So you have your venue. Whether it be on the beach (much cheaper- just make sure to get your permit!), a luxury vacation rental, or even an actual wedding venue. Now what do you do?

I suggest starting by prioritizing your wedding vendors. What do you care most about your wedding day? Do you want gorgeous flowers, a killer DJ, the best food, or quality photographs? Whatever you choose as your top priority, place a larger percentage of your budget on that.

Obviously, I’m a bit biased, but I would suggest choosing your photographer and/or videographer. Your images/video will out last all the yummy food, pretty flowers, + the music. (Cough, cough the two pictured below would LOVE to capture your destination wedding for you!)

We suggest looking into local photographers to the area of your wedding or photographers that travel there frequently (ie. us to the Outer Banks= ALL THE TIME).

Let’s say flowers are your priority! If you’re getting married in the Outer Banks, I’d suggest Sun flowers Florist on Hatteras Island. She was SO sweet, knew exactly what she was doing, and took my Pinterest ideas and spun them into her own OVER THE TOP creations!! (photos by Katelyn James Photography)

At first we wanted to DIY our flowers to save money. After all we were staying at the wedding venue the entire week leading up to the wedding and would have plenty of time. WRONG. There are so many little things that come up that you don’t even think about so we highly recommend outsourcing your flowers to a professional or family friend.

If you’re outsourcing your flowers + still want to save money, start by looking at the flowers IN SEASON during your wedding/leading up to it. Say you’re getting married in late fall.. I don’t recommend wanting Peonies. Peonies are mainly in season during the Spring (depending on the climate + conditions), and they are a bit pricey even in season! Secondly, look into cheaper flowers like baby’s breath, mums, wildflowers, etc. It’s a great place to start + branch out from there. (Photo by Katelyn James Photography)

Have questions about your destination wedding (on the Outer Banks or off) let us know!

View Part One Here

Stay tuned for Part 3