Destination weddings have become increasingly more and more popular. Not only do they appeal to couples that are looking for a unique wedding experience, they offer a reprieve from the Big Fat Indian Wedding that we’ve become so accustomed to. It’s an opportunity to spend quality time with the ones you love the most, in a magical location, without the distractions of the real world. It truly affords the couple, the families and their guests an opportunity to escape or should we say L’Escape!
Love is a work of magic, a wonder. Once you’ve realized that your important moment deserves to be celebrated in a spectacular place your thoughts wander and you are left wondering where to start. The experts at L’Escape create bespoke celebrations that reflect not only the uniqueness of their couples but also the magic of the destination. They’ve traveled around the world, worked with incredible people, organized hundreds of exquisite weddings, and learned a great deal along the way. We sat down with the husband and wife team, Raun and Jasprit Kaul of L’Escape Weddings to share the how they make destination wedding dreams come true.
Selecting the perfect location for your destination wedding will be the most critical decision you’ll make during the planning process. This is where it can all go as planned, or frankly go sideways. It’s more than choosing that all important beach location or budgets to stick to. The logistics can get complicated especially when you’re attempting to bring hundreds of people together from various parts of the country or the world.
Don’t be fooled, picking a resort is not easy. After countless hours surfing the internet looking at resort after resort, destination after destination this task will prove to be daunting. Between the booking sites, the official and unofficial resort websites and Trip Advisor reviews most couples are nowhere nearer to making a decision than when they first started. Here is where the expert comes in. Make room for a new best friend: your Destination Wedding Travel Agent. As a licensed travel agency with a niche’ focus solely on groups and weddings who else would know better which resort best suits your needs. It’s not often you come across a travel agent who has visited every hotel and resort they recommend. As the absolute best in the business, L’Escape isn’t guided by the bottom line or flashy marketing, but by personal experience and an expert eye for quality. Every couple will stress about keeping their destination wedding guests happy. Bringing together a group of your closest family and friends in a truly spectacular setting requires a truly spectacular travel agent. From start to finish, a destination wedding should be a serene and stress-free occasion, and with the right support, this can begin before you’ve even stepped foot in an airport. As the top Destination Wedding Travel Agent, L’Escape will be able to coordinate the myriad tasks involved in getting you and your guests to your destination, while making the process an absolute breeze for every traveler. Their most significant piece of advice is don’t even begin to take this task on. Treading through the sensitivities of your guests and their temperament can prove challenging should you have to handle last minute changes or cancellations some of which result in penalties and fees. These conversations can turn the best of relationships. Any old travel agent can plan a trip for two. But, a destination wedding demands so much more. As a Destination Wedding Travel Agent let us negotiate your terms and ensure you have the flexibility that you need to accommodate the various needs of your guests.
At L’Escape, They’ve organized countless resort weddings, each one utterly unique. With a wealth of knowledge, and your vision, L’Escape can help pick a location that’s nothing short of perfect for you and your guests.
We’ve all heard the horror stories. A beach wedding ceremony gate crashed by fellow sunbathers, or “ocean views” ruined by some unexpected construction work. The moral of the story, of course, is to always look beyond the pretty pictures. Before deciding on a resort, they know to ask essential questions. Questions that will ensure a successful outcome. Do the ceremonies take place on a public beach? Is there any maintenance work scheduled for your wedding dates? Can you expect everything to be open during your stay? When it comes to planning your dream wedding, you can’t take anything for granted. Since we’re planning months, sometimes a year in advance, they need to be thoughtful about not just the present but also the future.
And alas, the perfect destination doesn’t always look like its postcard. Choosing the perfect destination wedding location means more than scouting out a good beach and checking historical weather records. Sure, we all love white sands and crystal clear ocean – but will you be quite so into it in the middle of an unscheduled downpour? We thought not. That’s why it’s so important to us to make sure to pick a location and resort that offers stunning indoor options too. After all, you can’t control the weather, but you can plan for it.
The resort will have a backup but do you want to be arbitrarily relegated to its indoor ballroom with no windows? When considering the resort, L’Escape wants to make sure that contingencies for rain still allow the couple to celebrate the beauty of the destination. And what about all the money spent on the décor? Having to change the venue due to poor weather should never compromise the styling of your décor. With a keen eye for event design, L’Escape stylists are prepared to bring out the best of your event décor should you find yourselves having to take the event indoors.
This takes us to the important consideration of cost. Budgets do matter, and, they matter a lot. With their promise of an all-inclusive, no-drama wedding, resort packages can be great options. But the reality is that an all-in-one deal isn’t always the most economical option particularly if you have guests who won’t be able to appreciate the all-inclusive food and drink options due to dietary restrictions. Instead, why not book the separate elements of your wedding?
So now you’ve picked the resort, and you know your guests will love it. It is time to consider the cost to host your wedding at this beautiful property. Events have incidental expenses and add-ons that can’t be predicted or assumed unless you’ve hosted a previous event at that property. It’s not uncommon for the couple to realize that their wedding isn’t going to cost as much as they had hoped. Creating accurate budgets, which reflect your wedding events prior to picking your resort will be the only way to keep you from overspending otherwise you’ll find yourselves making considerable concessions throughout the planning process and suddenly you are no longer hosting your dream wedding. L’Escape also designs and budgets your entire wedding. Raun and Jasprit know what it will cost specific to the resort you’ve chosen. Go in with a clear idea of your expenses, and this will lead to a stress-free wedding planning experience and a greater chance that you won’t have to make big cuts to keep in budget.
Now that L’Escape has set you up for success. You can now start creating one of a kind experience for family and friends! Suffice to say, if they’ve dedicated this much time in helping you choose the ideal resort, with confidence you can know that no single detail will go overlooked as Raun and Jasprit plan for your events. Getting it right from the start ensures that you and the team at L’Escape Weddings can successfully design the most fabulous wedding! Don’t worry! They’ve got plenty of advice for dealing with those all too common wedding woes (because trust us, they’ve been there). – Written by Alice Mulhearn & Jasprit Kaul
