If I got to do it all over again...here is what I would and wouldn't do.
If I had to do it all again I would:
~ Have a destination wedding! Overall it was pretty stress free and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Everything was so wonderful; I wouldn’t change a thing about the wedding.
~ Definitely keep the palm fans. It was VERY hot this time of year and humid in St.Lucia, being that it’s their rainy season. There were only 6 of us total, but believe me, my mom, aunt and MIL all used those fan during and after the wedding. Actually, they carried those fans around with them for days!
~ Bring my own flowers. That was something I was very happy with once I saw the tiny purple hanging flowers the resort offered for free. It just wasn’t in my taste, and the next up bouquet that I liked was $165 and the matching bout was $45! I was sooooo happy that I had my flowers with me already!
~ The sand ceremony. It was an extra cost even though I brought our own sand. (Sandals didn’t have the colors I wanted)…but the sand ceremony was a nice addition and it wasn’t too bad bringing the thing back. It did get a little shaken, but not much.
~Get the DVD of the ceremony! The DVD came out wonderful and it was edited nicely. I also brought a CD of the music I wanted and it came together perfectly. The cost of the DVD was totally worth it.
~Go again during the beginning of the rainy season. When we go again, we will during the last week or two in July or into the first week of August. Two reasons for this; 1, if we went during their summer it never rains. Since St.Lucia is a lush tropical island, several of the locals told us that the vegetation is all brown and dry and it doesn’t look very pretty. No rain, but not pretty. 2, it only rained like 2 times a day for 10 minutes or less each time. Then it dried up and the sun came out! No big deal really, plus the rain cut the heat some. The rain was worth the beautiful scenery.
~ Have a concierge service! That was amazing and we got tons of perks with the concierge service. It was a little pricy, but when we talked with our family and found out all the stuff they didn’t have…we were happy we got it. We would do this again for sure!
If I could change anything I wouldn’t do:
~ Like I said in my GBU review, I wouldn’t take the 1 ½ hour car ride again. It was crazy. If you’re not comfortable with sporadic driving and you have the extra money…take the helicopter! We are already planning to go back in 2 years, and we are planning on spending the money for the helicopter ride both ways.
~ The photographs at Sandals were sooooo expensive. Many of the pictures came out very nice, but they were way more money than we wanted to spend for the few amount of pictures we got. They didn’t even try to work with us on the price! In addition, I gave them photos of my “must take” pictures and the photographer kept having us do his own poses and didn’t even do any of our “must takes”. I was a little disappointed with that. If we could do it again and we could spend the money…I would bring my own photog. For sure! I have a feeling I would have gotten a lot more for the money. IMO, if pictures are important to you and you have room in the budget, bring your own photog! It’ll most likely be a better investment instead of going with the resorts photog.
~ Have a destination wedding! Overall it was pretty stress free and everyone really enjoyed themselves. Everything was so wonderful; I wouldn’t change a thing about the wedding.
~ Definitely keep the palm fans. It was VERY hot this time of year and humid in St.Lucia, being that it’s their rainy season. There were only 6 of us total, but believe me, my mom, aunt and MIL all used those fan during and after the wedding. Actually, they carried those fans around with them for days!
~ Bring my own flowers. That was something I was very happy with once I saw the tiny purple hanging flowers the resort offered for free. It just wasn’t in my taste, and the next up bouquet that I liked was $165 and the matching bout was $45! I was sooooo happy that I had my flowers with me already!
~ The sand ceremony. It was an extra cost even though I brought our own sand. (Sandals didn’t have the colors I wanted)…but the sand ceremony was a nice addition and it wasn’t too bad bringing the thing back. It did get a little shaken, but not much.
~Get the DVD of the ceremony! The DVD came out wonderful and it was edited nicely. I also brought a CD of the music I wanted and it came together perfectly. The cost of the DVD was totally worth it.
~Go again during the beginning of the rainy season. When we go again, we will during the last week or two in July or into the first week of August. Two reasons for this; 1, if we went during their summer it never rains. Since St.Lucia is a lush tropical island, several of the locals told us that the vegetation is all brown and dry and it doesn’t look very pretty. No rain, but not pretty. 2, it only rained like 2 times a day for 10 minutes or less each time. Then it dried up and the sun came out! No big deal really, plus the rain cut the heat some. The rain was worth the beautiful scenery.
~ Have a concierge service! That was amazing and we got tons of perks with the concierge service. It was a little pricy, but when we talked with our family and found out all the stuff they didn’t have…we were happy we got it. We would do this again for sure!
If I could change anything I wouldn’t do:
~ Like I said in my GBU review, I wouldn’t take the 1 ½ hour car ride again. It was crazy. If you’re not comfortable with sporadic driving and you have the extra money…take the helicopter! We are already planning to go back in 2 years, and we are planning on spending the money for the helicopter ride both ways.
~ The photographs at Sandals were sooooo expensive. Many of the pictures came out very nice, but they were way more money than we wanted to spend for the few amount of pictures we got. They didn’t even try to work with us on the price! In addition, I gave them photos of my “must take” pictures and the photographer kept having us do his own poses and didn’t even do any of our “must takes”. I was a little disappointed with that. If we could do it again and we could spend the money…I would bring my own photog. For sure! I have a feeling I would have gotten a lot more for the money. IMO, if pictures are important to you and you have room in the budget, bring your own photog! It’ll most likely be a better investment instead of going with the resorts photog.