Real Destination Wedding: Jessica & Tyler in Negril, Jamaica!

Even though I am based near Kansas City, I typically work with couples all over the world. It was a treat when Jessica & Tyler made a wedding planning appointment with me — they are local!  As we got to know each other, we realized that we also share a mutual love of travel, exploring new places and weird/interesting foods, including hot sauces. Haha!

As a couple, Jessica described them as “polar opposites, to put it lightly.”  Jessica explained that she is incredibly outgoing and extroverted, while Tyler is more of a “extroverted introvert”. Ha!  They didn’t want a lot of muss & fuss, they really just wanted to celebrate their (at that point) 11 year relationship. It was also important that they honor their existing anniversary, which was Halloween.

When we met, Jessica and Tyler had just been to Negril previously and fell in love with the laid-back attitude and beautiful sunsets.  After all, Seven Mile Beach in Negril is one of the most famous beaches in the world.  They were open to exploring other locations.  To compare choices, we discussed destination weddings in Mexico and the Dominican republic.  At the of the day, their hearts kept leading them back to Negril.

What happened next? You guessed it – COVID!

After a lot of soul searching, Jessica and Tyler made the difficult decision to postpone their wedding. A Halloween 2020 wedding became a Halloween weekend 2021 wedding.  A core group of this couple’s nearest and dearest made the journey to Jamaica in late October. Here’s what Tyler and Jessica had to say:

DESTINATION WEDDING q&a WITH jessica & TYler

1. What were your biggest fears when planning a destination wedding?  Our main concern was asking everyone we invited to spend so much money to attend our wedding.
   Is there anything about the actual destination wedding experience that surprised you? The Caribbean is fairly casual, and works on “island time.” I didn’t expect the actual wedding planning to be so close to the wedding date itself. This didn’t bother me at all as our wedding was fairly laid back.
2. What is your favorite memory of your destination wedding? My husband and I love Negril, Jamaica, and honestly our favorite part was sharing the culture and beauty of the country with our friends and family. I would say overall the time we got to spend with our family and friends as a whole during the trip.
3. Did you splurge on anything travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it? We typically get basic rooms when we travel since we don’t really spend any time in them. This trip we upgraded our room to an oceanfront suite, and it was absolutely worth every penny
4. Did you attempt to *save* on anything  travel or wedding related? If so, what was it and was it worth it? We didn’t really try to save on anything. We decided that since it was for our wedding, we were going to go, see and do the most that we could as comfortably as we could.
5. If you could change anything with your wedding (planning, the day itself, the location, resort, ANYTHING) – what would you change? Nothing at all. My husband and I are fairly laid back, and wanted our wedding to be the same. So we made sure it was.
6. Now that you’ve been through it, what is your #1 best piece of advice for wedding couples entering the planning process? USE A TRAVEL AGENT! And if you do use one, use Ashley!
7. What kind of feedback did you get from your guests? Our guests loved having a vacation in such a beautiful place, on top of getting to attend our wedding 😉 They all loved exploring a new and beautiful place.
8. In what ways did Alpaca Your Bags Travel make this less stressful for you? Allllll of the ways you can imagine!! Our guests asked a lot of questions to myself and my husband, and we would always direct them to reach out to Alpaca if we didn’t have the answer. Ashley was always prompt, and full of information. Ashley and I have a similar demeanor, and that also kept it a lot less stressful for us.

• Travel Advisor: Alpaca Your Bags Travel
• Photographer: Riu Palace Tropical Bay
• Resort: Riu Palace Tropical Bay

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