bahamas dest wedding
 

need some help planning a dest. wedding in the bahamas. my fiance and i are 35 and we're looking at having roughly 75 guests... all ages (20s through 80s--go grandma and grandpa!). we need to make it easy to get to/from the airport and would like a variety of activites and hotel options for our guests. last, we're would like to have it as early as feb and as late as may 2006.

specific questions:
1. which wedding planner would you recommend?
2. where would you recommend having the ceremony?
3. which hotel(s) would you recommend?
4. are we crazy for planning this in this amount of time?

any pearls of wisdom are greatly appreciated!

jeff

Jeff

My first Pearls of Wisdom would be.....which island in the Bahamas? To me, the Bahamas are chilly in February and ideal in May.

robertob,

we'll be flying into nassau. as i mentioned, we need to make it easy to get to/from the airport (within 30 minutes by taxi or ferry). as far as dates, ideally, we'd like to go in april or may.

i look forward to your response.

I had my wedding for 45 in Nassau on Paradise Island.

As for your questions:

1. We used a plaaner that was provided by the hotel. She was more a conciere but knew all the right people to arrange a JOP, flowers, music, food
2. We got married at the Cloister ruin on paradise island.
3. We stayed at the Raddison. I guess it really depends on your budget. The Atlantis is beautiful!
4. The planning is not that bad. Just think that things need to be much simpler than what you would plan in the States. You are running on Bahamian time.

Would you also consider an outisland wedding? If so there is an excellent wedding planner and amazing wedding locations on Harbour Island.

YOu can fly directly into Nassau and then take Bahamas Air over to Eleuthera or take the Bahamas Fast Ferry. The trip by plane from Nassau International to N. Eleuthera is about 20 minutes and the ferry is about 2 hours, the cost is about the same $100rt. So you guests could take the boat one way and fly the other, the flight is really beautiful. The water is so clear you can see the fish swimming in the water on approach and takeoff.

There are several resorts/hotels on island and since the island is very small it is so easy to get around, you walk everywhere. For the older set you can rent a golf cart to get around also.

There are several beautiful older churches on island (one dates back to the early 1700's) or you could get married in a Gazebo overlooking the water, or head down to the beach, beautiful pink sand.

There are several nice restaurants on island, one, the Landing could also accomodate all of your guests for dinner together in the gardens.

There is a wedding planner on island who could also probably help if you go to www.briland.com you and "kalik" on Newsgroup you will see all of the postings including the wedding planner.

Harbour Island is thought of as one of the TOP destinations in the carribean, and April or May would be perfect weather there. Also if you go off season, which starts the end of May you can get even better prices on hotels.

Take a look at www.rockhousebahamas.com or www.runawayhill.com
www.coralsands.com
www.romorabay.com
www.bahamahouse.com

Hope this helps and let me know if you need any other info.

thanks for your replies. unfortunately, given the number of guests and the elderly, we can't ask them to take another flight or ferry after landing. it would simply be too much for them to handle. the event MUST take place within 30-45 minutes from nassau airport. i love your suggestions, but they're not practical for us.

weimer, i couldn't get a sense from your reply if you were happy with the radisson/the setting of cloister ruin, etc. was it fun? nice?

i'm concerned that things will be really cheesy.

anyone else with hotel, site or planner recommendations?

I can't imagine that anthing on New Providence is more than 30-45 minutes from the airport.

I site that you may want to investigate is The Knot ( http://www.theknot.com/ ). This is a wedding planning specific site with a section on Destination weddings.

If you are having that many people for your wedding, trying to get them from one place to another on Nassau will be a nightmare, that's why I suggested Harbour Island, it's easy to get around. Nassau is very spread out, so your guests will either have to take a taxi, or rent a car, or you will all have to look into staying in one area, so there won't be problems with transportation. The Bahamas Air flights leave twice a day from Nassau.

Also US Air flies directly into N. Eleuthera from Ft. Lauderdale, as does Continental. Delta has direct flights and non stop flights from gateway cities, like NYC and Atlanta.

JetBlue now flies into Nassau out of JFK (our favorite). American, flies to Nassau out of Miami, and has alot of flights daily, I think on the hour.

I know the Raddison has alot of weddings, and they have a planner there. Staying at the Raddison, your wedding is included in your rate so there would not be any additional cost for the wedding, and your whole party could be accomodated as well.

Cable Beach is a nice part of Nassau, there are buses to downtown that are very reasonably priced.

Some of your guests might also enjoy a trip to the Queens Garden and the Ardastra Zoo and Gardens, not far from CAble Beach.

Again, hope this helps.

We got married in Nassau last Nov; all 60 of our guests stayed at either Atlantis or the Comfort Suites (a bit more economical) but we got married at the Catholic Church in Nassau and had our reception at a restaurant called Provence which was lovely, and had 2 air conditioned buses (nice ones) take everyone to the church, reception, and back to Atlantis. Karen Adderly from the Wedding Place was an incredible planner and may be working on her own now(Atlantis will make you use their planner however if you have events there.)
It was great- the food and setting were incredible!
For more information, you can email me at [email protected]
Good luck!

Very much enjoyed our wedding get-a-way! We chose Nassau because of it's accesability from the many places arround the country. The only transportation I provided was buses from the hotel to the Cloister and back (they were nice). Guest were on thier own for Air and room (although I got package deal arranged).

I would be happy to help if I can. My email is [email protected]

Not sure of where you are with your planning, but I know a gentleman that owns a planning service, rental cars and apartments, townhouses and has affiliations with hotels. They also can handle catering, basically the full package. email if you need assistance

It is probably too late, but let me tell you about a great destination place and service.

the destination is Eleuthera, a fantastic place to honeymoon, and the service that took care of us is "Out Island Wedding", and I think their web site is www.out-island-wedding.com

They arrange for the ceremony, and give you the option of staying at two great vacation rentals for your honeymooon; Le Sable Rose, and Med Point. I don't have their web addresses, but you can find them easily by "Googling' them.

enjoy,
bahamasboy