Last Updated on October 10, 2025 by Lauren Belzer Sanford
Planning a wedding is a lot. The process is often referred to as one of the most exciting yet stressful times in a person’s (or couple’s) life…but add the layer of a destination, and you’ve got a whole different level of excitement and stress! Let me put it this way: Being a destination bride is absolutely worth it, but it is not for the faint of heart.
All photos by Courtney Linden Photography
There’s so much that goes into planning a destination wedding, from picking the perfect location to understanding travel logistics, different currencies, and so much more. I know that I’m not the first US bride to get married abroad, but as someone who got married overseas in Puglia, Italy, I would love to share some of my learnings, advice, and overall experience with planning a destination wedding in Italy! Here are my main takeaways:
Start Early (Seriously)
This is truly one of the most crucial lessons I learned when planning our destination wedding. The moment you decide to have a destination wedding, especially one across the globe, the clock starts ticking…fast. Unlike a domestic wedding, where there might be more vendor and/or venue availability, destination weddings require advanced booking and planning. This is not to say that you can’t pull off a destination wedding in a shorter time; however, it limits your options. Not only are you competing for a date with local couples, but you’re also competing with other destination couples from all over the world, too!
Max & I got engaged in December 2023, and even before then, I had always known that I wanted a spring or early summer wedding. That’s when my favorite types of flowers are in bloom, and that’s what my ideal color palette & “mood board” evoked. Plus, I was set on the weather being warm but not too warm.
Based on when we got engaged, I knew that the spring of 2024 was going to be out of the question. Max & I wanted to enjoy being engaged for longer than just a few months. That’s when we focused our sights on May and June of 2025. We had known that we wanted to get married in Italy for a couple of years, so about a month after we got engaged, we dove headfirst into researching the best wedding venues in Italy and general information about weddings in two specific regions: Tuscany & Puglia. And when I tell you I have never felt more behind in my life while still being more than a year out.
I reached out to a few venues that we liked in both regions, requesting pricing information & availability. Almost 16 months out, and most, if not all, of the venues were already almost fully booked for all of May and June of 2025…in January of 2024!
The venue we got married at, Masseria Grieco, a farmhouse turned country resort in Ostuni (Puglia), only had our 3-night period left for all of the 2025 wedding season unless we wanted the only slot left in September!
Related: Where to Stay in Puglia: Boutique Hotels & Dreamy Masserie
Hire a Wedding Planner
If it’s in your budget, and I highly recommend that it is, hire a wedding planner! You genuinely are not going to want to take on this task on your own, especially if you work a full-time job of your own. Not only that, but without a planner, or a the very least, a day-of coordinator, you become the planner/coordinator on your big day.
For us, it was important to have someone who lived there and had connections with local vendors but also had experience with destination couples.
I’ve seen a lot of debate in destination wedding Facebook groups on whether or not you should hire a “destination wedding planner” in your home country or if you should hire a local planner in your destination. Ultimately, the choice is yours, but we decided to hire a local destination wedding planner. For us, it was important to have someone who lived there and had connections with local vendors, but also had experience with destination couples.
Our wedding planner, Giusy D’Ambrosio, was both! Not only does she live in Puglia (and specifically Ostuni), but she also has experience planning for “destination couples” in the US, UK, Germany, and more. Originally from Naples, she is also well-versed in planning weddings in Naples and the Amalfi Coast. She truly made it so much easier for us, especially given the 9-hour time difference, by handling all the communication with our vendors, forwarding us contracts when they required our attention, and so much more!
Join Facebook Groups
Odds are, you’re probably the first person in your family or group of friends to get married across the globe. And if you’re not…lucky you!
Most people choose to host their wedding in their home country for one reason or another, which can feel extremely confusing and isolating during the planning process. The good news is, while you might be the first of your known group to do this, you’re not the first ever.
It’s undeniably valuable to find Facebook groups focused on destination weddings to help you answer questions, find vendors, and chat with brides who have been or are currently in the same boat as you. Not only should you join wedding-related pages, but travel-related pages as well, as they can help you provide information to your guests on your destination and give inspiration for any additional activities you may want to include on your wedding week(end) itinerary!
