A One In A Million Wedding

Jessica and Tyler thought it was unrealistic to have a destination wedding at Sandals, but it turns out the dream was well within reach all along.

The trip to Sandals La Toc in April 2022 was supposed to be a singular spring break escape for Jessica and Tyler. One trip. One montage of memories. There would be walks on a moonlit Caribbean beach, naps in the shade of pool cabanas, and gourmet foods whenever and wherever they pleased.
There would also be a photo shoot.

“The photo shoot is where everything took a turn,” says Jessica, beginning to explain how one moment during this one St. Lucia vacation ignited a series of unforeseen milestone celebrations: a destination wedding, a babymoon, and visions of future anniversaries at Sandals and birthdays at Beaches.

It started with that photo shoot at Sandals La Toc, where Jessica followed the lead of the photography team into a tropical garden, to a view of a sandy cove, and down to the beach. Tyler played along when they came across a heart etched in the sand.
“Another couple must have left this behind,” the photographer said. He asked
Jessica to stand inside the heart and turn around while Tyler dropped to a knee.
“She had no idea I was about to propose,” he says.


The surprises were just beginning to unfold. When one team member after another told Jessica and Tyler they should get married at Sandals, the two of them politely smiled and thought to themselves, “Only in our dreams.”

The Reality of a Sandals Wedding

And so, Jessica and Tyler flew home to Staten Island and began to plan their wedding … on Long Island. It seemed to be the most practical gathering spot for guests from New York and California. Jessica agreed, although she’d always fantasized about a wedding on an island somewhere, with tropical flowers and, most vivid of all, an elegant chapel overlooking the ocean.

“We both understood the costs for a destination wedding compared to a wedding closer to home,” Jessica says.
Or did they? The reality was about to set in.

“We were pricing a Long Island wedding and it became exorbitant,” Tyler says. “Every detail added up fast.”

A DJ for $3,000. A photographer for $5,000. A videographer. Flowers. A food truck. Transportation. An open bar with an endless tab. And oh yes, a venue.

“Even dessert was a separate line item,” Tyler says. “By the time we looked at hotel rooms, we finally said, ‘Let’s just get away.’ Instead of stressing over an expensive four-hour event that goes by in the blink of an eye, we could have a wedding that’s a weeklong Caribbean vacation for everyone.”


Within a few minutes of re-setting her research to “island destination weddings,” Jessica came across Sandals, the place they’d left in their dreams a few weeks earlier. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so unrealistic after all. There would be no costs for a week of food. No costs for drinks. No costs for activities. And no costs for the white-sand beach or for the spectacular ocean.
And then Jessica came to a picture she couldn’t believe. She told Tyler to take a look.
“A chapel on the ocean. My dream venue.”

A Celebration Unlike Any Other

Whenever Jessica spoke to her Sandals wedding planner, she’d hear the same reassuring phrase, “No problem, Jessica. We got this.” But they were 1,500 miles away.
“Jessica is the type who uses hand sanitizer whenever she touches anything,” Tyler says. “You take your shoes off at the door and keep your space organized. She’s very detailed. A wedding out of her control could have been really stressful.”

The two of them arrived at Sandals Ochi four days before the wedding. Jessica brought a specific flower to be placed in a certain spot, a welcome sign, and special fans to be positioned perfectly on chairs in the chapel.
“We will take care of it,” the team said.
In Jessica’s mind, the “dream destination” part of the wedding was a done deal. But another part of it remained to be seen.
“I wanted our wedding to be personal,” she says, “and not one of a thousand cookie-cutter weddings.”
Turns out, their wedding would be one in a million.

An Out of Body Experience

One year earlier, none of this seemed reasonable. Not a wedding on a Caribbean island. Not an overwater chapel. And definitely not a completely relaxed bride.

“By the morning of our wedding,” Jessica says, “I was just going along on this incredible ride, like an out of body experience.”

She and the girls lounged around the private pool at Jessica’s villa, sampling a brunch of fruit, omelets, bagels, and mimosas. By the time they settled onto massage tables at Red Lane Spa, the boys had found their own way to relax.

“We played volleyball in the pool all afternoon,” Tyler says. “Best day ever.”
An hour before the ceremony, they went back to their suites, changed clothes, and transitioned from the best day ever into the best evening ever. Down at the ocean, in the open air of that hard-to-believe chapel, the violinist serenaded Jessica to the altar in the soft light of the late-day Caribbean sun. The bride paused for a moment on the runway.

“I wanted to stop and take pictures,” Jessica says. “The staff told me everything would be perfect, but when I saw it for myself, I was in awe.”
After the pronouncement of “man and wife,” the celebration moved from vows in the chapel to cocktails on the dock to dancing under the stars and then over to the Jamaican hillside. No one had to catch a ride home or relieve a babysitter. Instead of starting at 5 p.m. and ending at 10 p.m., this carefree celebration began mid-week and continued beyond the Friday “I do’s,” to a catamaran cruise and a daytrip to Dunns River Falls.

“It’s the way a wedding should be,” Jessica says, “and not as unattainable as we first thought.”

The Dream Is Closer to Reality Than You Think

On that first Sandals escape, at La Toc in St. Lucia, Jessica and Tyler never imagined they’d be having this conversation about their destination wedding in Jamaica or the babymoon they took less than a year later to Beaches Turks and Caicos. It has all become so real that they’re talking about a birthday celebration for their son, Holden, at Beaches, and a romantic five-year anniversary trip at one of the 18 Sandals Resorts around the Caribbean.
“When we tell our friends, they ask us how this all happened,” Jessica says. “We wonder the same thing. We didn’t expect it, but when we look back it all seems … logical. We’re always told to pursue our dreams, right? It turns out, our dreams were within reach all along.”

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