A man goes down on one knee and proposes to the love of his life against the backdrop of a rushing Hawaiian waterfall. A couple standing on a white sand beach at sunset with golden light embracing them as they exchange wedding vows. It’s the stuff of romantic daydreams but it can also be a reality.
In advance of Valentine’s Day Kathy Stillie, a travel consultant with Marlin Travel Okotoks, said exotic escapes are ideal for popping the question.
“Paris is obviously one of the most romantic cities there is,” she said. “Hawaii is a gorgeous place where people like to go. Really, any of the warm weather destinations would be ideal and if someone’s budget allows the Cook Islands, Fiji and Tahiti make up some of the most romantic islands in the world.”
Stillie said anyone looking to ask the biggest of questions would want to choose a place where there’s little chance the moment will be diminished.
“You’d probably want some place where you’re not surrounded by children,” she said. “So you wouldn’t want to go to Disneyland or the amusement parks in Florida. You might want to go to an all-inclusive resort that’s for adults only that might be a little bit more romantic. Any Sandals resort property is pretty much adults only and the husband can prearrange something like a candle lit dinner on the beach.”
Once that proposal is accepted and the plans for the ceremony are underway there are more and more couples choosing to have a destination wedding in a tropical locale. Many travel companies and resort locations have gotten into the business of assembling matrimonial packages geared to getting as many guests as possible to the wedding in an affordable manner.
Okotoks resident Shaun Dengis and his fiancé Christine Wilson have selected a late April wedding at a resort on Mexico’s Mayan Riviera. They’ve done this not only out of a desire to get married in a warm, beautiful part of the planet but also to spare themselves a lot of logistical headaches.
“We actually both didn’t want to plan a wedding,” Dengis said. “This was a lot easier.”
The simplicity for the couple comes from having a wedding planner at the resort attending to the details, sending information and getting approvals by e-mail as needed.
With a confirmed guest list of well over 50 people, the future groom reported that he and his fiancé haven’t encountered a lot of resistance to their destination wedding plans from the invited guests.
“Most people have been supportive of the idea,” Dengis said. “We know everybody won’t be able to come so we’ll hold a reception back home for those who can’t make it.”
Having a ceremony locally and one in the tropics is quite typical according to Stillie. Some vacation countries can have complicated legal procedures involved with visitors getting married within their borders. For that reason many people choose to have a real, binding exchanging of vows in their hometown before jetting off to the tropics for a symbolic ceremony.
Whichever way people choose to conduct their destination wedding there are certain spots that are proving more popular than others Stillie said.
“The ones we tend to sell a lot of would be packages to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, the Mayan Riviera in Mexico and I would also add Jamaica to that list as well,” she said. “Those destinations are popular around here because they feature direct flights out of Calgary. ”
There are also choices for those looking to go more exotic and upscale.
“The higher end stops would be the Turks and Caicos islands, Saint Lucia and those types of places,” Stillie said. “Those spots are much more expensive so while we do sell those packages we don’t sell them often.”
Generally, she said with destination weddings the bride and groom spend a week at their wedding resort with their guests before moving to another resort on their own for their honeymoon.
That’s what Dengis said he and his fiancée have planned. He added the ceremony on the Mexican Riviera will be a real, not symbolic one.
“We just thought with so many people coming down with us for the wedding we’d get it done down there,” he said.
