Couples who want to marry but do not feel as if the traditional trappings of a church wedding are for them, are opting for destination weddings which are not at all like eloping. With a destination wedding, the couple is ‘running to’ and not ‘running away’ their perfect wedding, which includes friends and family.

Destination weddings are one of the fastest-growing trends in the wedding industry, up a massive 400 percent in the past 10 years alone according to statistics from Conde Nast Bridal Group Media American Wedding Survey.  Destination weddings are a $9.3 billion business, accounting for approximately 40 percent of the 2.3 million weddings every year.

The average destination wedding is made up of roughly 47 guests with an average booking total of $24,777.  This is great news for the travel agency industry because many couples use a travel agent to make all the arrangements for a destination wedding and then have the rest of the wedding party contact the same travel agency.

Destination weddings run the gambit from a castle in beautiful Michigan gardens to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica or a cruise around the Bahamas.  These destination weddings are often dubbed ‘weddingmoons’ because the couple frequently honeymoons where they wed and many places will offer a free wedding package with a certain size honeymoon package.  Not always, but sometimes, a travel agent can get a wedding party and/or the guests a small discount on their hotel stays and other activities during the wedding weekend.

A bride-to-be will also need an on-site wedding coordinator, unless she wants to tackle the job herself, in order to arrange other wedding ‘must haves’ such as flowers, wine and champagne, seating arrangements, dinner menus, music and someone to preside over the ceremony like a judge or a priest.

If you and your soon-to-be husband are interested in a destination wedding, perhaps one with the theme like a century’s old castle in which the bride wears a traditional turn-of-the-century gown, then a travel agent might be the first person with which you will want to speak with in order to handle all the arrangements.