My fiance and I are planning a destination wedding and honeymoon for next August in the Caribbean. He has been to Barbados, and I have never been to the Caribbean before. We need 2 islands -- one for the wedding and one for the honeymoon. I would love some help from those of you who have traveled extensively in the Caribbean. I do want to say that I have DOZENS and DOZENS of hours of research on the internet for this, so although I haven't been to the islands, I know ALL about them, have read reviews on a million hotels, and understand their differences. I just want some help from those of you who have actually been there. I have posted many questions recently, and appreciate all your answers. This is what we are looking for:
1.) Our first island, the one we will get married on, needs to have activities for the small group of family and friends who will be with us. We are interested in excellent snorkling (as many of us have never done it), some fun boat/catamaran rides, and beautiful beaches. A little shopping and nightlife would be nice, as my fiance's mother likes to shop, and we would like some nightlife for our celebrating! We want to stay in a big hotel/resort that has plenty to do for everyone, and has a big pool area, maybe with a swim-up bar. Fun, not too expensive places to eat would be a plus.
2.) For our honeymoon island, we don't need nearly as many things to do! We would however like a luxury resort that has a wonderful pool and beach. We have been looking into Sandals, and realize the reviews are mixed on them, so if you have one you like, let me know. We would like to explore whatever island we're on, but expect that after the busy wedding week, we will spend most of our time at the beach and pool, which is why they must be nice areas!

I am looking to get the most I can out of my first Caribbean experience -- I would like to do a lot, see a lot, and relax a lot in these 2 weeks! Touristy and busy is fine for the wedding island as we want to keep our family and friends entertained, but natural beauty and a more Caribbean "feel" would suit us for our honeymoon island.
Please help me with any ideas and comments!! I know we will have a blast no matter where we go, but you could all help me so much! If you have island, hotel, or activity suggestions, bring it on!

Sounds like the USVI and BVI would be a good combination. St. Thomas has about everything you need for the wedding party and you can honeymoon in the BVI (1 hour ferry ride and a pretty one too). Visit www.scubamom.com/bvi/ for some ideas. Lots of places to stay in St. Thomas depending on budget.

Honeymooned in the Caribbean. BVI's for first week on a chartered yacht (highly recommend for price you might pay at an all inclusive). We chose our itinerary. Little Dix Bay in Virgin Gorda (BVI) is fabulous, Peter Island is also fabulous.

Second week we were in St. John, also beautiful (USVI). We stayed on wrong side of island. Water and beaches are prettier on other side (Westin resort is where we stayed - large, touristy, would not recommend for honeymoon). In St. Thomas there is lots to do see, and variety of resorts for all price ranges. Ritz Carlton St. Thomas as I have heard is the best.

August is height of Hurricane season. Take this into consideration.

I hope this helps and have a wonderful trip!

Thank you both for your replies! They were very helpful. I can tell you that what I have been thinking is possibly getting married on St. Thomas (and enjoying a few day trips to St. John) or Jamaica, and my honeymoon choices run from St. Lucia to Antigua to Anguilla (and enjoying a day trip or 2 to French St. Martin.) I was thinking about a Sandals in St. Lucia, but I love the beach, and I am concerned that although St. Lucia is said to be such a beautiful island, the beaches aren't top notch. In Anguilla, I was thinking of Cuisinart Resort. Anyways, these are the islands I have been thinking of combining. (Maybe even Cayman?)
PLEASE give me more thoughts and opinions! Thanks! (Also, we know this is hurricane season, but August is the only time we can both get 2 weeks off.)

I would get married in St Thomas or St.Martin---nice hotels, great shopping and tons of stuff to do at nite...

For the honeymoon, I would head to St. Barts (Guyanahani).....or St.Lucia ( Jalouise)

Wedding in St. Thomas or St. John is great ( we saw many couples getting married at sunset, etc., very beautiful). As for beaches, the best are in the BVIs or St. John. Calm clear waters. The baths at Virgin Gorda is a spectacular place to visit, snorkel, just fantastic.

As for St. Lucia, I understand it is a beautiful island, but beaches might not be the best. Much more expensive, but I hear it is worth it (according to many travel mags, etc., is the Four Seasons in Nevis.) Princess Diana used to stay there... etc.

Jamaica obviously has beautiful beaches, but everyone goes there. We spent a week there and it rained for 7 days. And when it rains, you can't get a cab to leave your hotel so you are stuck in your room, resort area.

Your choice all depends on price and if you want more seclusion or more organized activities.

