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Our Wedding Antigua 2015
I thought about posting something personal on this travel page so that people who don’t know us can get some insight into our lives.
Firstly, we decided to get married early 2015. We wanted to go abroad as we wanted it to be a low-key affair. We decided we would like a tropical setting and ones where close family could come to, if they wanted to. After days and days of discussions, we finally decided on the Island of Antigua in the Caribbean. We chose this because we had visited the island previously on our first holiday together and loved the island and the friendly people. We then looked at where we would like to get married and decided on the Verandah Resort and Spa as that was where we had stayed and had loved it there. We knew that the location of the resort was perfect and there were many places around resort to get married.
We then had to choose the date we would like to get married and decided on late September or early October. This gave us around 5 months to plan everything we wanted. We then booked to go to the Verandah resort for the end of September. Travelling with us was our 4 children and one set of parents so in total of 8 persons travelling.
Now the easy part was booking the wedding. We informed the travel agent that we would like to get married after offering their congratulations, and listening to our hotel choice, they informed us as our parents had upgraded their room to an ocean view room, we would receive a free wedding. This was at very little cost, and I believe at the time was around £300 to upgrade. If we had not had this free wedding it would have cost around £500. We were then asked for a date to get married on and that was it, it was all booked. It really was that simple! We let our children know the dates and all we then had to do was decide on outfits including bridesmaid dresses and the bride’s dress. We then did not have to do anything else and waited for our holiday/wedding to come.
We travelled with BA to Antigua and had excellent service. The Wedding dress was in hold luggage and in a proper wedding bag inside a case. We had no issues with this but know that some people may ask to take on board and some even then get hung up in the cockpit of the plane. We got to our hotel, and it was just like a normal holiday in regard to booking in. (Although here, as returning guests, we were made to feel especially welcome and popped in to see an old friend from the resort on our way to the room, which was brilliant!)
On our first full day at the resort a meeting was arranged between us and a wedding planner from the hotel which was all part of the package when everything was confirmed. You then get to choose the location of where the wedding takes place, where you would like to eat the evening of the wedding and they will make any reservations for the al-a-carte restaurants in resort. We then chose to have a video of the wedding, and a photographer, and we booked hair and make-up appointments at the resort spa for the bride and the oldest bridesmaid. Finally, we decided to have a steel band to play as well, just for that extra touch!
After, the wedding planner informed us that we would need to go to the capital to finalise documents and gave us a date and time for this to happen and then we just went over the full details of the day. The meeting lasted around an hour max and then what I liked was that the wedding planner said they will organise everything and for us to enjoy the holiday and any request to speak with them. I found this very personal and very friendly and never felt so relaxed.
We then did just what the wedding planner said and enjoyed the facilities at the hotel and holiday. During this time, we saw her around often and she became a friend, to the point my wife asked her if she would come to the wedding in a dress or her own clothes, as she wanted her to feel as though she was there as a friend and not just for work!
2 days before the wedding we had a time we had to go to the capital, and we went to reception and a private taxi picked us up. The driver was friendly as everyone we had met was. He took us to the government officers where we had to speak to an official and get our documents verified and wedding licence issued. (There was a small fee for this but was charged to the hotel) we then finished around an hour later and the driver who brought us was waiting outside for us and drove us back to the resort. Everything was then set for our wedding day.
On the day of the wedding, we got up and had breakfast together and then after that my wife to be and our 2 daughters went our room to get ready to go to get make-up and hair completed. I stayed by the bar and had a few more drinks as our wedding was not until 2pm (you can chose the time as well) Around midday I went back to the room next door, where the oldest children had been staying, and started to get ready and also had to do a drinks run for my wife. I can still remember not seeing her but passing the drinks around the wall on the balcony to their room. Once ready I then walked to the beach that we were to get married on. I can remember it being very hot and me being me, I was sweating. I went to the wedding gazebo that was by the beach overlooking the sea and the whole gazebo was covered and made up of fresh flowers from the resort gardens. The Steel band was there along with photographer and video person. Also at the location was the appointed registrar that was going to conduct the ceremony. He introduced himself and made me feel so relaxed. My wife was picked up around this time from our room with her father and the bridesmaids, and as the resort uses golf buggies to move people around, they had arranged for a pink one all decorated in flowers and balloons to pick her and the bridesmaids up from the room to transport them to the wedding gazebo and beach. The wedding planner was also with them at this time and made sure everything was going to plan and that we wanted for nothing. When he Bridal Party arrived at the gazebo and beach the Steel band then played whilst they was walking up to the registrar and me. The service was then conducted which was fantastic and felt very intimate, personal but so relaxing! We exchanged rings and in the blazing Caribbean Sun we were married! The steel band continued to play at this time and the formalities of signing the marriage register were completed. We had a waiter that had arrived poor champagne out for all of us and the wedding cake was cut which was a beautiful chocolate (of course!) cake made by the hotel. Once this had been completed, with the steel band playing and video taken of the whole service, the photographer then took us all for different photos around the resort. So, we had photos taken of being by the sea to the tropical gardens of the hotel’s grounds. The wedding co-ordinator was in the background all the time making sure we had everything we needed, and I am sure if there were any issues it would have been sorted straight away. Once all the photo’s had been taken, we then had time to relax and went to one of the bars for a drink and enjoyed the remaining part of the afternoon.
In the evening we had arranged to go to a restaurant that was closed that evening but because we asked, they opened a table for our small party in the restaurant, The only proviso of this was that we had to have food from the ala carte restaurant from the next restaurant. The food was very good, and they made up a large table decorated it with flowers. We had music playing which was nice and we had two waiters assigned to just us. I thought “wow this hotel does know how to make sure you feel special.” We had our food and relaxed for the remainder of the evening. When we got back to our room, we had flowers delivered to the room along with the remainder of the wedding cake and a bottle of champagne and a congratulations card. After a long exhausting and feeling pampered day, we slept and then woke up in the morning as a married couple and enjoyed the rest of the stay at the hotel and remaining days of our holiday.
When we checked out, we then paid the bill for all the extras we had. This was a wedding photographer, Steel Band, Video of the wedding, Cost of hair x3 and makeup x3 all the government costs and it came to around £800.
All in without the cost of the holiday we spent at most £1500 on all aspects of the wedding including the above costs mentioned and all the clothes for the wedding and we had our perfect day.
I found that this wedding abroad was hassle free and was near enough organised for us by everyone else which made it so relaxing. It was our dream to get married abroad and it was just so easy and was a really good price compared to what a wedding costs in the UK.
I believe that it’s the perfect wedding where you have the sun beating down on you and you are relaxed, and the sea and beach are all part of your day in a tropical climate. We could have had more persons present but this was how we wanted our day to be. I am now looking forward to having to go somewhere for our 10-year anniversary and renew our vows. My family also agree as all my family members have been married abroad and have got married in Thailand, Mauritius, Italy, Barbados, and Dominican Republic. They have all had the best wedding venues for them and done the wedding their way and not a slave to what is expected from a wedding in the UK.
If you want any details or any questions or if you are looking at booking that dream wedding abroad then please call, message, or visit our FB and website pages. We can make your dream come true.
