Jarrod and I have been married now for a little over 3 years. We were married in June 2015 in Jamaica at Couples Negril. We had a small ceremony with a few people and I had a photographer friend, Amelia Protiva, come with us to take our portraits. We had an awesome time and I would absolutely do it again if I had to do it over!
Since we had a destination wedding, I thought I could perhaps offer some insight into the process for you Brides and Grooms out there who are considering this option for your upcoming wedding day.
Part I Booking/Planning & Arrival
Overall I would say, the process was pretty painless. We decided when and where to go using a local travel agent, Trips and More. (Kim Morgan is my agent and she is the greatest thing since sliced bread!) The resort offered several options to chose from depending on your ceremony and reception needs. For example, you could chose the following:
-Location
-Time
-Reception Details, Size, Location
-Food options
-Cake options
-Flower option.
The resort offered photography services but I am very picky and I had gone through their sample photos and they were just not my style and not the type of images that I envisioned for my wedding day. Amelia is amazing and was more than willing to travel to be with us on our big day.
Once we booked our trip, our wedding date and wedding package (this is all booked at the same time), a wedding coordinator from the resort reached out to me to ask some initial questions and touch base. If there was anything I would complain about it might be this portion of the planning process. We booked about 8 months ahead of time and there was little communication before our arrival and I was assigned 2 or 3 different coordinators over the 8 months. With that being said, we had a very small ceremony and there were very few details to plan out ahead of time so it did not end up being a big deal.
In Jamaica, you have to be on the island for 3 days before you can legally be married so we were there 3 nights before the ceremony. We decided to go for 7 nights total because we wanted to have extra time there after the ceremony to relax and be married!
After we arrived, I was assigned an appointment time with the wedding coordinator. We met with her the next day and went over the details, she showed us around each location and let me know that she would come to the room before the ceremony to get me.
My dress was not huge so we took a large suite case and I packed it. I have seen brides carry their dress on the plane in a garment bag and the flight attendants will usually stow the dress for you up front so they do not get smashed in the overhead bin.
I opted to have my hair done in the salon at the resort...I was very skeptical of this at first, but I was happy with the end result.
The resort was beautiful and I highly recommend it if you are trying to decide where to go. It is a smaller resort so it was not overly crowded. They bring you drinks on the beach and the rooms were nice. It is my favorite place that we have been so far. I may be partial though because it is where we got married :)
Stay tuned for Part II....The Ceremony & Reception and Part III: Pros & Cons.
Dreaming of sandy beaches and fruity cocktails,
Krista