Destination Weddings

Destination Wedding tips and planning

Just the two of you in your favorite vacation spot  can be one of the most romantic and special wedding ideas.
That’s why destination weddings are so appealing, whether it’s on a beach or on a snow capped mountain , it is all about you.

But before you get married away from your hometown or country, it requires a lot of homework, well in advance, so a dream destination wedding won’t turn into a wedding nightmare.

Before selecting a destination, ( and yes, it’s important to know something about the locale, besides beautiful pictures seen on the web, brochures or friend’s vacation photos) you have to first figure out what type of couple you are.

Here are a few simple questions to get your started:

1. What is your favorite season?  This will help you decide if you would rather get married on a beach,  the Ice Castle in Canada, or the fall colors of vermont.

2. Do you want to go alone or do what family and friends to join you?

3. Do you want it to be the same place you have your honeymoon or do you want to do the honeymoon later?

4. What is your budget? ( sometime people think that having a Destination wedding is cheaper than a hometown wedding and that is not always the case.)

Among details to think about  are the transportation choices and costs to travel from the airport to the hotel, local customs to observe, and what kind of weather to expect. Cost for the ceremony, the space, etc.

A couple should know the legal requirements and deadlines for obtaining a valid marriage certificate, as well as rules regarding whom can officiate at the ceremony. In some foreign jurisdictions, a civil wedding ceremony is required even if a private wedding is planned. Aside from requirements for wedding licenses, check to see if passports, visas or immunizations are needed.

So do your research and if you don’t have time you can hire a planner to do all the research and set up for you.  Make a local contact at the destination to help arrange wedding details as an intermediary and who can suggest such things as a dry cleaner to steam wrinkles out of a wedding dress or driver for the bridal party.  A hotel concierge might fill this role.
Include every detail of the wedding ceremony and reception in a signed contract so there’s no question about what’s going to transpire on the wedding day. Put a deposit down, with the balance due after the reception.

Other things to think about while planning a destination wedding:

Guest Notification.

Give as much notice as possible to guests by sending save the date cards as much as nine months before the wedding. This will help  the  guests make travel plans and will give a couple an early headcount of who will make the trip.

Wedding Invitations in this case will need some additional pieces containing information about organized activities, transportation and hotel information.
Guests may be unsure what type of clothing is appropriate for your destination wedding, so whether you prefer formal or casual attire, be sure to let them know.

Accidents and Illness.
Illness and accidents can happen, become aware of health services at the wedding destination in terms of hotel doctors and local hospitals.

Keep a master list of guests with their cell phones for easy contact, and in case someone gets lost.
If you’re anticipating gifts, ask your family members and wedding party to spread the word that gifts not be given at the wedding, but rather sent to the couple’s  home.

The last thing you should remember is to have fun.  It’s your wedding enjoy the time away.

5 common symptoms you have lost your passion for work

With autumn coming soon and school starting many of us our feeling a bit blue from the strange summer weather.  We also start to think about our work/ life balance and if we are doing a job we love.  How do you know you need a change?   Here are five common symptoms that you might need a change or you are doing too much:

1. Hopelessness. When you are feeling burned out, it is hard to see the future as bright. It’s hard to get motivated when nothing seems to matter.   It’s one thing to work hard and still feel the optimism of a job you love, it is another to feel apathy and pessimism, that feeling that tomorrow will not be better than today.

2. Lack of concentration. Another tell when you are pushing beyond your limits is when you are simply unable to focus on one thing at a time.  You feel and /or seem scatterbrained. Often this will sneak into your home life as well.  Do you find that it’s more and more difficult to engage your children or spouse without feeling compelled to text or email? Do you find it difficult to think of words or you cannot seem to complete a sentence without outside help? If you find you are having more and more difficulty working on a project or communicating with your family and/or colleagues without getting sidetracked, you have an issue with concentration.

3. Exhaustion.   Is caffeine your new water?  You find that you are increasing amount of coffee and energy shots just to stay awake, chances are you are mentally exhausted.   Yes, exhaustion occurs when the body doesn’t have sufficient ability to rest and recuperate; but it can also come when you cannot deal with all the mental stress of the day. Caffeine is just a temporary fix — it’s covering up the fact that something is wrong. You shouldn’t need gallons caffeine to make it through the day.

4. Irritability. If you are on edge and overreacting to every little issue, it’s a sign that you have nothing left to give.   When you think about your day do you feel drained, like every bit of energy you had is gone?  Humor, compassion, and creativity are all gone out of your day all you have left is anger, blame, contempt, and frustration. Are your family and colleagues ready to kill you and hide the body? (We don’t mean really kill you- Just close to killing you. ) 🙂

5.  Sickness. The mind body connection is strange.  When you are mentally run down your body can experience physical maladies from mental exhaustion. Common physical problems include headaches, digestion problems, colds, and flu, back or neck pain and even worst. Your body can break down from the demands and stress you are putting on it.

So what should you do?

Step one:

be honest with yourself, do you still like what you are doing?

If the answer is yes, you may want sit down with your boss and or colleagues and talk to them about taking a personal day to recharge. Do something you love at home (no housework that day), so you can get back the passion you use to feel at work.  (Don’t forget to tell you family this day off is not to get all the things that need to be done around the house done, this is a recharge day.)

If the answer is no, you will need to do what we suggest in “answer yes” but you will need to figure out if you can change jobs or figure out how to make your current job livable until you can find something better. Sometimes you can’t just change jobs and you have to look at your home life, what hobby or sport could I take up that would bring me joy so that work isn’t so bad.

Step two:

Talk to your family (Spouse, Partner, or friends) tell them what you are feeling and ask them for help to figure out a plan to either make change jobs or make your job fun again.

Step Three:

Workout. I know that is a strange step but it helps when you work out you get the blood flowing and the ideas flowing too.

Step Four:

Get some sleep. Rest can really help your disposition if you get enough sleep at night you can handle the craziest days.

Step Five:

Remember you Work to live, you don’t live to work!