Destination weddings are becoming more and more popular these days. Whereas destination weddings can be a wonderful experience they can present their own challenges, including finding activities and entertainment to keep your guests busy.

Many brides like to have their weddings seaside, so they move the festivities to a beach locale, either on their local coast or somewhere more exotic like Jamaica, Caneel Bay or the Bahamas. In any event, there are several activities that can be planned around this theme. If the wedding is also a weekend event where guests will be around for more than just the wedding, the bride can plan a sailing excursion. Charter a boat for a day and bring your guests out on the water to relax, rejuvenate, and perhaps enjoy a meal. If the wedding is in the Caribbean, like at Cap Juluca, how about a cooking demonstration? The bride and groom can arrange for the wedding guests to enjoy a complimentary cooking demonstration put on by the hotel or a local cook. Since much of the food the guests eat while visiting for the wedding will be different than what they eat at home, they might enjoy learning how to prepare it for home enjoyment.

Say the wedding is in Hawaii, another popular destination wedding location. Here, you can plan several activities around the location. For example, what about a luau? This could even take the place of a more formal or conventional sit-down rehearsal dinner.

In Hawaii, guests will enjoy a hula lesson. Depending on the age of your guests, be sure there is enough time between the wedding and the lesson for the resting of aching bones, in case there are any.

At the wedding itself, there are many ways to incorporate the location into the ceremony itself. At a beachside reception, you can play “pass the shell”, where a large shell is passed around and guests “listen” for some advice from the other world. Once they get a piece of advice (really something they think of themselves) they share it with the bride and groom, either verbally, or it can be written into a book for the couple.

Other pre-wedding activities can include guided tours, shopping excursions and wine tasting activities (if applicable). If you choose to include any of these activities keep in mind that the bride and groom (or their families) are expected to pay for the bulk of them. If you arrange a sailing excursion, for example, you are expected to pick up the tab for the trip. Do not tell people ahead of time that the activity will be x dollars. It’s likely that won’t sit well with them.

Since one of the great benefits of the destination wedding is that only your closest friends and family will likely surround you, you can plan some meaningful activities that you wouldn’t plan if the wedding were a larger event. For example, you might plan a slumber party night with close friends that includes movies, popcorn and drinks in your hotel room, villa or cottage, depending on where the wedding is held.

Remember that if you do have a destination wedding, many of your guests will choose to spend extra time at your wedding location, for an extended vacation. With this in mind you may want to only schedule a few activities and give helpful suggestions for other activities and forms of entertainment as they might want to do things on their own.

Pamela Kazmierczak is an expert in the wedding field. If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy reading about Caneel Bay Resort and Cap Juluca - two wonderful Caribbean destinations perfect for destination weddings, romantic getaways or your honeymoon.

In recent years, the women’s travel niche has become an increasingly popular segment of the travel industry as droves of women flock to tours designed specifically for the ladies. But what kind of person does this, and why is it appealing?

Singles often enjoy traveling in these groups. In the United States, there are actually more single women than married for the first time in history. But single women who want to travel aren’t letting this stand in their way; they pursue their travel plans, husband or no. Many women simply feel safer and more at ease traveling with a group, and have more fun too. Besides, you’d look rather strange bursting into a robust chuckle all alone at a table for one!

Single women. If you’ve ever been the only single woman on a vacation tour with couples, then you know how it feels to be the odd ‘man’ out. Perhaps you don’t want to mingle with Bob from Sheboygan on a cruise for singles. You’re not looking for your other half; you just want to enjoy your vacation.

Married women. A lot of times, couples just don’t have the same ideas about what constitutes a fun vacation. Maybe you dream of Italy, while he is wistfully thinking of a date with…his fishing rod. Not to worry, you can head off to Italy to enjoy Michelangelo’s David, while he fixes his admiring gaze on a halibut.

Divorced women. If you don’t have a husband to join you on your travels, this is no reason to stay home! In fact, the opposite is true. Many times, women find that during their married years they’ve largely gone along with what their husband wanted. Now that they’re single, they finally feel free to do thing they’ve been looking forward to. Here I come, Greek Islands!

Widows. No matter how happy or sad your marriage may have been, you need to move on and make a life of your own. Getting out into the world and enjoying the sights with a group of women is a wonderful way to accomplish this. Sure, you could travel with your niece, but isn’t it strange how relatives often want you to pay for their trip too?

Girlfriend getaways are also popular. You can gather up some good friends to take the ladies’ night concept to the extreme. By vacationing with a group of women friends, you can truly relax, let your hair down, and be yourself. This is a great opportunity for talking about stuff that really matters, or just sharing laughter and fun.

Distant friends. Do you still keep in touch with your old college roommates or meet up every now and then? Or perhaps your sister lives a few states away, but you enjoy some time together from time to time. These types of getaways are ideal for maintaining these important relationships.

Moms and daughters. If you want to see your mom in a different light, there’s nothing like taking a mother daughter trip together. You’ll find that you see an entirely different side of her when she’s not meeting everyone else’s needs at a family gathering. My mom came with me to Costa Rica, and I enjoyed seeing just how adventurous she could be.

The girls. Maybe you see each all the time; you live in the same town, after all. That doesn’t mean you can’t sneak away for a couple of days. Leave the kids and husbands at home while you pamper yourselves with a spa weekend. You’ll come back feeling refreshed, and not only from the hot rock massage!

In reality, a women’s trip has an entirely different feel than a mixed group. You can talk freely with your girlfriends in a totally uncompetitive atmosphere.

Our astute kayaking guide told us that he never has any issues with women’s groups, but couples are a different story. A lot of times they’re arguing the whole time, when they’re supposed to be enjoying the kayaking. What a waste! Maybe you should think about a women’s tour instead!