When Kristy Durso, TravelAbility’s ambassador and full time wheelchair user, began planning her daughter Gavilan’s wedding, she expected the usual details: flowers, food, music, seating charts.

What she didn’t expect was how often accessibility still falls completely outside the conversation.

That realization became the foundation for what is quickly growing into one of the most exciting new inclusion initiatives in the travel and events space: accessible weddings.

The idea first began taking shape after Durso’s inclusive vow renewal at Beaches Turks & Caicos, where she saw firsthand what happens when accessibility is intentionally integrated into a celebration centered around family, connection, and joy.

“There’s this assumption automatically that it’s selfish to plan a destination wedding,” she said. “Or that the disabled person just isn’t going to be able to go.”

Kristy Durso

“Nobody’s doing this,” Durso said. “And I can’t think of a single other life event that is more family-oriented and should be more inclusive than a wedding.” Studies repeatedly show weddings as one of the top reasons for travel among the aging population, where we have the highest rates of disability.

Yet too often, accessibility is treated as optional. Or worse, it’s considered too late.

“How often does it end up being, ‘Well, grandma’s not coming because it’s not accessible?’” she asked.

Durso remembers consulting with a travel advisor planning a destination wedding in Mexico when online comments immediately questioned why someone would host a destination wedding if disabled family members couldn’t attend.

“There’s this assumption automatically that it’s selfish to plan a destination wedding,” she said. “Or that the disabled person just isn’t going to be able to go.”

That mindset is exactly what she wants to change.

Accessibility Starts Before the Venue Tour

One of Durso’s biggest frustrations is that many venues market themselves as “accessible” while only considering part of the experience.

“The inside facility where the reception happens may be accessible,” she explained. “They may have what they think is an accessible restroom. But that doesn’t mean they thought about accessibility for the wedding itself.”

Outdoor ceremonies remain one of the biggest barriers.

“How many weddings are in a forest, on the beach, or in the grass?” she said. “There’s no way for the wheelchair user to safely get there.”

And the issue extends far beyond wheelchair users.

“It affects the aunt who’s had a stroke, the grandfather who uses a walker, the child who uses a wheelchair, the athlete who’s on crutches that week,” Durso said. “Accessibility should be thought of from the very beginning.”

Because several guests had environmental allergies, the wedding used silk flowers instead of real arrangements. Durso also discovered that many smaller caterers still lack a true understanding of food allergies and cross contamination.

“Your destination is known for weddings,” she said, “and it may be known for accessibility,but is it known for accessible weddings?”

Kristy Durso

“They think they can sanitize equipment and use the same equipment,” she said. “What they don’t realize is they’re getting lucky.”

In her view, many guests with severe allergies are quietly adapting rather than speaking up.

“They’re either incredibly lucky, eating before the wedding, or bringing their own food,” she said.

“I want accessible weddings,” she said. “I want accessibility to be a question from the get-go.”

The Questions Nobody Asks

Some of the most important accessibility solutions, Durso says, cost absolutely nothing.

While speaking with a DJ during the wedding planning process, she encountered a question she had never heard asked before.

“He asked if there would be anybody there who had epilepsy and if he should leave the strobe light at home,” she said.

When she later asked whether that was a standard question for all weddings, the answer was no.

“He asked because I specifically said we were planning something accessible.”

For Durso, that moment perfectly illustrates the gap between awareness and infrastructure.

“That should be a standard question every single time,” she said. “It’s a two-and-a-half-second question. There’s no cost to asking it, but the cost of not asking it could be great.”

Building the Blueprint for Inclusive Weddings at the 2026 TravelAbility Summit

For destinations already investing heavily in accessibility, Durso believes weddings represent a massive untapped opportunity.

“Places like Tampa or Huntington Beach are already popular wedding destinations,” she said. “If they’re already investing in accessibility, this is the next link they haven’t explored yet.”

Durso is now working to help the wedding industry create practical systems that make accessibility easier to implement from the start.

As part of her efforts, she’ll be presenting at the 2026 TravelAbility Summit to help destinations create better accessibility intake forms, build relationships with accessibility suppliers, and connect them with the tools and equipment that can make any wedding welcoming for all.

One question, she says, should already be on every destination’s radar:

“Your destination is known for weddings,” she said, “and it may be known for accessibility,but is it known for accessible weddings?”

Accessibility Does Not Exist in a Vacuum

At the core of Durso’s work is a larger philosophy that extends well beyond weddings.

“If we continue to talk about accessibility as its own topic in a vacuum, then we’re going to continue to fail people with disabilities,” she said.

That idea has become central to her broader advocacy work and perfectly aligns with TravelAbility’s mission of connecting accessibility across every aspect of life and travel.

“When we talk about sports tourism but don’t include accessibility, we fail people with disabilities,” she explained. “When we talk about the wedding industry and don’t include accessibility, we fail people with disabilities.”

For Durso, accessibility is not a niche topic.

“It exists in all areas of life,” she said. “No event should exist without the thought of accessibility.”