Wow! I'm so glad I asked you guys. These are excellent ideas. I had no idea.
Lin, what cruise line did you use?
we took the Princess cruise line. It is the more elegant line. Royal Carribean is the fun cruise line. we didn't know what day we were getting married since we had to go with the day that the ship docked in St. Thomas. And it had to be at 10 am since we weren't staying overnight on the island. a sunset wedding would have been nice. If you want one of those you could always fly down there and do one of those all inclusive stays on the island. St. Thomas is a beautiful place. When you cruise, you have about 6 hours to do all the touring of the islands you land on.
the cruise line may also offer weddings on the ship. I know a few people got married on the ship while we were on it. I personally liked the beach wedding on the island better. There are a ton of wedding planning site for the caribbean. Weddings the island way does the eastern caribbean....l
ooks like the sandals website handles the western caribbean, which looks gorgeous too. it just depends on the area you want to go to and how much extra paperwork is needed for the western caribbean side. St. Cruz, St. Lucia and those places will require a passport and some extra kind of paperwork since it would be an out of country wedding. if you go that direction, start planning NOW since that will take a waiting period. And if you go to the USVI, start planning at least a month ahead of time since there is a 30 day period you have to have them file your paperwork ahead of the wedding date.
Look into an all-inclusive week or so on the island. A travel agent can probably get you a great deal. Late April and early May is the end of their tourist season, so it's not so busy there and they make great deals that time of year. there is a gorgeous hotel right on the beach overlooking the bay on St. Thomas. There are a lot of pretty beach side restaurants and shops too. Plus, it's a US territory...no need for a passport.
What I really liked about weddings the island way was that they took care of all the paperwork and the wedding prep.