Looking to add a little more adventure to Jamaica weddings?  I recently returned from an unusual Jamaica familiarization trip where not only did we visit numerous hotels, but we also experienced two new attractions - Mystic Mountain and Chukka Cove.  Both attractions are considered "soft" adventure - ha!  I guess that my definition of soft adventure, a walk along the beach and maybe even horseback riding, is different from the definition in Jamaica.  Here, bobsledding, zip lining, ATVs, etc. are the norm.  

First, we went off to Mystic Mountain where a sky lift takes you 700 feet up the mountain.  The views from the top are spectacular!  It is here that the real adventure begins!  The choice is bobsledding or zip lining.  Being a bit of a coward, the bobsled look sort of tame.  So, I climbed in and found myself flying along the track at what felt like 150 miles per hour.  I am told that I was only going 25 miles per hour, but I am not sure that I believe that! 

Having survived the bobsled, my newly found adventurous spirit decided to try the zip lines.  I was sailing along quite nicely zipping from tree to tree until I came to the third zip line.  Looking out, I could not see it, so my gaze was directed straight down!  My first thought was "what are my other choices?"  Unfortunately, no choice but to take the line straight down! 

Having survived that, I felt invincible, as though I could now do anything.   So, when we were taken to Chukka Cove, I had no fear!  The choice of activities were numerous: ATV, dune buggies, dog sled, horseback riding, beach and of course, zip lining.  Now that I was an old hand at it, I decided to do the zip lines again.  However, this time we took a bus up to the top of the mountain.  Surviving the bus ride up the mountain was truly an adventure in itself!  We drove along a VERY narrow, gravel road twisting and turning along the edge of the mountain.  The site of many rusted out cars and vans that had obviously gone off the road added to the anxiety.  By the time we suited up and began the run on the zip lines, I knew that nothing could be as frightening as the bus ride up the mountain.   

All in all, I definitely recommend these two attractions to anyone that visits Jamaica, and they would be perfect for an adventure getaway with your Jamaica wedding guests before or after the big day.

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.

If you're planning a wedding out-of-town, don't forget to send save-the-date cards to your guests.  These should go out six months to a year before the big day.  That's well in advance of the invitation, which for a destination wedding should go out at least eight weeks prior.

What's a save-the-date?  It's simply a card or note that literally requests that people hold a particular date open on their calendar so they don't schedule anything else in the meantime for that date.

The importance of save-the-dates for destination weddings is obvious.  Guests will have to travel to your wedding.  So they'll have to take more time out of their schedule (and more money out of their budgets) than if the wedding were close by.   Your guests will need extra time to plan.

But save-the-dates don't have to be just another extra expense or detail.  First, destination weddings usually have fewer guests - so the number of both invitations and save-the-dates are lower.  Secondly, save-the-dates are an important opportunity to liven up your party - by building more anticipation in advance.  In addition to date and location, the card can also include additional information about the destination, transportation, hotel accommodations, travel agent, sightseeing opportunities and activities available.  A "z-fold" (multi-panel) card, for example, will offer plenty of space for a little "wedding week preview" - in a form that can be both compact and elegant.

Save-the-dates can also inject a little personal flair as a counterpoint if your invitation happens to be more traditional.  Save-the-date colors and styles, for example, can reflect destination colors (bright and festive, say, for Mexico) and local themes (such as Tuscany for Italy).  

One more thing - brides sometimes ask whether they really must follow through and actually send everyone an invitation who received a save-the-date.  The answer is an unequivocal "yes."  That's doubly true for destination weddings, where you're asking guests to commit extra time and expense than they otherwise would.  So if you tell someone to save the date, then you really do have to invite them.

Arlene Cronk is the owner of Invitations & Company, a Boston wedding invitations and social stationery boutique.  Her website is www.bestinvite.com.

Hi Brides & Grooms, I guess you might be wondering if a destination wedding is for you?

I didn't think it was for me until my finance told me that he would only get married if it was a destination wedding. So I quickly jumped on board.

But think of it, nothing says luxury like a beach wedding on a tropical island. Your wedding will be a vacation for everyone! At my wedding it wasn't just me picking out the place I had many family members telling where to go and what they wanted.  Most of our disagreements were that everyone was telling me where they wanted to go but no one thought about what I wanted. But after many nights searching and researching we finally picked a place that we all loved. We changed about 3...4 times until we picked Riviera Maya Mexico. We picked one place and even booked the beach at the resort and just about booked the flights and at the last minute changed our minds. Our specialist Deb was great and did everything to make the change a smooth one. She was very understanding and worked hard to get what us what we wanted. I am glad that we decided on it. I have heard great things about the Iberostar.     

