1. Plan Early

Planning early is essential for any wedding, but it’s especially important for a destination wedding. Notify your family and friends as soon as possible so they can arrange time off work, update passports, and book travel. Whether you’re getting married within the US at the beach or in the mountains or somewhere outside of the US, like Mexico or Italy, give yourself at least a year to fully plan your destination wedding.

2. Get Some Help

Using a specialist or company that focuses on destination weddings can save you time and stress. They act as a hybrid of a wedding planner and travel agent. My sister’s planning company helped secure the wedding date, coordinate a block of hotel rooms for guests at a group discount, and manage transportation from the airport to the hotel. They also handle any travel or room changes needed, making the process smoother.

3. Choose Off-Season Dates

Opt for an off-season date to save on costs. My sister and her fiancé are getting married at the end of October, which is off-season in Mexico. This choice resulted in lower costs for flights, accommodations, and the wedding venue itself. Off-season weddings can significantly cut expenses while still providing a beautiful setting.

4. Know the Rules

Be aware of any extra fees for bringing your own vendors. If you prefer a specific photographer or officiant over those offered by the resort, there may be additional charges for “outside vendors.” To simplify budgeting and reduce costs, many hotels offer all-inclusive packages that cover the ceremony, reception, food, and drinks.

5. Use Travel Rewards

Leverage travel rewards and cash-back incentives to save money. This can be especially beneficial for a destination wedding, potentially saving you thousands on travel expenses. Use points for flights and accommodations to reduce overall costs.

I have the unique insight of helping my sister plan her wedding, and I’ve seen both the successes and challenges of planning a destination wedding. I hope these tips help you save money if you or a friend or family member decides to plan a destination wedding.

Other resources:

Budgeting for wedding season

Tips to save money on travel

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Travel credit cards – If you don’t have one already, travel credit cards are a great way to save hundreds of dollars on your next vacation. I personally love the Capital One Venture Card, which has double points to cover travel expenses– you get higher points/rewards on certain purchases. One of my goals this year is to fully pay for the trip to Mexico for my sister’s wedding by utilizing credit card points. Here is a helpful list of some of the best travel credit cards available right now. Above and beyond the usual travel points you receive by using the cards, many travel credit cards have great intro incentives that can save upwards of $750. You can also receive hundreds of dollars in rewards by referring friends or family to use the credit card I’ll have to report back afterwards and give an update of how much I was able to save by using credit card points.

Flight trackers – My sister is getting married this fall and she is doing a destination wedding in Mexico. She is using a travel agency to help coordinate planning booking for everyone that is invited and one of the tips the travel agency sent out was to set up Google Alerts for flights during our dates. The “sweet spot” for booking flights is 1-3 months for domestic trips and 2-8 months for international trips depending on where you are going and whether you are traveling during busier seasons for your destination.

Travel agents – My husband and I used a travel agent last year to plan our 10-year anniversary trip and it was incredibly helpful on so many levels. The agent was able to coordinate our rental cars, flights and hotels and was even able to change dates and flights on our behalf. Most travel agents have no service fee since they earn commissions from hotels, airlines, and other venues. TravelSense.org is part of the American Society of Travel Advisors and allows you to search by some useful parameters including specialty and geographic location. I highly recommend using one to plan your next trip!

Reservations – I know that seems like an incredibly basic “secret” but I didn’t realize how far in advance some restaurants or activities require a reservation. We went to Napa and Sonoma in 2015 and realized that we had waited too late to book certain restaurants and wineries that we wanted to visit so when we returned for our 10-year anniversary trip I made sure to schedule our meals and tours much further in advance. This is especially important if you are traveling during the “high” season for whatever destination you are visiting.

A few other articles and tips on traveling from the Mainstreet archives –

Five Costly Travel Mistakes

18 Travel Tips

Cheap Vacation Ideas

Smart Moves to Practice for Vacation and Trips

What are some of your favorite traveling tips and tricks? Happy traveling!!

The post 4 “Secrets” to help you save on travel this summer appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Check out what Liz’s 4-year-old daughter packed for their most recent trip to Pennsylvania…

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In this episode of Money Date, Anna talks about planning for your holiday travel and spending. In short, be prepared!

