Our Destination Wedding

Well before we got engaged, we knew we wanted to have a destination wedding. But after the proposal and the ring, there were many questions to be answered—Where did we want to go? What did we want to do? What could we afford?

After months of research and decision-making (to be chronicled in this blog), we arrived on Grand Bahama the Wednesday before our wedding to do all the weddingy things—meet with our wedding planner, get the marriage license, have photos taken, etc. We handled the logistics, greeted our guests and snuck in time on the beach and scuba diving. After 1.5 years of planning (to the day!), the actual day came on June 10, 2006, on Grand Bahama Island.

With about 20 guests in attendance, we got married on a humid Saturday evening at the gazebo of the Our Lucaya Resort. The ceremony was followed by a cocktail hour and a three-hour dinner reception. We ended the night with our attendants and friends in the horizon pool overlooking the beach.

For the next two days, we spent time with friends and family who had traveled to the Bahamas to be with us. We went snorkeling and attended a bonfire and partook of lots of fruity drinks. By Monday night, it was time to say goodbye as our guests set off for home and we headed to Nassau to continue our honeymoon.

A Mini-Vacation for your Guests

If you don’t elope, your destination wedding could be a mini-vacation for your guests. This can present several challenges to you in wedding planning since you’ll want to plan more events for your guests. About half the guests at our wedding turned the trip into a mini-vacation.

At our wedding, we had some set activities including the welcome cocktail hour the night before, the ceremony and dinner. We also planned events that our guests were able to participate in if they wanted, but didn’t feel forced into:

• Visit to a local Bahamian market
• Scuba diving trip the morning of the wedding for certified divers
• Wave runner rentals the day after the wedding
• Snorkeling trip
• An informal breakfast the next morning

If you’re doing a destination wedding at a non-beach destination (like a city in Europe or New York City), you could have:

• Welcome dinner
• Theater/opera excursion
• Museum trip
• Walking/bus/bicycle tour

The possibilities are as vast as your imagination.

"So, are you like J-lo? Do you have that little bag?"

Truly, I get asked this at least once a week. To go ahead and get the answer out of the way, no I'm not like J-lo, at least I don't think so, because that is nothing like what my job is like. But I do have a little black bag that would put Mary Poppins big carpet bag to shame. At my last wedding here is what I pulled out for mini-emergencies:
1. Safety pins to keep the ring bearers pants on.
2. Deodorant for a bridesmaid who danced all hers off.
3. Bobby pins for the bride.
4. Double stick tape to a guest to attach a card to a gift.
5. Sharpie to the pastor who needed to make a last minute change.
6. Mints to the entire grooms party, pre-ceremony, post-smoke break.
7. 1 Mylanta, 4 tylenol, 2 advil, 3 bandaids, and a tampon to various members of the wedding party.
8. Hairspray to the flower girl who twirled and twirled and twirled in her dress til her hair fell flat.
10. 4 zip ties on the ivy that wouldn't stay put.
11. 2 AA batteries to a guest whose camera went dead.
12. Lollipop to the screaming kid in the ceremony.
13. 3 battery powered tealights for the kids table. Some crazy person put real ones on there! Hellooooo- kids table.
14. Mace onto the DJ who nearly destroyed the reception. Just kidding. Hee Hee. I wanted to, but that's another post all together.

First things First – Is it legal?

As we planned our destination wedding, our first question was whether a foreign marriage was recognized in the U.S. Is it legal? Are we really going to be married?

The U.S. State Department actually has a website for U.S. citizens interested in getting married in a foreign country.

You need to follow the legal procedures of the country where you will be married. Most countries have residency requirements (the length of time before the wedding you need to be in the country). In the Bahamas, the residency requirement was one day.

You will need to show legal documentation (usually your passports), but could also include birth certificates, death certificates (widow/widower) and/or divorce decrees. Since this was the first marriage for both us, we only needed our passports and copies of our birth certificates. In the Bahamas, we also needed to go through a brief interview with a local official (about 10 minutes). We did not need to do a blood test, which can be a major issue for some people getting married in some countries.

The other major issue that people encounter is getting their marriage certificates/licenses translated into English (which is required for your marriage to be legal in the U.S.). The official language of the Bahamas was English, so we did not have any troubles.

We wisely obtained multiple notarized copies of our license, which has come in handy since we got home. We needed extra copies of the license for Laura to change her name with various companies, with the government on her passport, etc.

