Weddingmoon: Marriage on a Honeymoon is a Stress-free Alternative

My husband and I were engaged in early 2001. We immediately started planning our wedding. There were so many choices available, and it was all so confusing, extremely stressful and expensive! We opted for a weddingmoon, sometimes called a destination wedding, instead of a traditional ceremony. You get married on your honeymoon. It was the best solution for us, as we are both from different states and live in another state. There was no logical way to get everyone together from all three states, have everyone happy and for us to remain stress-free.

We started the process in March. We planned the wedding for July at Sandals all inclusive resort in Montego Bay in Jamaica. We picked the date and time. All we had to do was to express mail some paper work and that was it. They took care of everything for the marriage license and all additional paperwork. After that, all we really had left to do was show up!

We let all of our friends and family know of our plans. We also let them know that they were welcome to come along. No one that we knew of had made any arrangements, but we were hoping that some would surprise us, although they did not. If we could go back in time, we would make it a little more clear that everyone was welcome to come!

We flew out on a Thursday. We flew to Atlanta to catch our Air Jamaica flight. We had a short stop in Kingston and then we were off to Montego Bay. We landed at what I describe as a partially open air third world country airport. It was July and was extremely hot inside. We passed through customs and met the Sandals courtesy van that took us to Sandals Montego Bay. We had reserved a VIP Concierge Honeymoon suite (the suite/room names seem to be different now). We were dropped off at the VIP concierge, who made sure we had everything we needed and then showed us to our suite. The sounds of the birds and bugs outside in the dark were amazing and gave it a tropical feel, since we could not really see the beach. We were very impressed with our suite. It consisted of a beautifully decorated living room, bedroom and bathroom. It had our own mini-fridge filled with Red Stripe beer, sodas, and bottled water. The bedroom was very romantic with a canopy bed with lots of sheer white fabric.

Friday we had an appointment to work with the wedding coordinator. He showed us our choices for flowers, cakes, pictures, videos, makeup/hair, ceremony locations, etc and we picked what we wanted! They seemed willing to give us anything we wanted and they took care of everything. He also arranged to have our wedding attire steamed. He also arranged for us to have witnesses, since we had no family or friends with us! The officiant met with us in our suite to ask us what we wanted, so we could all be on the same page.

Saturday was the wedding day. We were to wed at 10:00 am. I got my hair done and was off to get dressed. When we were ready, we were escorted to our wedding ceremony. We were married at a gazebo over looking the Caribbean Sea. Our reception was in a beautiful tropical garden, also over looking the Caribbean Sea. Afterwards, we were off to our suite! Along the way, other guests and Sandals employees congratulated us and told us how nice we looked! It was a wonderful feeling! When we arrived back in our suite, there was a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us. We changed into our bathing suits and hit the beach!

Sunday morning, we awoke to a knock at the door. It was breakfast in bed! There was champagne, juice, fresh tropical fruits and pastries beautifully arranged on a tray. It was really nice to not have to get dressed and have to go to one of the restaurants to have breakfast.

We really enjoyed the rest of our trip. We went on a shopping, also went ocean kayaking and we hit the beach every day and also the pools. We felt so spoiled the entire time and were made to feel important, almost as if we were celebrities. We departed on Wednesday and were back home, but this time as husband and wife.

We loved our weddingmoon and would definitely do it again. It was a wonderful stress-free alternative to a traditional wedding!