Peter Island resort in the BVIs is great, very private, accessible by boat or helicopter. Many beautiful beaches.

Little Dix Bay & the Bitter End are also very good.

I have heard mixed reviews on Barbados and Aruba and I haven't been so I couldn't give an honest opinion.

I don't know if this is helpful, but consider your requirements and what you want most out of your stay on your honeymoon, and go with the priorities.

Hi Honeymooner14,


For what it's worth I can tell you a limited amount about the Sandals Grande. We visited the property as the Hyatt back in 2001. Sandals did make some changes like adding the swim up bar to the pool, childrens pool turned into the lovers pool etc. color change of outside of buildings. The room pics, that I have seen lately look like they have stayed the same, furniture, bedspreads etc. All the rooms there seem to be of decent size, and I'm pretty sure no matter what category you book you will get a mini fridge in room and bottled water and pop. This is a plus compared to some of the other Sandals that you have to have concierge for the fridge and bottled water. Don't hold me to that though.

I am not a fan of the Sandals Company, but as the Hyatt is was a decent resort. I think it was only a couple years old when Sandals took over. Most of the reviews that I have come across for it as the Sandals Grande have been on the more positive side then I have seen for any of the Sandals resorts.

The resort itself was built on a man made flat peninsula attaching the main land with Pigeon Island. The beach is decent but as one other has mentioned it has a bit of rock, courser sand. Think some of the rocks got mixed in with the sand when they build the land there. I think of the three Sandals on St.Lucia it has probably the nicest useable beach. You can walk a ways and then climb to Pigeon Pointe for a great view of Rodney Bay/Reduit beach. This view is also seen from the Grande and is quite pretty.
This area of the island and the resort itself is not as lush as you will find at the other two Sandals or farther south near Piton, Rain forest areas. You really won't get that lush feel at the resort itself. You will maybe get a more Grande feel, with about five, 3 and 4 story buildings. With pretty view of the area, the sail boats, etc., coming and going and the lights of Rodney Bay at night.

We love St.Lucia, but my favorite part of the island is the Southwestern Piton Area and Rain Forest. The resorts here are conveniently located to the Pitons, Rain Forest, water falls, mineral baths, hiking, diving hot spots, snorkeling or scuba off the Beach in the Marine reserves.

Don't let the idea of the lack of nice beaches put you off from checking out the Jalousie Hilton in St.Lucia also Ladera for that matter. The Jalousie's beach is not the traditional walk for miles beach as it is a cove between the two Piton Mountains, one of the most stunning locations I've seen in the Caribbean. The water is a deep crystal clear cobalt blue that is shone off beautifully by the (imported) white sand. The Petit Piton rises 2,400 ft. shear out of the water and beach at your feet. Swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, and water sports are wonderful from this beach. A romantics, nature lovers dream, although it is not for everyone being as secluded of an area as this is.

The Jalousie is a full service luxury resort. Large property with a very intimate feel. As the resort consists of cottage/rooms with plunge pools scattered hill and mountainside hidden in the lush landscape. With awesome ocean and or mountain views. All with mini fridges, private patios with table and chairs and chaise loungers, 24 hr room service, robes, etc. No swim up bars or the social games that they play at Sandals, but a wonderful large traditional pool, great wrought iron chase loungers with thick cushions, lots of umbrellas and a trellis for shade. There is a beach bar with beach waiter service. Lots of large palm huts or padded chaise loungers with pull up canopies built for two.

I am normally a get up and go type when vacationing, and I have to tell you this place lured us into wanting nothing more then to spend time on the beach in this truly stunning location. Simply Beautiful! Check it out.

There's even a natural thermal mineral bath that you can hike to outside the entrance of the Jalousie.
Good luck to you,
Donna

I have not been to the Jalousie Hilton Resort & Spa but hear it is wonderful. They have romantic villas with private plunge pools. I know two couples that went there on their honeymoon with very high expectations and absolutely raved about the property. Keep in mind that it is far from everything else, therefore you will probably stay on property and that the roads are terrible so travel only during the day, make sure the flights arrive during daylight hours. I believe they also have helicopter service, also only during the day.

Wow!!
I have gotten some amazing responses from you all. Keep the information and opinions coming, please, as I am trying to fill my fiance in on all of this!

How about getting married in Puerto Rico (they have great large resorts, eg., the Wyndham Conquistador) and honeymoon in a) Anguilla at Cap Juluca, b) Peter Island or Biras Creek in BVI, or c) St. Barth's?

That's an interesting idea that I had not thought of yet! Is it relatively easy to get from Puerto Rico to Anguilla?

