Looking at Sandals in St. Lucia for my wedding please help!

Joy Strain · March 10, 2012

I am getting married at the Grande St. Lucian as well on June 26, 2012 @ twilight. I am so excited. You guys have me very concerned about photography. Has anyone used the resort photographer? I am getting very excited and scared about the entire things.

ErinxNJxMay · March 18, 2012

I'm booked for a 5/26/12 wedding at Sandals La Toc in St. Lucia! I'm doing the Beautiful Beginnings theme and the only add-ons I'm going to do are an upgraded bouquet and a sand unity ceremony. I'm most likely going to bring my own sand ceremony kit because I want one with a lid so I can have it as a keepsake for home. I've been looking at these:

http://www.theweddingoutlet.com/Wedding-Ceremony/Sand-Ceremony/Sand-Ceremony-Kit-_3

http://www.sandsationalsparkle.com/unity-sand-ceremony-vase-kit-amour-B-A

I haven't decided on photography yet either. I wish I could see some photos from a real La Toc wedding done by the Sandals photographers.

wilsonj2 · July 12, 2012

Hi, I'm sorry I haven't checked this in so long! I wanted to be better about helping St. Lucia brides with info, as it was difficult for me during the planning.

This photo was taken by Katherine Thomas www.katie-t.com She is a friend of mine from college and an awesome photographer. She traveled as a guest to our wedding, and I did not have any problems using her. I declined any Sandals photography, and you will want to do this as well if you bring your own. From what I witnessed the Sandals photogs are quite pushy and will get in the way. I wish I had declined the videography as well, as he is in most of my ceremony shots.

If you hire a local photographer, I'm sure he will be familiar with the park beside the Grande. It is right beside the resort, and there is a stretch of beach to take pictures on as well. We took a ton of shots there. The resort beach is also public, so Sandals people could not keep you from taking pictures there either. Just tell them you would like some time between your ceremony and the reception. We got married at 4 and had our reception at 6.

Originally Posted by jsawedding26

Hey,

Was your photo taken by a Sandals photographer? Or one you hired yourself? If its an outside photographer what is their name because that is a gorgeous photo!! Also my Fiance and I are starting to lean towards having a wedding in St. Lucia but I can't get over the fact that I will be planning a wedding and not get to see anything until few days before! The photographs are very important to me,so explain me again how did you get an outside photographer on the beach? Or how did you even know that half the beach we public? Did you have a sandals photographer for the wedding and then the outside photographer for all the other photos? what about during the reception..what did you do for that? Hope to hear back soon. I am not very good at this blog thing so hopefully when you reply it will pop up in my message box? Or do I need to come back and check on this thread? Oh well I guess I will figure this out..

KLPhoto · July 12, 2012

omgosh Sandals St Lucia looks FABULOUS! my hubby and I were thinking of doing that for our 1 year anniversary since we honeymooned in Sandals Negril and had an amazing time, but we decided to wait until a 5 year or something later since it's a super busy wedding year for me

I too have witnessed several pushier Sandals photographers. They mean well. But as a photographer, I will tend to critique more and it was not my cup of tea. I'm very photojournalistic, I like to document the moments from the tiniest details to the big hoorahs and they seemed to be pushier with stuffier posing, etc. Definitely for the more traditionalist I'd say

amyknight11 · June 17, 2014

Hi wilsonj2 , joy strain, 2thick4u , and other St. Lucia brides!

I am still in the early stages of planning my destination wedding, but my fiance and I are trying to narrow it down to our top choices.. there are so many amazing locations and resorts to choose from!!!

After extensively researching, I am SOLD on Sandals La Toc for our honeymoon (at least for now), but I would love to get more information and pictures of weddings held at both the La Toc resort and the Grande St. Lucia resort! My mom is a travel agent (lucky me!) and she has planned destination weddings before where there is the ceremony at one resort, and then the bride and groom hop over to a different resort to get away from all the guests for a honeymoon all to themselves! That is what we are leaning towards doing...

So anyway, I have read amazing reviews about both resorts for weddings, especially the Grande, but I have barely seen ANY wedding photos of the ceremony and reception! I mainly want to see how & where the ceremony can be held, how many people it can accommodate, and whether there is a good set-up for a pretty outdoor reception with dancing. I'd also love if the wedding ceremony was a bit more private without bystanders all up in our business the entire time. Viewing the ceremony from a distance is fine though!

Since some of your weddings have passed - congratulations, by the way!! - I was wondering if you could send my any pictures of the ceremony and/or reception! Any advice would be wonderful. Thank you!!

Amy