Recently we polled our lovely readers and 30% of y’all are planning or contemplating a destination wedding. 30%! That’s huge! Common sense prevails when it comes to the idea of combining a wedding and honeymoon in what we affectionately call the perfect “wedding-moon”. And so, we’ve heard you loud and clear and are up-ing our destination wedding content. I couldn’t think of a prettier place to start with than Jamaica. From Montego Bay to Negril, we’re showing you the prettiest places to wedding-moon and the greatest places to play.

Montego Bay

Wed/Honeymoon: If you’re looking for the perfect combination of upscale accommodations and island charm, look no further. Sandals Montego Bay boasts 7 delicious restaurants, an award winning Red Lane Spa, and some of the island’s liveliest resort entertainment. Don’t worry honeymooners, you can enjoy a serene stay at a beachfront villa suite, complete with your own butler ready to tend to your every need. Be sure to ask about the Martha Stewart wedding options. Having a stylish destination wedding is a snap with Martha’s wide variety of wedding themes.

Play: When you’ve grown tired of lounging poolside (or bedside), head on over to Margaritaville. Never a dull moment. Let your inner child loose and be sure to bring your bathing suit!

Ocho Rios

Wed/Honeymoon: The north coast of Jamaica features the picturesque rolling St. Ann Mountains along with the lush grounds known as Sandals Royal Plantation.  This all-oceanfront, all-butler, resort is the ultimate destination for an intimate, luxurious wedding and honeymoon.  Be sure to stop in at C-Bar, the island’s only champagne and caviar bar, to top off your luxe experience chez Sandals Royal Plantation.

Play: Show your adventurist side and head to Mystic Mountain where zip lining and bobsledding is on tap.  The view from 700 feet above sea level is simply stunning!

Negril

Wed/Honeymoon: Looking for the ultimate exotic, rustic wedding experience?  Tensing Pen is simply a diamond in the rough.  Literally.  Nestled in the rocks on the western tip of Negril, Tensing Pen’s thatch hut accommodations offers a unique mix of seclusion and luxury.  Words do not do justice to the immense amount of beauty and splendor this resort has to offer.

Play: A visit to Rick’s Cafe is a MUST when visiting Negril.  The spot is a fave for locals and tourists alike who watch the bravest of the brave jump from death defying heights off the cliffs into the ocean.  Whether you’re a spectator or brave enough to partake, a stop at Rick’s is always a treat.  Animal lovers can opt out of the danger and into the fun at Dolphin Cove Negril.  Swimming with the dolphins.  Need I say more?

In conclusion, Jamaica is la creme de la creme of destination locales.  A particular selling point for the Sandals resorts was the variety of options included in the Sandals Weddings by Martha Stewart packages.  Six GORGEOUS themes to choose from, taking your wedding to the heights of Martha’s stylish standards.  It really does make wedding planning a cinch. Here are a few of Martha’s decor options for your viewing pleasure.

DIY lovers, listen up. Today’s bride takes us through her tips on throwing down a budget Mediterranean wedding. A wedding and vacation for your family and friends, all rolled into one. Um. Yeah, I’d go for that! Justin Element is our beach wedding photographer today and his style and artistry is very appreciated. LOVE the soft beach light against the deep blue water.  Twinge of vacation jealousy.  Gotta admit it.  There are LOADS of DIY treats from Ressie and Matt’s wedding so I’ll let Ressie take over with all the details:

First of all, anytime you say the word “wedding” prices go up by 00%. Although our group of friends were staying at a fancy 5 star hotel, my family stayed at the house we found for our wedding. We found our venue thru vrbo.com and rented a fabulous Mediterranean house for our beach front wedding.

We went crazy with tissue paper as it provided dimension to our décor. Tissue paper and some fishing line and you can make any house look festive. The flowers…Saturday morning, we found a local open air market selling fruit and flowers. We spend roughly $250 on white, yellow and blue flowers and put them into Ball antique glasses for vases and added some ribbon to tie in our wedding colors. We also bought lemons and artichokes to add some texture to our elements. My aunt was a wizard with flowers and put them all over the house.

I had two favorite elements. The first one was the picture tree. I found tin vases at a thrift store, spray painted them brown and then white washed them. We then took about 50 clothes pins and painted them and added ribbon. We found Cherry blossom tree branches for $30 for 3 bushels, put them in the vases with some sand and rocks to hold them down and then put pictures of Ressie growing up, Matt growing up, and then the happy couple while dating.

My second favorite thing is my wedding gift for Matt. I have a friend that’s an artist that I contacted to see if he would paint a collage that reflected our lives together. He painted a collage that incorporated everything from bicycles to mountains to everything in between. This served as the main focal decoration on the mantle as well as his wedding gift that we now have in our living room! From old navy flip flops that we glue gunned rhinestones on, to the old wood that we found on the way home one day, that we then painted our names, Eat, Drink & Be Married and Barrett Est. 5.1.11. All of these elements tied together to make our wedding very special.

Our wedding was casual and fun. We had bottled beer and sodas down at the beach. We found both Chef Molly, our caterer and Justin Element, our photographer online and couldn’t have been happier with the results! My advice is when you connect with someone, use them in business!

I couldn’t have asked for a more magical wedding that really exceeded my expectations. We could have easily done a hotel wedding, but that’s just not my style. Instead stairs and beach were the name of the game and putting my stamp of uniqueness made it even more special.

