This must be a new forum... but I'll start!

We're going on a cruise Dec 6-13, 2008. On 12/9 the ship will spend the day at St. Thomas and we'll be married that morning in a simple ceremony on the beach. We'll have lots of photos taken, maybe get a bite to eat with our group, and then get back on the ship to finish the rest of our fun-filled cruise. So the cruise will serve not only as a way to get to our ceremony, but it will also be our honeymoon trip. I know my parents are going with us, and hopefully a few more friends and maybe a couple of relatives... but I don't anticipate that any more than 10 people besides us will be on the cruise itself. Our ceremony will be extremely simple: just us, our small group, the wedding planner (who will also be taking photographs), and the officiant to marry us. I don't think I'm even going to bother getting an arch or music or anything like that for the site itself. I figure we'll be on a beach in St. Thomas, there will be palm trees and beautiful sand and the ocean waves crashing behind us... that should be enough.

As of now, the plan is to have a reception in our hometown on New Year's Eve. We're still trying to figure out the details of where/how, but there it is! I'm not dead-set on too many other details, but I've had some ideas and inspirations from websites and a bridal show I went to last week. There are actually two more bridal shows coming to town in the next few months so hopefully I'll get things figured out from there if I haven't already!

And I'll be the 2nd! Love your plans, and you will have so much fun!

My husband and I had a destination wedding in the beautiful Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. I could not have asked for a more perfect wedding.

My first wedding was a 400 guest, home church/local reception/dinner/dance affair. I worked my tail off right up until I walked down the aisle....as did my family. Bless their hearts, they cleaned until 3:00 a.m. too. After all the time and work, I hate to admit I didnt remember half of it....it just went by in a blur.

My first wedding was more about the social status quo.....Our destination wedding was about us starting our life together, with only the people that meant the most to us there.

You can read "Our Wedding Story" at Todays Destination Weddings - Planning - Suggestions I will be adding pictures of our wedding soon. I'll post it here when I get them added.

Congratuations and best of luck Monica!

My fiance and I have been engaged for 8 1/2 months and have set a date for next Spring in Jamaica - Beaches Negril, and honeymoon at Sandals. We have yet to travel together so this should be absolutely incredible for us. Our family and friends of 40 will be joining us. It seems that Beaches/Sandals handles all the details and appear to have it all under control. But of course we would be nervous since we do not get to see the reception site and ceremony site until we arrive in Jamaica.

I was a little nervous too...our wedding destination was only 10 hours away by car, so about a month before the wedding, we drove to TN to check everything out...it was everything I'd hoped for....hope yours turns out the same.

Well, its only 15 months to go for our wedding, and I am finding out more and more out my FREE BASIC WEDDING AT BEACHES....I requested decor picutres, and they wern't all that HOT! Also, the coordinator for my resort is on maternity leave and will not be back until MARCH-23-2008...
Has anyone ever experienced destination weddings? What were the pros and cons??? Anyone?

I am haveing a destination wedding as well, and I love the cool accessories that destination-romance.com offers. They have a really cute palm tree cake top that I am going to use.

Cherrh - you had asked what the pro's and con's are for a destination wedding. I assure you that the pro's overshadow the con's by a landslide.

First of all, a destination wedding allows you to spend much more time with your guests than a traditional wedding. It becomes a vacation/romantic getaway/family reunion for the people attending so it's almost a given that they will have a great time too.

Second, you will notice some added freedoms to tradtions, decor and favor options. Not all brides want to do a bouquet toss. When your guests are in a tropical local watching fire dancers and enjoying the ocean lapping at their feet, they won't care too much about catching a bouquet. The favors can get really creative and invites too. Destination Romance: Destination Wedding Invitations and Accessories is a great place to find fun and interesting ideas for this!

Also - you tend to spend less because your head count goes down. Destination weddings weed out the people who may not be as important to you, therefore reducing your total guests to only your close friends and family members. The less people that attend, the less you'll spend on food and beverage.

Having a smaller guest list may not be what you are after - so this can also be considered a con.

Another con would include added expenses to guests if they didn't have to travel to your hometown wedding to begin with. If they were traveling already, it really won't make much of a difference to them!

Some helpful information can be found on our web site - Top 10 reasons to have a destination wedding

Hope this helps!

Welcome to the forum. If you have questions or ideas, please share them. I had a destination wedding in the Smokey Mountains and it was the wedding of m y dreams. I also have a destination wedding website with and "Our Wedding Story Page" if you would like to check it out at Todays Destination Weddings - Planning - Suggestions
Congratuations on your engagement and happy planning.

We are getting Married on Disney Cruise Lines we are leaving on August 24th and the actual wedding will take place at sea on August 25th. It will be a small and sweet ceremony and reception which is what we wanted I mean we didn't want to go broke over this one day when we want to start a family and have so many other plans. I'm so excited!!!

Anyway is anyone doing gift bags for there guests? What are you putting in them? We already sent out our Passport Invites to everyone to give them more then enough time to book the cruise but does anyone have any ideas as to if we should send something out as it gets closer?