• Decide well in advance when you are going to plan holiday travel (Thanksgiving & Christmas days are best for cheaper fares)
• Know how to deal with disruptions: what if the flight is delayed or canceled? What will I do if I can’t make the trip?
• Know how to get your complaints in to airlines. Twitter is much faster than their customer service lines
• Plan ahead with the budgeted amount for your holiday expenses. If you don’t have money for travel, don’t do it.

The post Holiday Travel & Spending Tips for Sanity appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

1. Don’t leave your laptop (or other expensive and useful electronic device) on the plane. Yes, I know the flight attendant makes that announcement on every landing, but I was in a hurry. I was sitting in the bulkhead row and they make you put even your small bags in the overhead container. I was late getting to my seat. The only open container was more than three rows back.

I took my laptop out of my backpack and put it on the seat. (I hide it behind my back on takeoff so just as soon as the internet comes on I can start using it right away without having to get up to retrieve my bag.) So far, on this fateful trip, this technique worked fine.

It was the landing that got me. I was in such a hurry to get my bag and backpack by pushing against the exit flow of passengers that I forgot my laptop. I discovered it on the train ride into the city. Cost of mistake: $1,600. I had to buy a new laptop, download my information, and proceed on my way.

Luckily, United found my laptop and shipped it back home. My wife said, “What is your computer doing here?” So now you know this is the second time I’ve had to confess my costliest travel mistake.

2. Don’t put an expensive camera lens in checked luggage and forget you put it there. There was just too much stuff to put in my backpack, so I put a $400 lens I knew I wouldn’t need right away and various camera accessories into my checked luggage for the big overseas trip. I took pictures of all of the items in the luggage, so I was prepared for any loss.

My mistake was not taking inventory upon opening my bag at the first hotel. I never needed to use that lens since I had one on my camera and two others in my backpack. Only when I got home and started putting my camera gear away did I discover it missing.

Too late. My second costliest travel mistake. I still have the picture to remind me.

3. Booked the plane for the wrong day. US airlines must give you 24 hours to change a flight without charging you. I’m sure I intended to book it on the day I put on my calendar, but the message from my airline saying you’re upgraded was a shock. It was for the wrong day.

Not only did it cost me about $320 to change the day of the flight, but it cost me my free (upgraded) First Class seat. Double check the date, time and flight as you put it on the calendar. I even put it on my wife’s calendar at the same time now using the airline confirmation email as my source rather than my memory.

4. Booked hotel for the wrong day. In the US, I use hotels.com for most reservations. I get a free day for every ten days of stay so I book through them. I had to make a change in my schedule and change my reservation and that’s when I discovered the original reservation was for the wrong day and it was more than 24 hours after booking.

I called hotels.com and explained my mistake since the reservation was prepaid to save even more money. They took pity on me and didn’t make me lose my $60 for the Motel 6 reservation. Luckily, I stay cheap, but I still could have been out $60.

5. Put wrong departure date on wife’s calendar. This could have been my most costly mistake, but after 44 years of marriage, my wife knows I’m not perfect. It does irritate her that on occasion I can forget to tell her about a trip, or even worse, give her a wrong date or forget to tell her about a change that makes a date on her calendar incorrect. BTW, today is her birthday as I write this. Thank you for loving me dear, even though I make mistakes. Thank you Psalm 32. I feel better.

The post Five Costly Travel Mistakes appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

