What islands can you get married at in the Caribbean? My fiance and I would like to go to an island with 20 or 30 friends and family to get married in August '06. Thank you.

Many of the island have varying legalities for getting married, so there really is no one answer.

Another factor to consider is getting that amount of people to the destination, lodging for them, costs of airfare, etc.

You might want to start by researching some islands that interest you since so many islands in the Caribbean are very different. Do you want an upscale island, quiet island, busy island with a lot of activity, etc.?

Some islands are more conducive to marrying than others. For instance, some islands require you to be on the island for at least a week before getting married, which makes it difficult to have a honeymoon unless you are okay with having the honeymoon prior to the wedding.

My husband and I looked into getting married in the Caribbean, specifically, Jamaica. Jamaica is an ideal place to get married at because many hotels have good wedding packages that are inexpensive, plus, it will not be too onerous for guests to go to your wedding.

IMHO, it is asking way too much of guests that are not in the Rockefeller tax bracket to travel to a wedding in an island like Anguilla or Antigua (more expensive airfare). In contrast, islands like St. Thomas or Jamaica can be as inexpensive to get to as continental travel.

If you provide your budget, you will get much more productive and detailed responses.

The fact that you would like to do it in August is good from a budget standpoint since it is the low season.

I sometimes wish that we would not have listened to all of the people saying we should get married in the U.S., and rather have gotten a villa on St. John and had a wedding there, followed by a reception at one of the restaurants on the island. For 20-30 people, that would be perfect. Plus, you could get an awesome villa for much less than it would cost to rent a venue, etc., in the U.S.

To give you an idea of the options on St John, look at caribbeanvilla.com or mclaughlinanderson.com for st. john villas.

Thank you so much for you answers. We will look into St. John. I am not sure about our budget right now. We are working that out. Thanks again.

You can easily get married in Grand Cayman. The paperwork takes only a few hours. August is low season, so hotel/condo rates will be lower.

Sue is right. Your guests could look into staying at the Villas of the Galleon which have kitchens and are located close to grocery stores and liquor stores. They are located right in the middle of Seven mile Beach. They have one, two and three bedroom villas and maid service. Grand Old House has done some nice wedding receptions.

hi jake - a couple general tips:
1) almost all resorts have wedding co-ordinators. all islands have them. get one they are an enormous help, will arrange almost anything you can think of and attend wedding to make sure all goes as intended.
2) if you are married in the daytime in aug it will be hot, hot. be sure your guests have shade available and/or tons of cold water.
3) re above: sunset makes a lovely time for your wedding.
4) don't let them talk you into a gazebo with a view. it will be lovely but have the ceremony on the beach for that once in a lifetime memory. (ppl look very nice in fancy clothes and no shoes on the beach - so good photos.)
5) usvi makes it very easy. send paperwork to them, pick it up when you get on island.
6) keep in mind that your guests may go on island time so don't schedule to tightly.
7) hire a pro photographer and vidiographer. the light is very different there and they do a good job getting the pics right.
my personal suggestion is www.secretharbourvi.com for the wedding and then go to st.john for your honeymoon. i hired their chef to do cupcakes for a wedding shower i gave on their beach with his wedding cake recipe and they were to die for!! also had julie of blue moon cafe (onsite restaurant) do some catering and it was done very well.

My husband and I got married on the beach in Jamaica and it was perfect. Our ceremony was at 5:00 so we were able to have pictures taken with nice afternoon/evening light, then also have pics taken a little later with the sun setting behind us.

Keep in mind though, that August is hurricane season. Make sure you have a back-up plan in case you have to move the ceremony indoors.