AisleDash

As soon as you have that shiny ring on your left ring finger, you'll also have a few (dozen) decisions to make. From what kind of wedding dress you see yourself gliding down the aisle in to whether you should have an open or cash bar. Until the moment you say "I do" you and your husband-to-be will be making choices. Most of these decisions will be fun and each will lead you to the beautiful wedding of your dreams, but none of them are as important as the first one you'll make: where to tie the knot?

Destination weddings are a rising and popular trend in the wedding industry. It's appealing to offer your guests (and yourselves) a vacation in addition to your wedding. And, it has to be said: destination weddings make for incredible pictures.

But before you make the decision to get married away from your hometown, here are a few things to consider. Questions, when answered honestly, that will make it rather easy to decide between your figurative backyard and a fun destination away from home.

• Will the people you most want at your wedding be able to afford to travel? If you can't imagine getting married without your grandmother in the first row, make sure she'll be able to come regardless. If your parents live down the street but can't afford to fly across the country, find that out. If you have five bridesmaids in mind, but you're not sure if they'll all be able to make the trip, figure it out before you ask them to be in your bridal party. The perks of a destination wedding really are numerous, but they won't seem like perks if you can't share them with the people you most want to.
• Can you afford to travel? Sure, a wedding in Hawaii or Paris would be arguably near-perfect, but can you afford the cost of travel -- plane tickets, rental car, hotel, etc -- in addition to the cost of the wedding? Of course not every destination is as pricey as Europe or Hawaii, but you will have to travel regardless and there are some inevitable expenses that will go along with traveling. Make sure you won't be strapped for cash once you arrive in sunny Jamaica or snowy Switzerland.
  
• When should you get married? If you've always envisioned tying the knot on a beach in Fiji, make sure you choose a date that doesn't fall during hurricane season (November-April). If you want to get married in historic New England, it might be best to plan an early fall wedding -- when the weather is not-too-hot, not-too-cold and the colors are breathtaking. For every popular destination wedding location, there is a right (and a wrong!) time of year to get married there. Arm yourself (and your planning) with this information.
• Can you relinquish a little control? Even though you may be able to visit your destination of choice before you decide upon it for your wedding backdrop, there will be some decisions you'll have to make on faith and e-mails alone. You won't be able to see your bridal bouquet until the week of; you won't be able to do a makeup/hair run-through until the week of; you won't be able to spend countless hours becoming really familiar with your officiant. Sometimes trusting yourself to make the right decision is calming -- and it does free up some time to do other things, like stalk your wedding registry -- but you know yourself best. Are you okay with not being able to pop in your wedding venue at all hours of the day?
  

The first step in planning a wedding is choosing the place, and if you do decide to get married somewhere away from home, you will have the time of your life planning your picture-perfect day. Just make sure you've thought it through -- these questions are a great place to start in planning your dream wedding.