Some of the Facebook groups I joined include:
- Help! I’m Getting Married in Italy!
- Planning Your Italian Wedding – La Lista
- Wedding Planning Advice And More
- Italy Destination Wedding Babes
- Visit Puglia
Not All Vendors Take Credit Cards
None of our vendors took credit cards, aside from our venue, once we were physically there. All deposits and payments had to be made through bank/wire transfer.
It doesn’t hurt to ask your planner and vendors if they’ll take a credit card payment, but usually, the answer is “no” considering the fees associated on the vendor’s end.
It can be frustrating to forfeit those points, especially if you’re a US couple with a fantastic travel rewards credit card, but that’s just the way things are. If you’re planning on getting as many points as you can toward your honeymoon, travel expenses, etc., put your dress and other wedding purchases that you’ll make in your home country on your credit card. You might even consider paying for all of your groceries and other daily expenses on your credit card, leading up to the wedding. You’d be surprised how many points you can rack up!
It doesn’t hurt to ask your planner and vendors if they’ll take a credit card payment, but usually, the answer is “no,” considering the fees associated with the vendor’s end. If you are set on using a credit card, many US & Australian brides who have been married in Italy (and much of Europe) recommend paying via credit card through Wise.com or their app. You will be charged transaction fees for credit card payments, but you’ll still be able to get your credit card points, and the fees are often lower than you’d expect! Just keep in mind that there is a relatively low daily and weekly amount that you’re able to pay via credit card through Wise, so you will need to communicate with your recipient that you’ll be splitting it up.
Another thing to keep in mind is that your vendors’ banks will likely charge a fee for them on a wire transfer, even if your bank does not. Communicate with your vendors and wedding planner to find the best way around this. Typically, it’s using an international money transfer app like the Wise app, which allows you to choose the exact amount that the recipient should receive.
It can be frustrating because, in the US, we see these fees as the “cost of doing business,” but your European vendors will likely see this as being shorted €5-€10, or whatever the fee is. This is why it’s so important to figure this out with your vendor(s) and your planner to make sure you’re all on the same page. Some vendors might ask that you tack that missing amount onto your next deposit or bring it in cash payments on the wedding day if this happens. Other vendors might be more understanding and not ask for it at all.
Please note that paying vendors via bank transfer is not unique to Italy or Europe in general. One of my best friends had her wedding at Flora Farms in Mexico in July 2024 and had to pay her vendors via bank transfer as well.
Guest Experience Matters
Prioritizing guest experience wasn’t necessarily a learning, but rather a note of importance for us throughout our wedding planning process.
While a wedding is ultimately about the bride and groom, a destination wedding is a little bit different. Unlike a local wedding, where guests may only have to travel a short distance, a destination wedding involves additional time and expense for guests. They might take off 5-10 days of work instead of 0-2. They’ll likely have to spend more on travel fares. Because of these factors and others, it’s important to make your guests feel special!
Most of our guests traveled throughout Italy and other parts of Europe before and/or after our wedding, as many saw it as the excuse they needed to pull the trigger on a European vacation they’d always wanted to take!
With this in mind, we wanted to make sure that our guests were part of all 3 days of events (if they wanted to be) so that we could spend quality time in the beautiful Italian countryside with our favorite people. We hosted both a welcome dinner and a farewell pizza party so we could spend that extra time with our guests and show appreciation for traveling all that way to celebrate with us. We also gave our guests what we call “One Thing” notes as their placecards on the wedding night to let them know how much we love them and how much it meant to us that they traveled across the world for us. They were just simple notes that started with their name and “one thing we love about you is…” followed by something we love about them! We wanted to make sure everyone felt special and included!
An Italian wedding aperitivo and dinner is an experience in itself, too…but we’ll have that story for another time.
