Destination weddings often focus on beach and resort locations, but couples today frequently look for more unique and personalized wedding experiences. As such, urban destinations provide an opportunity for couples — and their planners — to incorporate many unique cultural elements into celebrations.
“We have started to see a shift from very tropical or beachfront locations to delve a little bit further into a city and more immersive area where it’s all about the food and the people,” said Laura Held with Ida Rose Events & Design.
Couples are choosing customization over tradition in their weddings, and Aviva Samuels with Kiss the Planner said unconventional settings like historical landmarks, art galleries, museums and libraries can make for ideal venues and places for guests to visit.
“In urban environments there are a range of cultural experiences as well as stylish and unique venues to illustrate that local flair,” Samuels said. “This level of customization is becoming more appealing than traditional resort or beach weddings, which some couples feel have become too common. Urban settings allow added personalization opportunities through diverse entertainment, cuisine, and decor options.”
Much of the customization of urban destination weddings comes through the entire wedding weekend and not just the ceremony and reception itself.
“In an urban destination couples have the opportunity to have their wedding to be more than just a day-long event — instead they can choose a multi-day event so that guests can thoroughly experience the destination’s culture,” Samuels said. “Since there’s so much more to do than hang out on the beach, couples could consider making their celebration last longer. From museums and dining experiences to nightlife and sightseeing, urban settings cater to extended wedding itineraries that keep guests engaged before and after the main event.”
Samuels said cities offer many culturally immersive experiences, which can include a rooftop reception with panoramic views of a city’s skyline, a dine-around food experience allowing guests to taste multiple local flavors at a variety of restaurants, a guided tour of the city’s street art, or an event with a local storyteller sharing the city’s history and folklore.
Tara Melvin with Signature Concepts said incorporating local culinary dishes and flavors into all aspects of wedding events is a key part of celebrating local culture. From using mumbo sauce in dishes or even as favors at a Washington D.C., wedding to enjoying local barbecue in a Raleigh, N.C., wedding, the opportunities to celebrate local food abound. The welcome party is also a way of infusing culture, and Melvin said once guests get a taste of the local culture, they become excited for the wedding itself.
Local vendors are a vast resource and wealth of knowledge when it comes to infusing culture, and Held said taking advantage of that knowledge involves considering these vendors as part of a planner’s business.
“Part of working with somebody from the local area, especially when it comes to entertaining people who are not from there, is incorporating that into your business and knowing how to play upon what people want to see and how people want to be immersed in the culture,” Held said.
Megan Lentz with Vida Events said her business is currently getting more requests for European destinations than the typical beachside destinations, a shift she began to see after the pandemic.
Lentz said her company strives to use all local vendors, and she sees these vendors as the primary way to infuse local flair into events. Using local vendors also helps with overall pricing as they offer more value for dollars spent and can provide insight into local traditions.
One wedding Lentz’s company did in Venice, Italy, used vendors who were from the area, and those vendors were able to provide traditional Italian dining and farm-to-table florals. The couple also incorporated elements of a Venetian masquerade ball into the reception with masks and traditional music, allowing themselves and their guests to immerse themselves in that cultural experience.
Mexico City has been a popular destination for urban weddings, and Samuels said cities like San Diego, Nashville, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Austin and New York City are popular U.S. cities for destinations weddings with London, Barcelona, Paris, Tokyo and Dubai often considered for destinations abroad.
Melvin describes Nashville, Tenn., as a “mini–New York City” that is “vibing all day long,” and an overlooked location for culturally rich destination weddings. Meanwhile, Lentz said Germany and Switzerland are sometimes overlooked but offer beautiful destinations and venues.
“There are so many different cultures, especially in Europe, that haven’t been tapped yet,” Lentz. “I would love to see more of a trend in the next few years of going outside the box of what everyone else is doing.”
The historical walled city of Cartagena, Colombia, is another ideal location for a destination wedding as is Porto, Portugal, with its scenic riverfront and Valencia, Spain, with its Gothic cathedrals and beautiful beaches, Samuels said.
“Instead of everything being the same old, same old, each city and its vendors bring new life to the wedding plans,” Samuels said. “Out with the cookie-cutter wedding and in with the lavish croquembouche that leaves a more lasting impression.”
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