A Wedding Too Easy (and Too Perfect) to Believe

It’s challenging for Larry to explain the day he married Tara along the Caribbean Sea at Beaches Ocho Rios. He reluctantly describes sleeping in that morning, going down to the beach and swimming for an hour or two — maybe longer.
“I can’t remember exactly how long I was in the water,” Larry says, “because I didn’t pay attention to the time.”

Hmm, he didn’t pay attention to the time on his wedding day? Larry turns almost sheepish when he admits that he “just hung out in a friend’s room” after his long swim and a lazy lunch in his swimsuit. Even Tara sounds cautious when she echoes Larry.

“Most brides start getting ready first thing in the morning,” she says, “so they don’t understand when I tell them that I didn’t think much about getting ready until afternoon. I was so at-ease that I kept wondering to myself, ‘Should I feel this way? Where’s the stress?’”

Larry finally says with bluntness, “It felt … wrong. Like, we should be running around and feeling like we don’t have enough time. That’s what we’ve always heard about weddings. You plan. You hurry. And before you know it, it’s over. Our wedding was nothing like that. It wasn’t a celebration for us. It was a celebration with us. We had everyone in this beautiful location, enjoying every second of the week.”

The two of them pause, hoping anyone listening understands what they’re trying to say. Then Tara makes it a little easier. “Our wedding was nothing like the local event we anticipated ten months earlier.”

An Affordable Caribbean Wedding? This I Have to See.

Understand that Tara and Larry are not the “let’s just wing it” types. They’re organized. They strategize every decision. It took four attempts before Larry finally convinced Tara to go out with him the first time.

“I didn’t think it would be a good idea to date someone I work with,” Tara says.
That first date turned into a four-year relationship, during which time they planned the timelines of their careers before Larry could propose. But even two detail-oriented professionals could not prepare themselves for the surprises they were about to encounter during the first steps of wedding planning.

“The prices for anything wedding-related were insane,” Tara says. A nice venue around their hometown of Kalamazoo, Michigan, would be a minimum of $8,000. Food and an open bar would add up to $20,000. Their heads were full before they even talked with a florist, a baker, a photographer, a DJ, or any other “must-have” specialists.

“We were making so many phone calls and feeling pressure from vendors to hurry up and make down payments,” Larry says. “After a few weeks, we needed to get away.”

In a rare moment of impulsiveness, they escaped to Sandals Halcyon in St. Lucia. For four days they immersed themselves in beach walks, late meals, and Caribbean sunsets. They vacated their minds of any thoughts about a wedding … until the day before their return home. Late that afternoon Tara and Larry accidentally walked upon a scene that now seems like fate.

“We saw a wedding in progress,” Tara says. “Seeing it in person, even from a distance, made a different impact than seeing a photo or an edited video. The couple was in this amazing venue along the beach. The guests were having a great time. And the Sandals wedding team made everything effortless. It looked intimate, fun, and perfect — a true wedding celebration.”

Back in Kalamazoo, Tara and Larry agreed that they wanted what they’d seen: A stress-free Caribbean wedding. They would do it in Jamaica to make the travel more affordable for guests and the wedding less costly for themselves. They’d choose a Sandals-affiliated family resort, Beaches, so Tara’s young cousins could attend.

Then they canceled all phone calls with the local vendors and made a single call to a wedding concierge at Beaches Ocho Rios.

“Finding exactly what we wanted wasn’t at all overwhelming,” Tara says. “It was easy.” Following the call, they began to relish the anticipation of a weeklong wedding celebration in the Caribbean — and the fact it would cost less than half the price of a one-evening wedding event in Kalamazoo.
“It felt so good to be free of the pressure,” Larry says, “and instead be excited for our wedding.”

Where the Words “Relaxing” and “Wedding Day” Co-Exist

Tara did have two concerns before departing for Jamaica. The first was how she’d safely transport a wedding dress on a plane. Tips from Facebook groups put that concern to rest. Her other uncertainty had to do with being married at a resort she and Larry had never seen in person.

“When we arrived at Beaches Ocho Rios, we just walked around in awe of the landscaping, the color of the ocean, and the views,” Tara says. “Then we walked to the spot where the beach ceremony would be and thought … wow. This is unreal.” A positive mood filled the entire property, a reflection of Jamaica’s nature and people. In fact, Tara and Larry’s wedding planner on site did something that would not happen before a traditional wedding back home.
“She asked questions, listened to us, and then she let us make some adjustments,” Larry says.

“We added sparklers and fire dancers and moved the reception to a more convenient venue. There’s no way we could do anything like that if we’d planned a wedding in Michigan. But at Beaches, she said, ‘No problem, we’ll take care of this and it will be amazing. You go enjoy yourselves.’”
And that’s exactly what Tara and Larry did.

They enjoyed a catamaran cruise with 20 of their guests. They walked up Dunn’s River Falls. They snorkeled in the sea and ate whenever they felt like it. And on their wedding day, they did what so many almost-married couples can’t think of doing: they relaxed and savored every moment — Larry in the ocean and Tara in Red Lane Spa. The vibe flowed into the ceremony as naturally as the gentle sea breeze, from the “I do’s” to the cocktail hour and into the reception.
“The resort staff added to the fun,” Larry says. “They even danced with us.”

At one point during the celebration, Tara looked up to see someone in the distance looking back at her the way she watched that pivotal wedding in St. Lucia. Except this “someone” was a little girl, lost in what must have appeared to be a fairytale. A few minutes later, the girl worked up the nerve to approach Tara and share from her heart: “Excuse me, but you look like a happy princess.”
Tara will never forget it. The girl was right. Tara felt like the happiest princess ever. And someday that girl will be a happy princess, too. Maybe she’ll even wear her wedding crown in the same place where she witnessed the wedding and the bride of her dreams.

“When you see it happening,” Tara says, “you can believe it. And there’s nothing more exciting than that.”