Destination Weddings: Why the Hype?

In April of 2007, I finally realized my childhood dream of marrying the man that I love. We both decided that we wanted to have a very small private ceremony on a beautiful beach, then return home to celebrate with friends and family. We had gotten engaged the year before at a Sandals resort on the island of St. Lucia, and it was so amazing that we made arrangements to be married the same way. We decided on a resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and began looking into what was necessary to be legally married there. I thought it was going to be difficult and stressful to plan a wedding never having even visited the island, but I was completely mistaken.

I called and spoke to a Sandals representative about 9 months before we were to be married. They immediately mailed me brochures and letters explaining the process. I was assigned a wedding coordinator, with whom I could contact anytime I had questions. I completed a few brief forms and mailed them back. I didn't even have to think about anything else until a few weeks before the ceremony, when the wedding coordinator called me to find out what time of day I wanted to hold the nuptials. Sandals took care of everything, the marriage license, scheduling the minister, choosing a photographer, need I say more. Of course like anyone else planning a wedding, I had a budget. Here comes the best part! As long as we were staying at the resort for at least 7 days, almost everything was included in the price of the vacation itself, including the minister, the flowers, the music, they even had a wedding cake for after the ceremony.

Of course, there were extras that could be added on at a cost, but everything was so beautiful, that I needed very little. The only thing that we spent extra money on was the photos (which were absolutely stunning). They were a little pricey because you have to pay for the rights to the photos, but they were worth every single penny. The next morning, I was served breakfast in bed. If you are wondering why I said "I" and not "we", it is because there was so much to do there, that my husband and I decided to say "I do" then go with our friends the next morning to enjoy the island separately. He's a golfer, and I always dreamed of swimming with the dolphins, so we parted before breakfast even got to the room. (By the way, my friend enjoyed his breakfast with me, it was pretty comical.)

We didn't spend our entire honeymoon apart though. We spent one day horseback riding, and even got to take the horses into the ocean. Another day, we climbed Dunn's River Falls. We swam in the beautiful pools, we played games put together by the resort, and we went dancing, or played billiards in the evenings. There were amazing shows put on by locals every night. The resort was all inclusive, so we ate beautiful meals every day. All of our drinks were included as well.

I hear stories of people spending tens of thousands of dollars on weddings, and I often wonder how I got so much for so little. Our entire trip, which was 10 days long, cost us around $7000, and this included the honeymoon. One thing I can say to anyone thinking about a destination wedding, is that mine was nothing short of spectacular, and I owe it all to Sandals.