In the Bahamas, we received our official government marriage license, but we also received two copies of the ceremonial Bahamian wedding registry. The signing of the Bahamian registry is actually part of the wedding ceremony (see photo at right).

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we did not need to register our marriage with the state. We have had no problems buying a house, changing Laura’s name or changing our health insurance/401ks with our employers.

Fairy-Tale Wedding Dress? Disney Does Weddings

Strange but true, the Walt Disney Company is now offering wedding dresses, as reported by the Wall Street Journal (2/22/2007). For between $1,100 and $3,000 you can have a Kirstie Kelly-designed Disney dress for your destination wedding. No word on what they actually look like or if the Little Mermaid dress will have flippers.

Fairy-Tale Wedding? Disney Can Supply the Gown
By Merissa Marr

Walt Disney Co. has made a fortune out of turning little girls into princesses. Now it plans to turn big girls into princesses, too.

In a move to expand the reach of one of its most popular franchises, Cinderella and her regal friends are moving into the bridal business with a line of wedding dresses and accessories. Disney has teamed up with couture bridal designer Kirstie Kelly to transform blushing brides into their favorite princesses, complete with billowing gowns and crystal tiaras. At a cost of $1,100 to $3,000 for each gown, brides will be able to walk down the...

The Big Decision – How large of an event do you want?

The first big decision you’ll face is how large of an event you want. Will your destination wedding be just you and your fiancée or will it include your friends and family? The big caveat to this discussion is that if you have unlimited monetary resources, it doesn’t matter because you can go anywhere. But if you take a group, you’ll want to have the infrastructure to support the group at a price your guests can afford.

As we began our planning process, we started by looking at various islands in the Caribbean—U.S. Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, Jamaica, St. Lucia, etc. We knew we wanted to take a small group (less than 30 people), but the resorts had varying degrees of receptivity to us and they level to which they would accommodate us (private dining vs. the buffet line). Early on, we wanted an all-inclusive resort, but then quickly realized that most of the guests would not be staying a full week, so that option was abandoned.

Fairly quickly, airfare became a factor in our decision making process. It was very expensive to reach many of the islands and this would become prohibitive for most of our guests. With a smaller group, we would have more options.

In the end, we settled on a fairly small group:

• Mother of the bride
• Father and stepmother of the bride
• Grandmother of the bride
• Aunt and Uncle of the bride
• Sister of the bride (bridesmaid)
• Friends of the bride (2)
• Parents of the groom
• Brother and sister-in-law of the groom
• Groom’s best friend (best man)
• Friends of the groom (2)
• Co-workers of the groom (2)
• Photographer

This was a total of 21 (including us) and we found it to be the perfect size. We were able to spend ample time with each of our guests and made for a nice intimate affair.

Hi my name is Kelly McWilliams. I'm a wedding planner, I plan weddings for Brides & Grooms, and I'm addicted.

I can't stop. Yesterday I received a surprise in my PO Box. It was a thank you note with a nice gift from a previous client. A previous client from over a year ago! It had been "lost" in the mail all this time! Gotta love the postal service. Anyhoo, I immediately called the client and explained that it had just arrived and that was why I had never called to say thank you. It was good to talk to her again. Then I sat here for about 15 minutes pondering what to do with this thank you gift. Spa day? Nah. New outfit and shoes for the concert tomorrow? Nah. Take the hubby out to our favorite-yet-way-to-expensive-resturant? Nope. I flew over to the bookstore and loaded up on 5 wedding books that I have been dying to get my hands on. I just about cleared the shelf except for the "How to plan a wedding" books. I've got a small wedding library in my office and it just got a whole lot more inspirational.
P.S. Call me a dork if you want to; But I'm going to the Justin Timberlake concert tomorrow and I'm as excited as all heck.

Arassay+Hector=Caliente!

One of our favourite things to do is B+G sessions. Add to that an incredible location like Havana and a gorgeous couple so in love with life, and we are two very happy photographers!

Before we left for Yendi + Pat's destination wedding, we met with our friends Ernesto and Jackie here in Vancouver. Ernesto came to Canada from Cuba just a few years ago, and he gave us lots of advice and tips for travel there. He also told us about his daughter Arassay, who he hopes will one day be able to join him here.

"She is beautiful inside and out," he said. He is so right.

Arassay welcomed us into her home like we were her own family, even though she had never met us. We felt so honoured to be able to share a small piece of their life: the daily joys of living in such a beautiful country as well as the daily hardships of surviving in a communist country. Spending time with her and Hector opened our eyes to the freedoms we take for granted every day here at home.

