EDH Travel has the answers

Destination weddings, incorporating a wedding, a honeymoon and a family vacation have become increasingly popular.

Genny Arietta, owner of El Dorado Hills Travel at 3919 Park Drive, Suite 60, in El Dorado Hills, has a lot of suggestions for couples who want to offer more to their guests than a single special day.

"Sometimes couples come in and they don't know where they want to get married or where they want to go on a honeymoon," said Arietta, who has been travel agent for 30 years.

"Some resorts, like the Sandals resorts in the Caribbean, offer a free Martha Stewart wedding when the couple books a stay of  five or more nights at the resort.There are Sandals all over the Caribbean and one for every budget."

Sandals are all-inclusive resorts for adults only, but another resort, Beaches, offers an all-inclusive resort for families with children. "This is great for second marriages with blended families who want their children to included in the wedding and are planning a family vacation as part of the honeymoon,"said Arietta.

Cruise lines can offer an interesting way to blend a destination wedding with guests who want to attend the wedding and reception but who aren't able to continue on a cruise.

"Some cruise lines, like Princess Cruises, have a chapel aboard the ship and can perform legal marriages while in port, " said Arietta. "You can get married on the ship before the ship sails and have your reception there. Then before the ship sails, the guests who aren't booked to continue the cruise will leave the ship."

On other cruises, couples can get married in one of the ports of call, off the ship. "We put the bride in contact with a wedding coordinator who helps to set everything up for the wedding and reception and keeps in contact with the bride all the way through to the wedding."

EDH Travel will also put brides in contact with specialists in Hawaii to plan and coordinate weddings on one of the beaches of the islands.

With four travel agents in-house and two outside travel agents, EDH Travel has plenty of people to book flights and hotel rooms for wedding guests too.

Something that any honeymooning couple or wedding guest traveling out of the country needs to plan for is the new rules for passports.

"Your passport must be valid for six months after your return date or you won't be allowed to travel," said Arietta, "so you need to plan accordingly to renew if your passport will expire within that time."

In this age of DIY, why should a couple go through a travel agent to plan their honeymoon or destination wedding?

"We are there to back up our clients and our suppliers back us up. You want to make sure you're really getting what you've paid for and what you expected to get," said Arietta.

Call 916-933-0476 or visit the Website at edhtravel.com for more information.

Wendy Schultz

Wendy Schultz has been a columnist for the Mountain Democrat since 2002 and a staff writer since 2005. She covers Placerville city events and City Council meetings, writes feature stories and reports on things of interest in El Dorado County.

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