If you think that it would be more difficult, it's not. The only difficult part about it was picking which place to go and when to go. Believe me when I say that once you tell people that you are going away to get married they all become experts on where to go. The best thing to do is before you talk to people you and your finance should pick a place and research it. That way your decision will be based on what you read about it and not what other people say. Remember just because someone else loved or hated a place doesn't mean that you will feel the same way as them. Also trying to plan a wedding with everyone else being involved can cause many unnecessary fights between you and your fiance. Always talk things over with him/her before making any decisions, remember it's your wedding and it should be what the two of you decide on. My fiance wouldn't even let me pick out the bridesmaids dresses or the color without going over it with him first. The night before we went to the bridal shop to get the girls dresses Donny and I went on line and picked out the dresses we liked and in what color we liked them in. He says that he had a vision in his head of what the pictures should look like and wanted to make sure that the dresses would fit into his image that he had. I didn't mind because it actually helped me out a lot. When we were at the bridal shop the girls picked one of the dresses we liked but wanted to change the color of it, but all I had to do was call him and have him be the bad guy and say no he wants blue. It worked out perfectly. Our next step is talking to the wedding planner in Mexico to organize the details for the wedding there. We are getting very excited for the big day.    

Best wishes! Jacquelyn

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.

Meet our first Destination Wedding bride guest blogger Jacqueline.  She will be taking you through the planning of her Mexico wedding. 

My name is Jacquelyn and I am very excited to be planning a Destination Wedding. It began a little over fours ago. My finance and I started dating on the night that a bunch of us went for my birthday.  But honestly it started a long time ago.  My finance and I went to the same elementary school together and we were in the same second grade class.  Yes he was my first crush.  My sister and I had to walk to CCD every Tuesday and I would make her walk the long way there so that we could go by his house. But you know how second grade crushes go not far.  It's you like them for a little while and then forget about it.  Also he ended up moving to a new house in town which meant that he switched schools too.  But that was not the last of it.

We ended up going to the same Jr. High School too.  But being as shy as I was I never talked to him.  Then during college we dated for awhile but the timing wasn't right,  but we stayed friends.  And then one day we finally got together.  It was like a dream come true.  So we dated for four years and then last year on Mother's day he asked me to marry him. 

He got up early that day and went to get breakfast for us and when he came home he had the boys give me a dozen red roses and a big heart balloon that said Happy Mother's Day, and then he told me that there was something for me in the kitchen, so I went in to find a small box wrapped in gold paper with a big ribbon.  I was so excited I could hardly breathe.  I took the box to the other room and opened it, as I was about to open the box he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  He was shaking so bad and he was sweating.  I said you shouldn't have been nervous because you knew that I would say yes.  He then went on to tell me that if I wasn't so picky on what type of ring I wanted that I would have gotten it much sooner. 

See I wanted a ring that was totally different from everyone else's and that's just what my ring is. I am glad he waited. He also said that if my dad wasn't such a hard person to track down he would have asked me sooner too.  He made sure to ask everyone close to me if he could marry me.  My mom was the first person he asked.  It was hard for my family to keep such a big secret.  But they did great.  I was very surprised and very excited.  So now we are in the process of planning our destination wedding.

Jacquelyn

How many potential disasters can you successfully avoid when it comes to your Destination Wedding? 

Regardless of where your wedding is taking place, chances are that you are going to run into some bumps in the proverbial road.  Let's take my recent wedding in Nassau Bahamas for example....

First it was a family member that was afraid of flying, but put that aside to come to the wedding, for which I was honored.  When they arrived I heard that she turned white and passed out, only to be revived and closely watched for the rest of the flight down.  Then a wedding party member showed up a day late after missing her flight, and gave us her tale of almost not making down in time for the ceremony.  See a theme forming here?

The day before the wedding I was relaxing at the resort pool with a fine Kalik beer (the official brew of the Bahamas), when I heard that a member of the wedding party fell and broke his nose, and was on his way to the hospital for reconstructive surgery. 

The wedding itself was great.  Like most beach weddings should be: crystal clear weather, great ceremony, perfect pictures, and it appeared that everything was smooth sailing.   Now onto the reception...how about a family member shouting "Anybody know the Heimlich maneuver"?  Yes, it did happen as a guest was choking on a tasty Caribbean treat.  Fortunately the party member mentioned earlier was back from his nose surgery, sitting next to the choking guest, and happened to be the one that gave him the Heimlich.  A nervous laugh was had by all, and the party continued.

The Destination Wedding gods had mercy on us, getting all guests there on time, a quick nose job and some big sunglasses for one, and several guests at the reception that did actually know the Heimlich maneuver.  My family and friends always seem to have the talent to make things exciting...

So back to my original question: How many potential disasters can you dodge?  For me it was four, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.