Island wedding or Cruise wedding?

[whisler636]

I was married on April 15, 2005 in St. Lucia and have absolutely no regrets going with an island wedding versus the ship. My only concern was with the weather (would it rain or not) and we had the most beautiful, sunny day with not a speck of rain. I realize that St. Lucia is not on your itinerary but being married on the island gave us phenominal memories and pictures. We were married in the most lush garden I have ever seen, in a quaint little gazebo. We probably have over 75 picures just in the garden. On the way back to the ship after the ceramony, the photographer had the driver stop along one of the beaches and we got about 50 or so more pics with us on the beach. They came out beautiful. We also have about 30 or so pics around the ship that were taken when we got back from the ceramony. Our photographer was excellent and we bought all of the pics plus the negatives. (We eloped and wanted lots of pics to show family and friends)

 

Also, as other posters have mentioned, check out the legal requirements regarding getting married in another country. We decided on St. Lucia as it was one of the easier countries to legally marry in by non-citizens. The best part of St. Lucia is you get your marriage license when you go ashore (you do need to submit proper documentation ahead of time for them to process the appropriate paperwork) and you get back on board the ship with your marriage certificate in your hands!!! A lot of other brides who marry on other islands or in Mexico have to wait for their marriage certificate to be mailed, which could be weeks to months after the marriage. I felt more comfortable walking away from the ceramony knowing I had the document in our hands (you will need it to change your name, make any benefit changes, etc.)

 

Looking back, I would not change one thing about being married on the island. We probably had it a little more easier since we eloped and only had to take care of ourselves and not worry about guests.

 

Good luck to you and I am sure either way you go it will be memorable.

[scottishflower]

I am using the KW Hyatt for my wedding, and I'll tell you why -

 

- Nice beaches at Key West ARE rare; Ft Zach is WAY over-priced, and Smathers has no privacy and no infrastructure to accomodate a group.

- Hyatt offered a package with flowers, cake, champagne, chairs and a small beach area; it will accomodate my 30+ guests just fine

- I visited the location in July and it was adorable; nice plam tree, view of the water, and I love their turtles!

- Close to port/pier, so transportation time and costs will be minimal

- experienced on-site coordination and they're providing a place for me to get ready with hair / makeup / dress

 

 

There's probably other reasons too, but I'm very pleased with how things are going -

 

As always, I recommend the yahoo KW wedding group for all feedback - very helpful!

[BABYJOSIE98]

Ya Know I Am Going To Be There In July On The Majesty Of The Seas. Maybe I Will Walk To The Hiatt In Keywest And Check It Out Myself.

 

We Will Be A Small Group And So That Is Why I Was Thinking About Smathers Beach. It Is Ok If We Don't Have Privacy. Most People Respect Your Space In A Situation Like A Wedding.

 

We Are Choosing Key West Since It Is Still In The Usa.

 

Michelle

[cen822]

whisler636.....who did you use in St. Lucia to plan wedding? dh and I will be cruising in april and would like to renew our vows after 26 yrs. would like to do beach ceremony instead of a ship ceremony. any info would be helpful....thanks and congrats to you and dh.

[tinsel57]

Last month I cruised Key West, Grand Caymans and Cozumel. At this point, Grand Caymans AND Cozumel are still very hard hit from the storm, however, to their credit, they're working furiously to rebuild and they welcome all who arrive with open arms.

 

Regardless of when and where you choose, be sure to have a backup plan and be flexible. No one can control the weather and on my cruise a year ago, four couples were there for destination weddings and NONE occurred at their destination!

 

So know if your planning a destination wedding, you may need to punt at the last minute.

 

I had not been to Key West in many years and it's quite built up at this point but there are still places there that would be lovely for a wedding though don't be thinking beach, as the others have told you.

 

You could always do a sunset sail wedding. All sorts of cats or tallsail ships out there that would be great for something like that if you don't have too big a crowd.

 

Or you could do it on the beach in Galveston or in the Hotel Galvez, which is across from the beach. They've an incrediably lovely room overlooking a stunning pool area that is just perfect for that sort of thing.

 

As a matter a fact they had a wedding there the night before our cruise departure. I thought it was perfect! And the couple sailed away the next day!

 

I've got some pics of the pool area if you're interested let me know and i'd be happy to post them for you.

 

It's a very nice place and then you wouldn't have to worry about the weather stressing you out or paying the high cruise prices for their wedding packages.

 

What fun!