Spending the majority of my childhood and adolescence in California, it made sense for all of our wedding events to be located in the Golden State.  However, being that my husband was raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, we were going to have two sets of all events–the first in California and the second in Dhaka within a six month gap.

Immediately after my wedding in California, I began thinking of all the things that were necessary in a long distance wedding and started feeling extremely overwhelmed.  I was about to learn that though planning a wedding is difficult process, a long distance wedding is much more difficult!

Having been through the process, here are a few things I would like to tell fellow brides about planning a long distance wedding:

1. Before you begin anything, make sure to do all of your research! While it made sense to have our wedding in Dhaka as most of our guests lived in Dhaka, pick a central location that is accommodating to all your guests.

2. It is extremely important to either be at the location approximately 3-6 months before or have liaisons that will carry out your wishes. I was lucky enough to have my mother-in-law in Dhaka at the time, along with my own mother who had traveled three months prior to our Reception date to ensure that all the details were accurate and would please a perfectionist like myself.

3.  If you have time, trial your hair and makeup at your location.  However, if that is not feasible, go with a reputable Beauty Salon and ensure that you have seen pictures of their work.  I loved Farzana Shakil and was able to book  her before our ceremony, and she perfected the look I wanted, thank god!

4.  Allow time for rest and relaxation before a long distance wedding. This becomes a very important factor when you are traveling to a different country for a destination wedding.  Make sure that you arrive at least a week or two prior to your events so that you are able to relax, get everything settled, get over jet lag, and this will prevent dark circles under the eyes (which you definitely don’t want to appear in your Wedding shots!)

5. Do not try to micro-manage everything. In a long distance wedding, it is helpful to hire a local wedding planner if possible.  If not, do not stress the little details, it is nearly impossible to get everything done when you are planning from thousands of miles away!

6.  Begin planning EARLY. The earlier you plan, the more organized and flawless your event will be.  Also, for a destination wedding, there are a lot more factors involved than a regular wedding, so be sure to start early!

7.  If you have guests flying in similar to yourself, make sure you make a spreadsheet of all of their arrival times and hotels that they will be staying so that you can make accommodations for them in terms of attending your ceremonies. For out of town guests, it is important to coordinate buses, taxis, or other transportation that ensures their timely arrival and attendance at your events.

8. Trust your gut instincts when planning a destination weddings. Locals may give you advice (which may or may not be valuable), but if you have done the research, do not let that pestering aunty guide your decisions! Remember, this is your wedding and your decision should be the last one!

9.  Most importantly, enjoy your wedding! Destination weddings can add a lot of stress on the couple, but weddings happen only once in a lifetime.  Enjoy the destination wedding and everything the location has to offer!

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