Group Safety
Travelling to any destination across the globe is one of the most thrilling experience you can have! It takes you to exotic places and exposes you to different cultures and people. Whether you are taking a vacay in Jamaica or planning the most dreamy destination wedding, we want to provide you with some helpful tips from our lead planner: Create a Buddy System: once you are travelling in a group, pair up and be responsible for each other. Have a rendezvous point if you happen to be disconnect from the group. Tip: try using a famous landmark as your meeting point. Do some research: naturally, once you are travelling to new/unfamiliar places, it is advisable that you do some research beforehand. Find out about the cultural etiquette, site seeing or excursions. If you are planning your wedding in Jamaica, your wedding planner should be able to provide with excellent ideas for group activities. Ground Transportation: Jamaica is a pretty cool place to take walks- Jamaica is picturesque and the people are so colorful and can be a backpacker’s paradise. If you are not familiar with the terrain, the best way to travel around the island is my bus or car. It’s a good idea to book your ground transportation before getting here but if you happen to arrive on island before doing so, there are several legitimate tour companies that you can choose from. Remember too, that Jamaica has a very vibrant night life and we would recommended having your transportation planned especially for night activities. Planning: this should be pretty easy, as you have to plan to travel, right?! It takes preparation especially travelling outside of your home town. Jamaica No Problem Man! Jamaicans think most problems, if not all, have a working solution, hence the “no problem”! Winging it here is great, especially if you’re up for that type of adventure. But it would be remiss of you not to have some basic plans, like hotel/villa or bed & breakfast accommodations, ground transport; restaurant or excursion ideas. Destination Wedding Tip: Your wedding planner is your trusted source on the ground and should be able to provide you with suggestions/ideas and guides on the best way to enjoy Jamaica while having your dream wedding! Welcome to Jamaica and we hope you have a wonderful time soaking up the sun and enjoying all the best that Jamaica has to offer and more!
Unity Ceremony Ideas
Often times when couples are getting married there is a need for having something outstanding or different to make it a little extra special for you as a couple. You plan your menu, your venue, décor- right done to the last detail but often times allow for a kind of “generic” ceremony. Ceremony is like 45 minutes – an hour and most couples want to get your family involved. The ceremony, though short is a big deal (yeah we know it’s where we say I do isn’t it?!). One such thing that helps the couple to add greater symbolism to their union is a “Unity Ceremony”. These are little meaningful mini ceremony that helps the couple to seal their union. As a couple, there is something beautiful and magical of a unity ceremony with your wedding ceremony. It is your chance as husband and wife to add your own ‘tradition’ to your ceremony. This will be a take away for you as a married couple.Here a few popular ones and some extra creative ones: Sand/Water Ceremony– this usually have two small container with two different color sands one for the bride and the other for the groom. There is a 3rd container that is larger than the 1st two. This is the main container where the bride and groom will pour their respective color sands into. Resulting in the uniting of the two color sands. The big container that now has the two color sands will be your first souvenir as husband and wife. You could also so switch it up a bit with colored water- please experiment with the water colors before the wedding day Unity Candle Ceremony– it can include the extended family. Three candles are used in this process two smaller candles with a larger one in the middle. The two on the sides are lit for the bride and groom who will then take the candles and light the middle candle together symbolizing their union. The unity candle ceremony is done just before the exchange of vows with the wedding officiant giving the couple instructions and sharing the symbolism of the unity candles with wedding guests. Tying the Knot Ceremony– this is one of the oldest! It joins the bride & groom at the wrist with cords/vines (you can be creative with cord/rope or ribbon) tied to into a knot. It is often said that this is where the phrase ‘tying the knot’ comes from. Love letter Wine Box Ceremony– the bride & groom should write love letters to each other, detailing why they fell in love and what they truly admire in each other. They then choose a wine, that’s special to both of them. On the day of the wedding, the letters and wine (you may add glasses) will be sealed with the wedding officiant giving the instructions and explaining the procedure. The couple should choose their method of sealing (you can drive nails into the box before the ceremony and finish the process at the wedding ceremony). The intention of this will – should the couple hit on hard times that they would open it, drink some wine and read their love letters. This will serve as great therapy for the ‘bad times’. Hopefully it will be saved for an anniversary! Tasting of the Elements Ceremony– taken from the Yoruba tradition, it symbolizes the promise to love your partner “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.” Vinegar, lemon, cayenne pepper, and honey are traditional choices used to represent the bitter, sour, hot, and, of course, sweet parts of life and a new marriage. Lasso Wedding (Unity Ceremony)– involves the couple being draped in a floral garland or rosary twisted into the symbol of infinity! Planning your wedding you must do your best to be creative and don’t be afraid to ask questions!
