Destination wedding planning? I spent four days soaking in all things matrimonial at the 102-acre Terranea Resort, watching processions of magazine-ready brides and bridesmaids in the most exquisite landscape imaginable, surrounded by water as far as the eye can see. It would be hard to do better than the sun-kissed California resort on the Palo Verdes Peninsula: An easy 40 minute drive from LAX, Terranea offers an appealing blend of luxury and natural beauty, plus countless ways for guests to engage with its unique location hugging a Pacific hillside where whales, dolphins and sea lions are your neighbors.
Image courtesy of Terranea
The resort is a celebrity hub, featuring a number of discrete bungalows, casitas and villas for maximum privacy. Mariah Carey once holed up here for months on a babymoon getaway, and stars like ER‘s Goran Visnjic dined at resort hot spot Catalina Kitchen during my visit. Movies from Pirates of the Caribbean to This Is 40 have used Terranea as a stand-in for paradise. Terranea stages more than 100 weddings a year, from intimate sunset affairs to 600+ blowouts coming in at a million dollars (or more!). The superhumanly-flexible staff know how to go with the flow and acknowledge few arrangements are beyond their abilities, including accommodating an elephant (one way Indian grooms choose to make an entrance at traditional weddings) — a virtual requirement at high-end L.A. wedding destinations. While at Terranea I picked up a host of great tips for outdoor and destination weddings from the resort’s wedding experts, as well as the lovely wedding journalists at The Honeymoonist, 100 Layer Cake and Mooshinindy.
The Honeymoon Locale Has Become the Wedding
Image courtesy of Terranea
The beauty of a destination wedding is, of course, a gorgeous location. But it’s also a great way to entice guests to fly in for a mini vacation and allows for plenty of magical bonding opportunities with your guests and a way to extend your special day into a weekend or more. L.A. is an easy-to-reach destination, but more exotic destinations are also on the rise, say the wedding insiders I spoke with, including Bora Bora, Croatia and Vietnam. These spots are moving beyond honeymoon to destination wedding locales.
Be the Hostess With the Mostest
If you’ve planned a destination wedding, you’re the travel agent who’s going to ensure your guests have a good time. Sure, your wedding will be the high point, but think about the comfort and entertainment factor beyond your big day. How will they stay busy? What will they eat? You can have a variety of activity options lined up to keep adventurous guests busy, but also factor in plenty of down time if friends and family want to just enjoy the resort or catch up on work. Also, think about how your guests will get to the resort; consider a destination that’s relatively close to a major airport and won’t require …read more
From:: HGTV