A Marriage Made In Heaven

with Martha Chapman

You know, I’m a sucker for weddings. Even when they take place mid-week, on a dreary rainy evening, in October, in downtown T.O. And the happy couple are a bit mismatched (she towers over him). Plus there’s that itty-bitty detail about her already having another, um, husband.

But you know it all seemed to work out. That’s because we were there to mark the joining of Ontario-based Weddings By Ocean with DestinationWeddings.com of the U.S.

The courtship was pretty short, according to the happy non-couple: “We had a breakfast meeting scheduled at the El Dorado Maroma in the Riviera Maya to see if a Canadian destination wedding company and its U.S. counterpart could perhaps work together,” explained Megan Crouse, now officially the managing director, Canada, for DestinationwWeddings.com. “Breakfast lasted so long – over six hours – that they were setting up for dinner when we finally finished.” She and her new partner Ed Cotton, of DestinationWeddings.com near Boston, immediately hit it off (professionally speaking).

Destination weddings are a big travel trend that’s here to stay, Ed told me. “It used to be for the novelty factor, then – and still – as a cost saving factor. Why would you want to spend $40,000 [the average cost for a US wedding] for four hours when you can have a vacation away with your friends and family for several days – for the same price?” As his company has so far racked up some 500,000 clients in wedding groups, he should know.

Cool trends in destination weddings? Larger groups (80 to 100). Private transfers. Gift bags including personalized items such as “Eat, Drink and be Married” thermal mugs. Private group outing such as sunset cruises.

Next up for the duo are yacht weddings, bachelor and bachelorette getaways, and vow renewal trips. And even that corny old chestnut, the honeymoon.

Good luck, Ed and Megan – it’s a happy transborder marriage that appears to be a perfect meeting of the minds!