2017 Wedding trends recap
2017 was a year of beautiful wedding trends. We had so much fun providing our clients with luxurious tablescapes to breathtaking landscapes. Let’s review six (6) of the years wedding trends that helped to make our 2017 weddings extra special: Tablescape With Greenery Gift Lounge Metallics- cakes, linens, dresses Drone Footage: Videos, Stills Photo Booths Props For Wedding Photo Booth These and many more wedding trends stood out in 2017 and will still be relevant in 2018. Weddings are always luxurious and chic, no matter how extravagant or simple you may like it. It is all about what a couple envisions for their wedding and how to bring that vision to its truest reality, thus creating truly happy and satisfied clients. For this year, 2018, Pantone has named the wedding color of the year is *drum roll please* – Ultra Violet! According to Pantone, “Ultra Violet communicates originality, ingenuity, and visionary thinking that points us toward the future.” Now isn’t that just the perfect definition for the wedding color of the year?! In case you are wondering what that color looks like, we put together some samples just for you: Let’s make some more beautiful memories in 2018!
Wedding Venues
Jamaica is one of the most picturesque places on earth- beautiful people, vibrant night life and exotic spots and much like a homebuyer, when couples are choosing a venue for their wedding it is all about “location, location, location.” When planning your wedding, a vision is created for what you want and how you want and your venue is where all the months of planning will be displayed and it should look exactly how the couple envisioned it. Here are four (4) venue ideas that you can think about when planning your wedding in #DestinationJamaica: 1. Beach: sand between your toes, with the ocean and/or sunset as your backdrop with the feeling of the ocean breeze blowing across your skin. 2. Villas: villas can give you a range of options: ocean view, ocean front or even garden view. 1. Jamaica has many private and semi private beach venues 2. Some villas in Jamaica can take you on a breathtaking voyage across the Caribbean Sea 3. Church: Thinking traditional settings, whether you like the old world style of churches or a more modern feel, Jamaica has plenty of both. 4. Hotel: Most of our hotels that are ideal for weddings are located along the islands coastline or close enough to a beach. You can have the option of doing a beach wedding or garden or even a gazebo or banquet hall/ballroom setting. It all depends on what you are looking for in your venue. 3. Churches are a main stay for wedding ceremony locale 4. Hotels in Jamaica provides couples with luxurious settings for their weddings 5. Gardens: They are quite a number of botanical gardens and cascading waterfalls in Jamaica as well. Thinking outdoorsy with the lush green being your background.
Wedding Invitations- paper or paperless: that is the question?
