This is probably going to be the final post from DestinationWeddings.com's visit to Jamaica.  However, we will have some people returning from a visit to the Dominican Republic later this week, so hopefully they will be giving me some great photos of beach wedding locations in the DR to share with you.  If I could only find someone to do these blog posts, perhaps I can actually be the one at these great destinations taking these photos!

Much like the post with the video of the Jamaican minister talking about officiating a beach wedding, this video shows another person who is responsible for the success of your wedding...the on-site wedding coordinator.  Much like the ministers out there, most coordinators at destinations are extremely personable and passionate about ensuring your beach wedding is a success.

The video below is from an interview that Nancy did with the wedding coordinators at Breezes Runaway Bay in Jamaica, and not only shows their commitment to ensuring your wedding is a success, but also gives you a great peak at their great beach wedding location!

This is the third post from DestinationWeddings.com's recent visit to Jamaica, but it's a little different from the first two, because it won't show you any beach wedding locations.  However, it will show you something even better...a glimpse at one of the many great ministers that perform all these great beach weddings.

Having experienced it firsthand with my beach wedding in Nassau, ministers at destinations are usually incredibly friendly and entertaining people.  Destination Weddings are very unique events, and the officiants that choose to work with them are usually very creative and passionate about what they do.  And no, I'm not talking about Elvis impersonating ministers in Vegas...

The video below is an example of a great minister from Jamaica talking to Nancy about performing weddings at the Starfish Trelawny.  This just shows how you get a great piece of local culture from your Destination Wedding minister, and how youit can't help but make your beach wedding an incredibly enjoyable event.

OK, here we go with post two from DestinationWeddings.com's recent visit to Jamaica to inspect all the great beach wedding locations.  As I mentioned in the first post, we do these trips regularly to ensure that our Destination Wedding Planners are up to date on all the happenings at our favorite locations.  So, below is a video of the great beach wedding locations at the Starfish Trelwany resort in Jamaica.  Enjoy!

 Thanks again to Nancy for the fine camera work!

A small crew here at DestinationWeddings.com recently took a trip to Jamaica to check out some interesting locations for Jamaica weddings (I know, tough life huh?).  The group consisted of a couple people from our corporate office, and most importantly...several of our Destination Wedding Planners.  We do these trips periodically, to most of our popular beach wedding destinations, so we make sure that we are up to date on the most recent changes at destinations...and to be on an island versus the office!

 This will be the first post of probably 3-4, and this video shows 3 destination wedding locations at Grand Lido Negril, all of which are an outstanding choice for your Jamiaca beach wedding!  Thanks to Nancy for the great camera work!

Thank you to all the couples that particpated in our first "Best Destination Wedding Video" contest.  It is really fulfilling for us here at DestinationWeddings.com to be able to see the great weddings that we had the honor of being a part of. 

When I tell you that juding was tough, I am not kidding.  We received so many great videos, and all of us here had our favorites.  But, at the end of the day we had to make a decision.  And here they are, the top three Destination Wedding videos from our first contest:

***For all you couples planning your wedding with us, or for those that have already done so, if you would like to participate in a future video contest, please e-mail me at quent@destinationweddings.com***

Third Place: Anne and Darryl, Jamaica

Second Place: Jasmine and Joseph, Riviera Maya Mexico

And the winner... 

First Place: Lori and Adam, Riviera Maya Mexico

OK, it wasn't long after I mentioned the potential disasters that I avoided with my beach wedding in Nassau that somebody came to me with something to challenge my crown.

The video below is from a Costa Rica wedding.  I am not going to go into the details of how the actual wedding was, because the bride is going to tell you herself as a guest blogger shortly, and she can definitely tell it better than I can.  So stay tuned for that, you will enjoy her story.

Back to the volcano-they had their wedding on an active volcano, and had the luck (is it really luck?!?) to catch part of an eruption on film.  The couple has assured me that they weren't in any danger, but I say they are just more adventurous than I am!

Enjoy the video, and again-more to follow on this great Costa Rica wedding.

Well not exactly, but let me back up a little bit here.

I'm back to my wedding in Nassau Bahamas, and I wanted to address a growing trend...the "get to know each other pre-party" before the guests roll into their beach weddings.

Traditional weddings have always had the rehearsal dinner, where guests can mingle and exchange small talk.  Although some couples have done similar dinners at their destination weddings, I have noticed a trend towards more adventurous and laid back events.  So we decided to go that route in the Bahamas prior to our scheduled beach wedding in Nassau...

Being avid sailors we sought out a catamaran large enough to accommodate 40 people, and came across the Flying Cloud (http://www.flyingcloud.info).  Everything seemed to be perfect, so we booked it for the Friday night before the wedding when all the guests would be on the island already.

When we arrived at the dock they were placing the finishing touches on the boat, so we all relaxed with a fine Bahamian beverage and waited to set sail.  Well, given the crew that was invited on this voyage, the party began to pick up speed and I was thankful that someone else was piloting the now party boat.  As we sat down to a nice casual buffet dinner my sister asked me if I had seen one of our wedding guest couples.  I could have sworn they were on the boat, but where were they now?!?  After several minutes of worry, we decided that we would have noticed two people falling overboard (right?). 

Well, unlike the title of this post, they were not lost at sea, but we did take off without them when they weren't looking.  So, my advice to all you destination wedding couples out there:  If you are carting your partying wedding guests around an unfamiliar island, make sure you get a head count before you sail off into the sunset!

Much like my earlier post, everything ended up great anyways.  And below is a very short video of the boat/party.