Publish the commute in the save-the-date
Name the airport, the typical connection, and who pays for rooms. US Saturday arrivals into Punta Cana and Montego Bay behave differently from a UK routing into Grantley Adams or a Canadian winter hop into NAS. If guests pay, they need the fare shape early. If you pay, you need the block math before you promise a private cay. Silence until month eight is how RSVPs collapse.
- Airport code in the first guest email
- Who pays rooms, in writing
- A midweek landing option if Saturday fares are the objection
Guest flights, not aesthetics, by island
Dominican Republic east coast: dense US lift, mixed room rates, resort buses. Jamaica: Montego Bay for the west and north-coast resorts, Kingston when the house is actually east. Barbados: Grantley Adams and a UK-heavy pattern. Saint Lucia: Hewanorra versus George Charles is a real guest argument. Bahamas: NAS versus a second hop. Turks and Caicos and Cayman: fewer seats, higher fares, smaller lists. Grenada and Antigua: beautiful and slower. Choose the airport the list can use, then the lawn.
- 80 cousins: Punta Cana or Montego Bay first
- 20 people who will pay Grace Bay: the luxury north is allowed
- Dual-airport islands need a published default
Room blocks are guest-travel products
An all-inclusive block is a commute plus a meal plan. A villa cluster is a commute plus cars plus a generator story. Attrition clauses punish empty rooms, not empty Pinterest boards. If older relatives will not share a shuttle, you do not have a hotel weekend. Independent planners should be asked who owns airport signage and who owns the widow who refuses the boat. That is guest travel, not décor.
- Attrition is a travel contract
- Shuttles fail when the guest list is stubborn
- Boats are a weather product, not a photo product
Put origin cities in the wedding profile
We cannot independently source a planner against ‘everyone will figure out flights’. Name the three origin cities. Name the airport you expect to publish. Matching then follows the corridor. If the list is split between Manchester and Miami, say so; that is a Jamaica-versus-Barbados conversation, not a florals conversation. Widow seating on a shuttle is a job line, not an afterthought. Cousins will not guess the airport—publish it before you book a lawn they cannot reach.
- Three origin cities on the profile
- Published airport before the lawn deposit
- Planner job includes transfers if anyone is not on-resort
Split lists need a published default airport
A Manchester–Miami guest mix will not share one ‘easy’ fare. Pick the airport you will print, then say the other half may connect. Silence looks like indecision and reads as ‘we did not think about you’. Independent matching can follow a split list; it cannot invent a third airport that serves both cities equally.
- Print one default even if the list is dual-origin
- Offer a connection narrative, not a shrug
- Do not let the louder family city overwrite the larger headcount
Common questions
Questions couples ask
Should guests pay for their own Caribbean wedding travel?
Often yes, and it only works if you publish rates and airports early. If you hide the commute, they will decline late.
Which Caribbean airport is easiest for US guests?
Punta Cana and Montego Bay are the usual volume answers. Easiest is the airport your specific cities actually fly. Check the list, not a ranking table.
What if half our guests are in the UK and half in the US?
That split is a real shortlist filter. Jamaica often appears. Barbados often appears for the UK half. Dual-origin lists need an honest airport default.
Do we need a planner for guest travel?
Not to book everyone’s tickets. Yes to own transfers, room-block behaviour and the person who will not get on the boat. Put that in the job.
Should we charter a flight for guests?
Rarely, and only after the headcount is real. Charters do not fix a lawn the list cannot reach on scheduled metal. Try the published airport first.