Photographed by Haven Images
Jessica and Tyler thought it was unrealistic to have a vacation spot wedding ceremony at Sandals, nevertheless it seems the dream was effectively inside attain all alongside.
The journey to Sandals La Toc in April 2022 was imagined to be a singular spring break escape for Jessica and Tyler. One journey. One montage of reminiscences. There could be walks on a moonlit Caribbean seaside, naps within the shade of pool cabanas, and connoisseur meals at any time when and wherever they happy.
There would even be a photograph shoot.
“The picture shoot is the place every part took a flip,” says Jessica, starting to clarify how one second throughout this one St. Lucia trip ignited a sequence of unexpected milestone celebrations: a destination wedding, a babymoon, and visions of future anniversaries at Sandals and birthdays at Beaches.
Photographed by Haven Images
It began with that picture shoot at Sandals La Toc, the place Jessica adopted the lead of the pictures workforce right into a tropical backyard, to a view of a sandy cove, and right down to the seaside. Tyler performed alongside once they got here throughout a coronary heart etched within the sand.
“One other couple will need to have left this behind,” the photographer mentioned. He requested
Jessica to face inside the guts and switch round whereas Tyler dropped to a knee.
“She had no thought I used to be about to suggest,” he says.
The surprises had been simply starting to unfold. When one workforce member after one other instructed Jessica and Tyler they need to get married at Sandals, the 2 of them politely smiled and thought to themselves, “Solely in our desires.”
The Actuality of a Sandals Marriage ceremony
And so, Jessica and Tyler flew dwelling to Staten Island and commenced to plan their wedding ceremony … on Lengthy Island. It appeared to be probably the most sensible gathering spot for friends from New York and California. Jessica agreed, though she’d all the time fantasized a couple of wedding ceremony on an island someplace, with tropical flowers and, most vivid of all, a sublime chapel overlooking the ocean.
“We each understood the prices for a vacation spot wedding ceremony in comparison with a marriage nearer to dwelling,” Jessica says.
Or did they? The truth was about to set in.
“We had been pricing a Lengthy Island wedding ceremony and it grew to become exorbitant,” Tyler says. “Each element added up quick.”
A DJ for $3,000. A photographer for $5,000. A videographer. Flowers. A meals truck. Transportation. An open bar with an infinite tab. And oh sure, a venue.
“Even dessert was a separate line merchandise,” Tyler says. “By the point we checked out lodge rooms, we lastly mentioned, ‘Let’s simply get away.’ As a substitute of stressing over an costly four-hour occasion that goes by within the blink of an eye fixed, we may have a marriage that’s a weeklong Caribbean trip for everybody.”
Inside a couple of minutes of re-setting her analysis to “island vacation spot weddings,” Jessica got here throughout Sandals, the place they’d left of their desires just a few weeks earlier. Maybe it wouldn’t be so unrealistic in spite of everything. There could be no prices for every week of meals. No prices for drinks. No prices for actions. And no prices for the white-sand seaside or for the spectacular ocean.
After which Jessica got here to an image she couldn’t consider. She instructed Tyler to have a look.
“A chapel on the ocean. My dream venue.”
Photographed by Haven Images
A Celebration Not like Any Different
Every time Jessica spoke to her Sandals wedding ceremony planner, she’d hear the identical reassuring phrase, “No downside, Jessica. We obtained this.” However they had been 1,500 miles away.
“Jessica is the sort who makes use of hand sanitizer at any time when she touches something,” Tyler says. “You are taking your footwear off on the door and hold your area organized. She’s very detailed. A marriage out of her management may have been actually hectic.”
Photographed by Haven Images
The 2 of them arrived at Sandals Ochi 4 days earlier than the marriage. Jessica introduced a selected flower to be positioned in a sure spot, a welcome signal, and particular followers to be positioned completely on chairs within the chapel.
“We are going to maintain it,” the workforce mentioned.
In Jessica’s thoughts, the “dream vacation spot” a part of the marriage was a finished deal. However one other a part of it remained to be seen.
“I wished our wedding ceremony to be private,” she says, “and never certainly one of a thousand cookie-cutter weddings.”
Seems, their wedding ceremony could be one in one million.
Photographed by Haven Images
An Out of Physique Expertise
One 12 months earlier, none of this appeared cheap. Not a marriage on a Caribbean island. Not an overwater chapel. And positively not a very relaxed bride.
“By the morning of our wedding ceremony,” Jessica says, “I used to be simply going alongside on this unimaginable journey, like an out of physique expertise.”
She and the ladies lounged across the non-public pool at Jessica’s villa, sampling a brunch of fruit, omelets, bagels, and mimosas. By the point they settled onto therapeutic massage tables at Crimson Lane Spa, the boys had discovered their very own technique to chill out.
“We performed volleyball within the pool all afternoon,” Tyler says. “Greatest day ever.”
An hour earlier than the ceremony, they went again to their suites, modified garments, and transitioned from the very best day ever into the very best night ever. Down on the ocean, within the open air of that hard-to-believe chapel, the violinist serenaded Jessica to the altar within the mushy gentle of the late-day Caribbean solar. The bride paused for a second on the runway.
Photographed by Haven Images
“I wished to cease and take photos,” Jessica says. “The employees instructed me every part could be excellent, however once I noticed it for myself, I used to be in awe.”
After the pronouncement of “man and spouse,” the celebration moved from vows within the chapel to cocktails on the dock to dancing underneath the celebs after which over to the Jamaican hillside. Nobody needed to catch a journey dwelling or relieve a babysitter. As a substitute of beginning at 5 p.m. and ending at 10 p.m., this carefree celebration started mid-week and continued past the Friday “I do’s,” to a catamaran cruise and a daytrip to Dunns River Falls.
“It’s the best way a marriage needs to be,” Jessica says, “and never as unattainable as we first thought.”
Photographed by Haven Images
The Dream Is Nearer to Actuality Than You Suppose
On that first Sandals escape, at La Toc in St. Lucia, Jessica and Tyler by no means imagined they’d be having this dialog about their vacation spot wedding ceremony in Jamaica or the babymoon they took lower than a 12 months later to Beaches Turks and Caicos. It has all turn into so actual that they’re speaking a couple of birthday celebration for his or her son, Holden, at Seashores, and a romantic five-year anniversary journey at one of many 18 Sandals Resorts across the Caribbean.
“After we inform our buddies, they ask us how this all occurred,” Jessica says. “We marvel the identical factor. We didn’t count on it, however after we look again all of it appears … logical. We’re all the time instructed to pursue our desires, proper? It seems, our desires had been inside attain all alongside.”
Photographed by Haven Images
