If you’re planning a destination wedding and choosing between all-inclusive resorts, you may want to plan a resort tour or “site inspection” to ask questions, see the resort, meet the wedding team, and more. These in-person tours of resorts are very common, and resort wedding teams love meeting with prospective couples to help ensure you pick the perfect resort for your big day.
Most resorts even offer some sort of discounted stay for this purpose, so you can really understand the vibe and fully experience what it’s like!
How to Plan a Resort Tour for a Destination Wedding
If you’re working with a destination wedding travel agent, they should be able to hook you up with a site inspection. I do this for lots of my couples!
How Many Resorts Do You Want To Visit?
Most couples tend to lean in one of two directions:
Stay at 1 Resort & Visit Your Top 2-3 Resort Choices
If you take this route, it will be easy to directly compare your top resort choices. I think this is the best move if you can’t decide from pictures, information, and reviews alone. You can choose whatever resort or wedding elements are most important to you, and really compare those to make your decision.
I suggest staying at one of the resorts for 2-3 nights (preferably your top choice), and then going out to visit the other resorts for a few hours to have your site inspections and wedding meetings.
This is best for couples who only want to travel to the destination for a couple of days, and get the most bang for their buck.
Stay at All of Your Top 2-3 Resort Choices
Alternatively, you could stay for 1-2 nights at each of the resorts, so you truly get an apples-to-apples comparison of your experiences.
This is better for couples who have a 5-7 day window of time to spend visiting resorts, and value a more in-depth experience over speed.
Either way, I strongly recommend staying at at least one of the resorts, so you get a good feel for the all-inclusive culture of the area. Plus, you’ll be able to try out a bunch of the restaurants and bars, experience the entertainment and nightlife, understand the level and quality of service, and generally get a feel for the vibe of the resort(s) where you stay.
There’s also one more choice, though I don’t recommend it if you can help it:
Stay at an EP Hotel and Visit Your Top 2-3 Resort Choices
This final choice is less preferable (for reasons listed above), but is a more cost-effective way to visit your resort choices. Remember, EP hotels are not the same as all-inclusive resorts. If you choose to stay at one, you’ll need to purchase all your food and drinks, since they won’t be included.
How to Make Your Site Inspection Plans
You’ll want to plan your trip as early as you can, so once you’re back home, you still have the maximum amount of time left to:
- choose your resort
- lock down your wedding date and venue
- invite your guests
- give your guests time to save time, money, and PTO
- give you and your guests plenty of time to pay for your stay (and your destination wedding expenses!)
It’s also best to give the resort wedding teams a few weeks’ notice, and ensure that they have availability to meet with you. 3-4 weeks is a great window for most of the year, but spring break, major holidays, and ‘peak season’ may have limited availability. So be sure to plan your destination wedding resort tours around those dates, and with plenty of advance notice.
You or your travel agent will contact the resort’s wedding team, indicate your interest in planning a destination wedding with them, and ask about their availability for a site inspection. You’ll also want to be clear about your wants and expectations for your meeting. Which of these things do you hope to do during your resort tour?
- Tour the resort
- Tour wedding venues
- Meet with the wedding team
- Learn about wedding packages, vendors, and pricing
- Taste wedding menus (if you have any specific requirements like vegetarian / vegan / gluten free meals, make sure to tell them ASAP)
- Taste wedding cake
- Anything else that’s important to you?
Then you’ll wait to hear back from the wedding team.
Sometimes this scheduling and planning process can take a week or two and numerous emails – so be sure to go in with plenty of time and tempered expectations. This is a marathon, not a sprint!
What’s Included in a Destination Wedding Site Inspection
I’ll start out by saying something important that will apply to EVERY SINGLE STEP of the destination wedding planning process:
Every resort is different.
Every resort handles things differently – even if they’re from the same brand, chain, family, area, or destination.
They’ve got different owners, different wedding teams, different everything. So what I’m about to say is a broad generalization. Please get the specific details from each resort you want to visit!
Most Destination Wedding Resort Site Inspections Will Include…
Of course, destination wedding resort tours will include a meeting with a member of the resort’s wedding team.
