Tag: beachwedding

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Planning a Destination Wedding

I always dreamed of getting married on the beach.  It was not a way to “elope” in the traditional sense of running off to get married without any family or friends around.  Quite the opposite–I just imagined being barefoot in the sand and sun–by the ocean with all my family and friends there.

I even made sure to go with an ivory dress so it wouldn’t look washed out in beach pictures.  Besides the beautiful environment, there are many benefits to a destination wedding.

Most resorts will do the basic wedding for free if a handful of your party stay at the resort for a minimum number of days.

You also have the option to upgrade to a larger party and can tweak the details.  In a gazebo or on the sand?  Live or recorded music for the ceremony?  Full dinner, or cocktail party reception?  And so on…

Most resorts have a wedding planner on staff.  This person does this all the time and will take care of everything.  No need to stress over any details.

Indigenous flowers in a tropical locale are incredibly affordable and beautiful.  Use this to your advantage.  This means you can get a LOT of great tropical flowers for a very affordable price.

We wound up, for a very awesome rate, getting married on the beach at the RIU Negril in Negril, Jamaica. We had 30 of our closest friends and family there, most of them for the entire week! It was a great time to get to spend time vacationing with everyone for longer block of time than we usually get to spend with them.

The staff at the RIU, from the wedding organizer, to the hair stylists,

the florist, wait staff, even the steel drum quartet were absolutely wonderful. The planner and I set up everything prior via email. My hubby and I filled out all of our legal paperwork for the marriage certificate before going down to Jamaica. She also arranged everything else with input from me. I didn’t even meet her until the morning of the wedding. My best advice, trust that your wedding planner will plan an awesome wedding.  Even if any details fall through the cracks, your guests won’t know it. Don’t sweat the small stuff!

My dad walked me down to the gazebo on the beach, where I kicked off my fancy shoes and met up with our officiant and soon-to-be-husband.

Don’t think for a minute that it wasn’t hot out!  It was, especially at midday in Jamaica. A steel drum quartet played during the ceremony and we had a champagne table ready for our guests after the ceremony.

 

Once our vows were exchanged, we were given a few minutes to mingle, then it was time for pictures. We used a resort photographer, who took some great shots of our day.

After pics were done, we bussed our crew over to Rick’s Café to kill time until our reception dinner. We munched on appetizers and partook in some Red Stripe before returning to the RIU for dinner.

Our dinner was wonderful.  I had the rib-eye steak and hubby had the shrimp. But even better was that all of our friends and family were there.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

If you’re considering planning a destination wedding, with a little research and a good wedding planner, you can have the day of your dreams while still keeping your sanity.

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Captiva Island, FL

A few years ago, we were invited to a destination wedding on Captiva Island. We try to keep destination weddings to a minimum–otherwise we end up spending all of our vacation days on weddings. But this one was for a dear friend of ours, so we couldn’t miss it. Besides, even though I’ve been to Captiva, hubby had not.
After flying into the Fort Myers airport and picking up our rental car, we headed off to find our way to our hotel. We cut through Fort Myers, crossed the toll bridge onto Sanibel Island, then continued up through the island until we reached Captiva and Tween Waters, which would be our home for the next 4 days.
img_1457We had an incredible view from our screened in porch. The resort was fairly small, yet cozy and adorable. There was an array of rooms to choose from–be it a single room or a 3 bedroom cottage.
For meals, there were two restaurants to choose from and the pool bar. We generally had breakfast each morning at the Captiva House.  Lunch was usually a sandwich or a salad at the Oasis pool bar (who had time to dry off to go eat?), and most of our dinners were at the Crow’s Nest which doubled as a lounge and was the location for the crab races. If you’ve never been to crab races, I highly recommend you go.  What a fun time! Our crab named Tiger came in 3rd.
Aside from the wedding festivities and spending time at the pool and beach, we spent a couple of days beachcombing and exploring the area. Low tide is the best time for shelling and we found lots of sand dollars on our beach.IMG_1456 We also took a ride over to the Bubble Room Restaurant which is a quirky little place. There were roomfuls of old toys, Christmas decorations, and moving trains. Even though they serve meals there, we just showed up for dessert from their on site bakery. I had a French Chocolate Torte that was to die for and hubby had the NY Style Cheesecake.I’m pretty sure these snacks were actually dessert for our next 3 meals they were that HUGE!
Our last night in Captiva, we went out with the entire wedding group for a sunset dinner cruise.  Talk about a perfect time!  We went out on the Lady Chadwick who easily accommodated our party of 50ish.img_1460We couldn’t have asked for a better evening, better food, better cocktails, or better company.  We were even joined by a couple of additional guests who were showing off behind our boat.img_1461Our evening was capped off by one of the most incredible, vivid sunsets I have ever seen.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect wedding weekend for our dear friends and an amazing finish to our long weekend in Captiva, FL. If you’re ever looking for a cozy getaway where you don’t even have to leave the resort, this one should be on your list!