Getting Married With Kids
Couples marrying abroad are opting to take the kids along by booking an all inclusive wedding and honeymoon package - for bride, groom and assorted offspring. There is now a raft of great options that will bring a smile to both the loved-up couple and the young ones.
It's always worth considering up the all-inclusive options with as it can be an unwelcome shock to get stung for a bill on top of all the holiday costs.
Sunpex Travel has some good deals with Almond Resorts, which is offering free packages to couples marrying or renewing their vows when they spend at least seven or 10 nights in a deluxe room or higher category, offers kids' clubs and a vast array of family activities and entertainments at four of its Caribbean properties.
Almond Casuarina Beach Resort, and the Almond Beach Club and Spa, both in Barbados; and the Almond Smugglers Cove, and Almond Morgan Bay, both in St Lucia. Kids' clubs are free as part of the all-inclusive package and offer four programmes, from newborns to 16 year olds.
UK sales and marketing director Peter Hopwood says: "Almond Resorts has been conducting weddings for more than 10 years, and has seen a consistent increase in the number of guests in our wedding parties, with average size growing from eight to 12 people. As well as UK couples realising that this is a cheaper option than a big wedding party in the UK, this is also partly due to the other trend that has emerged - the rise in the number of second marriages taking place at our hotels, with couples electing to bring their children along to share in their special day."
Sample Package:Seven nights at the all-inclusive Almond Resort in St Lucia for a price of £ 1,387 per adult and £569 per child, based on two adults sharing a deluxe garden view room. The price includes flights, luxury wedding package and transfers.
For latest prices & deals just complete our simple booking enquiry form.
Sunpex Travel has a cash back offer for Sandals Resort brand “Beaches” the wedding packages have inbuilt features that help make any offspring of the wedding couple feel totally included. The Sandals Sand ceremony, for example, sees couples symbolically mix two vases of different sand in a third, empty vase, and the children can help. A Beaches spokesman said:"Allowing the children to assist with pouring the sand should help them to feel a part of the ceremony, as well as being a metaphorical way of helping them to accept their new family." Other Beaches ceremonies that work well to bring two families together include the Unity Candle, where kids help light the wick, and the presentation of a flower from the couple to their new
stepchildren. When five rooms or more are booked at the same resort for a minimum of seven nights, a 'familymoon' package is thrown in. This includes benefits such as a private group rehearsal dinner, a welcome cocktail reception, ceremony location set -up, a two-tier Caribbean cake, a champagne and hors d'oeuvres wedding reception, musical accompaniment, preparation of wedding documents, a marriage officer, wedding co-ordinator, manicure and pedicure for the bride and massage for the groom, and complimentary room upgrade to concierge level (for the bride and groom only).
But if mingling sand and lighting candles doesn't float your kids boats, Big Bird and Elmo from Sesame Street just might. Beaches has various characters from the hit children's TV show hosting activities around their resorts. Older kids get to hang out at an Xbox 360 Lounge, while teenagers are entertained by the DJ Scratch Academy. And, for the ultimate “me time” clients can pay extra for a 24-hour professional nanny.
Just because the kids are in tow, why compromise on luxury? Some of the world's poshest hotels have wised up to the importance of giving the kids just as good a time as their parents while on holiday.
Mauritius, ironically once pigeonholed as a hideaway resort for honeymooners, has seen an upswing in family bookings, with five-star hotels laying on all sorts for children. The island's Movenpick Resort and Spa has won a clutch of awards for its family-friendliness, thanks to an excellent mini club for threes and over, a teens' activity programme, on-site pottery classes and a children's pool with slide.
The hotel also has special rooms for families, with a separate children's bedroom of 11 sq metres just off the main room, which is 55 sq metres, allowing plenty of space for everyone. The children's room has all the technical gadgets they could wish for, including the ubiquitous PlayStation. On the wedding day, restless kids can file off to their clubs while mum and dad have their pre-nuptial massage.
But the ultimate in keeping the kids happy has got to be Sunpex Travel wedding offering in Finnish Lapland. The three or four night stays, and couples can marry in a lantern-lit snow dome, having arrived through snow-laden forests by a sleigh pulled by reindeers or huskies. And what parent could resist booking a visit to see Santa while they are in this part of the world? Now that's got to bring a smile to the kids' faces.
Sample Package:Sunpex Travel offers seven nights at some four-star hotels in Turkey from £570 per adult, £290 for the first child, and £330 for the second child, based on two adults and two children sharing. Wedding packages at this child friendly resort cost from £655 and include all the administration, planning and certificates, plus the ceremony, location, flowers, wine and cake.
For latest prices & deals just complete our simple booking enquiry form.