The decent ones will show you around and answer your questions. The great ones will get to know you, help you understand what’s possible on-site, and make sure you feel completely comfortable with their venues, menus, and wedding team before you pull the trigger!
Most resort tours will include an actual resort tour (shocker, I know!). Some wedding coordinators will just show you around to the different wedding venues on resort property.
Others will really give you a guided tour of the whole resort. This could include seeing a room category or two (this is always based on availability – so don’t stress if you can’t see a room. They might just be full!) You might see the beach, some pools, some restaurants, the lobby, ballrooms, and other wedding venues. It all just depends!
All destination wedding site inspections should include tours of the venues. That’s what you’re there for, after all!! Be sure to ask about venue capacities, as well as any decor or wedding vision questions you may have about each venue. The great wedding coordinators tend to show photos or real wedding set-ups, so you can get inspired by the variety of events they can throw in each space.
Some site inspections will include food and/or cake tastings. If they do, they will typically share a couple of food options to choose from, and let you just taste your 1-2 food choices.
Other resorts will have you pay for a food / cake tasting (or pay for additional meals / flavors if you want more than the basics). It all just depends on the resort
Staying On-Site at a Resort Site Inspection
Finally, some resorts offer a discounted stay during your site inspection. This discounted rate will only apply to the couple, and usually for a maximum of 2-3 nights, in a lower-level room category.
If you want to stay in a nicer room or for a longer time, you’ll probably just want to pay the standard rate to stay (or see if your TA can hook you up with any deals at that time).
Some resorts will offer the ability for you to re-apply those funds paid for your discounted stay toward your wedding costs later, if you follow their rules
Again, all resorts’ rules are different, and not all resorts offer that option. But if they do, it usually looks something like this:
- You must book their specific promotional rate for their wedding meeting + site visit, during a certain window of time
- You must attend all parts of that wedding meeting while there (and generally be in good standing – no destroying rooms, etc.)
- You must book your wedding with that resort, within a certain window of time
Then IF they allow it, they’ll let you know how to apply the funds you paid for your destination wedding resort tour toward your wedding.
If The Resort Doesn’t Offer a Discounted Stay
As I said, not all resorts will offer a discounted stay. So you’ll want to talk to your destination wedding expert travel agent about the best way to book your room.
Also, some resorts do offer discounted stays, but only during certain windows of availability. If your personal travel availability doesn’t align with the wedding team’s discounted stay availability, you may need to book a room at a regular rate. Again, your TA will help with this!
Once you’ve scheduled your destination wedding resort tour and wedding meeting, you’ll want to prepare some questions to ask, to ensure you’re making the most of your time, money, and experience!
Questions to Ask During Destination Wedding Resort Tours
There is a LOT to know about each all-inclusive resort. Each property has its own inclusions, amenities, room categories, restaurants, accessibility levels, bars, pools, beach, wedding venues, packages, and team, and SO MUCH MORE. That’s not even including the general vibe that each resort has, which can greatly contribute to a positive or negative experience during your vacation and destination wedding weekend!
So how on Earth can you learn all of that during a 2-3 hour destination wedding tour?!
You can’t. And you shouldn’t. You’ll be overwhelmed. And honestly, not EVERY detail can matter to you.
Instead, here’s what I suggest:
How to Learn About Your Resort Choices
First, I always suggest hiring a certified Destination Wedding Expert Travel Agent (like me!). We’ll help you narrow your resort options down from the hundreds that are out there, to the top 2-4 resorts that fit the bill, match your preferences, and allow your wedding vision to thrive!
My destination wedding couples always receive a detailed resort proposal with their curated list of resort options. That list will contain photos of the resort (usually from my personal trips!), details about the inclusions, maps of the resort, numbers of rooms, pools, etc., lists of amenities, information on wedding venues, and the various wedding packages that are available.
In short, my couples go in knowing a LOT about each resort in the first place.
So what’s left to learn?
It depends.
It depends on YOU TWO. What are your preferences? What’s most important to YOU?
For some couples, food quality and options are the top priority.
For others, the wedding venue must meet their list of requirements, and that’s the most important thing.