Related: Our Destination Wedding in Puglia
We also provided a very robust wedding website based on our research, our wedding planner’s recommendations, and suggestions from my cousin & his wife, who honeymooned in Puglia. We wanted to make sure our guests had a full picture of not only what our wedding entailed, but all the things there were to do if they decided to explore the region before or after our wedding. Most of our guests traveled throughout Italy and other parts of Europe before and/or after our wedding, as many saw it as the excuse they needed to pull the trigger on a European vacation they’d always wanted to take!
Ask For Help!
Even if you’ve hired a wedding planner, you are more than justified in asking for help from your future spouse, parents, siblings, bridal party, etc. Planning a destination wedding without help can be an extremely difficult, overwhelming, and isolating experience if you don’t ask for help.
Delegate tasks to people you trust! If you have a friend who is a pro world traveler, ask them to help you with the travel page on your wedding website. If you get overwhelmed trying to find a specific type of vendor, have a friend or family member who has an eye for photography help you research wedding photographers, or scour the list that your wedding planner gave you to find one that speaks to your style. If your spouse-to-be is a foodie, let them take the lead on the catering decisions.
Your friends & family know you best, are genuinely excited for you, and want to help you if you let them, so lean into that help and don’t take it all on yourself!
It’s Okay To Change Your Mind
Read that again: It’s okay to change your mind.
If you don’t like something anymore, as long as there’s time and it’s not going to cost a ton of money, change it.
I had so long to plan that I started not liking my bridesmaid dress situation. I felt like there was too much pink, and I wasn’t feeling it anymore. Luckily, only one of my bridesmaids (my sister) had her dress, so I was able to change it up before anyone else purchased theirs, and I felt so much better about it when I did (and they did, too)!
Just a simple swap to add some green and take away a little bit of pink really made a big difference for me!
Take Breaks
Taking breaks is important regardless of the size, scale, or type of wedding you’re having. You’re likely going to be thinking about your wedding non-stop from the second you start planning up until it’s time to walk down the aisle. For some people, the engagement and planning period can be 1, 2, or even 3 whole years. That’s a long time to think about all the little details that go into your big day (or multiple days).
It’s so important to take a break and not look at your budget spreadsheet, not open your wedding planning notes, not even communicate with your wedding planner (he/she needs a break, too)! Something we tried to introduce was the “12-month date nights,” where you go on a date on the day of your wedding each month, starting 1 year out from your wedding. So for us, that was the 11th of each month, starting June 11, 2024.
On that day each month, you go on a date, yes, but there are a couple of rules:
Rule #1: Go Somewhere or Do Something NEW!
To me, this is the most fun rule! It helps you to grow in your relationship, and it’s such a good time getting to experience something for the first time with your favorite person. Here are some recommendations:
- Try a new restaurant that you’ve never been to before
- Take a day trip somewhere you haven’t gone
- Go to a ceramic shop to paint plates to use on your anniversary
- Visit a local zoo, museum, aquarium, or other place that you haven’t been to before
- Volunteer at a local animal shelter, soup kitchen, etc. to give back to the community together
If the date happens to be on a non-ideal weekday, a Sunday night, or just a day that might not be super convenient for whatever reason, you don’t have to do anything extravagant. A few recommendations for these dates are:
- Try a new recipe together at home for dinner
- Go on a walk together at a park, trail, or neighborhood you haven’t explored before
- Grab a coffee or tea at a new coffee shop not too far away
Rule #2: DO NOT Talk About the Wedding
This is probably not the most fun or the easiest rule by any means, but by far the most important. On these dates, do not…and I mean it…DO NOT talk about the wedding. I highly recommend doing this more than just on these date days, but at least having these dates gives you a minimum of 1 day or night each month where there will be no talk about the wedding (or honeymoon, if you want to add that in, too). It’s good to give your brain a rest!
Rule #3: Take a Photo
The final rule is to take a photo on these little dates. You’re going to want to remember them once the year is up. I suggest printing them out and putting them in a little book or even a bigger “wedding box” to look back on this time in the future. The photos will bring back specific memories from each date that you’ll be able to look back on forever!
