I am looking for some advice. I'm looking for an island for a destination wedding. We will be building a home around the time of the wedding so our original destination wedding plans have changed. Now we are thinking a long weekend, like Thursday to Monday so we need a Caribbean island that would have short flights from Pennsylvania. So far our thoughts are Bermuda, Bahamas, T&C, San Juan-have not been to any of them... The wedding will be March/April. We want nice water, beaches and snorkeling. I'd prefer a smaller hotel/resort vs a large one for more intimacy, but I'm open to all possibilities. Rooms under $300/nt if possible. Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks.

Try Sandals Halcyon... perfect resort for a wedding great gardens and a small resort. Any ? feel free to email me.

Is Halcyon the one in St. Lucia? If it is it may be too far with layovers etc. Origionally, I really wanted to go to St. Lucia but with 8+ hour flight with transfers would be too much for 4-5 days. Also we have to pick a place that allows kids b/c most of our friends and my fiance's sister have kids. We want to leave that an option if they choose to come and want to bring the kids.

Yes, it is in St.Lucia. Then Sandals Negril would be my next choice. "SUPER BEACH" and awesome sunesets at this resort.

I think T&C caisos would suit you well. Its a quick flight from the east coast. Also the Grace Bay beach is very nice. Check out Royal West Indies resort.

Thanks for the information. Sandals is out b/c they do not permit kids. Does anyone know much about the Iberostar resorts in Dominican Republic? It looks nice but you never know.

kessh- just a suggestion. You mentioned a long weekend for your Caribbean wedding. You absolutely need to check out residency requirements on your island of choice before you make your decision so that you can legally get married the short amount of time you have.

I realize you're not going to a Sandals Resort, but I pulled this information off their website - For example:

in St Lucia: Couples are required to stay on the island for three (3) full business days, not to include day of arrival, weekends or holidays. - so this won't work for you.

Bahamas: Couples must stay on the island for 48 hours, excluding day of arrival, weekends or holidays. This won't work either.

Antigua: Couples must stay on the island for 48 hours, which must include 1 business day, excluding their day of arrival.

Jamaica: Couples must stay on the island for 48 hours before they can marry.

Sorry - forgot this one:
Turks & Caicos: Couples must stay on the island for 72 hours, which must include 3 business days, excluding their day of arrival.

kamahinaohoku, I am assuming that you got that info off of the Sandals site, since the only islands included are those that have Sandals/Beaches hotels?

If so, it's not strictly accurate, as one can be married in Antigua the day after arrival, not have to wait 48 hours after arrival. It could be that Sandals adds an extra day to make sure there is more than enough time to process the paperwork, but according to the laws of Antigua, you can get married the day of arrival in Antigua. (I personally don't see how that is physically possible, with all of the paperwork that has to be filled out, but it is *legal* to do so.)

kessh, I got married with around 40 friends and family members at Long Bay Hotel in Antigua. Since it's a small hotel and we were a pretty large party, we were able to reserve the entire hotel for the long weekend, Friday-Monday. The beach there is beautiful, the snorkeling off shore at Long Bay is about as good as it gets in Antigua, the food is good, the property has an old time charm, and the staff are incredible.

The hotel negotiated us a great per person rate for singles and couples, a rate for kids under 12, and a family rate for those who had more than 2 kids. We were there in June when low season rates are in affect, but our rates were WAY under $300/night for a couple, and that included daily breakfast & dinner, taxes, & gratuities, plus all water sports like snorkeling, kayaking, and Suncats.

Long Bay is a very old-fashioned place with no tvs, no telephons, and even an old timey game room and library. Our party of 40 guests included lots of kids, some of whom were teenagers. I was slightly concerned that the older kids might be bored without the modern electronic conveniences, but as it turns out, they all loved it, even the things like table tennis, darts, and board games that the hotel provided.

My guess is that you could fly American out of Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, have a quick change of planes in San Juan, and be on the beach at Long Bay by around 2:30pm.

Please let me know if you have specific questions. And if you do decide to contact Long Bay, tell them Emily Crowe recommended them.

Thanks for the information, ejcrowe - you're right, I did mention that I pulled the info off Sandal's website. My point was actually for kessh to check out the residency requirement information (from better sources, as it seems ) before commiting to a wedding on a specific island. I mean, if they fly on Thursday, and expect to get married on a Saturday, and the island they want has a 3 prior business day requirement, they'd be in trouble.
But thanks again for correcting me.

oops, looks like a case of premature posting on my part. Sorry about that--you certainly did state that clearly but I overlooked it in my first reading.

thank you all for your responses. I had known about many of the islands having requirements but I guess that slipped my mind with our change of plans (originally we planned to be more than a week so I did not look into each place for amount of days much). But we both agreed that we'd rather put more money into our downpayment on our house than spending extra days on the wedding/honeymoon. We figured we could go somewhere for our 1st anniversary or something if able to afford. I'll look into some of the time requirements more. Can anyone suggest more nice hotels, like Long Bay, on any of the more direct flight islands?

Hi Kessh,
I got married in Aruba in April 2005. There are a lot of direct flights - I am pretty sure from Philly as we had some guests from there. I'd say its about a 5 hour flight. The weather is great and the island is beautiful. We got married at the Radisson but I don't think they are still doing weddings, you could check though. The Marriott would be another choice for you - Hyatt is also very nice, but probaby over $300/night. In April the weather would be good, beaches are great and guests have a good choice of hotels at different price points.
We were in PR this April and that was about 4 hour flight (from NY) so the extra hour is worth it. Palm Beach Aruba is not what I would call small/intimate, but its gorgeous and warm. They don't have minimum stay requirements but they do have some serious paperwork you have to send down there - I recall having to send birth certificates with apostiles from the counties of our birth and papers from NYC stating we weren't married here, etc. But it was def. worth it - the civil hall there is gorgeous too and then you could have a ceremony reception on the beach. Good luck!

According to this website http://www.westcoastbride.com/weddin...scaribbean.htm and http://honeymoons.about.com/od/cayma...agelicense.htm

it appears that Dominican Republic, Barbados, Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico have no requirements with length of stay on island before getting married. Jamaica, Bahamas, and Antigua only have 1 day. Looks like T&C is out b/c it is 2-3 days, and Barbados b/c it's pretty far. Out of these islands what would you recommend as being nicest, having nice beach/snorkeling, etc?

you could consider puerto rico or any usvi as they are part of the US no special requirements. paperwork is done by mail before arrival then you need only drop by sign and go.

You should check out the Cayman Islands. First choice for a family vacation, and complete wedding services, same day! There are several wedding planner services, but only one "Cayman Weddings" offers full-service. They can write you a ceremony which includes kids.

Ejcrowe....do you have any pictures you can post of long bay resort? Also are there other restaurants close by to try for lunch,etc? Is it worth taking a day trip to Barbuda or any other island close by?

I answered your questions about food and photos on your other post. As to whether it's worth it to make a daytrip to other islands, well, that depends on the individual. If you and your new spouse were going to stay on in Antigua and honeymoon there, I would definitely say it's worth it to consider a helicopter tour of Montserrat or a fast ferry day trip to Barbuda.

But trying to organize that for a large group of guests who are only down there for a long weekend might be pushing it a bit. Or at least, it would have for me.
I did want to plan something for my guests, however, so we chartered a catamaran for a daysail and snorkel that was very pleasant. Not everybody wanted to go--some wanted to just stay back at Long Bay and relax--but about 25 of us went out and had a great time. We used the Wadadli Cats and would certainly recommend them. if you didn't want to charter one, you and your guests could always join one of their scheduled boat trips.

ttt for kessh