Other couples may have specific accessibility needs that must be met.
For you, it could be something different. That’s the beauty of your wedding – it’s all about YOU.
So when you go on a destination wedding resort tour, what you experience, and the questions you ask will all be about YOU and your preferences.
Download This List of Questions To Ask During Your Resort Site Inspection
I’ve put together an extensive list of questions to ask to fully understand a resort, its wedding team, planning process, venues, and packages, which I’m happy to share with you!
That list is way too long for you to ask every question. But I don’t want you to!
The list is a starting point for you.
What don’t you know already (that wasn’t included in your resort proposal)?
What’s important to YOU TWO?
Highlight those questions most important to you, and take those to your wedding meeting.
That’s what you ask.
It’s as simple as that.
Pro Tip For Your Destination Wedding Resort Tour
Okay, I know I’ve shared a bunch of pro tips, but this one is my favorite. Are you ready?
When you tour each destination wedding venue during your resort tour, yes, you’ll definitely want to take pictures.
But I also want you to take a video.
Not just any video… but a video of your view as you walk down the aisle.
Sure, the venue may not be decorated (and probably won’t be decorated exactly as YOU will want it).
But it’ll still be the wedding venue you might choose for your big day.
So when you tour a venue you love – go ahead and take 30-45 seconds, slowly walk down the aisle, and record a POV video. It’ll just be for yourself to reference later. But trust me, you’ll be glad you did.
Want to see one? Here’s one I took during a destination wedding resort tour at resort last year.
It’s not decorated. It’s not perfect. People are in the pool and in my way. But you can see the view that you’ll see when you walk down the aisle. You get a good feel for the vibe and the space. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be “the one” – you’ll have a good way to compare your top venue choices.
Should We Go On A Destination Wedding Resort Visit?
You may be wondering if it’s even worth it to plan a destination wedding tour. It’s a very fair question.
Honestly, not everyone needs to go on a destination wedding site inspection. Most of my couples don’t.
I think the destination wedding resort visit is a great tool for couples who:
- Have extremely specific needs of any kind (accessibility, food restrictions, wedding vision requirements, etc.)
- Absolutely MUST see the venue in person before making a choice (I get it. Some people just need to physically be there before they can decide. No judgement here)
- Cannot decide between their top choices
If you don’t fall into one of those categories, it may not be for you. Especially if you want to save your PTO and save your money for your actual wedding expenses.
There’s no pressure to take one of these destination wedding resort tour trips if you don’t need it.
(P.S. We travel agents typically don’t make a dime from these trips. If we help you plan yours, it’s just out of the goodness of our hearts, and comes from our desire to see you and your guests happy with your final resort decision!)
When Should We Plan Our Resort Site Inspection?
As I said before, it’s best plan your destination wedding resort tour as early as possible to give yourselves and your guests plenty of time to get everything in order for your actual wedding. After all, that’s the main event!
I usually say that 12-18 months in advance is the perfect time to start planning your destination wedding, so if possible, it’s ideal to go on this destination wedding resort tour before that, especially if you’re using this trip to choose your resort.
After you choose your resort, it can still take 1-2 months to get all of your contracts signed, room block secured, wedding website built, and invitations sent out.
So depending on how soon you want to get married, you’ll probably want to start this process ASAP!
How to Get Started Planning Your Destination Wedding
If you’re ready to get started, well congratulations, you’re in the right place! I’m a certified Destination Wedding Expert, and I exclusively plan destination weddings at all-inclusive resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean.
And yes, sometimes that includes a destination wedding resort tour or site inspection.
I help plenty of my couples take these trips, to ensure they love the all-inclusive resort they choose for their big days!
The very first step toward planning your dream destination wedding will be to hold a complimentary consultation call, which you can book HERE.
During that call, we’ll get to know each other, and I’ll learn about your destination wedding vision, resort preferences, guest list, budget, and more. And I’ll share with you what I charge, what services I provide, and what the entire destination wedding planning process looks like.
Then if we feel like we’re a good fit, we’ll dive in and start planning your big day!
If that sounds good to you, just click the button below to get started!
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