It’s “Engagement Season” and boy are we excited about all the wonderful wedding possibilities for 2018! Many couples, after popping the question and saying yes of course, will jump head first into planning for the big day – there is no time like the present. Thinking about all that goes into planning a wedding is never an easy task but it must be done. In our tech savvy world of 2017, a lot of our planning takes place online-Think Destination Weddings! You may never get to meet your wedding planner face to face until the day before or the day of your wedding as the majority of planning takes place through the heavy use of technology. With this in mind, we know that the nature of your wedding invitations will be either paper or paperless. This, for most couples, will be an easy decision but for some, this will have to be an area of much compromise. To give you a head start and some much needed assistance with this great debate, we have decided to share with our engaged couples, a few pros to the paper vs. paperless wedding invitation debate. There are many written articles online that seem to have classified wedding invitations into 2 categories: paper (formal) vs. paperless (casual) making this the strongest ground for the wedding invitation debate. Eco friendly paper– with millennials reporting for a large percentage of how we do things in this age, using regular paper for your wedding invitations may be frowned upon. But thanks also to the millennials, there are a lot of eco friendly papers that can be used to create elegant wedding invitations. Specifications– with paper invitations, couples can be very specific about whom they are inviting: the family (The Pearsons); a couple (Lola & guest); a single person (Jillian Wiles). Address– you think that all your intended guests should have email addresses and/or facebook pages, well think again! Chances are you will have guests who may not have facebook pages. Therefore, paper wedding invitations would be the preferred choice as everyone definitely has a home address. Private & Personal: When you mail your paper invitations, they will be sent to the intended invitees. You will less likely have to: deal with unwanted comments being posted or send invitations to uninvited guests in error. Formal: Traditionalists belief that paper & ink is very important especially for a formal event as your wedding. Remember that your wedding invitations are also a part of your wedding history- a keepsake for your guests. Inexpensive: we know weddings are an expensive occasion and couples also look to find ways of being thrifty and electronic invitations (evites) are one of the areas in which couples may choose to cut the wedding budget. Environmentally friendly: e-vites are simply electronic invitations- no paper required! And why not?! It’s always a great way to go green! Efficient: It will take a couple less work to do evites: it saves times that would be spent collecting mailing addresses; keeping track of RSVPs etc. Your intended guests may live half way around the world; the evite is perfect in this instant: it will get to your invitees quicker than mail ever could! Guest List: some evite allows your guest to see your guest list. This is a more tactful way of knowing who is attending without having to ask around. Instant: updates/changes are instant! With the evite, a couple can quickly make changes to date, time, venue etc. with ease without having to resend updated paper invitations.
Jamaica is Red Stripe Beer
We have the coolest Beer ever- to come to Jamaica is to experience the people, the sand, the sea the people and our culture and a big part of our Jamaican culture is having a cold Red Stripe Beer (you can have it hot if that is your preference). And it makes for a great selfie prop! So here’s an idea for your tropical wedding favors: Icy cold Red Stripe Beer! But first a little history on the world’s coolest beer: Red Stripe Beer was Jamaica’s first brewed & bottled lager beer by Desnoes & Geddes. Its squat brown bottle and its painted label are very distinctive and became very popular in the early ’90s by the “Hooray Beer’ ads. The Red Stripe Beer brand has collaborated with The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) on several projects including the Diageo Learning for Life Project [Diageo owns the controlling percent of Red Stripe Beer] http://www.jtbonline.org/download/red-stripe-launches-diageo-learning-for-life-project-pdf/ A little Red Stripe facts: 1st brewed: 1928 1985: 1st exported to the U.S.A. Alcohol content: 4.7% 1990s: popularity increased with its ‘Hooray’ branded ads check them out on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgH1BEMFYgE The first Red Stripe Beer was brewed and bottled in Jamaica and you know that Jamaicans are extremely patriotic, we made it the drink of choice at parties, corporate functions, weddings, cricket and football matches. The Red Stripe Beer brand is so much a part of the Jamaican culture that it is the sponsor for some of Jamaica’s premier events- Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest and our local football league- Red Stripe Premier League. Once you come to Jamaica, you must try our Jerk Chicken [another blog post ] and a cold Red Stripe Beer! What’s visiting Jamaica without experiencing the sunset with a cold Red Stripe Beer?!
