diff --git a/src/cli/lib/handle-destroy.mjs b/src/cli/lib/handle-destroy.mjs
index 2216fde7..e5b1cb88 100644
--- a/src/cli/lib/handle-destroy.mjs
+++ b/src/cli/lib/handle-destroy.mjs
@@ -17,7 +17,12 @@ const handleDestroy = async ({ argv, globalOptions, sitesInfo }) => {
     process.exit(3) // eslint-disable-line no-process-exit
   }
 
-  await destroy({ globalOptions, siteInfo, verbose : true })
+  const deleted = await destroy({ globalOptions, siteInfo, verbose : true })
+
+  if (deleted === true) {
+    process.stdout.write(`Removing ${apexDomain} from local DB.\n`)
+    delete sitesInfo[apexDomain]
+  }
 }
 
 export { handleDestroy }
diff --git a/src/lib/actions/destroy.mjs b/src/lib/actions/destroy.mjs
index 0d3d530d..cb5bd4e2 100644
--- a/src/lib/actions/destroy.mjs
+++ b/src/lib/actions/destroy.mjs
@@ -15,18 +15,47 @@ const destroy = async ({ globalOptions, siteInfo, verbose }) => {
   const s3Client = new S3Client({ credentials })
 
   // this method provides user udptaes
-  await emptyBucket({ bucketName, s3Client, verbose })
+  try {
+    progressLogger?.write('Deleting site bucket...\n')
+    await emptyBucket({ bucketName, s3Client, verbose })
+  } catch (e) {
+    if (e.name === 'NoSuchBucket') {
+      progressLogger?.write('Bucket already deleted.\n')
+    } else {
+      throw e
+    }
+  }
 
   const siteTemplate = new SiteTemplate({ credentials, siteInfo })
   await siteTemplate.destroyPlugins()
 
-  progressLogger.write('Deleting stack...\n')
+  progressLogger.write('Deleting stack...')
   const cloudFormationClient = new CloudFormationClient({ credentials })
   const deleteStackCommand = new DeleteStackCommand({ StackName : stackName })
   await cloudFormationClient.send(deleteStackCommand)
 
-  const finalStatus = await trackStackStatus({ cloudFormationClient, noDeleteOnFailure : true, stackName })
-  progressLogger?.write('Final status: ' + finalStatus + '\n')
+  // the delete command is doesn't mind if the bucket doesn't exist, but trackStackStatus does
+  try {
+    const finalStatus = await trackStackStatus({ cloudFormationClient, noDeleteOnFailure : true, stackName })
+    progressLogger?.write('Final status: ' + finalStatus + '\n')
+
+    if (finalStatus === 'DELETE_FAILED' && progressLogger !== undefined) {
+      progressLogger.write('\nThe delete is expected to fail at first because the \'replicated Lambda functions\' take a while to clear and the stack cannot be fully deleted until AWS clears the replicated functions. Give it at least 30 min and up to a few hours and try again.')
+      return false
+    } else if (finalStatus === 'DELETE_COMPLETE') {
+      return true
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    // oddly, if the stack does not exist we get a ValidationError; which means it's already deleted
+    if (e.name === 'ValidationError') {
+      progressLogger.write(' already deleted.\n')
+      return true
+    } else {
+      throw e
+    }
+  } finally {
+    progressLogger?.write('\n')
+  }
 }
 
 export { destroy }
diff --git a/src/lib/shared/site-template.mjs b/src/lib/shared/site-template.mjs
index ff3a9164..c0917c9b 100644
--- a/src/lib/shared/site-template.mjs
+++ b/src/lib/shared/site-template.mjs
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@ import yaml from 'js-yaml'
 
 import { S3Client, DeleteBucketCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3'
 
-import * as plugins from '../plugins'
 import { determineBucketName } from './determine-bucket-name'
 import { determineOACName } from './determine-oac-name'
+import * as plugins from '../plugins'
+import { progressLogger } from './progress-logger'
 
 /**
  * Class encapsulating site stack configuration. Any enabled plugins are loaded and processed by this class.
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ const SiteTemplate = class {
     const { siteInfo } = this
     const { sharedLoggingBucket } = siteInfo
 
+    progressLogger.write('Deleting shared logging bucket...\n')
     const s3Client = new S3Client({ credentials : this.credentials })
     const deleteBucketCommand = new DeleteBucketCommand({ Bucket : sharedLoggingBucket })
     await s3Client.send(deleteBucketCommand)
@@ -197,7 +199,10 @@ const SiteTemplate = class {
         throw new Error(`Unknown plugin found in '${apexDomain}' plugin settings.`)
       }
 
-      await plugin.preStackDestroyHandler({ siteTemplate : this, settings })
+      const { preStackDestroyHandler } = plugin
+      if (preStackDestroyHandler !== undefined) {
+        await preStackDestroyHandler({ siteTemplate : this, settings })
+      }
     }
   }