March/April 2021
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping, festivals and outdoor events
The UK's outdoor hospitality business magazine for function venues, glamping, festivals and outdoor events
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FUNCTION VENUES<br />
Destination Venues<br />
We pick Kelly Chandler’s brains on the trend towards destination weddings<br />
What is a destination wedding?<br />
A destination wedding is a wedding<br />
celebration that takes place in a location<br />
that's quite far away from the couple’s home<br />
or location. There is no geographical limit<br />
but UK couples historically would define a<br />
destination wedding as going to popular<br />
travel destinations such as the Caribbean,<br />
France or Italy and a couple from Asia might<br />
describe themselves as having a destination<br />
wedding in London.<br />
However in recent years a destination<br />
wedding has been applied more widely to<br />
the trend for more and more couples to pick<br />
a location and a venue within the UK, often<br />
somewhere rural, perhaps two to three<br />
hour’s drive from their home. This location is<br />
usually somewhere they have no connection<br />
to, in other words they didn’t grow up<br />
there, family don’t live there and they don’t<br />
reside or work there now. The location is<br />
purely chosen because it’s somewhere they<br />
love and want to celebrate their wedding<br />
in rather than because of any traditional<br />
wedding expectations.<br />
What are the features of a destination<br />
wedding?<br />
Wedding plans can vary hugely depending<br />
on the style and wishes of each couple but<br />
usually if a couple are choosing a destination<br />
wedding they are viewing it as a multi-day<br />
event – this is not an afternoon and evening<br />
party only but more likely something that<br />
will involve exclusive hire of a venue and<br />
space for at least some of the wedding party<br />
to stay for two to three nights or more.<br />
It’s more viewed as a mini holiday in<br />
the same way as heading off to a holiday<br />
destination might be, but with the wedding<br />
itself at the heart of it. Destination weddings<br />
are often smaller in guest size than the<br />
average although this will depend on a lot of<br />
factors and isn’t always the case, especially<br />
if most guests are still travelling within the<br />
same country.<br />
How has the trend for destination<br />
weddings changed and what are the<br />
drivers?<br />
Destination weddings used to be more<br />
driven by access to better weather, being<br />
able to justify having a smaller guest list and<br />
not offending anybody (if going abroad).<br />
But over recent years there has been an<br />
increase in those couples who just want<br />
quality time somewhere beautiful, relaxing<br />
and very “them” to celebrate in their own<br />
style with nearest and dearest. This might<br />
be somewhere that doesn’t burden one side<br />
of the family who are local, but somewhere<br />
that everyone can share in a new experience<br />
and, in some cases, pitch in and help with<br />
the creation of all the wedding details.<br />
The wish to be together for multiple<br />
days is driven, I believe, from our general<br />
separation in modern living – with couples<br />
and their friends and families often more<br />
likely to be geographically apart from each<br />
other because of work and lifestyle, the<br />
value of quality time that a wedding affords<br />
is even more special. Additionally, the<br />
idea of everyone pitching in to create the<br />
wedding, to “DIY it”, is very much in tune<br />
with the young millennial collaborative<br />
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