If you don’t know by now, I love to travel! I met my now-husband in 2014 when we both worked at LaGuardia Airport and we’ve been traveling together ever since!
When he proposed in the Philippines (October 2018) I knew two things.
1. I wanted to get married on our next anniversary, December 7, 2019
& 2. That we needed to have a destination wedding. More specifically, we needed to get married in Colombia so his family, as well as mine, could celebrate with us.
We started planning & researching venues in Colombia. We agreed to marry in Medellin & booked our tickets to fly down and look at our options.
Then two days before our flight I found out I was pregnant!
(By the way, did I mention this is when my morning sickness started?)
So not only were our plans changing, but I also couldnt enjoy a bandeja paisa while I was there.
After all, we already bought our flight, we weren’t going to waste a trip to Colombia!
As we weighed our options, we realized a destination wedding would not be realistic. How could I plan being pregnant and miles away. So, what was the next best thing?
Travel themed wedding!
This took a LOT of planning and attention to detail, but it came out better than I could have imagined! I’m going to share my planning process and final outcome below….
Centerpieces –
Instead of the traditional table numbers, we made every table a country that we’ve visited together. We had 8 tables in total that were: Cuba, Colombia, France, Greece, Philippines, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Spain. We decorated the inside with photos of us in said country, as well as the flag.
Putting these together were no small feat! I ordered white suitcases and wrapped them with self-adhesive map vinyl. This was definitely the most pain-staking part of the entire decorating process. I personally cut them into pieces to make it easier to place without having any pockets of air trapped underneath.
Next, I made country decals on the Canva app, printed pictures of us together in each country and placed them inside the suitcase along with flowers and flags bought on amazon.
These were the hit of the party! Which was a relief to me, as I worked so hard on them!
Place cards/Party Favor –
In order for everyone to “travel” to their table, we found the perfect thing – luggage tag escort cards!
I found Quality Escort Luggage Tags on Etsy and I was SO impressed!
The tags are high quality leather, they arrived very fast, and the sellers also included a free Mr & Mrs tag for us! This was probably the best surprise for our guests. I even had extra and gave some out to the waitstaff.
Best part? I still have extra for my readers! Stay tuned to my Instagram for my announcement on this mini giveaway!
Sweets & Treats –
We originally were not planning on having a cake at all – just a dessert table. I am so lucky to have some very creative people in my family to help with this process! Our DIY treats were custom Hershey bar labels (which of course were all gone before I got a picture!), popcorn bags, and the fan favorite – mini suitcases with our favorite mini chocolates inside!
My absolute favorite had to be the cake pops and paper airplane cookies from Flower Sweets. Not only was everything delicious – but the price could not be beat! I almost didn’t want anyone to eat these!
Decorations –
Aside from our (amazing) centerpieces, we continued with the travel theme in our decorations. We hung paper airplanes from the ceiling of the venue, as well as used them to decorate the centerpieces, dessert table, and sweetheart table. I found some great travel themed signs on sale at Hobby Lobby, as well as our guest book alternative.
I still can’t believe how everything turned out! Usually, something goes wrong when you plan events like this, but I can honestly say nothing did! Everything turned out to be of great quality and a hit for all of my guests. I had to fight someone to keep one of my own centerpieces!
During the planning stage, it was very difficult to find wedding travel themed items. Most of what I found was for bridal or baby showers, so I really hope this guide helps someone in their planning stage – or inspire someone to do the same! Yes, a lot of it was DIY but it was not as hard as you think! Hey, if I could plan and execute everything with a two month old baby, what’s your excuse?
Here are some links to some other decorations I used:
Flags – Pack of 50
Cake Topper – “You are my Greatest Adventure”
Safe travels!
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