Summer 2013 newbie looking to get married at Sandals/Beaches in Jamaica or Turks & Caicos!

lindseejill · May 22, 2012

Hello everyone!

My fiance and I got engaged back in February and I am now just barely starting to hash out wedding details. We live in Colorado, and were planning to do the wedding here in CO since we have family ALL over the country, but after starting to plan the wedding it got to be super expensive super fast! (Think $10,000 just for the venue I wanted, yikes!) So, my fiance suggested a destination wedding. I tossed the idea around in my head for a couple days, and every time I started thinking about it I just couldn't help but get super excited and actually feel STRESS FREE. Our parents are all for it as are some of the relatives. We are not expecting everyone to come (most of my extended family and his will not be able to afford it, which is fine, we will probably just end up doing small receptions in our home towns... maybe ) I just really love the idea of a DW; being relaxed and stress free, plus we are both such HUGE beach lovers that I think it will be perfect! I wanted to look into Mexico (I fell in love with Cancun a few years ago), but unfortunately because he is in the military he is not allowed to travel to Mexico at all, due to the gang activities. Anyways, I have a few questions to begin with that I'm hoping somebody can help me with!

We've been looking into the Beaches/Sandals resorts in Jamaica or Turks & Caicos. My aunt (who is a TA) has suggested Jamaica because it will be much cheaper than Turks & Caicos. Has anyone ever stayed at these resorts/done a DW here? I really have liked them the most and really love their wedding themes. I would prefer to stay at the Sandals resort, but I think we may have some children coming. I've heard that you can have guests with children stay at the Beaches resort and they will be allowed to come to the Sandals resort for the wedding/reception. Is this true? I'm not sure how much I like that idea because I would like our family to all be together so we might all just stay at Beaches. Or I was thinking we could move over to Sandals after the wedding. Has anyone ever done that? Also, my little brothers (who are twins) will be 17 when we get married. Are they considered an "adult"? Would they be allowed to stay at Sandals? I know the website says adults/couples but I am the oldest and have all younger siblings and none are married.

Also, and I know this question is hard because it is so vague, but if you have done a wedding at Sandals/Beaches how much did it end up costing you? I do like some of the "upgrade" packages but wouldn't have a problem going with the beautiful beginnings package if it ended up being too much.

Also, I already feel guilty asking people to spend the money coming to the wedding. I know that it can be quite pricy. How do you get over that feeling of guilt? I just have to keep reminding myself that it is OUR day, and to do what we want.

Sorry for all the rambling! Thanks in advance.