraded everything — flowers, dinner, photo package,” Nick said.

Because Jennifer comes from a big family and Nick has a lot friends, he estimates they would have spent $60,000 to $70,000 on a wedding back home.

“We’re at the age when a lot of our friends are coupling up. We’ve been to a lot of suburban weddings,” he said. “Ours was really different.”

Fifty-two guests traveled to the event, which took place at 4 p.m. on the beach at the Grand Palladium Resort in Montego Bay on April 16.

“The best part about the whole thing was that it turned into a weeklong party. To spend a week in the Caribbean with your closest family and friends was great,” he said.

There were some minor setbacks, he said. His best man had too much to drink one day and ended up knocking out his two front teeth before the ceremony.

“But it turned out OK,” he said. “That’s gonna happen when you get people partying out in the sun for a week.”

Last month, Charlie Lyons proposed to Alecia Ghilardi in front of the castle at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park in Florida. Because the New Lenox couple vacations in the Orlando area every year, they have decided to have their wedding there on April 12.

With the help of Weddings Inc., an organization that helps couples plan destination weddings, Lyons and Ghilardi chose all of their vendors, including their venue, Paradise Cove, which is minutes from Disney World.

A smaller guest list translates into a savings of about $15,000, Ghilardi said.

Chicagoan Ashley Strader and her fiance, Phil Penton, will be married Jan. 14 at the Azul Beach Resort in the Riviera Maya.

“It’s a smaller, more boutique-style place,” Strader said.

The couple have enlisted the aid of Carol’s Travel in planning their special day.

The anticipated cost for the 130 invited guests is about $1,200 each, depending on when they fly and their room size, Strader said.

“Some people have already told us they can’t swing it, and we understand,” Strader said. “I think they’re disappointed but they realize it’s our wedding.”

Because they plan to help pay for some guests’ fares, she estimates the cost of their wedding to be around $15,000. If she had a big bash at home, she said they would spend upward of $40,000.

“We don’t have to buy flowers; they’re already there. The cake is included,” she said.

The event will be more casual, with Penton wearing linen instead of a tuxedo.

“Just about everybody will go barefoot,” she said.

Though a destination wedding can eliminate some of the stresses of the traditional affair at home, it does present some different challenges. Mexico, for example, requires marrying couples to have blood work done in the country.

The results can take days. For that reason, many who choose to celebrate there actually are officially wed at home first.

Strader said she and Penton will head to the courthouse before heading south to the Yucatan.

Jamaica requires a marrying couple to stay on the island at least three nights for the marriage to be considered legal.

Strader said, “I’ve wanted this for a long time. I’ve seen a lot of friends and family do the big wedding at home and it becomes so stressful.”

This way, she said, a lot of the small things will be taken care of and they won’t have to start out in debt.