Take a look at any wedding blog or celebrity magazine these days and you’ll see a common trend: the destination wedding. Inviting guests to a unique or meaningful location is fun and adventurous, and can be a light-hearted start for the new couple. While this popular alternative to the traditional wedding venue takes a considerable amount of planning and organization, the right guidance from an event planner at the destination will have you enjoying your dream event, while all the details and logistics are perfectly executed for you.
In the past few years, Israel has become one of the most requested locations for destination weddings for couples from around the world! As an event planner in this incredible country, I love being in the center of it all. Israel has something for everyone: You can choose to have a wedding by the sea, overlooking the vineyards and mountains in the North, on an active archeological site, or at the most glamourous wedding hall.
If you are considering your own destination wedding, here are some trends to keep in mind:
Smaller Weddings
More and more couples are choosing to step away from large events. Smaller events are more intimate, less formal, and more fun for family and guests. Smaller events also mean more room in the budget for culinary delicacies and fun additions, like group tours or games, that would be more difficult to execute with a larger crowd.
Weekend-Long Wedding Celebrations
Couples are opting for weekend-long celebrations. This means hotels, food, and entertainment are taken care of for their guests. Weekend-long weddings fit perfectly with destination weddings; guests may be more excited and willing to fly to the wedding location if they know additional activities are planned around the wedding.
Henna Ceremony
A common and increasingly popular Middle Eastern custom is the traditional Henna ceremony, hosted by the couple a few days before the wedding. During the ceremony, the grandmothers mark the palms of the couple with henna, leaving a temporary tattoo and marking the couple for easy identification under the chuppah. The henna ceremony is often the first time the two sides of the family come together as one and is an opportunity to bless the new couple with health and happiness.
A growing number of non-Moroccan families are embracing this beautiful tradition, opting to throw a henna party to add some of the local culture to their destination wedding, and to get the party started!
Out-Of-The-Box Venues
While there are many great reasons to choose Israel as a destination, the next step is finding the perfect venue for that special day. Israel offers a wide variety of stylish and original wedding venues: A Bedouin tent in the desert; a terrace overlooking the Western Wall; the historical fortress of Masada; a beach wedding under the open sky. Israel offers the right setting for your perfect destination wedding.
Pay It Forward
The act of giving back is a foundation of our Jewish values, and a weekend-long destination wedding means a lot of programming. Couples are choosing to include a meaningful volunteer activity for their wedding guests, such as helping lone soldiers, kids with disabilities or packing food for needy families. These projects fill part of a long itinerary with a meaningful and memorable bonding activity for everyone.
I am thrilled to go into 2020 discovering new trends that I can use to plan unique and special events for my clients! My prediction is that wedding trends will continue to utilize the increasing number of options to personalize just about everything. One “trend” that will always remain is planning a wedding day that’s a reflection of YOU, one that is authentic, meaningful, and filled with people who build you up and love you the most!