Survival Guide: Getting Married in the Destin Area.
Getting married in Destin, Florida, is a dream come true for many couples. With its white sandy beaches and stunning Gulf of Mexico views, it’s no wonder that it’s such a popular destination for tying the knot. However, planning a wedding can be stressful and it’s easy to forget about the little details that can make a big difference on your special day. Chief among those details is transportation. Transportation can make or break a wedding day, which is why it’s important to have a plan in place.
Plan ahead: There are many ways to get ready for your destination wedding and we will try our best to break down what we are best at and give some helpful advice here. When you have plans set up early it gives guests time to make plans as well.
We are the first and last people your guests see: We pride ourselves on providing a full experience when it comes to your destination wedding. We will personally pick up your guests from the airport and will provide a 10% discount to anyone that books with us from your wedding. We will take time to provide as much information to the guests as possible while on the car ride in order to help them understand more about the city and other things to do while in town. We will also communicate with guests during the wedding to make sure they are all understanding of what we are hired to and what else we are able to do for them. If hired we will then drop them back off at the airport reliably and make sure everything runs smoothly.
Gather info for your guests:Many times when guests go to a destination wedding they make plans for before or after the wedding events. Events such as renting a pontoon, going out to eat, golfing, fishing, hitting the beach, going to the bars, and many other things. We love to help with the heavy lifting when it comes to guiding guests on their vacation. We are also great at improvising if needed and can help find local events going on at the time. You can rest assured we will use our experience to maximize their fun and the efficiency of the wedding. You can call or text us at any time and we will provide you with tons of information about the town. We are like walking information booths.
Limited Parking: Many wedding venues and vacation rentals in Destin and Miramar Beach have limited parking, so it’s important to have a plan in place for your guests’ vehicles. For example James Lee Park shares parking with The Crab Trap as well as public beach access. It is very common for cars to be waiting in the single lane one way parking lot for up to 5 minutes for other cars to leave so they can park, and that’s just one car. You can assume that it will be very busy any month before november. Don’t assume because it’s October that it will not be busy. October is busier than July a lot of times because it is wedding season and the brisk fall weather is perfect.
How we can help on wedding day: We have quick and easy solutions to many parking issues. For James Lee Park we meet guests at Best Buy and shuttle the guests over to the ceremony and after the ceremony, to the reception. Even if the wedding guests were somehow able to find parking at James Lee Park they will not be able to park at the vacation rental where the reception is located. This is where good communication comes in as making sure guests don’t drive separately to the reception. This will keep the ordinance from showing up and towing cars or the home owners association from getting upset or fining the wedding planners. Once everyone is at the reception we will send all the shuttles home except one which will go into wait time until the reception starts to wind down. That shuttle will be there in case anyone wants to go home early, someone needs to get more party supplies, or if anyone needs help shuttling guests that showed up with their cars and nowhere to park. We love being helpful during weddings and we will help out with whatever you need.
Good Communication: The glue that holds a wedding together is good communication. There are many ways to keep your guests informed as well as many tricks you can do to orchestrate your wedding. When it comes to the logistics, making sure your guests know to meet at the designated area to be picked up instead of driving is important. Depending on the venue you might have different needs. However When it comes to all receptions located at vacation houses its always the same. I have seen many times when guests show up at the house with nowhere to park, or they park in the grass or down the street.
Concentrating the locations of your guests: One of the most effective ways at ensuring the majority of your guests are going to be organized is to orchestrate a singular place or a small area where guests are encouraged to stay. This can be a string of hotels in one area like Sandestin or a couple mile radius where everyone rents vacation rentals as close to each other as possible. The closer to the wedding venue the better. The less distance the guests need to be transported the more forgiving the task and bill will be.
The logistics Example James Lee Park:For example, If a group of 50 guests needs to be moved from Best Buy to James Lee Park then it can easily be done with 2 or 3 vans. The Best Buy is about 5 minutes away from James Lee Park and each van can carry 13 guests at a time. That means it will only take 2 full loads per van to move the guests. There will be a 10-13 minute turnaround time which means if the vans started at 4 for a 5 PM ceremony they could easily move all the guests even with partially full vans. What we usually do is meet the guests in the back of the parking lot. We will try to fill up 1 van and send it off before filling up the second. That way there is a visible van in the parking lot for more time so the guests can more easily see the place they will be getting picked up. Usually after the first van leaves we will leave in rapid succession regardless of the number of guests in order to maximize time until near the end when we will make sure that we get as many customers as possible. We then circle back around to make sure no one arrives late and will leave a van at the parking lot for 10 minutes after the ceremony starts just in case. After the ceremony we will shuttle the guests to the reception which is usually close by. This is most often the case with Destin Wedding Company Weddings.
The logistics Example James Lee Park:For example, If a group of 50 guests needs to be moved from Best Buy to James Lee Park then it can easily be done with 2 or 3 vans. The Best Buy is about 5 minutes away from James Lee Park and each van can carry 13 guests at a time. That means it will only take 2 full loads per van to move the guests. There will be a 10-13 minute turnaround time which means if the vans started at 4 for a 5 PM ceremony they could easily move all the guests even with partially full vans. What we usually do is meet the guests in the back of the parking lot. We will try to fill up 1 van and send it off before filling up the second. That way there is a visible van in the parking lot for more time so the guests can more easily see the place they will be getting picked up. Usually after the first van leaves we will leave in rapid succession regardless of the number of guests in order to maximize time until near the end when we will make sure that we get as many customers as possible. We then circle back around to make sure no one arrives late and will leave a van at the parking lot for 10 minutes after the ceremony starts just in case. After the ceremony we will shuttle the guests to the reception which is usually close by. This is most often the case with Destin Wedding Company Weddings.
Venues we have frequently worked in the past and what our strategy is:
Miramar Venues
Sunquest cruises (Solaris Sandestin Marina): The Solaris is a great place to get married Tops’l: Right across the street from Sandestin, you can park over at grand boulevard and be transported to the venue from there. Hilton Sandestin:
Destin Venues
Henderson: Vacation Rentals on Holiday Isle: Holiday isle is a beautiful place to get married. When moving guests to houses on Holiday Isle we have everyone park at the target parking lot and shuttle them there and back.
Fort Walton Venues
Water Vue: A beautiful location directly under the Brooks Bridge. When shuttling to this location guests can park at the Boardwalk or the Publix Parking Lot. The Venue. Similar to Water Vue the Venue overlooks the bay in Fort Walton Beach near Miracle Strip. We can bring guests there from the boardwalk or the Publix parking lot.
