How-to Guide for Planning a Full Destination Wedding in Jamaica
Planning a wedding isn’t for the faint of heart. It involves many moving pieces that can become overwhelming. It gets even more complicated when you choose a destination wedding weekend outside of the country. That’s why so many choose to transfer both the decisions and responsibility completely into a professional’s hands. Here are my destination wedding planning tips seen on display through this destination wedding in Jamaica!
My #1 Tip: Find a Destination Wedding Planner
One of the most complicated steps of the wedding planning checklist are the most important ones: setting the dates and finding your flights. The runner up in your wedding planning timeline is transportation for you and possibly your guests. Beyond coming alongside you to plan the details of a destination wedding in Jamaica, the next step I highly recommend is hiring a local travel agent.
The agent can walk you through the details of your planning process and provide wedding planning tips for finding the best pricing on flights, hotels, transportation, etc. If you’re unsure where to begin, that's where I come in! I can walk you through the initial steps of the process to make the biggest decisions (like dates) so a travel agent can be most effective.
Relying on both of us as a resource will help you feel confident in what you choose to prioritize on your day so that smaller details don't seem so overwhelming.
The Secret to a Smooth Destination Wedding Experience
The best way to expect the unexpected at your destination wedding is by building a multi-day experience. It makes sense to turn the event into a vacation for your guests as well as your own honeymoon! Extending your time will allow you to both enjoy your location to the fullest while releasing all time pressures.
It’s so much easier to expand a destination wedding in Jamaica when the wedding events aren’t tied to a single day. Destination wedding packages spread out over multi-day events slows down the enjoyment of your celebration. Here are some examples of ways you can lengthen and provide time buffers for your destination wedding:
Night-before welcome cocktail party: a great way to get people in the spirit of things and it allows for spending more time catching up with the people you love.
Day-after bridal photoshoot or a day-before portrait session.
This relieves the pressure of having to keep yourself in perfect condition all day and even allows for alternate or adapted looks (hair up or down). Doing an adventure session following your wedding day is such an amazing way to make your moments so intentional, and capture those wedding photo ideas that you dreamed of without feeling rushed.
Destination Wedding in Jamaica: How it All Came Together
Josh and Jess chose a destination wedding all-inclusive resort that covered the majority of their wedding needs. For their four-day all-inclusive wedding in Jamaica, the package selection included the following:
Night-before welcome party with drinks and hors d’oeuvres
Fantastic DJ
Set-up/tear down for all events
Selections from the resort's amazing decor options
Three-course wedding meal
Officiant
Wedding Coordinator, and so much more!
The only parts the couple covered were a few personal touches from home and DIY wedding favors for each of the guests given out the night before. These two highly value creating an amazing guest experience for those around them. Choosing a wedding resort in Jamaica that’s all inclusive covered so much of that work for them.
Not only did I absolutely love working with the vendor team at Sandals Jamaica, but I was also amazed at how accommodating they were for the couple. They were willing to make anything work for them and in the timeline that they couple desired. The resort covered many needs from transportation around the resort to giving this destination wedding photographer full access to the property for photos.
In most cases, you get more for your money when planning something like a destination wedding in Jamaica. All-inclusive resorts have so much experience creating a great environment for an intimate celebration that makes the process run smoothly. Choices like this help make for a relaxed wedding experience that feels like a vacation!
Dreaming up your own destination wedding? Let’s chat!
