By: Katie Taylor, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
On March 23, 2013, my husband, Thad, and I said “I Do” in a little ceremony at my wonderful in-laws’ house. We had originally planned to get married in June of that year but as my house sold in a record 2 weeks, we decided to just use the June date for a big celebration with all of our family and friends. In the time we have been married, we decided to say our vows again but this time on a beach in the Caribbean!!! So, for our 10 year anniversary, we did that at Sandals Montego Bay with a Retie the Knot ceremony!!! This came at the perfect time as I had just received the honor of being designated as the first (and only) Sandals Weddingmoon Silver Specialist in our travel agency!! Let me give you a first hand account of the planning and execution of having a wedding at Sandals or Beaches Resorts!!
The first step is…… picking a resort!! At Sandals you have 17 to choose from!! Yes-17 resorts to choose from!! We chose Montego Bay for several reasons. One, it is close to the airport and convenient for our 4 night stay. Plus it is the flagship resort for Sandals Resorts!! Once we had picked our dates and had booked our room, the next step was to get the wedding booked. We did this by calling Sandals Wedding Department. We chose to have our ceremony on March 24 at 3pm.
Once you have your date and time, you will have an appointment to speak with the pre-planning department with Sandals Weddings. During that call, you get to pick your music, your ceremony location, your reception location, your decor, and any extras (like hair and makeup appointments). The wedding planner helps you go through all of the choices thoroughly. And a reminder, payments for all of the extras are due at the planning session so be prepared to make those on that day!
Upon arriving at the resort, we were taken to our room where we found a letter from the resort wedding planning team indicating what time we would meet with them to pick our wedding cake flavors, walk the resort to make sure our locations were what we wanted, and to fill out all of the paperwork. We had so much fun with this planning session. Once we started walking around, we realized that the gardens were beautiful at this resort and moved our reception area from the beach to the gardens. Sandals Resorts also have back up plans in case of rain!! (So one less thing to worry about-Whew!)
Next, we tasted all of the cake flavors and fillings to decide what our one tier wedding cake would be. We had cake choices of brownie, red velvet, vanilla, carrot, or chocolate. I can’t even remember all of the fillings but I do remember the buttercream, coffee, Irish creme and strawberry. We chose the brownie cake with buttercream filling. It was delicious!!! Another choice we had during this time is our signature drink. We chose Mai Tai the Knot- a traditional Mai Tai with the best rum in the world-Appleton Estate!! I also made my spa appointment to have my hair fixed by a professional!!
After this session, we got to relax and enjoy the resort-ahhhhh!! We could have also had a special honeymoon menu for your dinner on the night of your wedding. We opted out of that and instead asked to dine at Butch’s Steakhouse. It was an amazing decision and I am so glad we had the opportunity to eat there!! It was DELICIOUS!!! Next up-Wedding Day!!
The day of the ceremony I chose to have my hair put up in an up-do. I went to the spa about 2 hours before the ceremony. And I absolutely loved how it turned out!! We also opted for the photography package, so we had a photographer there to capture all of the moments of our day. It was the best decision we made because we could remain present in our special moment.
When it was time for the ceremony, our wedding planner, Sashana, came to our door and escorted us to the ceremony. Since we were renewing our vows, we decided to walk down the aisle together. We selected “My Girl” by the Temptations, since that is what I walked down the aisle to for our official wedding. Once we made it to our ceremony location (the Greek Pavilion), we had a thoughtful officiant who performed our ceremony.
Once the ceremony was over, we walked to the beach to have our first dance with the beautiful Caribbean Sea in the background. We danced to “God Gave Me You” by Blake Shelton -that was our first wedding dance. After that, Sashana escorted us to our reception site in the gardens. Two tables, one for us to eat our hors d'oeuvres and one for the cake and champagne toast, were prepared for us. We snacked, we laughed, we had pictures taken, and then we cut the cake and toasted ourselves to 10 more years!!!
After the cocktail reception, we went on a private photography session. We had lots of pictures taken and made lots of special memories while doing this. It was truly a romantic celebration of our 10 years of marriage!!
Whether you are celebrating 1 year or 30 years of marriage, you can have a Retie the Knot Wedding at any Sandals Resort. I can guarantee-you will NOT be disappointed. We had so much fun that my husband said, “We were doing it again at our 20 year anniversary!!!” I would truly love to help you and your spouse plan your Retie the Knot Wedding. Please reach out to Katie, an agent with Marvelous Mouse Travels to learn more or contact Marvelous Mouse Travels.
