Bride and grooms who tie the knot at a Sandals Resort average an invitation list of 40 guests and spend $8,000, according to a recent survey by the Caribbean hotel group. The study found that couples stay at the resorts for an average of seven nights on their honeymoon, and 85 percent choose the privacy and luxury of a suite.
The trends seem to reflect a desire on these couples’ part to immerse themselves in the tropical, Caribbean environment. Caribbean Fruit is the most popular flavor for wedding cakes, with 40 percent of couples choosing it, followed by the more traditional choices of vanilla (35 percent) and chocolate (25 percent). Other favorites for Caribbean weddings include having a live Caribbean band and taking a sunset cruise. The most popular color palettes for these beach ceremonies, “seaglass” and “softsand,” take inspiration from natural surroundings. The favorite flower for ceremonies is the Dendrobium Orchid.
Sandals Resorts’ signature WeddingMoons program offers a range of choices for couples who wish to wed or take their honeymoon (or both) under the Caribbean sun. Pre-designed wedding packages offer themes such as Seaside Serenade or Vision in White. Sandals is currently offering a free ceremony to couples who stay six or more nights.
Couples can also opt for a customized wedding, in which they work with a Sandals wedding planner to settle the details. Sandals has resorts in multiple locations across four destinations — Jamaica, Antigua, St. Lucia and the Bahamas.
Last year alone, Sandals Resorts served the equivalent of 4 miles of wedding cake tiers. Properties provided couples with 1.4 million minutes of massages, mixed 150,000 rum punches and poured 30,000 bottles of sparkling wine. Caribbean nuptials would not be complete without a beach ceremony, and Sandals estimates that more than 200,400 footprints were made on its resorts’ beaches during weddings.
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