Destination Wedding Packages: What’s Included and What’s Not

The resort’s wedding page is usually already open on the screen when a couple and I start talking. The photos are gorgeous, the list underneath is long, and sooner or later one of them looks up and asks me, is all of that actually ours?

Some of it is. Destination wedding packages give you the ceremony and a small celebration around it, planned and run by the resort’s own wedding team. What a package often leaves out is the full evening you’re imagining from the photos, and that evening is the part we plan together.

Key Takeaways

• A package covers the ceremony, not the whole wedding day.
• Expect a planner, a setting, flowers, cake and a toast.
• Premium ceremony spots, like overwater chapels, often cost extra.
• A private reception dinner is often a separate add-on.
• Free packages carry conditions, and customization is what you pay for.
• Taxes and service charges grow as you customize.
• If you upgrade one thing, make it photography and video.

What Is a Destination Wedding Package?

Here’s how I explain it: a package is a bundle the resort sells, or sometimes gives you, that covers your ceremony and a set list of extras around it. The resort’s wedding team puts it together and runs it on the day. It’s tied to your stay, and what’s in it changes from one resort brand to the next.

You can marry with exactly what’s in it, and some couples do. You can also treat it as the base and build the day you want from there, which is where the romance travel I plan really starts.

What’s Included in the Package?

Let’s walk down that list together. It falls into three parts, and that’s the order the resort’s wedding team will work through with you.

The Ceremony Itself

First, the ceremony itself: a setting at the resort, chairs for your guests, a bouquet and a boutonniere, and music for your walk down the aisle. At Sandals that music is pre-recorded in the complimentary package, while some paid packages bring in a live violin, saxophone or guitar, a lovely touch if music matters to you.

A Small Celebration Afterward

Then comes the little celebration right after you say I do: a cake and a sparkling wine toast, and in some packages a short cocktail hour. It’s such a sweet moment, the one where it finally sinks in that you’re married!

Help Before and During

The part I’d never skip past is the help. Your package comes with a wedding team who plans with you before you travel and an on-site coordinator who sets up and runs the day. At Sandals, it even includes help preparing your marriage license documents. Every island has its own rules for that paperwork, and I walk through how we handle them in how to plan a destination wedding.

What Costs Extra?

This is where I want couples to slow down, because it’s where the photos and the list on the page stop matching. Keep this side-by-side open while you read any package:

Usually in the package	Usually extra
A ceremony setting at the resort	Premium spots like an overwater chapel or rooftop
Bouquet, boutonniere and standard flowers	Upgraded and custom florals and décor
Wedding cake and a sparkling wine toast	A private reception dinner
Pre-recorded music, or a soloist in some packages	A DJ, a band or a longer music set
A set number of guests	Every guest beyond that number
A wedding team and an on-site coordinator	Hair, makeup and spa time beyond any included service
A photography credit or a small photo set	Full photography and video coverage

Premium Ceremony Spots

Say you’ve fallen for the rooftop in the photos. Can you have it? Maybe, but many resorts set aside premium locations for an added fee: an overwater chapel, a rooftop with panoramic views, an oceanfront gazebo. The package still includes a beautiful setting; the one on the brochure cover may cost extra.

The Reception Dinner

Then there’s the dinner. It’s easy to take for granted that a private dinner with your guests comes with the package, and at a lot of resorts it doesn’t, or it comes only with a higher tier. If a long table under the lights is what you’re imagining, we plan and price it from the start.

Your Own Touches

This is the fun part, and honestly it’s where most of the budget goes. Here are the upgrades couples ask me about most:

• Upgraded flowers and custom décor
• More guests than the package covers
• A longer celebration
• Full photography and video
• Hair and makeup

Each one is priced on its own, and the resort’s wedding planning lounge is full of examples to fall in love with.

