LJWorld.com

The trend to ditch mile-long wedding guest lists and hometown chapels in favor of faraway, sunny climes is catching on.

Fully 10 percent of all weddings are now destination weddings, and everyone in the industry is taking notice. Resorts are throwing in free clergy services, and dress designers are thinking short and packable. Couples on all kinds of budgets realize that with a little bit of planning, there's no locale too remote or too far-flung that you can't get a few friends and a justice of the peace there to make it happen.

WHY IT'S GREAT

Certainly, if you have always dreamed of tying the knot barefoot on the beach, then you're going to have a better chance of making that happen in Oahu than in Milwaukee. But faraway weddings have other advantages, too. They're often cheaper: Since they're weddings and honeymoons combined, they can be much more cost-effective than doing them separately.

A couple can fly to an all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean, get married and honeymoon for a week, all for less than $5,000 (in some cases, well under). Compare that with the average $22,000 cost of a 150-guest wedding and $3,500 honeymoon. Spend the difference on a down payment for a house!

Getting married away can also be a great way to circumvent inevitable family issues. He's from Michigan, she's from Boston, but they live in St. Louis? Leave all the territorial squabbling behind and exchange vows in a neutral and inherently sunnier location.

And since everyone will be traveling in the first place, why not have family members spend frequent flyer miles on a long weekend in the Caribbean rather than on a puddle jump to Detroit?

WHAT TO CONSIDER

When you ask people to spend a whole weekend away with you and to pay for the privilege, you'll naturally get fewer guests. This can be good: Your families and close friends wouldn't miss it -- and you won't spend the months before the event tying 150 ribbons on 150 bags of Jordan almonds.

Before you pick your date, research the weather. Make sure you're intimately familiar with rainy seasons, or any severe weather conditions if they exist. You'll probably want to avoid scheduling your nuptials in the Caribbean in the fall (hurricane season), for instance, or outside in Phoenix in August.

The distance also means that you'll need to give up more control over your celebration than local couples might. You may not get back to that villa in Italy before your wedding week, and you're just not going to be able to micro-manage all the variables from afar. (And you'll be a heck of a lot happier if you don't try.) Instead, details will be resolved by e-mail and phone, in person during the days just before the wedding or by an on-site coordinator.

Regardless of whether you choose to plan the event yourself or with the help of a professional, make sure you're familiar with the local marriage requirements. At the end of your event, the most important thing is that your marriage is legal. Sites like TheKnot.com offer users a database of marriage requirements by county so you can make sure you have everything you need before you get on the plane.

WHERE TO WED

If you can imagine it, chances are you can get married there. The islands of the Caribbean and Hawaii have destination weddings down to a science (a lovely, heartfelt science, of course). If you book through a large resort there, you're likely to deal with a planner and vendors who have participated in dozens of successful weddings on-site.

More remote destinations may be more planning-intensive. For instance, if you want to wed in a villa overlooking the Amalfi coastline, you may be looking to a wedding planner to help you wrangle the details. For more than a hundred locations to chose from, head to TheKnot.com/destinationweddings. Or check out a few of our favorites:

• The Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida: This huge, flamingo-pink landmark sits right on the beach of the west coast of Florida and offers a unique service for guests who can't make the trip: For $250, you can opt to have your ceremony videotaped and then broadcast live over the Internet. (www.DonCesar.com)
• Casino Morongo in Cabazon, Calif.: Forget Vegas and bring your up-all-night guests to the California desert instead. Tie the knot with the mountains as your backdrop, and never once worry about keeping your guests entertained. (www.CasinoMorongo.com)
• A castle in Chianti, Italy: Work with a wedding consultant at WeddingItaly.com to plan an over-the-top wedding in one of half a dozen castles they work with throughout Italy. They'll arrange all the nit-picky details -- everything from your airfare and accommodations to your officiant and favors. (www.WeddingItaly.com)

¢ Cerulean Villa in Anguilla: Got 90K to spend? In addition to seven nights in one of the most luxurious settings in the Caribbean, that kind of money will also get you accommodations for 14 of your luckiest family and friends, a sunset champagne cruise, spa packages galore, Louis Vuitton luggage, a Vera Wang wedding dress, Manolo Blahnik shoes and a Dolce & Gabbana tux. (www.Cerulean-Villa.com)