Destination Wedding Planner: Behind Wedicity's Mexico Feature in Destination I Do

We're thrilled to share that Wedicity's work was recently featured in Destination I Do — one of the leading publications for destination wedding inspiration and planning advice. The feature follows Tina Wong, founder and lead designer of Grace and Ivory, and her husband Matt, as they planned their chic, 113-guest celebration at The Fives Beach Hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Read the full feature in Destination I Do.

What made this wedding particularly special to us wasn't just the tropical backdrop or the five stunning custom gowns Tina designed for the weekend. It was the challenge underneath it all: Tina has spent years in the wedding industry. She knows what exceptional looks like. And she trusted Wedicity to bring it to life from another country, without a pre-wedding site visit, in a resort environment that comes with its own set of logistical hurdles.

Here's a look at what that process actually involved.

Planning a Destination Wedding You've Never Seen in Person

One of the most common fears couples share when planning a destination wedding is the unknown — committing to a venue, a layout, a vendor team, and an entire weekend experience for their closest family and friends without being able to walk the space first.

Tina and Matt never visited The Fives Beach Hotel before their wedding day.

That meant Tionna became their eyes, ears, and logistics center from Chicago. Every question about flow — where guests would transition from ceremony to cocktail hour, how the reception space would feel at night, whether the outdoor setup would hold in Playa del Carmen's humidity — was worked through remotely, in coordination with the resort team and outside vendors.

This is where having a planner with destination wedding experience makes a real difference — and where destination wedding logistics become the foundation everything else is built on. The resort staff is skilled at executing their own packages, but they aren't positioned to manage the full guest experience from end to end — the welcome bag assembly, the rehearsal dinner vision, the design details that make a weekend feel cohesive rather than just coordinated. Tionna owned all of it.

For couples who are weighing whether to skip the site visit, know that it's entirely possible to plan a successful destination wedding without one. What you need in place of that visit is a planner who will ask the right questions on your behalf — and who can make sound calls with incomplete information.

Navigating Outside Vendor Fees at a Resort

This is one of the most underestimated costs in destination wedding planning, and Tina was candid about it in her Destination I Do feature: the "nickel and dimed" nature of resort planning can catch even industry professionals off guard.

Most all-inclusive and boutique resort venues have approved vendor lists. If you want to bring in anyone outside of that list — a specific photographer, a stationer, a floral designer — you're often subject to an outside vendor fee. Some resorts require couples to use their in-house vendors exclusively. Others allow outside talent but charge a premium for access.

For Tina and Matt, the details mattered deeply. Tina had a clear vision for the stationery, which led her to Amore Creative, a Chicago-based studio not on the resort's roster. Part of Tionna's job was negotiating that access so Tina could bring in the vendors she specifically wanted — and it's exactly why choosing the right vendors for a destination wedding starts long before you've booked the venue.

The takeaway for couples planning a destination wedding: vet the venue's vendor policy before you fall in love with the property. Your planner should be asking these questions during the venue selection process — not after you've signed a contract.

Choosing The Fives Beach Hotel was a deliberate decision for Tina and Matt, in part because the resort's policies gave them flexibility. That flexibility didn't come without fees, but knowing about them in advance made it a budgeted line item rather than a surprise.

The Design Details That Made It Personal

A destination wedding with 113 guests could easily feel like a production. What keeps it from feeling that way is the presence of thoughtful, personalized details that remind guests — and the couple — why they came all this way.

Some of our favorites from this wedding:

The ceremony featured bamboo fans with silk bows in place of standard paper programs. Practical for the Playa del Carmen heat, but elevated in a way that paper programs simply aren't.

Guest menus featured laser-cut names by Amore Creative — a detail that required Tionna to personally carry them from Chicago to Mexico to ensure they arrived safely and intact.

Welcome bags were custom reusable canvas totes rather than disposable paper bags, filled with Liquid IV, Advil, and Mexican candy the couple personally sourced. Guests used them all week as beach and pool bags. That's the difference between a welcome bag that gets left in the room and one that becomes part of the trip.

And perhaps our favorite detail: cocktail stirrers printed with the faces of Tina and Matt's two 70-pound dogs — one of whom happened to have an existing photo wearing a sombrero, used specifically for the Mexican setting.

The personal details are never just decoration. They're the moments guests talk about on the flight home.

What This Feature Means to Us

Being featured in Destination I Do is meaningful recognition — not just for this wedding, but for the kind of work Wedicity is built to do.

Destination weddings involve a different level of complexity than local celebrations, and they require a planner who can operate confidently across logistics, design, and vendor relationships in environments they don't control. This feature is a reflection of that work, told through the words of a client who came to the table with high expectations and a trained eye.

We're proud of what Tionna and the Wedicity team delivered for Tina and Matt — and grateful to Destination I Do for telling the story.

Read the full feature here.

Planning a destination wedding of your own? Whether you're dreaming of Mexico, Italy, or somewhere else entirely, Wedicity plans destination celebrations that feel intentional from the welcome bag to the last dance. Learn more about our destination wedding planning services or start the conversation.