When we first decided to have our wedding reception in Guatemala, where X is from, it was definitely daunting. Not only were we planning a wedding, we were planning a destination wedding thousands of miles away. But, as with everything that I plan, the first thing I did was start a Google Sheet, which started at 5 tabs and ended with 33 tabs at the end of the wedding.

I started with a list of vendors that we would have to find – venue, photographers, florist, cake maker, make up and hair artists, and DJ. I Googled “Destination Wedding in Guatemala” and that gave me a bunch of names and different venues that were pretty popular in Antigua, Guatemala. After emailing a few venues, we finally decided on a date and a venue – Porta Hotel Antigua. Their San Jose Plaza had a beautiful view of the ruins across the street and offered the outdoor space that we wanted.

When people ask me how I found all my vendors, I always answer with Instagram. Wedding vendors will often work together many times, in different variations, and they’ll more often than not, tag each other. Sometimes you’ll have the same photographer, florist, and DJ. Sometimes you’ll have the same florist, cake maker, and videographer. I found my photographer first, and through their Instagram, I found my florist. Through my florist I found my cake maker. I also found my hair and make up artist and DJ through tags from my photographer. My photographer was also very willing to share names of trustworthy vendors that they’ve worked with in the past, so your vendors themselves are useful tools.

Any good photographer will be able to give you feedback on how the day should run if you give them a list of photos you definitely want taken. Mine suggested that we do a First Look, couple photos, and then family portraits – all before the ceremony. This way, we got excellent photos of us where I was fresh off the hair and makeup chair. We also got the most important family photos out of the way, so we could enjoy our own cocktail hour and mingle with our guests. I would highly recommend doing this if you can swing it. Being present for cocktail hour meant we were able to actually sit down and eat dinner, since we had already greeted everyone prior.

And while we did do all of the planning ourselves, if I had to do this again, I would definitely hire a planner if I did not have the help of X’s family members in Guatemala. My MIL helped so much with arranging wedding favors, tasting the cake, buying the booze. I would definitely hire a day-of planner to run the event at the venue, which we did for ours.

Here are some lessons I learned while planning a destination wedding:

• When you pick your wedding dress, make sure it’s a compact one. I’ve read that most airlines will let you take on a garment bag as a carry on, but I didn’t want to risk it. I stuffed my dress, my qipao, and 3 pairs of shoes into my carry on suitcase and felt much more secure about it.
• Don’t sweat the small things, you can always buy it when you arrive. We brought a ton of stuff with us, but we also had a ton of items that we swung by a local Dollar City to pick up. Your guests won’t even notice, I promise.
• Along that vein, make sure you arrive with plenty of time to troubleshoot.
• Don’t be afraid to ask your vendors for recommendations. We had a forecast of a tropical storm and knew we had to rent a tent for our outdoor wedding. Our venue coordinator was able to send us a list of trusted vendors and we were able to get a tent 4 days before the wedding.
• And lastly, remember that people will bail last minute. Don’t worry about the seating arrangements and just enjoy your day. Forget them.

And of course, I need to shout out our lovely vendors –

• Photographers: Dani and Mishka from Daniel Lopez Perez Photography
• Flowers: Bea de la Roca from Addy Florales
• Venue: Porta Hotel Antigua
• Cake: Gerson Arriaga, De Pastel
• DJ: High Pro Audio
• Hair & Makeup: MBK Studios / Katina Pappa