Taxes and Service Charges

And the one that sneaks up on people: taxes, service charges and gratuities, the fees added on top of everything above. They grow as you customize, go over the package’s guest count or extend your event time, so I make sure they’re in every quote we look at together. The all-inclusive destination weddings article covers what else to watch for when you compare resorts.

Free or Paid: What’s the Difference?

When a free package and a paid one show up next to each other, couples always ask me what the real difference is, and my answer is simple: customization.

A complimentary package comes with a standard flower, a standard cake and a standard location. If that matches the day you have in mind, it’s a lovely, simple way to marry. If it doesn’t, you’ll know the moment you walk into the wedding planning lounge and see the custom pieces on display, and you may change your mind right there.

Free packages also come with conditions, and this is something I go over with every couple. The ceremony may need to happen at a certain time of day or on a certain day of the week, and the setup in the resort’s photos is often not the one the free version includes. Knowing that up front keeps the day you picture and the day you booked the same day.

Sandals’ Complimentary Sweetheart Package

Sandals is where I’d have most couples start, because so much of the day is already covered.

Sandals wedding packages start with the Sweetheart package, complimentary with a qualifying stay in a Club or Butler level room. Before you arrive, a wedding planning team works with you, gives you gift registry and wedding website templates, and helps prepare your marriage license documents. On the day, the onsite team sets up, coordinates and breaks down everything: a picturesque ceremony spot with white cushioned chairs, an orchid bouquet and boutonniere, and pre-recorded music for your walk. Afterward comes a private one-hour cocktail reception with hors d’oeuvres, a signature cocktail and a sparkling wine toast, plus a two-tiered cake topped with orchids. You also get credits toward photos and video and a spa discount for the two of you, and the honeymoon side is lovely: dinner with sparkling wine at a specialty restaurant, a romantic turndown on your wedding night and breakfast in bed. My Sandals and Beaches page has more on the resorts I work with.

Paid Packages at Other All-Inclusive Resorts

If you already know you want more than the standard setup, a paid all-inclusive wedding package can make life simpler, because it builds in what you’d otherwise add piece by piece. At the UNICO 20°87° Hotel Riviera Maya, part of the AIC Hotel Group, the Wanderlust and Waves package brings themed décor and flowers to the ceremony, a live violin, saxophone or guitar soloist, a minister for a symbolic ceremony, a themed cake with sparkling wine afterward, and both a wedding specialist and an onsite coordinator, plus the resort’s honeymoon experience. One detail I always point out: how long your dinner reception runs depends on how many rooms your group books.

The Eternal Love package in Secrets St. Lucia’s wedding packages adds things you’d usually pay extra for elsewhere: a private cocktail hour and dinner reception, a semi-private rehearsal dinner, live music during cocktails, edited video of the ceremony, and digital photos with an album. It also takes care of the little things couples forget to plan for, like pressing your wedding day attire, a hair or makeup service, a spa treatment for the two of you, late checkout and a newlywed welcome with breakfast in bed. Secrets offers a complimentary package of its own too, so you may be choosing between free and paid at the same resort.

Which Upgrades Are Worth It?

This is where I come in. When I meet with a couple, my goal is to understand their vision just as the resort’s wedding team will, and then spend where it matters to them.

If the flowers are what you’ll remember, I’ll encourage that upgrade. If the reception everyone posts about is the dream, we’ll pull back on the parts that matter less and put the budget there.

For a small wedding or an elopement, I’d upgrade anywhere romance is involved, from the spa to a private candlelight dinner on the beach. One thing is for certain, though: the memories of this day will be the cornerstone of your life together, so I always encourage spending on excellent photography and video.

The rest depends on you two and the resort you choose, and I’d love to work through it with you. There’s more about how I plan with couples on my About page.

Common Questions About Destination Wedding Packages

Send Me the Package You’re Looking At

Send me the package page you’ve been staring at, or tell me what you’ve been imagining, and we’ll read it line by line together, then add up what it all comes to before you commit. Schedule your consultation and bring the screenshots.