JB and I have decided we want a destination wedding.

We have no clue what that destination should be.

And the lack of clarity is overwhelming.

Yes, I know we have plenty of time and there is nothing to freak about yet. But basically every other decision about this wedding is going to hinge on the destination, from gown to guest list to flowers to favors. My hands are essentially tied until we have that destination picked, and it’s the little things I just know I’m going to have a ball with. For example, I’ve already chosen our first song, our wedding website template, and am leaning towards a particular centerpiece arrangement. All of those super-fun details will need to be reevaluated once a decision is made – reevaluated and maybe even totally abandoned.

Just to put the uncertainty in perspective, I woke up today thinking Bermuda, by lunch I was staring wistfully at the Central Park Boathouse’s website, and by the time I came home I was certain a Cape Cod wedding would be perfect for us.

So, help.

I came home and made pro-and-con lists with JB on destination types – we couldn’t even do specific destinations. We broke it in to three categories – beach/tropical, country club/independent resort, and city. We spent an hour brainstorming pros and cons of each locale. And you know what we decided?

To pick three venues in each destination type, visit them, then go with our favorite. Pro-and-con FAIL.

I think we’ve picked our three in each, which is at least a start. We haven’t been to any of these, so this list is largely based on what Google told me. Here’s what we’re thinking of:

Beach/Tropical – Bermuda

• Elbow Beach, Bermuda (a Mandarin Oriental hotel)
• Fairmont Southampton
• Fairmont Hamilton Princess

Country Club/Independent Resort - Cape Cod

• Chatham Bars Inn
• Captain Linnell House
• Dennis Inn

City – New York City

• The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park
• The Central Park Boathouse
• Third venue TBD – who’s going to suggest something first? (Mom, I’m looking at you.)

Hopefully we’ll be able to get to all these places within the next four weeks – NYC is very close by, we need to get to Boston soon to show off the bling to JB’s family (and officially celebrate our engagement with them, of course), and, well, who wouldn’t want to go to Bermuda for a couple of days? And then once the destination is settled the real fun (for me) can begin – checking things off the to-do list!