Grab Your Bikini, We're Getting Married
Sept. 14, 2005 — -- The 21st century wedding is traditionally associated with elegant white satin, clinking champagne glasses and fields of red roses, but more and more weddings are featuring white bikinis, exotic locations and frozen tropical drinks.
"Four or five years ago I noticed destinations weddings were happening a lot and it's been booming ever since," said Annette Burden, editor in chief of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine. "Now it's almost mainstream."
In 2005, approximately one in 10 couples will opt for a destination wedding, where the entire wedding party travels to a special location, according to a survey of more than 1,000 brides by the Fairchild Bridal Group.
Burden said there are plenty of reasons to choose a destination wedding -- a smaller wedding party, a unique experience and the lure of no-hassle, all-inclusive packages. But one of the biggest incentives is money.
The average wedding this year will cost $26,437, according to the Fairchild study, but couples who throw destination weddings will spend, on average, 41 percent less.
Cheaper and Easier, Too
"Most of the cost in the wedding is in a reception and if you have fewer guests, the cost goes down really quickly," Burden said. "Plus, a lot of these resorts have great packages and there are people at the hotels who will plan the whole thing for you. You can just call them up and say I'm coming and this is the color flowers and I'm having this many guests and you're done."
Sandals Resorts, one of the trendsetters in destination weddings, has been hosting destination weddings for almost 25 years, and even trademarked the term "weddingmoon" a decade ago.
"I think what we were seeing was a lot of people who didn't want to deal with the church wedding, didn't want to deal with the family politics. They were looking for the great escape," said Tony Cortizas, vice president of advertising and marketing at Sandals.
"What's happening now is the destination wedding is emerging, and it's more about an immediate group of friends and family going away together."
Like many wedding packages at island resorts, the plan at Sandals is all-inclusive, covering everything from drinks to the wedding official to "Just Married" bride and groom T-shirts.
But with celebrities like Renee Zellweger and Sarah Michelle Gellar helping to make destination weddings more trendy, resorts are bringing more designer elements to their brides and grooms.
Sandals recently formed a partnership with Preston Bailey, event planner to Donald Trump, Oprah Winfrey and Joan Rivers among other celebrities.
"We created this amazing, if I do say so myself, setting for weddings that are extremely affordable," Bailey said. His designs include indigenous island flowers, such as orchids and water lilies. "It was a challenge for me to do something that was beautiful and affordable."
A Wedding With Synchronized Swimmers and Fireworks
The Preston Bailey package reflects a growing trend of brides wanting to personalize their destination wedding, rather than marry in an off-the-rack J. Crew wedding dress (available online for less than $600).
"There's a lot of pressure to come up with creative weddings," Burden said. "People get married on top of volcanoes or you can get married underwater while scuba diving. You can do anything!"
When Heather Carlton-McInnis, who lives in Greenville, N.C., got married at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas, about 100 close family members and friends were treated to a synchronized swimming performance timed perfectly to coincide with the cutting of the cake; enjoyed a groom's cake in the shape of a Louis Vuitton pet carrier case holding the couple's pet bulldog; and watched fireworks light up the tropical night sky as the festivities wore down.
"It was my fairy tale," Carlton-McInnis said. "I don't think anyone will forget it."