Secrets Maroma Beach Destination Wedding: Bridget & Maria

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

When I first connected with Bridget and Maria, I could immediately feel their excitement and love for adventure. These two met in college at the University of Dayton and have been together for over 12 wonderful years. They got engaged in November 2022 during a magical trip to Hawaii (how dreamy is that?), and now they’re ready to embark on the next chapter of their love story.

Bridget and Maria currently live in Chicago, IL, and were considering their options for their big day. After brainstorming ideas for a wedding in Chicago, they realized that a “traditional” wedding just wasn’t their vibe. They both share a passion for travel and wanted to explore the idea of celebrating their love in a more adventurous and meaningful way. That’s when the idea of a destination wedding was born!

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

When it comes to planning a destination wedding, the excitement of saying “I do” in a stunning location can sometimes be shadowed by fears and challenges. Bridget and Maria, a couple who celebrated their love with a destination wedding, shared their inspiring story with us—and we’re thrilled to highlight their journey!

Real Wedding Q&A with Bridget & Maria

What were your biggest fears when planning a destination wedding?

• One challenge we expected with planning a destination wedding was the difficulty of planning a wedding not only in another city, but in another country. Since we weren’t able to visit the resort beforehand, we really had to rely on our wedding planners to provide the best recommendations and ensure they were able to envision exactly what we wanted for our wedding.  Ashley and her team were wonderful with providing detailed pictures and videos so we could get an accurate description and vibe of each resort. They were extremely responsive and answered any and all questions we had. They also put us in touch with our onsite coordinator from the resort, so we were able to plan each detail with her.

Is there anything about the actual destination wedding experience that surprised you?

• We didn’t go into our wedding with many expectations, but we were absolutely blown away with how smoothly everything went. From all of the planning over the past year and a half and up to the day of our wedding, everything went perfectly! We would pick a destination wedding a million times over before choosing a traditional wedding. Everyone communicated very well and went above and beyond to ensure everything ran as smoothly as possible.

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

What is your favorite memory of your destination wedding?

• It’s so hard to choose a favorite memory- can we say everything?! 🙂

We’ve never held an event where so many of our friends and family from every stage of our lives have been in one place. Having them attend our wedding in general was incredible, but the fact that we were able to celebrate this trip with them before and after our wedding was something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. One of the things we loved the most was being able to have multiple days with our guests. We had always heard that your wedding flies by and it really does! So, it was so nice to have several days to spend and celebrate with our guests!

Did you splurge on anything travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it?

• We were debating whether we wanted the fire and water show during our wedding. We decided to add it, and it was 100% worth it. Many of our guests mentioned how wonderful it was, and that they had never seen anything like it at a wedding before. Highly recommend!

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

Did you attempt to *save* on anything travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it?

• We decided to use the resort’s set up for the reception (tables, guest’s chairs, silverware, glasses, etc.)- we thought it was worth saving a few hundred dollars here. We also used the flowers from the ceremony for our reception. We didn’t feel the need to buy double the flowers when we could simply repurpose the ones from our ceremony for our reception. 

If you could change anything with your wedding (planning, the day itself, the location, resort, ANYTHING) – what would you change?

• Nothing- everything was absolutely perfect!

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

What kind of feedback did you get from your guests?

• It’s been 6 weeks since our wedding and our guests are still mentioning how wonderful it was. Many of our guests have said it was the best wedding they’ve ever been to (even before their own!). We have received nothing but glowing reviews from our guests.

Now that you’ve been through it, what is your #1 best piece of advice for wedding couples entering the planning process?

• Take everything one step at a time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the planning that comes with having a wedding, but whether you have a planner/ plan everything on your own, just take everything one step at a time.

Also- don’t sweat the small stuff, enjoy the best day of your lives!

Photo Credit: Sweet Pea Images

In what ways did Alpaca Your Bags Travel make this less stressful for you?

• In every possible way 🙂 

We have been to many beautiful weddings, but none seemed to fit “us” when we envisioned a wedding of our own. After doing some research on our end and a 45 min consult with Ashley, we knew this exactly is what we wanted for our wedding. Thanks to Ashley and her team, she made our dream wedding a reality. Her organization, timeliness and knowledge of all of the resorts, travel requirements, etc. were second to none. We can’t thank the team enough for all of the hard work they put in to planning our perfect day! We couldn’t imagine having located the resort we selected, going through all the details the planning process, and attempting to get all our guests to an international destination without the Alpaca Your Bags Travel team!

Photographer: Sweet Pea Images

Travel Advisor: Alpaca Your Bags Travel 

Resort: Secrets Maroma Beach