Love is in the air for one of your best girlfriends, and she’s really struggling with where to begin planning her perfect wedding. She knows she doesn’t want a traditional church wedding, and she thinks weddings on beaches are cliche (hey, that’s her right, even though beach weddings are amazing), and she hasn’t even picked up her primary colors for her wedding yet. In steps you, knowledgeable, creative you. You’ve traveled – extensively – and you know her. Who better to help than you! And, while your first tip is going to get her to interview and hire a wedding planner to take this load off of her shoulders, you’ll be right there alongside her every step of the way to make sure her destination wedding is everything she’s dreamt of and deserves.
Iron Out Initial Details
If she’s decided on a destination and you’ve helped her pick Barcelona, after all, she’s an architect and met her fiance studying abroad there. Your next step is ironing out the initial details. First, you two need to do a “wedding officiant near me” search to find candidates who will officiate for them. Obviously, you pay this person and their way and stay at BCN. Next, you want to interview and hire a planner to help you at the very minimum with their resources to videographers, photographers, and music. With destination weddings, it would likely be more cost-effective to interview and hire people for those skill sets in the city you’re getting married.
You Need An Itinerary
You need some kind of itinerary for guests joining you for your Barcelona wedding – even if the itinerary is exceptionally loose. You want to have a list of activities and sightseeing that attendees can refer to occupy themselves between the rehearsal dinner, the service, and the reception. Thankfully, there’s few cities more fun in Spain, let alone the world, than Barcelona. With its seaside views, rich culture, and romantic vistas, it’s the perfect place for your attendees to get in the wedding mood.
Places worth noting are, of course, the Picasso Museum, Las Ramblas, and the various nightclubs and rooftop restaurants and clubs. Depending on the age of most of the guests, Barcelona offers some of the most vibrant and luxurious club experiences in the world. If you’re not limited by budget, renting out such a club is an excellent idea because it sets a more intimate vibe for not only everyone at the wedding party but all guests as well. If your videographer is traveling with you, this is an excellent opportunity to capture candid, fun memories that will last a lifetime. Including a digital download to these memories is also a beautiful add-on to your “thank you” cards – which is no longer considered gauche to send digitally, not to mention it’s sustainable.
The Ceremony And Reception
You want to make sure that where you hold your ceremony in Barcelona is close enough to where you’ll be having your reception, since it’s a city that isn’t familiar to most of the guests, not to mention there may be a language barrier for some of the people in attendance. To this end, it’s not a bad idea for you to encourage the bride and groom and other essential wedding people to brush up on their Spanish to make sure they have the easiest time possible in Spain. On the flipside, especially younger generations (think born in the eighties and after) of Spanish people can speak English incredibly well, so all is not lost in communication.
Choose a venue (either on your own with the bride and groom or with your planner’s help) that can not only accommodate the number of people you’re expecting to attend but that suits the theme of the wedding. Many people opt for a beautiful seaside wedding in BCN, depending on the season. Still, if your friend thinks getting married oceanside isn’t a possibility, there are many gorgeous venues in the area specifically for this purpose. Additionally, these locales offer reception halls in-house, so you don’t have to travel at all between the ceremony and reception. When it comes to food at the reception, few would argue that Spanish food isn’t some of the best in the world, so stay on theme and eat as the Spanish do during the reception.
You are a great friend for stepping in and helping your friend plan one of the most important days of their life – and if they’ve decided on Barcelona as the place where they’re tying the knot, things aren’t going to be that difficult to plan from your end. Just make sure to give a gentle reminder with the RSVP cards about current passports! So, congratulations to the happy couple and congratulations to you on your exciting upcoming trip to Spain!