To answer your last question, yes it's easy to get from SJu to AXA--American Eagle definitely flies there, and I suppose that at least one other local airline might cover that route as well.

Having just recovered from a destination wedding in Antigua with 45 family members and friends in tow, I think it's a great idea to choose an island that is easy to get to for a wedding location, especially if your guests are coming from different parts of the country/world to be there for you. (St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, St. Martin/Maarten, Antigua and Aruba are all reasonably easy to get to and offer a full service airport that can accommodate jets.) I also recommend that wherever you decide, that you look into chartering a catamaran cruise for snorkeling--it can be so much more fun with just your wedding guests on board!

For your honeymoon, I'd recommend a place where you and your new spouse will be able to let go of the real world after the wedding. I'm NOT a Sandals fan myself, so my recommendations would run to the more individual resorts that represent a true getaway. I second the previous suggestions of Peter Island, Biras Creek, Cap Juluca and Jalousie, and also put forth Guana Island (where I just honeymooned) in the BVI and PSV in the Grenadines as further suggestions.
You can find thorough reviews of many of these places at www.scubamom.com and www.scubatreks.com--with lots of photos and text to provide more useful information that the resorts' own websites.

Well first congrats! My husband and I are just about to celebrate our first wedding anniversary this August 13th, so I understand completely the madness that you're going through.

We got married on Hawksnest beach on St. John at sunset... and I must say it was BREATHTAKING. The beaches on St. John were amazing, but stay away from Trunk bay, there are many more beaches on the island that are far less populated that have better sand and snorkeling. Try Honeymoon Beach, it's a bit of a walk but we swam with a whole mess of sting rays and then rent a car or take a "taxi" to Water Lemon Cay or Salt Pond - great snorkeling both places.

Whatever you decide to do, you'll love it.

Again, thank you all!
Ejcrowe, I have read many of your posts on this forum, and for a first-timer to the Caribbean like me, your advice and thoughts are always a big help. We are thinking now that we will try 3 islands. We have 15 nights, so we thought maybe we'd get married on St.John/St. Thomas, and then split our honeymoon into 2 parts -- head to St. Lucia for 5 days, and then head to either Anguilla/St. Martin or Antigua for our last 5 days. I will not get another trip like this for many years, and want to experience many different sides of the Caribbean. Do these sound like a good combination to you? I think we may try the Sandals on St. Lucia, but are open to suggestions on hotels and activities on the other islands.
And to the last poster, Aprilkrueg, your idea about the beach on St. John sounds perfect for us. Hope to hear more from you all!

If you decide to get married on St. John, it's a relatively easy process. You didn't say where you are from, but if you are an American citizen, you need to pick up your license from the office on St. Thomas, and you must fill out all the paperwork about a month in advance.

My personal recommendations for things on St. John are as follows: We stayed at Estate Lindholm, our rooms were o.k. - not very extravagant, but the view was great and the proprietors were very nice. We ate at various places in town, but Stone Terrace was the restaurant we ate at for our wedding night, and they comped us champagne and dessert - which was delightful. The service was phenomenal. A lot of other places were good on the island, such as Raintree's Fishtrap (food was pretty good... but it was hot and it was outside). We also ate one night at Polli's Mexican Restaurant, but I wouldn't suggest it. Maybe that's because I'm originally a Texas native . Morgan's Mango (another restaurant) was very disappointing both in service and ambiance but the food was pretty good. However, you MUST if you're there have barbeque over by the dock - the locals will be able to point it out for you. The guy does some amazing mango bbq sauce that is GREAT. We retned a car from Cool Breeze Jeep Rental, and they were really great and picked us up from our B&B.

Other wedding issues we had: our photographer, Alain Brin (from St. Thomas)- was PHENOMENAL. He took great pics, and gave us the negatives, all the pictures on CD, and even came back after he did another wedding to do sunset pictures at our B&B with us for free since our wedding officiant screwed up the time of our wedding. His pictures were amazing, and he was incredibly nice.

Be advised that in August you do often get afternoon showers, but they're very light and pass quickly. Definitely go to the BVI if you can. We missed out on it, and wish we would have now.

A lot of people are married on Trunk Bay, but like I said, it's quite overpopulated. Cinnamon Bay is pretty, and although I'm partial to the rock outcrop on Hawksnest where we got married there are a LOT of options on the beaches.

Call the USVI tourism office they have ALL kinds of info for people getting married there and can set you up. If you need more info you can email me personally at [email protected]

Good luck!