How to Plan a Sandals Destination Wedding: The Complete Guide

A Sandals destination wedding covers more ground than most couples expect — from an intimate elopement for two to a full multi-day celebration with 70+ guests. The right path depends on your guest list, your budget, and how far out you're planning. Here's how it actually works, what's legally required, and how to choose the resort and package that fit your wedding. If you haven't popped the question yet, Sandals' proposal packages cover that moment first.

How a Sandals Destination Wedding Works

Every Sandals wedding runs through the same on-site wedding program, Aisle to Isle Weddings, at each resort. That team handles ceremony coordination, an officiant, and photography as part of every package, so you're not hiring outside vendors or arranging a separate venue. From there, the difference between the four package tiers comes down to guest count and how much ceremony and reception you want built in — from an intimate two-person elopement up to a 70-room celebration. There's no complimentary wedding package; every tier has a real starting price.

Comparing the Four Sandals Wedding Package Tiers

Pricing and inclusions shift periodically, and each package carries its own room-count and stay-length requirements.

Legal Requirements for Getting Married in the Caribbean as a U.S. Couple

Every Sandals wedding requires proof of identity for both partners and proof that you're both legally free to marry, plus additional documentation if either of you was previously married or widowed — exactly which document that means depends on the island and your specific situation, so we're not naming one here. Because these requirements are set by each island's own marriage law rather than by Sandals, they vary meaningfully by destination and change over time.

One requirement is consistent across the portfolio: none of Jamaica, Antigua, the Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Barbados, or Curaçao require blood work or a medical test to marry — one thing you don't need to plan around, unlike some other international wedding destinations.

Residency and notice periods — how long you need to be on the island before the ceremony can legally take place — vary just as much:

• •Jamaica: 24 hours
• •Saint Lucia: 48 hours, with a same-day express option available
• •Antigua: 48 hours, including one business day
• •Barbados: 72 hours
• •Grenada: 72 hours, with a 48-hour express option available for an extra fee

We couldn't confirm a figure for Sandals Royal Curaçao or Sandals Saint Vincent — rather than estimate, confirm the current requirement for either directly with Sandals before you set a ceremony date.

Per Sandals' document upload requirements, all of your paperwork needs to be submitted at least 60 days before your arrival date — Sandals states it can't perform the ceremony without it, so this is the deadline to build your planning timeline around, regardless of which island you're marrying on. See Sandals' document upload requirements for the current submission process.

A legal ceremony is the legally binding one, requiring the documentation described above; a symbolic ceremony isn't legally binding and, per Sandals' Weddings FAQ, is offered only at Sandals Royal Curaçao. Marriage license and administrative fees for a legal ceremony are charged separately, on top of your wedding package price, not instead of it: Jamaica $250, Saint Lucia $395, Antigua $503, Barbados $444, Grenada $535, Bahamas $555, and Curaçao $749 (Curaçao's symbolic-ceremony fee is $400 instead). These aren't paid to a local government office — Sandals' Wedding Concierge collects them by invoice as part of your planning process.

A wedding booking actually carries two separate cancellation structures, and their deadlines don't line up. Your resort stay follows Sandals' general cancellation schedule — see our full breakdown of Sandals' cancellation policy for how that one works. Per Sandals' wedding terms, the ceremony, services, and supplier items follow their own separate schedule instead: a full refund requires cancelling 45+ days before arrival, cancellations 44-31 days out get 50% back, and anything inside 30 days is non-refundable. Regardless of timing, certain items are always non-refundable — the $250 wedding deposit, administrative fees, custom items from external event suppliers, and floral purchases canceled inside 45 days of arrival.

Because these requirements are set by individual island governments, and Sandals' own document deadlines can also change, treat this section as a starting point rather than a final checklist. Sandals' wedding coordinator confirms the exact, current documentation and timing required for your specific resort and travel dates once you book — see Sandals' Weddings FAQ for the latest general guidance, or ask a Sandals Elite Advisor to confirm specifics before you lock in a date.

How Far Ahead to Book a Sandals Wedding

Planning timeline scales with guest count more than almost anything else. A Bliss or Epic package built around a group of 20-140 guests benefits from booking 9-12+ months out — that's the lead time needed to secure a large room block at your preferred resort, lock in a ceremony time before other couples take it, and give your guests enough notice to book their own travel. A Sweetheart or Two Lovebirds package, with far fewer moving pieces, can often be booked comfortably within 4-6 months.

Two Lovebirds, the smallest package, has the least logistics of all — just the two of you, no guest room block to coordinate — but it's still worth booking several months ahead rather than last-minute, both to lock in your preferred ceremony date and time slot and to leave enough runway for any legal documentation with a longer lead time.

Elopement vs. a Full Guest Celebration: Which Fits Your Trip

The real decision most couples are making isn't which of the four package tiers to pick — it's whether they want an intimate, guest-free ceremony or a celebration built around family and friends. Two Lovebirds is the elopement route, from $1,300: a legal beach ceremony, officiant, flowers, cake, and a photoshoot, with no guest list to manage and no reception to plan. Our Sandals honeymoon packages guide covers what's included in the separate, complimentary honeymoon stay that naturally follows a wedding.

The other three packages exist for couples who want people there. Sweetheart keeps things small and intimate — up to 10 close family and friends, a private cocktail reception — while Bliss and Epic are built for couples hosting a real wedding party, with reception space, group dining, and room-block pricing that rewards a larger travel party. If you're still weighing which package tier makes sense for your guest count and budget, current pricing and full inclusions for all four packages are the best place to compare them side by side.

What a Sandals Wedding Specialist Actually Does

Every Sandals resort has its own on-site wedding team, running the Aisle to Isle Weddings program, that handles the parts you'd otherwise need outside vendors for: the officiant, ceremony logistics, decor, and photography are coordinated directly by that team as part of your package. A Sandals Elite Advisor works alongside that on-site team from the booking side — confirming which package fits your guest count, coordinating room blocks so your wedding party books under one reservation, and securing preferred ceremony time slots before they're released to the general public — at no additional cost beyond what you'd pay booking directly. My role, as a certified Sandals Elite Advisor, is matching couples with the right package and resort and handling that booking coordination — the ceremony itself stays with Sandals' on-site wedding team throughout.

Choosing a Resort for a Wedding vs. a Regular Vacation

One constraint shapes this choice before anything else: you must hold your ceremony at the resort where you're staying. The only portfolio exception is the Frank Warren Chapel at Sandals Montego Bay, available to guests staying at Sandals Caribbean Cay once Montego Bay reopens — it's currently closed for renovation, with bookings open now for stays starting December 18, 2026.

A resort that's perfect for a couples' getaway isn't automatically the right pick once you're hosting guests. For a full guest celebration, prioritize room count and dedicated event space: Sandals Grande St. Lucian has a dedicated overwater wedding chapel seating 40 guests, and resorts that share exchange privileges with sister properties — like the St. Lucia and Ocho Rios trios — give a larger guest list more restaurants and room categories to spread across. Sandals Royal Barbados' rooftop is one of the most scenic wedding venues in the Eastern Caribbean, backed by 20 combined restaurants once you factor in its sister resort next door.

For an intimate Two Lovebirds elopement, the calculus flips — a smaller, quieter resort with strong beach quality matters more than event capacity. Sandals Grenada, our top overall honeymoon pick, works well here for the same reasons it suits honeymooners: no guest logistics to manage, just a beautiful ceremony backdrop.

Frequently Asked Questions