Destination Weddings

The following double occupancy rates were quoted for the lowest priced all-inclusive packages (room, meals, drinks) starting the night of Jun. 24, a time of year. That's typically considered shoulder-to-high season (with autumn dates costing much, much less). Again, to be eligible for the free wedding, you must adhere to the minimum stay requirements. [Editor's note: Some resorts like to advertise the dollar value of what its "free" weddng might cost if it were paid for out of pocket. However, we suspect these sticker prices are often inflated to increase the perceived sense of value associated with the "giveaway" wedding package.] In any case, here's a sampling:

Beaches: 888/BEACHES, Beaches Turks & Caicos; 5 night minimum; $277 per person per night; claimed value of wedding package $750-$2,000

Couples: 800/268-7537, Couples Ochos Rios; $168 per person per night; 3 night minimum; claimed value of wedding package: $750

Sandals: 888/SANDALS, Sandals Royal Bahamian; 5 night minimum; $266 per person per night; claimed value of wedding package $750-$2,000

Superclubs: 877/467-8737, Grand Lido Negril; $282 per person per night; 3 night minimum; value of wedding package: $1,700; Breezes Montego Bay; $125 per person per night; 3 night minimum; claimed value of wedding package $850

Of course, these are not your only options; some resort offer weddings at cost, sometimes offsetting the extra price with lower nightly room rates. For example, the Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya on Grand Bahama Island has multi-featured packages starting at $1,500 (Tropical Bliss Wedding), with its most expensive option, The Fantasy Garden Wedding going for just $2,500 additional. The wedding packages include all of the items mentioned in the list above, along with such extras as steel pan player, breakfast in bed for the newlyweds the morning after, and a press release with the marriage announcement for your home town newspaper. The pricier offer folds in full spa treatments for the bride's beautification and relaxation. Perhaps best of all, its rooms come in at around $200/night (based on availability Jun. 24-27), and it's a very easy flight from the US, with some airlines flying there nonstop. Even though this lush property is large, it's divided into separate sections so you never feel like you're on a massive "compound." There's an array of restaurants and wateringholes, including a very sniffy cigar bar, and the resort overall, is extremely well maintained and manicured. If you're interested in tying the knot at the Westin and Sheraton at Our Lucaya (877/OUR-LUCAYA), then contact Seashell Wedding Coordinators at: 242/350-5350.

If mega-resorts are not your style, then you'll want to look into individual properties that cater to the marrying public like Hotelito (little hotel), a rather luxurious and intimate property located 60 miles south of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific side. For $1,500 you can be married on the beach with margarita in hand. The price covers the officiant, flowers, champagne/tequila and two hours of live guitar music. For $55 per person, you can have a traditional Mexican dinner with drinks and cake. There is no minimum night stay.

Or, perhaps you'd like to get married on a white-washed cliff-side terrace on the Greek island of Santorini? The Wedding Experience (305/421-1260) can arrange everything for you for $3,450, a price tag that includes the whole shebang, from paperwork to wedding cake to 50 photographs with negatives.

Lastly, we'll toss out an option for the true budgeteers out there. The sweet 28-room Emerald Escape Beach Resort in Montego Bay (876/952-6133), Jamaica has a low $65/night room rate. Marriage licenses go for all of $6 (call the Ministry of National Security 876/922-0800) for a town hall wedding. Rum drinks at the hotel, which overlooks Montego Bay, start at $4, and just down the road at The Native restaurant you can order enough boonoonoonos, a sampler platter for four of traditional Jamaican specialties such as curried goat, jerk chicken and escabeche fish for $23. If that's not an affordable destination wedding, we don't know what is.

"Sometimes, destination weddings are simple one-stop shops, but sometimes they're not," says Vanday High, a wedding coordinator who owns Great Beginnings (914/967-4005). "For example, I helped to organize a wedding on St. Kitt's where I had to fly in with the flowers and enlist the local tourist board to get permission to use some of the islands most historic sites for the reception. But the hardest thing was the transportation; we had to hire every taxi on the island to take the 178 guests around."

"The bride was happy and it goes to show you that you can arrange a personal event from far away."