Things to consider when planning your trip

I received an email inquiry for a tropical beach honeymoon from a lovely girl in Oregon the other day. I phoned her, and in the course of the conversation, she mentioned that they might want to have a destination wedding and get married while they were here.  It would be just she and him.  Elopement is the old term for this, i believe 🙂

This got me thinking of my own  beach destination wedding, and the wedding that was “the thing  we did on monday of our vacation”, which was also our honeymoon.  It was just he and i, and i learned a lot.  As i advised this Bride-To-Be on what i thought was best, i was drawing not only from my knowledge of this tiny island paradise, but also from my personal experience.

What a lovely trip down memory lane 🙂

So, here’s my advice on things to consider when planning your trip, honeymoon, or even elopement.

Be Very Clear about your expectations – being clear on your expectations is more than just saying “I just want to get married on the beach”.  What do you expect the hotel to be like?  What are your thoughts on rustic versus posh?

Are you a social person?  Do you want to be able to talk to other couples, or do you want seclusion?  When i traveled  in my 20’s, i  wanted to meet people easily, make friends with other couples, have someone else to hang with a little.  Now that i’m in my late 30’s i want access to others, but i dont need to be around a ton of people….then again i live on a tiny tropical island 🙂

How far are you willing to go into town and socialize?  How often do you think you’ll want to go to ‘town’?

Be Clear about your tolerances – Sometimes the power goes out for a couple hours here in Belize.  It just is what it is.  Maybe on average, once every couple months, the power will go out for a couple hours, or the water will not work for half a day…or the cable or internet goes down.  It is what it is.  And it is Belize.  This ain’t texas….it’s a tiny nation of 250,000 people, and is about the size of Massachusetts.  It’s all just part of the charm 🙂  Besides, when it happens at night….the sky is the most amazing thing you will ever see.

We have bugs and things.  We just do.  The truth is, there are only a few places on the island that will be the least buggy.  You will see iguana’s running around, too.  And once in a blue moon, you might spot tarantulas 🙂  keep your eyes and mind open…I’m a girl from Philly, bugs scare the heck outta me…but its part of life here, and they really are very interesting!

Photographer – When i got married on the beach in the caribbean in early 2002, i knew only one thing: The Photographer was the SINGLE most important thing.  I found a wonderful wedding photographer, and decided that i wanted four things –

1.  The day of wedding photo stuff; the normal, traditional stuff you’d expect to see of a ceremony, walking around, shots in the dress, blah blah blah.

2.  I wanted a casual day photo shoot. I  bought a casual but special dress and he droveus around the day after our wedding.  The pictures from that day are the ones that i cherish the most.  It was our first day as a married couple, and we went all around the island.

3.  I wanted all natural shots. i LOATHE posed shots, and while i know you have to have some posed shots, they needed to be at a minimum

4. I wanted all the photos taken.  All of them.  Even the lousy ones.  Those are the ones i cherish the most.  The ones where one or both of us is making a funny “bad” face.  But thats what we really look like when we are REALLY laughing.  Since we got the negatives (yes, they were still using negatives back then), we could get them blown up, printed properly, etc.  when we got home.

How do you like to vacation? – Some people like to do a lot of activities and go all out for their entire vacation with things scheduled, booked, and orchestrated down to the minute.  Some people like to ride the breeze and see where things go.

This is Belize.  When brides or companies come to me wanting an all out crazy paced trip, i truly try to discourage it.  Belize is slow…we like it that way.  I drive a 1996 electric golf cart…i canNOT go more than 15 mph.  When i say we’re slow, i mean we are sllllllllllooooooooowwww.  Its the best part of us 😀

It’s for this reason, i try to encourage people to come as long as they can.  i want you to have some time to do NOTHING.  Do have NO where to go, NOTHING to do….its so important.  It’s also during those down times that you get to really connect to fiance, and to Belize.

more tips to come!

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