How do you decide between a destination wedding and a more conventional, stay-at-home ceremony? While there’s no right or wrong answer, destination weddings can have all the convenience of home while including an extraordinary number of benefits.

Here are my top ten reasons on why destination weddings are the best!

1. You can do something special and unique that is meaningful to your relationship.

Celebrate your heritage. Travel to a location important to your ancestry. Incorporate authentic cultural ceremonies into your big day that might not be available in your local area. Are you passionate about the environment? In Los Cabos, Mexico, you can make the release of baby sea turtles part of your wedding program. Do you and your partner share a love of art? Tie the knot in a museum. Animal lovers? Maybe a zoo wedding is more your style. But whatever it is that’s meaningful to you as a couple, destination weddings allow you to incorporate that element into your ceremony in a more impactful way.

2. You and all your guests will be in vacation mode!

Think of a destination wedding as a combo pack—wedding, honeymoon, and vacation! Both you and your guests appreciate the opportunity to leave the cares of everyday life at home. We’re all more relaxed in a gorgeous setting with the details taken care of by a professional planner, so all we have to do is enjoy time with loved ones and friends.

3. You will be saving your guests money on a vacation.

Quite often, resorts allow weddings to book rooms in blocks or provide group discounts for wedding guests. Even for traditional weddings, most guests travel for the ceremony and end up paying for lodging and expenses. At a destination wedding, your guests can take advantage not only of discounted wedding rates, but they have the ability to extend their stay and snag a few extra days for their personal getaway.

4. The wedding day becomes a wedding weekend!

At traditional weddings, time spent with family and friends is limited to a four-hour window of ceremony and reception. After the ceremony, everyone scatters back to their respective lives. But at a destination wedding, travel time means your guests arrive a few days before the ceremony. With a beautiful setting, vacation mode, and stress-free reunion with other loved ones, your special day is now a special weekend (or more) that everyone will enjoy.

5. Spend quality time with friends and loved ones.

Traditional weddings are a quick meet, greet, hello in the reception line and then dash off. But a destination wedding gives you time to have a reunion without the drama. Enjoy the best parts of a traditional wedding minus the time crunch.

6. You can start your honeymoon early.

There’s no need to rush out of the reception or spend the next day tired and stressed about getting through TSA. You’re already there! What’s not to love?

7. You can remove yourself from the planning process and let the planner take the reins.

When you’re having a wedding in a luxury remote location, the distance & research alone will mean you’re going to need outside help. The good news is that you can surrender the need to micromanage and let a professional take over. Without that stress, you can relax and enjoy yourself.

8. You will stand out from your friends' weddings.

If you’ve ever worried about showing up to an event and realizing you’re wearing the same dress as someone else, a destination is for you! There’s no better way to separate yourself from the crowd than to choose a truly special location.

9. The possibilities are endless! You can have your wedding anywhere!

Get married in mid-air at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. Tie the knot in the Bridal Cave in the Ozarks. Are you an adrenaline junkie? How about saying “I do” aboard a rollercoaster at Cedar Point in Ohio? You really can get married anywhere.

10. Destination weddings can help keep your guest list down

Skip the obligation to invite Janice from accounting, your next door neighbor from when you were six-years-old, and your mom’s best friend’s uncle’s second cousin. Keep your guest list to a minimum. A destination wedding can often reduce your guest list by 45-75% (and your expenses with it).

You can be certain that your ceremony is witnessed by the people who love you the most. Janice from accounting might appreciate that you rinse the coffeepot after you drink the last cup, but she’s not likely to fly halfway across the world for you.