Travel Niches: Destination Weddings, Re-Visited
by John Hawks

article continued from

If your clients would prefer a short-and-sweet ceremony, with a handful of guests celebrating the happy day with them, the midrange cruise lines like Carnival and NCL will be your best bets. On the other end of the spectrum, you can plan a full-blown, full-service wedding on one of the larger ships with Royal Caribbean or Princess. (Some luxury lines like Cunard and Crystal do not allow weddings on board, unfortunately.)

Princess generally offers the widest range of options for engaged couples marrying at sea. In fact, the line has "Weddings at Sea" packages, and some ships like the "Golden Princess" and the "Diamond Princess" have separate wedding chapels on board. The captain can conduct the ceremony, and Web cams in the chapels can broadcast the ceremony over the Internet to your clients' friends and family members at home.

Want to go another direction? Try Disney Cruise Line, where your clients can have the actual ceremony on Castaway Cay, the cruise line's private island. Royal Caribbean's "Royal Romance" programs will let you schedule the nuptials in various in-port locations like a winery in Greece or the top of a glacier in Alaska.

(Remember that, as with most well-laid plans, the above programs and prices can change with little warning. Always check directly with the cruise lines you're considering for the latest policies.)

Remind your clients that, because you plan many honeymoon and wedding trips, you can avoid the possible pitfalls that might arise if your clients decide to book direct. For example, you can find out which lines will not allow the captain to conduct the ceremony, or the cruise line rules that apply if the wedding cruise is waylaid due to hurricanes or other travel delays. If your clients plan their own weddings on the high seas, they're on their own!

The second big trend we're seeing with destination weddings is the growth of wedding travel suppliers. For example, DestinationWeddings.com is a very active OSSN supplier member that specializes in teaming with local home-based agents around the United States to sell wedding travel packages. The company says about 13 percent of the 2.3 million weddings in America every year happen on the road. That's almost 300,000 weddings that involve 15 to 20 travel packages on average for the lucky couple, their friends, and their family members -- or about $1,320 in commissions per destination wedding!

Companies like DestinationWeddings.com will give you advice and support in selling these types of trips -- including referrals they collect from consumers wanting help with their travel plans for the big day. (Click the link above for more information on this company's affiliate program for OSSN agents.) This means you can spend more time focusing on this niche and maximizing your profits!