Lotus2221

My fiance and I are getting married in the next couple of years and we are trying to figure out (1) where and (2) when. All we know is that we want rent a beach house/villa and marry there, with 90-100 of our friends and family present.

In reasearching I'm trying to figure out what islands are best for people in the 25-30 year old range and also for families with kids? I imagine that bars, shopping, and safety will be most important.

Also, in my initial research I've found that off-season is much cheaper (obviously). Is there a time during the off season where the weather is best (i.e., least risk of rain, hurricanes?)

Any help on this would be most greatly appreciated. I've been to Aruba and loved it, I also just returned from a third trip to Nassau, which was okay, but not as nice as I thought Aruba was. Unfortunately I've been to no other islands.

bardo1

I just have to know:

Are you really flying 90-100 of your friends and family to the Caribbean or do they already live there?!?

Lotus2221

Ha! No, they're flying themselves from all parts of the U.S., although we plan to subsidize those who may otherwise be deterred by the costs. So now it's primarily a matter of finding the best location! Any suggestions?

TomCayman

This is a subject dear to my heart. When I got married (here in Cayman) what made it special was that we helped a large number of friends and family fly in... we felt that having a lot of them there for a vacation would make our wedding really special for us too... and we were right

We made arrangements with condos, hotels, villas, made sure to have the wedding at an inexpensive time of year for travel etc.

Now that I run a resort, we do the same thing, acting as "wedding central" for such weddings. As an example, this year we hosted a wedding party of about 90, the great majority in their late 20s. The wedding itself was hosted (at great expense) by another hotel, but we made sure the bride and groom would get maximum attendance at the wedding by a) giving them great rates for rooms, and b) working closely with them over more than a year to arrange receptions, dinners, fishing, golf etc for before and after the wedding day to make it a great (and affordable) vacation for all.

In other words, consider staying somewhere other than where the actual wedding and reception will take place.

Cayman is a great place for a wedding... for a group like yours you could (say) stay at my place (The Reef), have the wedding and reception at Grand Old House, have David Wolfe take photos, plus we could fix up a rehearsal dinner on the beach, brunch at the Lighthouse, fishing, Stingray City etc etc.

Can you tell we enjoy making people have a really special wedding ?

A_Traveller

Off season will definitly save you money. While no one can guarantee weather your best bet would be to plan your wedding for sometime after Easter Week (that's when low season begins) and before August 1 as that's when you normally have to start worring about hurricanes and tropical storms.

It's nice that you are planning to subsidize the costs for your guests but make sure you know what you are undertaking as costs can mount up pretty fast. You really should give some thought to the expenses your guest will incur if they are going to be paying their own way. Consider limiting your island choices to those destinations that can be reached non-stop or direct by the majority of your guests. Islands such as Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, St. Martin, Aruba and possibily Barbados fall into this category. Travelling to some of the smaller island will entail connecting flights which can add significantly to one's airfare and you may be footing more of the bill than you intended.

You can find rental villas on all of the above islands but you may have to rent something larger than you and your fiance will need in order to accomodate a reception for 90 to 100 guests. You might want to reconsider and have your wedding at a full service resort. The setting will be just as nice and the resort will probably have an on-site wedding coordinator who will take care of all the details for you.

Good luck with your upcomming wedding.

vinceygirl

Off season I find the best weather to be in early December before the 15th when high season starts or end of April 1st week in May after high season ends.