When people hear the words ‘destination weddings’, they typically think of a tropical getaway in which the couple marries at sunset on the beach or high above the seashore on a cliff with a beautiful view; however things are changing in these recessionary times and more and more couples are deciding to stay closer to home yet they are not giving up on a destination that will make their wedding day a spectacular success and something to remember.

A castle wedding in Charlevoix, Michigan boasts the Michigan Garden railway with different types of flower and topiary gardens among the courtyard surrounding the castle which lends itself to countless exclusive photo opportunities.  There is also a beautiful indoor chapel that can accommodate small to very large wedding parties in addition to other places within the castle a bride and groom might choose as a special place to exchange their wedding vows.

Castle weddings are becoming more popular as a destination wedding not only because it is in the United States and easier to travel to, but many people are not affiliated with any type of church or perhaps they have lived together for many years and have finally decided to tie the knot and would rather have a unique, yet simple ceremony that includes all their friends and family but not the traditional church.

If the couple to be wed does not live in Michigan, they should send the invitations at least two to three months in advance of the wedding date in order to give everyone an opportunity to make arrangements for travel and hotel accommodations.  Additionally, a couple should not get their hopes up that everyone will be able to attend a destination wedding far from their home because many people cannot take off work or have the financial means to cover travel expenses with the economy the way it is.

Once a castle owner has a website up and running there are many marketing techniques in which to help promote both the website and a real-world special events castle to those customers looking for a unique place to hold a wedding or other celebration.  One of the first marketing methods one should employ is search engine optimization or SEO which is the act of placing keyword articles on your website in order for the three major search engines – Yahoo!, Google and MSN – to send out their “feelers” to search for these keywords and then rank your websites according to a formula.  Your website will then be placed on their web pages as a result of their search.  You want your website to be ranked high on these webpages because most people search for the most common keywords and then only look at the first few websites listed.

Once an article is written in keyword rich text, the same article can be used as an article exchange with a Michigan tours company, catering companies, disc jockeys, wedding planners, tuxedo and special event evening gown rental companies, limousine companies and countless other special events businesses.  An article exchange is when an article about your business is featured on another business’ website; then you in turn feature an article about their business on your website.  Article exchanges expand the customer database for both businesses.

Another marketing method would be to offer something on your website or through the blogs people could use, such as free music downloads, simply for visiting your website.  People are often looking for something for free, especially in these economic hard times, and love anything to do with electronics. Therefore, they will visit your website over the competition’s website if you are offering something for free just for stopping by.  In addition, when people are looking for a castle to hold their special events or wedding, they will think about the free music downloads they received from your website and can appreciate this and return to your website before the competitions.

There are many marketing methods a castle can use to entice new customers to visit their website and then ultimately come into their real-world “store.”  Experimenting with different marketing techniques before you find the right one for your business may take a little bit of time but it is worth it in the end.