Destination Wedding Advice

[Kris626]

I interested in having a destination wedding for a large group of people (approx 150). My fiancee and I are looking to save some money by having a wedding on an island that is not too far from the northeast states. I am taking a trip to the Bahamas at the end of the month. Does anyone have any suggestions to where I should visit? Has anyone ever heard of the South Ocean & Golf Beach Resort? Is there really a price difference to having a destination wedding vs your typical local wedding? As you can see I am new to this- any information would be helpful! Thanks.

[editor]

I hope you checked out the "Quick Search" section of this site (just to the right). The Bahamas has several fine properties listed along with links to further information. It's an excellent place to start.
Destination weddings can be a lot less expensive than a hometown wedding mainly due to the option/probability of having a shorter guest list. The greatest cost for just about any wedding is the food, beverage, venue, and decorations for the reception. If the reception details would be roughly the same for both home and away, and you had the same number of guests, the cost might come out about even. But there are infinite variables involved, of course, so consider this a general rule of thumb.

[jukebox]

I can help you out.. Did you know you can get married for FREE at any Sandals/Beaches Resort ? I am a destination wedding specialist & specialize in honeymoons. Just booked another destination wedding to the Beautiful Island of St. Lucia. Feel free to contact any time. I will be glad to help you out.
Diane

[minlee]

I just returned from a 7 day destination wedding in Punta Cana, DR at the Paradisus Resort on Bavaro Beach. My husband (then fiance) and I wanted to get married on the beach in the Caribbean. We originally looked into Nevis, Turks and Caicos, St. Lucia, etc., but found that the flights there were too difficult to organize for our guests (connections to puddle jumpers were tough) and we wanted to try and keep the costs down. After nixing Mexico, including the Mayan Riviera,and finally deciding on Punta Cana, we were originally going to let a travel agent arrange the flight and hotel (we're from NYC and we had guests coming from both coasts), but he wanted a large deposit from us, so I decided to organize the wedding myself. We picked the Paradisus Resort (owned by Sol Melia, a Spanish company). In July 2005, we went for a quick weekend trip to look at the resort and speak to the on-site wedding coordinator. They comped us two nights stay for that trip which was great. From that point on, I began organizing details, emailing family and friends flight and hotel information and kept in contact with the coordinator, emailing her our choices for rehearsal dinner and wedding reception menus, cake style, bouquets, etc. The resort is all-inclusive (which made it extremely easy for us and our guests--highly recommend this), situated right on Bavaro Beach with white sands and crystal blue waters. The resort gave us a great group rate on the rooms--$130/per person in a double and $180/per person for a single. It was a little tough for our guests to get used to the all-inclusive aspect, but once they got the hang of it after a day, they loved it. The food was actually very good--grilled lobster, great fish dishes, etc. (and I'm very snobby when it comes to food, esp. since living in NYC). Everyone enjoyed the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception meals. We ended up having 45 guests at our wedding, just the perfect amount. I have to say that when I walked onto the beach this past Saturday, Dec. 10, it exceeded my expectations. They had decorated the beach with a simple but beautiful trellis, white slip covered chairs and two large plants with red flowers at the head of the aisle. It looked stunning against the clear sky and blue water. My guests are still talking about it, most made a mini-vacation out of it and my husband and I will never forget it. Let me know if you'd like contact info for the resort and other information/advice. I can also email you photos so you can see what to expect. I know its overwhelming to try and choose, then plan a destination wedding. I spent hours on the web reading opinions on various sites like trip advisor and drove myself crazy with all the choices, pros and cons of different locations and resorts. I felt anxiety about being responsible for asking family and friends to travel to a location that most had never been before. But let me reassure you, that if you're organized and keep on top of things (as most women are very detailed oriented), you will have an amazing wedding. Our feeling was if you can't have fun on an island with a beautiful beach, then you're doing something wrong. We also let go of some of our stress knowing that we couldn't control the weather and that we had a back-up plan in case it rained or was too windy on the beach.

[DW2007]

wow! 150 guests...are they all coming with you?? That would be so great to have everyone come - my son is planning a destination wedding, but we are having a lot less - he and my future daughter-in-law are going to have a reception back home. With the all inclusive resorts you don't have to have a formal sit down reception - something they did not want. It is
going to be so great to be able to combine and wedding and a vacation.
They are going to go to another resort after the wedding and spend their
honeymoon their....