Hello everyone,
I am struggling on where to have a destination wedding. My only requirment is that it we get married by the Ocean, but I am not opposed to a beautiful lake. This is my second marriage so it does not have to be elaborate, but I still want it to be beautiful! We had our hearts set on marrying in Maui with just family and then coming back to do a small reception, but that would be too costly for everyone traveling.
Has anyone done a "destination wedding"? Where would you recommmend? Have any of you booked a wedding through Sandals?
Thanks so much for your help!
You may want to talk to a travel agent. I know that my travel agent specializes in destination weddings, they can give you an ideas of cost, and locations, hotel rates etc. Plus they are very familiar with most resorts as well. I'd reccomend Fox Point Travel in Lakewood. Thier website is www.foxpointtravel.com and thier number is ###-###-####. Andrea is the name of the owner, but I know all thier agents are very knowledgable.
You can't go wrong by getting married by Lake Tahoe. It is truly stunning, there's plenty of outdoor activity and nightlife for everyone, and it is just a really fun place to be. I would suggest north Lake Tahoe area, not south. The Hyatt in North Lake Tahoe was very helpful to us in planning a wedding.
Hi L.
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! My husband and I had a destination wedding in 2003 at the Sandals Resort, St Lucia, Halcyon. We loved it! We ended up getting married in a gazebo on the beach, we have beautiful pictures, and the resort really did take care of everything for us. It was completely stress free and we had so much fun. We have also been to Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica and loved it there too. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'd be happy to tell you more about our experience. Congratulations and good luck!
M.
L.,
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I just sent you a PM but wanted to respond here too! I have been going to Sandals resorts for the last 15 years and love them! I have been to Beaches Negril (family resort), Sandals Negril, Sandals Grande Ocho Rios, Sandals Turks & Caicos, and Sandals Whitehouse. By far my favorite so far is Sandals Whitehouse. I also know quite a few couples that have used them for their destination weddings and have had nothing but good experiences. Not only do they offer beautiful settings for a wedding they are also pretty affordable for what you get since they are all-inclusive resorts.
My sister had a destination wedding last June and it was in Tulum, Mexico (an hour outside of Playa del Carmen). It was amazing! The resort was family friendly and welcomed kids - it even had a Kids Club. The water, the resort and the food were all wonderful. I am a very picky eater, as are our girls, and the food was wonderful - all the restaurants at the resort were delicious, and the kids loved the beach and the two or three pools. There was also a great spa and a nightclub as well.
The resort is called Dreams Tulum - Apple Vacations owns it. There were a LOT of perks for the bride and groom - especially when guests booked their trip with the same agent. Their total cost ended up being cut in half!
My husband and I talk about going back all the time - we LOVE it and recommend it to everyone we know.
I haven't had a destination wedding, but I have a close family member who did. Because of the location they picked, none of the bride's family other than her parents were able to attend due to cost, but the groom's entire family attended (they are wealthy). We tried to talk to the bride about changing locations, but she just wouldn't do it. We were all very, very sad. On that note, you can't fix everything for everyone and it is your wedding. If you desire that those you invite have a better ability to attend (especially with airline tickets going up due to rising fuel cost), keep it simple. My husband and I have been invited to destination weddings of two friends but did not attend. Our thinking was simply that if we were going to spend the kind of money it would take, we would rather do so on our own vacation for our family since the weddings would've eaten away our vacation budget. Good luck to you and congratulations!
L. - congratulations!! I have some friends who just got married in Jamaica and were surprised at how many family members made it to their wedding! My husband and I will be celebrating our 1 year anniversary in August and we had originally planned on having a simple wedding in Playa del Carmen, Mexico at a Riu resort (www.riu.com). The wedding party and immediate family were planning on going, but not too many others could make it. It was going to be his first wedding so we decided to have it in Colorado instead and pushed the date back. The kids (3) and I decided to go to Playa as a family, as it would have cost us more to change their tickets and they were excited about going and were free at the resort. It was beautiful, the food was great, it was all inclusive, we did an excursion to Xel-ha, and I did see a wedding on the beach, which was beautiful, but there were people you didn't know watching and sand everywhere - it wasn't as intimate and beautiful as I had pictured in my head. So, I wanted to keep the "beach theme" for our wedding in Colorado and wanted to be near water and be relaxed and wear flip-flops!! We had a gorgeous ceremony at Monet's Place at Hudson Gardens on Santa Fe. It was on this little area right next to the water with a bridge in the background and the trees made it the perfect temperature. It was exactly what I wanted and the picture opportunities were amazing afterward with our photographer - so many places! If you want other ideas or info, please feel free to contact me directly - ____@____.com and have fun planning!!!
