Jamaica Wedding

[InLove5]

Is November a good time for it?
Also I heard from somone who had their wedding there @ a sandals resort and it was not anything she had expected, not worth the $ @ all, but she had planned it there b/c she atteneded a friend of hers there and it was great! What do u think about this &/or destination weddings?

[bichonlvr]

I am having a DW, well kinda, but needless to say most people are flying to Hawaii for our wedding. I think you have to ask yourself why would you want a DW? You have said before your parents have NO money, will you be willing to pay for them to come to your wedding? Or will you just do your FH and yourself? It is still very expensive to have a DW, most people think you will save money but int he end it is about the same cost as having one at home!

[StJohnBride]

I had a guestless DW. I wouldn't have done it any other way -- it was perfect for us. But it's not right for everyone. Ours did cost us a lot -- but it was also a lot less than a local wedding would have cost us.

I haven't heard great things about Sandals. Personally I feel it kind of limits you in some ways. (Isn't that where they only allow couples, no kids, etc.) Would you have single guests who would feel weird with oodles of honeymooners necking around them? But November should be fine -- We did November and it was perfect. Off season, but great weather. (We were on the cusp of hurricane season, but it was beautiful.)

I do know some people are very anti-DW, feeling that guests have to pay for what the bride and groom "should" pay for as guests. I disagree, but to each his own. :) I mean, if a friend was marrying in HI, and I could afford it, that would be a great excuse for DH and me to go. If I didn't have the money, I'd send a nice gift. (If I went though, my gift would be smaller since I'd be spending so much to attend.)

[bichonlvr]

I mean, if a friend was marrying in HI, and I could afford it, that would be a great excuse for DH and me to go. If I didn't have the money, I'd send a nice gift. (If I went though, my gift would be smaller since I'd be spending so much to attend.)

We said...."your gift to us is attending our wedding! But we are still getting tons of gifts!!!

You have to be understand that not EVERYONE will come! WEll.....That is not always true, HEE HEE!! I only have 1 set of people not coming, that I thought would, and I have 35 people that I never thought would come, but are!!!

[SouthernQueenBride]

That is awesome that just about everyone is coming Megan.

We are doing Sandals Jamaica for our honeymoon ... but I do agree with StJohnsBride... there are going to be lots of honeymooners and couples ... But I think that they allow a "day/night pass" for the singles ... just curious on how the singles would react to that? It is probably worth looking into ... but just be respectful of your guestlist.

[InLove5]

I have a friend who was lookin into a DW, not me lol. she just wanted some input before she started planning.

[firespirit]

I think it might really depend on people she would want to be there. I thought about Hawaii at one point but I would for sure want my family there and it's just a pain to fly there from much farther than the west coast. It would be a lot to ask.

I'm haveing a hard enough time with some vendors replying to me in town, I can't imagine attempting to book vendors at a destination.

[Dani]

I am having a destination wedding, to Lake Mead, however about 30 people are coming along with us. It stopped alot of arguing on who thinks they would have stayed at our house!

[TripsDownTheAisle]

Hi,

As a destination wedding company owner I have seen, actually I know all of us here have seen the requests for a Beaches or Sandals wedding. Many say it is because of the advertisement or that people feel they started it so they must be the best. Well, that is wrong because they are not the best for all types of destination weddings. Truly they only fit one wedding style, eloping or very small wedding.

The Beaches and Sandals resorts are not for people that truly want either a personalized wedding or whats the kind of wedding you see back home. That is because

1. They have too many weddings per day that bride have actually passed each other or reused the same spot within an hour or two. No one wants to be part of a number, this is your wedding.

2. The new Preston Bailey packages actually have allot of parts that are reused until the coordinator decides to replace them. One of the daisy screens are silk flowers. For the higher package price they should get more personalized service and real flowers in all arrangements.

3. It seems whenever you want to personalize your wedding like certain flowers or a wedding dinner, it throws them for a loop. Their dinners are more geared to having you share with the rest of the resort guests. We have even had couples who wanted to purchase the wedding time slots before them, so there would not be allot of bridal couples running around.

But what they are good at is people who just want the two of you to get married or a very small group under 10 people or for your honeymoon. They have the witnesses provided who can dress up in local traditional wedding clothing, if it is just the two of you. And yes the dining in one of the ala carte dining rooms.

I love to vacation at the resorts and I have been to all but two of them. Suggest them for honeymoons allot, however if you are looking for more personalization and/or private features then I would not look at a Beaches or a Sandals until they get a better grip the packages that they offer.

Don't automatically assume because of a high advertisement budget that they will be the best choice. Look into the details and don't compromise. There are other packages out there that might fit your needs better.

To answer the question regarding November weddings. That is the second most popular time to have a destination wedding. Many times we are booking those dates 9 months in advance and still having problems. The reason is that they are part of the lower prices, it is out of the more tropical storm season, not to hot or cooler temps. It is a perfect date for a destination wedding.

Wish you the best!

Lindsay