Despite its challenges, Cuba is one of the most amazing countries we have ever visited. And Arassay and Hector are two of the most vibrant people we have ever met! They are both dancers (that's how they first met), and they were truly a joy to photograph. One of the few words we know in Spanish is beso so they did a lot of kissing! As well as a lot of laughing at our attempts to communicate!

The beautiful Arassay.
The handsome Hector.Together.It was a lot of fun racing around Havana in a 1950's Chevy convertible, Stopping in a bar for a classic Cuban Mojito,
Dancing in the streets and the plazas,And strolling down the Malecon.
Although Arassay+Hector won't be able to see this blog entry (the internet is banned for them), we can't wait for them to see the images her father will bring with him when he next returns to the country.

Oh no! My dress is filthy!!!

Yep. I guarantee you that unless you have a tea length dress (very hip right now by the way) that your dress will get dirty. Why? Because at some point you will walk somewhere in it. And considering that your dress will go where your shoes go, it will make contact with a floor, sand, or grass. Meaning it will be black, brown, or green on the bottom by dinner. Here's the thing though. Nobody will notice except for you, the bride. Yes, I know that you love your dress, and I know that you spent a paycheck (or a couple paychecks) on it. I love your dress too, but there aren't enough Shout wipes in the world to keep it spotless.
So here is what I propose. Cry now and get it off your chest. Then go to see what these brides did (click here). I want to go dig out my dress now and do this. It looks like a blast. Quick, somebody get me a photographer!

A camel, a giraffe, Cinderella, and a pig.

I had the most incredible weekend! Friday I went for a site tour at the most unbelievable, one of a kind, out of this world venue I have ever seen. I am just dying to have an event there. Very pricey I'm certain, but guaranteed to be worth every penny. Now considering I see many a venue, for me to say that my jaw dropped at every turn- that means this place is something else. And it wasn't just the venue- the staff is incredible. I met one of the owners as he was taking his camel for his morning ride. Then I fed carrots to the resident giraffe (I think his name is Shelton) as I talked logistics with the Director of Sales. Even the executive chef stopped by to introduce himself. I have never been so impressed.
Saturday I had a Cinderella wedding. Oh the bride looked just beautiful. It was very much a fairytale wedding, right down to the horse and carriage and handsome prince of a groom. I had such a wonderful time watching them together. They're very much one of those couples who are just so in love. I cried no less than 5 times.
Sunday we co-hosted a pig roast-birthday party at our home. Donna, I know you are freaking out about this, I told you not to read my blog today! It was freezing by Florida standards, but a great time was had by all. I even learned how to play "Cornhole". I think its an Ohio born outdoor game. Something between horseshoes and plinko. If that makes any sense.

Boudoir Photos – Reality Check

This is for anyone looking for a little entertainment and diversion from the wedding planning process.

First, it needs to be said that we did not get engagement photos. And Laura’s style is more Ann Taylor than Forever 21. We found this photographer and cracked up in hysterical laughter:
http://www.dennyscottphoto.com/boudoirsamplesctrl.html

Of particular interest is the wedding boudoir photographs which was about too much for us:
http://www.dennyscottphoto.com/brideboudoir.html

A question, what’s with the models?

Yendi+Pat=Amor!

Pat and Yendi's Cuba wedding must have been one of the most fun we've ever photographed! It's hard not to smile and laugh around these two - their love for each other and all fifteen of their closest friends is incredible!

We truly want to thank them for asking us to shoot their wedding and flying us down to Cuba. And even more for inviting us to hang with them in Veradero and Havana (even if that does mean we'll never look at another bottle of Crown Royal in the same way ever again!).

It was sooo hard to pick some of our favourite shots from our time with them, but here are a few (okay, a lot).

Gorgeous gown by exclusive Beverley Hills designer Linea Raffaelli.

Getting married!
The ceremony locale was hard to beat.
The guys started celebrating early...With some habanos.Here comes the bride...
Celebration! Pat and his posse.

Yendi and the girls having fun.Dance until sundown!Our B+G session in Havana was sweet!
One of my very favourites...
Time for a ride...to the castle.
Congratulations, guys! We're so glad we got to be there while you lived out your dream destination wedding!

About Us

We're not wedding planners. We're not in the business of selling destination weddings.

We are an ordinary couple who decided that a destination was the right thing for us (and a tremendous amount of fun). But when we were planning our big day, we were disappointed in the lack of quality information about destination weddings. The good information we found was scattered across the Internet.

