Your Hotspot: Helping you plan your wedding in paradise.

Take a moment to visualize your wedding – that special day that you spent months preparing for – and imagine it being as stress free and relaxed as a tropical vacation. While other brides are running around, worried that the linens don't match the curtains, picture yourself sipping cocktails on the beach with the sun on your face and the ocean breeze tickling your cheeks. Your Hotspot invites you and your guests to celebrate your love in some of the most beautiful places on Earth – often for a lot less money than you would pay for a wedding in your own part of the world.

So take a step back from the stuffy local reception hall and shift your eyes toward an island paradise for you and your special someone to commit yourselves to one another. With friends and family to help honour the big day, you can transform a typical event into an unforgettable experience, often spanning several days – or even weeks! The best way to launch this exciting new stage of your life is with a relaxed and romantic celebration, so we would like to share a few tips for getting the most out of your destination wedding.

Location! Location! Location!

Choosing a destination may seem intimidating, but once you know where you want the wedding to take place, everything else will start to come together. The general rule is to decide on three different locations, gather a few price estimates, and discuss them with your close family and friends. It is important to ensure that the special people in your lives will be able to share the big day with you. This is also a good time to make it clear what you and your fiancé are willing to pay for, and what you expect the guests to cover for themselves.

Once you know where you are going, it is time to decide on a resort. As destination weddings grow in popularity, more and more hotels are offering special wedding packages which include access to an on-site Wedding Coordinator. Unless you plan on traveling back and forth to handle small details, a Wedding Coordinator will make your life much easier.

When selecting a resort, be aware of your guests' needs; if everyone in your wedding party is single and childless, a hotel targeted toward young families probably won't live up to their expectations. It is important to consider the types of activities that your guests will enjoy as well as the amount of money that they will be willing to spend. It may be worthwhile to investigate a few different resorts so that your guests can choose whatever works best for them. But be careful- some hotels require that those staying off-site purchase a day pass to join your party, so don't be afraid to ask questions before you book the wedding.

Accommodating Your Guests

Since your friends and family members are making the trip to help celebrate your big day, it is important to show them how much you appreciate their support. Send out Save the Date cards as soon as possible - even a year in advance – so that your guests have the opportunity to save up for the trip and schedule their vacation days. Invitations should go out about six months before the wedding, to ensure that everyone has ample time to respond. Choosing to attend a destination wedding may involve as much planning for your guests as a typical vacation as they renew their passports and plan their flights.

Take advantage of social media to keep everyone on the same page. Websites such as Facebook are great tools for sharing pricing details, an itinerary for the trip, and information on fun activities to do in and around the resort.

Small gifts and personalized thank you notes are a fun and heartfelt way to welcome your guests to your celebration. A small bottle of Champaign or a bottle of Caribbean Rum delivered to everyone's hotel room is a simple and inexpensive way to show that you appreciate the effort that they put in to making the trip.

The morning after everyone arrives at the destination, you should plan an outing with all of your guest. We suggest having a brunch/lunch at centralized location just in case your guests are staying at different locations, or plan a nice day at sea on a catamaran.

Unfortunately, not everyone on your guest list will be able to attend the wedding for various reasons, so reach out and try to make them feel included in the special day. Send pictures and post cards to loved ones back home, and consider setting up a web cam so that they can experience the ceremony with you.

Preparing for the Big Day

The best part of organizing a destination wedding is that you are not forced to make all of the tiny little decisions that seem to take up so much time for most brides. Examine the packages offered by your resort very carefully, and if there is anything that you are unhappy with – whether it's the music, the photographer or the cake – talk to your Wedding Coordinator immediately. Most of the time, making a few changes to the standard package is enough to ensure that your wedding celebrates you and your fiancé's individual tastes.

When packing for your destination wedding, take everything that you might possibly need . . . and then double it. This is no time to worry about paying to check your luggage, because the last thing that you want to find on your big day is a run in your stocking or a mosquito bite on your forehead. While the resort will have a lot of the things that you might need at the last minute, there is no guarantee that you will be able to find concealer in the right shade to cover an unfortunate break out. So be prepared for anything, and be sure to check off everything on your list.

Legitimizing Your Marriage

At the end of the day, the point of any destination wedding is to get married, so don't forget to plan for that ceremony. Most hotels will offer different services for you to choose from, both religious and secular, but it is the legal stuff that you ought to watch out for. Different countries have different laws regarding marriage, so discuss what you will need to make the wedding official with your on-site Coordinator and the Canadian or American embassy.

Keep an eye out for changes to the marriage laws as legislation is always evolving. You don't want to plan everything out perfectly and arrive to find that you don't have that one crucial document! If you live in Canada or the United States, you will most likely need both of your passports, birth certificates, and if applicable divorce certificate to prove that you’re not currently married.

Religious Ceremonies

The Catholic Church Weddings the couple’s local parish priest needs to liaise with the priest on the island to ensure they have undertaken the necessary counselling period prior to the marriage and met all the necessary criteria.


The most important thing to remember when planning a destination wedding is to relax and have fun. Enjoy the tropical sun and the exotic climate, and set aside time to enjoy the company of your loved ones. Even when things go wrong, (and something will go wrong, no matter how prepared you are), keep in mind that you are there to celebrate your new life with your partner, and nothing else matters nearly as much as that.


Your wedding day will be a beautiful event surrounded by family and friends. Having a destination wedding will give you the romantic venue that you simply cannot recreate in any hall, no matter how good your wedding planner is. Holding your partners hand as you say your vows under sunset is a moment you have been dreaming about your entire life. Let Your Hotspot help you to plan not just another wedding, but the wedding of your dreams. There is no better recipe for romance, than a topical island paradise wedding. One of the many advantages of having a destination wedding is that is takes the stress out of planning a wedding. A wedding a coordinator at our hotel partners’ will help happy to make your dreams a reality. 

And as an added bonus, the pictures are sure to look amazing.