Your Wedding: Destination or Landmark?

The biggest reason brides plan a destination wedding is, in many ways, the same reason royal couples are married in cathedrals. Both venues are intended to change the state of mind for the guests and loved ones who attend.

Opening the heart and calling a halt to the concerns of daily life, people breath deeper, easier, and they contemplate a larger reality when they put themselves in places such as these. Beauty has a purpose on an occasion such as this.

Destinations have proven to offer the bride and the planner a broad palette of personal interpretations, for achieving this change-of-state, this shift in view that opens us up to the profound nature of the pledge taking place.

Such a Variety of Statements

Natural beauty, magnificent architecture, social significance, history and heritage, lighthearted fun – all these and more are impulses that drive the selection of a wedding destination. The choices are so many and varied that the first step in selecting one is to organize them, and then narrow them down. “Decision paralysis” is the term that scientists give to what happens when our choices are too many, or too difficult to compare.

Let’s make some stacks and take a look at them then.

The abundance and beauty of nature leads some brides and planners to celebrate their day in farm fields and even barns. Surrounded by a forest might be the choice of others. Many prefer to be beside a body of water, for the deep peace of a lake or bay, the persistence of a river, or the rhythm of the ocean’s waves and tides.

Architecture can bring to a wedding a powerful statement, and that statement can take any number of directions. Imposing public buildings such as libraries and museums testify to the permanence of a couple’s commitment. On an even more personal plane, the style of an architectural setting can play a more specific role in the statement. Simple or ornate, straightforward or embellished, architecture offers such a range of impressions – from the beauty of materials and workmanship alone, to the artistry of how a building or a room is adorned.

We can’t forget fun. Happy tears in the ceremony and laughing out loud at the reception are signs of connection, that the wedding has truly touched people, and for many brides and planners, fun is more than a result, it is a priority.

When the Answer is “All of the Above”

The Harbour Town Lighthouse, on Hilton Head Island – named America’s best vacation island by both Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler – has become the destination wedding choice for certain brides and planners in the know. The reasons are many, including the sheer proven popularity of the destination. Those reasons often include the ability of the Lighthouse to encompass all the things that made destination weddings a good idea in the first place.

Natural beauty, architectural statement, history and heritage, and the kind of fun that brings people back for generations – all these come along with choosing to celebrate your wedding as a landmark occasion – at the landmark symbol of America’s favorite vacation island.