Destination Wedding Guide
Yes, statistically speaking, most couples would prefer their wedding vendors to live and operate near their wedding venue. However, in my ten years of operating Port & Palm Co. I’ve planned the majority of my weddings in locations hundreds, usually thousands of miles from my home address. In the first 2 years of business, I found myself traveling from Florida to the Bahamas, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Year 3 I moved to Oregon and during my 7 years there I only designed 5 weddings in the local area, 1 in Montana, 1 in Colorado- and the rest brought me back to Florida. And would you believe, now that we live back in Florida we just designed 2 weddings back in Oregon. Which is honestly, the dream (snowbird life manifestation in action).
I will never feel confident enough in any of my skill sets to call myself an expert (what’s up imposter syndrome!), but destination weddings seem to be something I have a decent amount of experience managing. If you’re planning a destination wedding, looking to gain confidence in hiring a vendor you love but who lives in a different state, or an industry professional looking for more information on how to produce a destination wedding, this might be a helpful resource.
Keep in mind, every wedding is different and your travel needs may be different than mine. I’m going to layout a standard plan we follow for full service floral design clients. Following this framework and adapting it is how we survived our most recent jaunt to Oregon where we designed two back to back weddings, which happened to both be on the same day, in different cities 2 hours from each other.
Pre Production
Gain Clarity from Your Clients
There are so many variables when designing a wedding. Ensuring clear and concise plans with your client is crucial, even more so with destination clients.
Create a price quote that details the items you’re providing. This will also clue you into what is required from a production standpoint and will allow you to start understanding how much studio space you need, if a rental van is necessary, how many staff members are needed, and how much on-site install time is required.
Create a visual proposal that details the way these pieces will look, I also detail the types of flowers I plan to use.
Gain final approvals from your client at least 1.5 months prior to the wedding date.
Lodging/Flights/Rental Car
Normally I’ll book an Airbnb with the following requirements for floral design operations:
A large open space that will act as the studio. This is typically an open concept style home with the kitchen opening into the living room/dining room.
Tile or other waterproof flooring to mitigate any potential water issues that may arise from the buckets of water with flowers.
Ground floor unit
Air conditioning
When booking flights I make sure I’m arriving at least 4 full days before the wedding.
Tuesday: arrive/check in
Wednesday: supply check, final shops
Thursday: floral pickup/processing
Friday: design day
Saturday: wedding day!
Floral & Supply Orders
Based on the finalized invoice, I’ll place orders for supplies and florals a month before the wedding date. Consider having hard goods delivered to the client if they are local to the area. Otherwise, plan on a checked bag of supplies when flying.
Consider using mechanics that won’t break for easier transport.
For florals, either connect with a local wholesaler, a local farm, or check to see if your hometown wholesaler will ship to you.
The Week Before
Pack List
Create a pack list of everything you’ll possibly need. Pack a carry on with some must have items that you won’t be able to quickly or easily replace.
Check in with Suppliers/Farms
Say “hey!”, see what subs might need to happen, ask what may be ready to bloom at the farm, ask them if you can pickup buckets when you pickup the flowers, make sure your orders are ready to go!
Travel Confirmations
Flight, check. Airbnb, check. Rental car, check!
Rain Plan?
Check the weather, and check in with the coordinator/client to see if there is a rain plan, or what setup will look like if there is inclement weather.
Production
Wednesday
Final supply shop for any last minute needs.
This is when we’ll usually go to a nursery and see what potted plants we can clip from or use in our installations. Grab a folding table for design day if needed.
Thursday
Floral Pickup! Head to wholesaler and/or farms.
Process all stems.
Friday
Full design day.
Saturday
Delivery and install of all ordered items.
Post Production
Sunday
Clean up! Scrub all the buckets if you’re returning or keeping them. Compost/recycle flower waste and cardboard.
Monday
Have fun! Enjoy that day off wedding pro!
Following Week
Bookkeeping! Track all of the expenses accrued before your exhaustion helps you forget everything you just did.