1. Research free days and free visits. Do as many free things as possible.
2. Ask for advice on discussion groups like TripAdvisor and FlyerTalk.
3. Take flights going and coming on Tuesday and Wednesday and red eyes, if possible.
4. Know the local holidays and avoid them. Prices go up then.
5. Go direct to properties to pay a lower price because they don’t have to pay a commission. Ask for the discount.
6. Pay in cash for lodging, in some countries, to get a further discount. (Ethical consideration here)
7. Think of Sunday nights as the most available for lodging and lowest price.
8. Follow travel blogs and credit card reward programs on sites like thepointsguy.com awardwallet.com TravelZoo and One Mile At a Time.
9. Use Booking.com, Hotels.com or a direct hotel program like Marriott. I use the Chase Marriott credit card and get a free night each year. I have four free nights via Hotels.com built up after using one on current trip. Look for free cancellation deadlines.
10. Look for family freebies like kids eat free.
11. Look for coupons on online sites, local maps and tour guides produced locally.
12. Use points when you can if they make cents (sense). Know the value of each point or mile before you use them.
13. Use a house sitter if you have pets. They’re free and vetted through several organizations.
14. Try to eat just two meals a day to lower food costs. Find free water and fill up that bottle.
15. Look at the cost of travel insurance. We have a credit card that if used for travel provides a good insurance policy at $95 a year fee after the being free the first year and with 55,000 points to boot. Found it on thepointsguy.com. You can shop around for trip insurance too. Our travel agent found us a cheaper policy last time.
16. Use a travel agent when things get complicated or special interests are involved.
17. Car rental is another story. Shop around. Get advice and look for discounts and restrictions before you commit. Take pictures and video of the car before and after. Might save you some big bucks.
18. Never stop researching. There are deals and info all over the internet and from locals.

The post 18 Travel Tips appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

Some less expensive trip ideas for the upcoming summer season:

• Be a local tourist. I’ve lived most of my life on the east coast in the Maryland and DC area, and I never really spent enough time exploring. Spend a few moments checking out what the top 10 or 20 sights in your area are and ask yourself how many of those you’ve visited at any time in the recent past.
• Visit a national park. America’s national park system is one of our nation’s treasures. The natural beauty contained within the parks is some of the most stunning in the world and it can be accessed at a small price. It’s very cheap to camp at a national park, and even lodging – in the form of nearby hotels and cabins – isn’t usually too pricey.
• Explore your own region. Instead of flying to some grand destination across the country, or in another country, simply hop in a car and explore some of the interesting areas within a few hours of your home. Almost every region of the U.S. offers some amazing getaways nearby, and taking advantage of that eliminates the cost of plane tickets and vastly increases your travel flexibility.
• Wait until the very last minute. This might seem crazy as a summer vacation strategy, but it can actually produce a surprisingly cheap vacation. Simply wait until the absolute last minute to plan your trip. Wake up one morning, see what cheap flights and hotels are available that day, book a flight and a cheap hotel at your destination, then travel somewhere unexpected. You’ll wind up in a completely unexpected place, which will be full of surprises for you, and you’ll be doing it with a dirt-cheap plane ticket and an inexpensive hotel room because you’ll be providing last-minute fill-in for the providers of those services. Sure, you won’t be able to carefully plan your vacation, but it will definitely be exciting and unpredictable.
• Travel someplace less typical. Many of the most expensive vacations are to the “usual” tourist destinations – Paris, the Caribbean, Disney World, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and so on. Instead, aim for something a little off the beaten path. Instead of Paris, stay in a smaller town in France. Instead of going to the Bahamas, go to Grenada. Instead of hitting Disney World, go to Cedar Point.

Summer vacations don’t have to kill your wallet if you apply a few smart strategies. Some of those strategies can produce an even more memorable summer experience. Think outside the box this summer and you may find yourself with an unforgettable trip at a forgettable price.

The post Travel Season: Cheap Vacation Ideas appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.

1. Spending

2. Earning

3. Savings

Let’s face it, big expected and unexpected expenses happen. Put some time into planning now. I want you to be more proactive, that way you can stay on the top of it.

Plan ahead

• Determine what kind of big expenses you anticipate
• Vacations
• New Car
• New furniture, new appliances
• Gifts
• Weddings
• Donations

Timeline

• When during the year will you need to spend on these items?

Get to work

• You now know what you going to buy and when. The next step is to assess where you are with the money part.

Do your numbers. How much will you be spending on your financial goals? Do you already have funds saved?

Begin saving or earning. I recommend setting up a separate savings account, where you can for these expenses. Open a high yield online savings account. You also will earn a little interest.

The post Planning Big Expenses in 2018 appeared first on MainStreet Financial Planning.