Photographed by Haven Pictures
Jessica and Tyler thought it was unrealistic to have a vacation spot wedding ceremony at Sandals, however it seems the dream was nicely inside attain all alongside.
The journey to Sandals La Toc in April 2022 was speculated to be a singular spring break escape for Jessica and Tyler. One journey. One montage of reminiscences. There can be walks on a moonlit Caribbean seashore, naps within the shade of pool cabanas, and gourmand meals each time and wherever they happy.
There would even be a photograph shoot.
“The photograph shoot is the place all the things took a flip,” says Jessica, starting to elucidate how one second throughout this one St. Lucia trip ignited a collection of unexpected milestone celebrations: a destination wedding, a babymoon, and visions of future anniversaries at Sandals and birthdays at Beaches.
Photographed by Haven Pictures
It began with that photograph shoot at Sandals La Toc, the place Jessica adopted the lead of the pictures group right into a tropical backyard, to a view of a sandy cove, and all the way down to the seashore. 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 concept I used to be about to suggest,” he says.
The surprises had been simply starting to unfold. When one group member after one other advised Jessica and Tyler they need to get married at Sandals, the 2 of them politely smiled and thought to themselves, “Solely in our goals.”
The Actuality of a Sandals Wedding
And so, Jessica and Tyler flew house to Staten Island and commenced to plan their wedding ceremony … on Lengthy Island. It gave the impression to be probably the most sensible gathering spot for company 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 house,” Jessica says.
Or did they? The fact 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 resort rooms, we lastly mentioned, ‘Let’s simply get away.’ As an alternative of stressing over an costly four-hour occasion that goes by within the blink of a watch, we might 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 goals a couple of weeks earlier. Maybe it wouldn’t be so unrealistic in any case. There can be no prices for every week of meals. No prices for drinks. No prices for actions. And no prices for the white-sand seashore or for the spectacular ocean.
After which Jessica got here to an image she couldn’t imagine. She advised Tyler to have a look.
“A chapel on the ocean. My dream venue.”
Photographed by Haven Pictures
A Celebration Not like Any Different
Each time Jessica spoke to her Sandals wedding ceremony planner, she’d hear the identical reassuring phrase, “No drawback, Jessica. We obtained this.” However they had been 1,500 miles away.
“Jessica is the sort who makes use of hand sanitizer each time she touches something,” Tyler says. “You’re taking your sneakers off on the door and preserve your house organized. She’s very detailed. A wedding ceremony out of her management might have been actually anxious.”
Photographed by Haven Pictures
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 deal with it,” the group 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 needed our wedding ceremony to be private,” she says, “and never one in all a thousand cookie-cutter weddings.”
Seems, their wedding ceremony can be one in one million.
Photographed by Haven Pictures
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 unbelievable trip, 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 option to calm down.
“We performed volleyball within the pool all afternoon,” Tyler says. “Finest day ever.”
An hour earlier than the ceremony, they went again to their suites, modified garments, and transitioned from the most effective day ever into the most effective 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 gentle mild of the late-day Caribbean solar. The bride paused for a second on the runway.
Photographed by Haven Pictures
“I needed to cease and take photos,” Jessica says. “The employees advised me all the things can 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 below the celebs after which over to the Jamaican hillside. Nobody needed to catch a trip house or relieve a babysitter. As an alternative 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 way in which a marriage ought to be,” Jessica says, “and never as unattainable as we first thought.”
Photographed by Haven Pictures
The Dream Is Nearer to Actuality Than You Assume
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 grow to be 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 mates, they ask us how this all occurred,” Jessica says. “We surprise the identical factor. We didn’t anticipate it, however after we look again all of it appears … logical. We’re all the time advised to pursue our goals, proper? It seems, our goals had been inside attain all alongside.”
Photographed by Haven Pictures