Chef :  Molly |  Bridesmaids dresses: Ann Taylor |  Photographer: Justin Element |  House rental : www.vrbo.com |  Wedding dress: Alfred Angelo |  Frames for gifts: Allison Donnahoe 713.557.3198

I’m quite smitten with the Vancouver weddings we’ve been receiving as of late. Love you west coasters! I’m particularly partial (and jealous) of the outdoor wedding venues I’ve been seeing.  Rustic weddings are all the rage in British Columbia.  And today’s Vancouver Island wedding is showing off a doozy of a Vancouver wedding reception venue, Strathcona Park Lodge .   SO pretty.  And of course the prettiness comes care of the artistic lenses of wedding photographers Tracie Howe and Natasha Ali.  Pat and Renee’s wedding is gorgeously DIY and raw in natural beauty.  Thank you to Renee, who’s offered to share some points from her day with us:

Theme and color scheme -I love birds and wanted to include a lot of vintage style birds in our wedding….it was subtle (I’m not sure if you even would have noticed it!) but I made our Save The Dates from vintage style bird stamps on luggage tags, I designed our wedding invitations and they had a vintage scrolly bird, I had little birds as place card tables on the holders, I wore vintage bird earrings, and I also had custom banners made up by Earmark (on Etsy) that said “Love” and “Let’s Celebrate!” both with vintage bird prints that I had sent them to use……these were hanging in the barn. I also wanted a subtle theme of green with splashes of yellow and soft pink. This was incorporated into the bridesmaids dresses, the old wooden chairs we painted green and yellow and brought from home (the ones Pat and I sat in), the poms, the flower bouquets for me and the bridesmaids and boutonnieres, the custom banners by Earmark, the guys wore light pink hightops and pink ties, etc etc. I wanted our wedding to outdoorsy, natural, rustic, with some vintage touches, laid back with really special personal touches.

It was also really important to me/us to have our wedding venue match the following criteria:

- On Vancouver Island because I grew up there
- I wanted to have a beach ceremony/wedding
- I really wanted a BARN as the back-up plan in case it rained
- Outdoors, wilderness, casual
- A place where everyone could stay in fun accommodation (preferably cabins, cottages)
- A say in what kind of food and wine would be served-I am a Nutritionist and a foodie and the food was a VERY important aspect-luckily the chef at Strathcona was AWESOME and was totally in-line with what we wanted – fresh, organic and local food…..vegetarian options, fresh seafood, etc etc. I’m not into wedding cake, and really wanted to have blackberry pies with whipped cream, so he pulled that off for us too! I was thrilled with the food, it was totally US.

So we searched high and low for the perfect wedding venue…….we were hoping that the “beach” aspect would be on the ocean, but because Strathcona fit so much of the rest of the criteria, it really did work out to be the perfect place. Not to mention the staff there were really, really amazing and fantastic to work with.

The favours were the little honey jars…..the honey was from Pat’s parents farm – I bought the jars and material for the tops of the jars, cut and assembled them all and also had a custom bee stamp made and my mom and I made up all of the little tags that were tied on them…..it was a lot of work, but I loved the way they turned out!

By the way: SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY BRIDE EBLASTS HERE!

Band: Whipped Cream | Bridal Gown: Blue by Enzoani (bought in Langley, BC at Ivory Bridal ) | Shoes: Seychelles from She She in Victoria | Earrings: Vancouver Designer, Toodlebunny | Ring bowl: etsy – by Paloma’s Nest | Rings: Era in Vancouver | Flower bouquets: Petra at Thrifty’s in Campbell River | Bridesmaids dresses – Bryan’s  |  Photography:  Tracie Howe and Natasha Ali |  Venue: Strathcona Park Lodge |  On-Site wedding coordinator: Gai Kay

So the question is: What made Lindsay and George, a sweet couple from Charleston, South Carolina, decide to get married in Mexico? And of course the answer is pretty cool – they got engaged in Zihuatanejo so decided to marry there too! And what an amazing venue. How many of us can say we had our wedding in a private cove carved into black rocks with waves crashing below. (Dude, I got married in -4 weather) Thank you to our Charleston-based wedding photographers, Billy and Rachel Hyer of Hyer Images, for teasing us with this sunny beach wedding.   And a big shout out to Tiffany Snyder of Bahia Events for pulling off such stunning wedding coordination.  From Lindsay’s one shoulder dress right to the end of evening fireworks – it looked like an amazing day.

Event planer- Tiffany Snyder (Bahia Events) | Ceremony location- La Cala | Photographer- Hyer Images (Billy & Rachel Hyer)

Whenever I receive a beach wedding submission I really look forward to looking through the photos slowwwwly. There’s something about destination weddings that seem to capture the rare combination of excitement and relaxation.  And that relaxation is a bit contagious.  Today’s Zihuatanejo, Mexico beach wedding, shot by Billy and Rachel from Hyer Images, is a great example of resort chic wedding décor.   Lindsay and George’s wedding drew from their tropical surroundings to create a wonderful fusion of traditional Mexico style and modern elegance.   Bravo to the Hyers for capturing all the amazing light and details from this day.  So enjoy these pre-wedding photos along with some glimpses into this wedding.  But part two is not to be missed.  Lindsay’s wedding dress is INCREDIBLE…