Gift Ideas Just For Your Best Gal Pals
Many brides choose family members or longtime friends to be their bridesmaids., which ever one you choose, we know you appreciate them being there for you every time especially on your big day. A great way to say thank you to your girls is to surprise them with bridesmaids gifts and we’ve got a few ideas… We have placed them into two categories for you: A. Personalized: Thank you notes– a hand written note never gets old and is always sentimental. There are many ways to make your sentiments known to your girls by having the notes specially prepared. Thank you notes can be done by the bride with her own hand writing as well as there are artisans that specialize in providing the hands that writer your words. These can always be accompanied by other tokens (jewelry etc). Water bottles or wine glasses– wedding in the tropics means lots and lots of sun (for the most part) which results in your guests being hot and your and your girls are no different. Imagine your girls having to be there for your in the beautiful summer heat, one of the best offerings you could give them is personalized water bottles. In the same breath, it’s a time when your girls are helping you to celebrate one of the most beautiful times of your life and you know you cannot go wrong with popping some celebratory wine with the gals. Well, personalized wine glasses can be the icing on the cake for them. A mini celebration before the BIG celebration. Bling– you can almost never go wrong with bling- bracelets, necklaces, earrings etc. B. Useful: For people like myself, I love gifts that are practical and useful (not saying that I wouldn’t love my wine glass & bling Makeup bags and/or compact mirrors– are always a welcomed gift, makeup bags can never be too much- small enough for the occasion and big enough to take your favorite lip color and to hold your compact mirror. Flip Flops (Sandals)– all that standing in sexy heels can make the girls feet weary, well you may gift them with some ultra chic sandals that can be worn for the reception or just for keepsake. Beach wedding?! you know you can always provide your bridesmaids with sandals for the day and guess what?! They can be personalized with their names. Tote Bags– I love a good tote…one that is fashionable and useful. If you’re doing a destination wedding in Jamaica, then here’s a wonderful idea: hand crafted straw tote bags with personalized names and date of wedding or just have JAMAICA on it. Your girls are true keepsakes and should be shown that in the best way possible. I trust this will provided you with some ideas to start with when thinking about gifting your best gal pals for being there for you on one of the most important days of your life. Your girls will have your back on your big day so here’s to choosing and gifting them with LOVE!
Sand Ceremony
The whole idea of a wedding ceremony is an affair that is deeply grounded in traditions- which includes the ones couples create for the special day. One very popular feature in most wedding ceremonies today is the unity ceremony- specifically the sand ceremony. Couples sometimes worry about what can be added to their ceremony that will enhance the day and choose to add a unity ceremony. However, if you have a wedding ceremony that is outdoors you know that the unity candle and the gentle breeze will pose a little challenge. Thus making the sand ceremony the perfect solution and it works indoors as well The sand ceremony is a feature that your friends & family looking on will appreciate witnessing. After the exchange of vows and wedding rings, the couple has now become one and the next process is to have a symbol of their unity, hence the unity ceremony. The sand ceremony is the ultimate symbol of unity during the wedding ceremony. Sand is placed into two separate vases, each symbolizing the bride & the groom with a bigger empty vase [heart shaped maybe?] for the sand from both vases to be poured into. The bride & groom are then asked to pour the sand into the third vase while the officiant usual reads/explains the significance of the process. Here are some ideas on how you can customize your sand ceremony: Using 2 different color grains of sand each representing bride & groom Sand could be collected from somewhere with sentimental attachment to bride & groom Sand colors can be the same as wedding colors (ask the wedding planner) More than 2 color grains of sand can be used- to include children/parents etc. Choosing special urns/vases that will become a memorabilia for the newly wed. The pouring of each individual sand into the one vase symbolizes how ‘two become one’.
Think Destination Weddings!!!
