Opting for a ‘destination wedding’ is sure to send a shiver down the spine of a fair few potential guests. All anyone will be thinking about is the exponential costs; flights, hotel, outfits, time off work, childcare...the list is endless. This puts them in a difficult position where they end up having to decide between being with their friends/family on the happiest day of their lives or choosing to save a large sum of money for any number of bills to pay off.
This gives your glamp site the perfect opportunity to explore a highly desirable USP; being able to deliver a festival or destination wedding experience making you an attractive option for modern couples. Your bride and groom can have their dream destination wedding by embracing all the beauty that the UK has to offer - without committing the nearest and dearest to any major expenses as well as being authentic and on-trend.
There is already an untold amount of organisation that goes into planning a wedding. Whether it's selecting a menu that caters to all (we're talking veggie, vegan AND gluten-free options) to saying yes to THE dress - the last thing you want is the location to let you down. Imagine the wedding pictures without a picturesque backdrop in sight? Not okay.
Because of this, your glamping business needs to be able to offer more than just a field to the wedding party; it is vital that your glamp site can deliver on all things aesthetic surrounding the location too. Beaches, mountains, woodland and scenic view points work wonders for this purpose. Remember - you don’t actually have to own the land but it should be within a close walking distance to the main venue, and freely accessible to the public!
Running water, power and bathrooms for guests to use are basics for any and every glamping site. However, when it comes to wedding parties, these run-of-the-mill examples just won't cut it! Not only do you need to be able to provide enough bathroom space to welcome tens (or in some cases even hundreds) of guests who have been eating, drinking and painting the town red all day - the matter of catering is upon you.
The likelihood is that the beloveds will have already chosen a company to supply the goods (and by goods I mean food glorious food) to those in attendance, so that means your glamping site has to be able to handle commercial-grade food preparation equipment. By all means, you can adjust your packages to make do with what you’ve got available, and perhaps even ask customers to opt for a street food-style setup over the traditional wedding breakfast.
Deciding to make destination weddings a focal point for your glamping business is a bold and exciting move. Nonetheless, it’s not enough to assume that if you do decide to opt for all things bridal, clients will start flooding to you - you’ll need to have a wedding retreat marketing plan in place. The marketplace for this type of venture is highly competitive, so you will have to give everything you've got to promote your innovative venue. Millennials are the ones who make up the majority of engaged couples, so your strategy needs to crucially connect and entice this generation; luckily we've written a blog post to help you.
You must ensure to invest in your channels of promotion; this involves knowing the main selling points of your site and focusing on them coherently across social media. Sharing high quality images across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, as well as having a professional website, will work to your advantage in this regard.
As we've mentioned previously, its highly likely that some couples will want to mould your glamping site into their ideal wedding day. However, this can cause a whole lot of chaos for you the owner in terms of administrative challenges. Overall, it is better to create and build wedding packages that give customers everything they need in a single bundle. This puts you at the helm of all major decisions and aspects meaning you can adjust expectations. Additionally, it allows you to be clear on the overall costs to your customer up-front.
Much like building any business from the ground up, hosting destination weddings at your glamp site is not going to be easy. Especially when you have the added element of your decisions impacting your overall appeal to potential couples and their budget. But don't let this stop you! With the right care, consideration and clarity you can offer an oasis for the happy couple - and help them in creating some stellar memories on one of the most important days of their life!
Getting clear on your glamping business start-up costs is essential and not to be overlooked. Additionally, it is best to also analyse the cost of each individual wedding retreat event. With the right resources and business plan, it could help you save thousands - especially when it comes to buying event tents and accommodation facilities. A vital point is to do the work ahead of time so you can be sure of a happy couple, happy guests and a healthy profit!
Camping CabinsTM are timber building manufacturers based in Derbyshire, UK. Along with our sister companies – Arctic Cabins, Cabins for Schools and Cabin Master, we have been providing families, schools and businesses with high quality timber buildings that are hand built since 2002. Our campsite buildings come in a variety of shapes and sizes to attract couples, families and large groups to your campsite. Our range of buildings will help you stand out within the Glamping Industry! Whether you want to offer a quirky, unique experience in Scandinavian inspired Cabin, an upgraded glamping experience or in our luxury home from home Annex style lodge – we’ve got a building for your business needs.