As more couples continue to choose destinations weddings, it’s becoming less of a niche travel trend and more of the norm. The shift has created an opportunity for one host agency to reposition itself.
The Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) is a 70-year-old organization historically rooted in wedding planning. As of about 10-12 years ago, it started incorporating travel and servicing full destination weddings instead of just booking room blocks.
When Veronica Foster, MWP, president of ABC, took over in 2024, she went a step further and recently launched an official wedding and romance travel host agency dedicated exclusively to supporting travel advisors who specialize in destination weddings and romance-based travel.
Since taking over the business, she has led a broader push into travel, helping grow the organization’s travel sales to roughly $1 million in the past year while expanding its network to about 150 active advisors.
The shift comes as destination weddings make up a growing share of the market. According to Foster, roughly 65% of weddings handled by ABC members now fall into the “destination” category — whether that means international celebrations or domestic events that still require significant travel for guests.
“We have done a deep dive into way more travel. We've hit about a million dollars in revenue last year, just on the travel side,” she said. “We've just kind of opened up the world to [our advisors] so they could do other things too.”
When thinking of destination weddings, a lot of people think of tropical beachside affairs in the Caribbean. This is still the case, but the reality is, a lot of families are spread across the country and decide to either head back home to tie the knot or invite guests to where they live.
“I think our members are reporting about 45% across the board are out of the country, and then probably another 20% are in country, but either the couple is going to where their parents live and doing a destination that way, or all of the guests are coming to where they are. So, a total of about 65% considered a destination wedding,” Foster said.
Education for Travel Advisors
Continued learning opportunities are always a must for travel advisors, and ABC offers plenty of ways to stay up to date on all things weddings.
“So one of the things that ABC focuses on is education, and over the last 70 years, we've had different levels of wedding planner certifications,” Foster said.
Courses available include Certified Wedding & Event Planner, Mastering Indian Weddings, Event Law and Mastering Luxury 101, among several others. The courses don’t just focus on selling but rather have a much more in-depth approach.
“It's not just sales numbers and things like that,” Foster said. “It is really like, what are your clients saying about you? How much experience? How much education? Are you giving back to the industry? Are you giving back to your community? So it makes for a well-rounded person and business.”
In addition to the certifications, Foster also said they put out a quarterly wedding planner magazine, have a podcast, run webinars and host FAM trips throughout the year.
“My advice is just education, get educated,” she said. “Everything varies per resort, wedding packages and such, but the weddings are still the same. So if advisors want to focus on destination weddings, get educated in weddings first.”
To learn more about the Association of Bridal Consultants, visit www.abcweddingplanners.com.
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