Frankly,
I’ve never figured out why anyone in central Canada – from hence Sharon and I
come – bothered to have a wedding. Winter – blizzards, icy roads and freezing
temperatures – lasts almost forever. Summer? Right, that is one weekend in July
– complete with black flies, mosquitoes and other love songs – isn’t
particularly appealing either. So the fact that an increasing number of couples
from North America and northern Europe are opting for the
easy–someone-else-does- all-the-planning option somewhere in the sun makes
perfect sense.
Once
at the Magdalena Grand I decided to check
out what their wedding packages and find out what they were all about. To
declare my position up front, I forgot to get married – and generally managed
to be overseas when my friends were doing it – so my knowledge of the process
is best described as “overwhelming ignorance.” I wanted a vicarious insider’s
perspective, so I arranged to meet the Magdalene Grand’s wedding planner.
As
I waited for her in the lobby I spied a young couple perched on the sofa. As
they sipped their welcome fruit cocktails, I sauntered up in the hopes they may
have come here to get married. Alas, no Ash and Midori – a recently married
couple from the UK – were on their honeymoon. And they needed it as it had
taken 18 stressful months to plan their wedding. “The hardest part,” confided
Ash, “ was figuring out who to invite. Everyone had an opinion on who should be
included.” If they had it all to do over again would they do a destination
wedding at the Magdalena? Yes.
Vandra Alleyne – the effervescent
wedding planner with a personality like Champagne bubbles – arrived and walked
me through the world of weddings. “Really, I only have three
questions when someone books a wedding package: What is the colour of the
dress; what are the theme colours; and what is your favourite thing about the
Caribbean? Once we have that information we try to personalise the package and
tweak details as much as possible. For example, if the bride is wearing a beige
dress and the theme colour is blue we would arrange for the bouquet stem to be
covered with blue fabric. And then we design the cake to match. If they like
sand or shells we will weave that into the theme and make it part of the
remembrance gift from the resort.”
Okay,
so those are the details. But the control freak in me wants to know you can get
people to trust you – a total stranger – to get it
right? After all it is their wedding. Vandra nods, “You are right –
people have to have faith in you. Some people just don’t want to think about
any of the details, they just want it to happen. Others want to become more
involved. As soon as they arrive at the resort I spend a lot of time with them
and get to know them as people. And as part of my role as a wedding planner I
get to do everything from hold the bride’s hand to track down grooms who go
missing in action if they get cold feet.”
“Further
“Get me to the church on time” takes on a new perspective when the bride and
groom are separated for the day of the wedding and arrive on golf carts. The
vows can be traditional, non-denominational or write-your-own. And the
celebrant can be male, female or whoever is available. So the package offers a
lot of choices.”
But what about the costs? Think about it. What
does is cost to invite, say, 100 people to a wedding? The simple answer is “a
fortune.” According to Cost of Weddings.com the average cost of getting
hitched comes in with a price tag of about $25,631, with the range being
roughly $19,223 to $32,039. And the cost of the stress of organizing it all we
won’t bother factoring in.
For
a destination wedding, however, you can invite everyone and his/her/it’s dog.
Why you can almost turn it into the Ukrainian weddings of my youth: They lasted
three days, everyone in the phone book was on the list and anyone who was
single could just showed up, no invitation needed.
So let’s
crunch a few numbers:
Flight from:
USA: New York to Port of Spain:
$470. Book in advance and it might be lower. 20-minute commuter flight from
Port of Spain to Tobago - $24 each way – Total - $518.
Canada: from Toronto to Port
of Spain, about $570, again depending on how far in advance you book. 20-minute
commuter flight from Port of Spain to Tobago - $24 each way. Total - $618.
UK: From London to Port of Spain
varies from $1,000 to $1,200. 20-minute commuter flight from Port of Spain to
Tobago - $24 each way. Total $1,100 plus 48 equals $1148 dollars, or 729
pounds.
Okay,
so that takes care of getting there and back. The wedding packages vary from
$1,129 to $1, 499. But since you are going to paradise you may as well opt for
the best.
The honeymoon
suite
– one-bedroom with a jacuzzi and rose petals -- for a week, complete with
breakfast and dinner:
·
$516
per night and includes all taxes and breakfast buffet.
·
The
modified American Plan (MAP) is $65.00 per person per night for dinner.
·
The
full American plan (FAP) is $100 per person per night and includes lunch and
dinner.
Room
- $516 times 6 = $3,096
Meals
- $200 times 6 = $1,200
_________________________________
Total $4,296.
Add
10 percent –the figure event planners build into their budgets for unexpected
expenses, such as renting a car, playing a round of golf or going on a scuba
dive -- and we have a grand total of –
USA: $6,944.
Canada:
$7,054. UK: $7,637, or £4871.
By: Jody Hanson, Ph.D
Writer
Writer
+ comments + 1 comments
This place is so beautiful and romantic. An amazing honeymoon will be happening here as well.