You just got engaged and or in the process of planning your wedding, I’m sure you must have heard the words Destination Wedding many times and may have wondered what is that?! Well let us help you with that: Think exotic! Think the Caribbean! (destination weddings popular locations- the Caribbean; Italy; France) Here are some ideas on how you can customize your sand ceremony: Exotic, as defined by the Miriam-Webster online, means strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual introduced from another country. Thus, a Destination Wedding is usually explained as having a wedding at least 100 miles away from the bride’s home in an exotic location. Though this exotic feeling is quite subjective to the traveller’s taste, the essence of travelling far away from home to an area that may or may not be unfamiliar to you and your guests is always enthralling! Having a destination wedding always helps with your numbers as this naturally allows for limited invitees. We know that weddings are a time bringing both sides of the family together for this grand union, and destination weddings are no different unless you are an eloper. So taking your wedding far away outside of your hometown to a location that is exotic to you and your lover, many family and friends may not be able to attend, therefore your numbers will automatically be smaller compared to the number of invitees/attendees one would have if the wedding would have been held in hometown.With your guests flying into the wedding location, it creates the best opportunity to have group exploration especially if your numbers are small (say, maximum 30 guests). Therefore, you and your travel agent could plan group excursions and this is an added value to having a destination wedding with group rates (ask your travel agent or local wedding planner). This kind of package becomes most enticing to your guests and your wedding will no longer be just an occasion but will be an enhanced experience that your guest will talk about for years to come (instead of a day your destination wedding will become days). One of the best thing about having a destination wedding is the fact that you can have your wedding and honeymoon in one location. Hotels in these locations specialize in destination weddings. You may explore the web for these hotels and their wedding offerings which may include wedding and honeymoon packages. Here’s the real beauty of having a destination wedding: you can hire a local wedding planner who will do all the work for you. With a great wedding planner, all you will need to do is have your dress ready (dependent on what you will need your local wedding planner to do). But it lends to the fact that you or other trusted family members may not be able to visit the location before the wedding but the planner is your legs, ears and eyes on the ground and a great wedding planner builds confidence in their couple right up to the last bit of wedding details. You can even hire a planner for the day, this is a popular choice for those visiting the location for a couple of hours and want to get married on one of their stop over locations(couples on a cruise). Sounds exotic enough?! Planning your destination wedding in Jamaica, you can check out one of our earlier blog post “Destination Jamaica”.
How to keep your cool Destination Jamaica style!
To many of us, Summer is the funnest time of the year: school is out; all the best parties happen and oh how we love the summer sun! Jamaica is a tropical island smacked in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, and it’s always sunny (well, for the most part *smile*).We know the high temperatures will have you thinking outside of the box and since Jamaicans are known to be some of the coolest people (just ask CNN https://newsone.com/1002475/cnn-votes-jamaicans-3-coolest-people-in-the-world/), let us help you with some ideas on how to keep cool. 1. Think Cool, Be Cool: It’s time to think about where you go, what you do and what you wear in this heat. Short shorts, tank tops, rompers, bikinis & monokinis, flip flops & sandals, hair up (for those who have long hair) or braided, sunglasses; popsicles and ice cream; water and fruits and make sure to take as many trips to the beach, the pool or any one of the island’s beautiful watering hole- try Blue Hole in St. Ann, Jamaica. 2. Keep Hydrated: It’s summer in the tropics that means all fruits are ripe! Stock up on fruits to keep hydrated- watermelon; honey dew melon; cantaloupes; oranges & mangoes- you can make a stop by the local market and fill up your fruit basket. Make sure you get some fresh coconut water from the ‘Jellyman‘. If you are staying in a hotel, take advantage of the fruits at breakfast (and skip some of the sweets). Water is a must for us on the island , we have a good selection of locally bottled water (check labels of alkalinity levels). The supermarket shelves are fully stocked with local & imported water and of course your hotel will provide you with water for with breakfast, lunch & dinner. How about some frozen treats- ice creams sandwiches; ice cream (all kinds of flavors); think ice pops for breakfast, hmm..! 3. Fans & Air Conditioners (A/C) : There are some very novel ideas for portable fans to take with you on your trip- battery operated handheld fans (some are made with plastic neck straps so you won’t lose it). Some are made to sprinkle light mist with each turn of the small blades. The good trusty A/C- at home, in the car or in the office, make sure its working and properly serviced especially for the summer. But just in case your A/C is not working or you do not have one (home or office), you can try a blade-less fan- this is the closest thing to a mini air conditioner. While on the island though, you can make a trek to the local craft market and purchase our hand held straw fans made by local artisans and you are also guaranteed to find other items that may interest you. 4. Go to the Beach: You know the beaches in Jamaica are always breath-taking, but they are especially attractive at summer time! The best part of the summer is going to the beach! On island, beach and pool parties are a must (try Sumfest in mid July & Dream in early August Weekend this summer). Just take the family to the beach or you and your pals go hang out take in the summer sun and waves on our shore lines. It’s time for the bikinis! This summer while on the island of Jamaica being cool is all about being creative and we’ve got plenty of creativity here… Don’t forget your sunscreen!!!