This blog is everything we wished we had known before planning our destination wedding.

About us—
Laura and Lance live in suburban Philadelphia and work in healthcare. We had our destination wedding in June 2006 on Grand Bahama Island.

Happy Valentines Day!

Anybody get engaged today? It's still kind of early, hopefully by tonight I'll start to hear about some exciting proposals. I got engaged on Valentines day 10 years ago. I can hardly believe its been that long. It's been a great 10 years.
Speaking of engagements, let's talk about engagement photos. What are they for, and why do you get them, and should you even bother.
Personally, I think they're great. For so many reasons. You can use them on your wedding website, your mom can put them in the paper with the engagement announcement, you can use them as your holiday card picture, and there are even some wedding invitations that have photos printed right on them. It's also really nice to just have a great picture for your office desk, and somewhere in the house.
Then there's the "wedding planner reasoning". This wedding planner will tell you that spending that hour or 2 with your wedding photographer, months before the wedding will make a huge difference come wedding day. You will know how your photographer works, and your photographer will learn the best ways to get the best out of you. So then on your wedding day, its someone you know taking your photos, and everyone can be comfortable and full of smiles.
Most wedding photographers offer packages that include engagement photos. If not, just ask if its something you can add on.
Photo Credits:
Michelle Reed Photography
Gigi Hamlett Photography

The Newest Trend: Documenting your entire wedding weekend

Not all, but most of the weddings I get to plan are 3 or 4 days of events. Here's the typical line-up:
Usually the weekend starts with the rehearsal dinner, (Thursday)
Followed by a welcome reception (Thursday)
A spa day for the gals and a golf or fishing tourney for the fellas,(Friday)
Perhaps then a sunset cruise, luau, casino night, or the newest rage- Karaoke parties (Friday)
Then of course the wedding ceremony, reception, and after party (Saturday)
And then it all has to come to a close with a farewell brunch... (Sunday)

As you can imagine, there are just tons of memories to capture with all this fun stuff going on. In 2005 I started to notice that more and more of my clients wanted to have all their events documented with professional photography and videography. And really, it kind of makes sense. You figure, when else in your life are you going to have all the people you care about and enjoy the most spending the weekend with you doing nothing but fun stuff? I had a wedding weekend, and I would give anything to have a few really good photos from our welcome reception and video of our best mans speech. One of the neat things I've noticed about these weddings where we've had everything covered is that by the time you get to the wedding, the photographer and videographer visually "know" everyone, and because of that they get amazing shots during the most important 6 hours (ceremony-reception).
Here are a few tips if you're considering going this route:
1. If you're going to have your photographer cover all or few events, make certain that your photographer is a not only a good wedding photographer, but also a good photojournalist. A photojournalist doesn't ask for things to happen, they photograph what does happen and most important, they photograph unobtrusively.
2. Book the whole weekend at once. The last thing you want to do is call your photographer a month before the wedding to ask her to cover the casino party only to find out she's already booked on another wedding for that day.
3. Book the videographer for anything that's going to be big on sound and/or movement- obviously anything where there will be speeches, toasts, or bad singing (ha!).
4. Take advantage of all this documentation- share it. In addition to your wedding video, have the videographer create a 15 minute highlight dvd of the best moments from the weekend to give to your family and wedding party. You can also have your photographer send the videographer some of the photos to add to the video highlights.

One more thing, this is an "extra". Adding something like this can throw your budget WAY off. If you can't swing the whole weekend, maybe just pick one extra event to cover.

Wedding Magazines, what's your favorite?

As you might imagine, I try to read all the wedding magazines, and there are alot. I have 12 subscriptions, and then there are the ones that are special issues that you can't subscribe to. Every once in a while I get behind and end up with 2 foot high stack of issues to read. Which explains the bent center of my bookshelf. Some I skim through, others I read every last page. I was wondering though- what's the big favorite? So I put together this little poll over here. Vote and let me know what you think.

Baby Updates

Just a couple quick photos...these are the twins we were "showering" last spring! Saige & Skylar will be 1 in April. I think its Saige on the left.
The cute little guy is Aiden, Mandi & Andys little soldier.
The photo with me is Skylar (I think).
Sarah & Billy extended their family too...meet Trixie. GoGo stole the show at their wedding processional.

Photo Credit: Twins & Baby Feeding by Gigi Hamlett, Gigi Hamlett Photography