At the end of the day, it’s just important for you (and your future spouse) to take time to do things that aren’t wedding or planning-related throughout your engagement so that you can really enjoy the phase of life you’re in and look back on it as fondly as possible!
Unfollow Wedding Accounts 1-2 Weeks Before (or Earlier)
This is a recommendation for all weddings, not just destination weddings. About 1-2 weeks before your wedding, or earlier, make sure to unfollow wedding-related accounts on Instagram and TikTok, or mute them at the very least. Also, take a break from Pinterest! Nothing about your wedding will be changing 1-2 weeks out, so stumbling upon various things that you didn’t choose for your big day could be a huge stressor and might be a bummer for you post-wedding, so don’t even give yourself the opportunity for that to happen!
At this point in the process, you shouldn’t be worried about anything but you and your fiancé getting to your destination, tying the knot, and embarking on your future together as a married couple!
Sorry, Style Me Pretty, but it’s for our own good!
Disclaimer: You don’t have to unfollow your wedding vendors, but I do recommend muting their posts and/or Stories until after the wedding (maybe even after your honeymoon)! It’s nothing personal, just for your sanity!
Learn To Let Sh*t Go
Easier said than done, but planning a wedding, especially a destination wedding, comes with lots of frustration.
People might have to leave a day early or back out altogether, you might not be able to accommodate everyone on-site as you’d hoped, and, heck, you might not be able to find the tablecloths you’ve dreamed of (IYKYK). It’s all going to be fine, it’s all going to be beautiful, and the moment you stop worrying or taking things so personally and just let sh*t go, you’ll be better off. It’s about you marrying your best friend at the end of the day, anyway!
I once heard someone say, “If you have a hard time making decisions, make your decision the right decision.” Essentially, you have to train your brain that the decision(s) you have made are the right ones, no matter what, so that you don’t think about the “what ifs” had you gone with another choice.
And when it comes to people, if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that everyone is the main character in their own lives. They’re not leaving a day early or being difficult to hurt you. It’s more than likely fully unintentional. They’re doing it because they’re not thinking about the way it’ll affect you. If it’s worth saying something, say it. If it’s not…let that sh*t go, baby. Elsa that energy out of your life, and just let it go. Your mental health will thank you!
Planning a destination wedding can be a lot. It’s filled with all the ups & downs, excitement, stress, moments of panic, moments of pure joy, and invaluable life lessons. By staying true to your vision & making sure you’re not taking everything on yourself, you can create a magical celebration that speaks to your love & leaves a lasting impression on everyone involved. Embrace the adventure and cherish every moment of your destination wedding experience – it’ll be something you’ll never want to forget!
I created a list of vendors (planners, hair stylists, makeup artists, photographers, videographers, florists, etc.) that I researched and found on sites like Carats & Cake, Style Me Pretty, Wedding Sparrow, and more. I am happy to share my list of Italian and destination wedding vendors in case it helps future destination brides find the vendor(s) of their dreams! Please keep in mind, however, that prices mentioned are for the 2024-2025 wedding season. Happy planning!
Our Vendors
For those getting married in Puglia, Italy (or Italy in general), I wanted to share the list of our chosen vendors in case it helps you to make an informed decision based on another destination bride’s experience:
- Wedding Planner: Giusy D’Ambrosio
- Venue: Masseria Grieco
- Photography: Courtney Linden Photography
- Videography: Marco Denigris, Foto Vision Produzioni
- Hair: Massimo Moro
- MUA: Vania Tommasi
- Dress: Alena Leena, Love and Lace Bridal Salon
- Florist: Rollo Fiori
- Catering: Rotondo Catering
- Bar: LELÉ Momenti Memorabili
- Rentals: Saponari Eventi (ceremony chairs),
- Music: Alex Sisto, Sisto Events & DJ
- Stationery & Signage: Pulp Templates Co. (I used the elements to design a lot myself)
If you would like to read about our destination wedding experience and all the magic that unfolded over those days, take a look at Our Destination Wedding in Puglia.