Your Guide to Planning Your Luxury Wedding

When you have a luxury destination wedding, it’s like you’re living in fairy-tale-happily-ever-after land for a few brief but amazing days of your life. Truly, if you ever wanted to know what life was going to be like after you turned the last page of your big book of fairy tales, this is it.

Understandably, planning a fairy tale luxury wedding does come with some challenges, but the results are oh-so-worth-it come your wedding day – not just for you but for your wedding guests, too.

If you’re starting to plan your own luxury wedding, here are some tips to keep in mind as you move forward.

What Is a Luxury Wedding?

Before we dive into why you should have a luxury wedding, we want to first define what a luxury wedding is because there are a number of different definitions for it.

Most industry experts say that a luxury wedding consists of:

• A theme that goes all out. For example, if you and your intended chose a Downton Abbey wedding theme, it won’t just include period clothing. The china, the flowers, the decor, everything down to the smallest detail will be thematically correct.
• Decorations that look like they’ve come from a magazine spread. They’re perfect for photography.
• Wedding favors that are hand-selected, possibly vintage, and special in some way
• An amazing venue where guests can both relax and enjoy luxury activities. Often the venue is part of a destination wedding package.
• High expectations for the couple and guests to have a superior experience.

Why Have a Luxury Wedding?

The reasons that couples have luxury weddings vary, though the last point in the paragraph above speaks to the underlying reason why most people opt for luxury weddings in Alabama. They want their weddings to be superior, memorable experiences for everyone involved.

The second reason aligns with the first, and that is, after being restricted by the pandemic for two years or so, many couples look at a luxury wedding as an opportunity to embrace the world and the social connections they hold so dear.

Many couples had to postpone their weddings during the pandemic due to social distancing. In a sense, those who are having luxury southern destination weddings are making up for lost time.

Planning Your Luxury Wedding

Most luxury weddings take about a year to plan. You can push that number up to a year to a year-and-a-half if you plan on having a luxury resort wedding that requires guest accommodation and activity planning.

On a related note, if you can push your wedding destination further out, you may get more of what you want come “I do” time. This is partly due to the pandemic again.

That is to say, many wedding venues are finding that they’re getting booked up quickly and far in advance as couples try to have the in-person weddings they dreamed of but had to postpone.

In light of that, if you have your heart set on certain elements, like a specific venue, a particular band for entertainment, etc., then you may want to start planning a year-and-a-half to up to two years in advance for your luxury wedding.

You may also want to book a wedding planner well in advance of your nuptials.

This makes sense for a couple of reasons.

An experienced wedding planner:

• Deals regularly with venues, entertainment, caterers, florists, photographers, etc. that can help you create the exact wedding you want at a budget you can agree on.
• Knows the kinds of challenges that you’ll likely face and has many solutions to each issue you might encounter.
• Works with the whole wedding party and venue organizers to ensure smooth sailing come event time.

Booking the Venue For Your Luxury Destination Wedding

There are a lot of moving parts involved in this aspect of luxury wedding planning. For example, do outdoor weddings appeal to you?

If so, then there will be seasonal and  time restrictions on booking the right space for you. By planning far in advance, you give venue organizers time to get the moving parts in order.

Additionally, you’ll want to take a tour of the different venues you’re considering before making a decision. If you can stay a couple of days on-site, you’ll get a better perspective on what the guest experience will be like once your wedding guests arrive for the big event.

Venue and Activities Considerations for your Luxury Wedding

There are some elements you’ll want to look at if you’re planning. Here are a handful of them, though more may crop up as you plan.

• How many of your guests can your wedding venue accommodate on-site during the wedding? Can the venue organizers help you find or atleast recommend local hotels and AirBnB spaces for the guests who can’t stay on-site?
• Are there transportation companies that work with the venue to make it easier for off-site guests to get to and from the wedding?
• If your pet is like a child to you, do you have the option of bringing your pet to your luxury destination wedding? Can your pet be in your wedding if you choose?
• What types of activities are available to guests at your destination luxury wedding? Can they play golf, take a yoga class or enjoy a spa, take walks through the woods, go paddle boating, listen to live music on-site, do a paint-and-sip activities, etc.  
• Are the venue organizers well-versed in the culture and traditions of southern destination weddings, like the outdoor bridal luncheon, bury the bourbon, and more? Can they help you plan some of these activities and suggest other ones to complement your wedding’s theme?
• Is your venue close enough to a larger urban area so that your guests can do a little off-site sightseeing and shopping while they’re celebrating with you?

The more of these considerations you can check off, the more well-rounded and luxurious your wedding is bound to be.

Final Thoughts on Planning a Luxury Wedding in Alabama

Your luxury wedding is a day to remember. Ideally, it’ll be filled with friends and family, fun and memorable traditions, plenty of activities, and of course, a great deal of love and romance. It should be one for the picture books, the wedding picture books, of course!

If you’d like to learn more about how to plan and book your luxury southern wedding, reach out to Pursell Farms for a proposal. We’d love to be a part of making your luxury wedding dream come true.