Vusala & Gurban’s gorgeous, colorful destination wedding took place at the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I love the combination of orange and pink! The beautiful photography was done by Kristina Hill Photography.

Vusala was kind enough to share the details of her wedding day as well as tips for those planning a destination wedding.

From the very beginning we wanted to have something unusual, informal and original. The idea to have about 200 guests, being all formal and organizing this whole thing just seemed to be scary. Plus, I’m in love with photography and destination wedding pictures always seemed to be so beautiful and out of this world. And we decided, why not!? We both are originally from Azerbaijan, the country where everyone is having traditional weddings in a big restaurants and crazy amount of guests and relatives. So here we were deciding to take our chances and be different and make this day about us, and not the crowd of people

A big difficulty we faced was communicating with resorts trying to find out wedding plans, locations and all that stuff. It’s really hard and extremely unbelievably stressful to organize and get answers when you are not there and can’t really see the actual picture. We were expecting it to be much smoother and stress-free( just the way all wedding magazines describe wedding destinations!)

I would say that Our favorite wedding memory would be the fact when we decided to trash the dress the day of the wedding and finish the photo shoot with jumping into the water in the wedding dress and suit. It was great feeling of happiness and excitement when we came out from the water and the whole beach of strangers were clapping for us, coming up to us, sharing in our happiness, and congratulating us.
One of the locals, a teenage girl came up to us and told us that she wants to be just like us when she grows up. It was extremely sweet. Random people were genuinely happy for us.

My favorite detail was my dress I had it custom made because of an image I had in mind to take. I kept seeing shots of brides sitting down with their dress flowing all around them. I knew it was a memory I wanted!

Some advice I have for brides planning a destination wedding is that If you have a chance, try to visit the location before the wedding. Go there for a vacation to check things out, to plan, to speak face-to-face with wedding coordinators.
You should keep in mind that besides rain, it might get really windy on a beach location. Consider all of those things.
Definitely if you want to have a live music, don’t choose a saxophonist. Hooked up ipod worked perfectly though.
Oh and yes, make sure check out your wedding cake the day of the wedding. They have several weddings per day every day and things can happen (like confusing your cake with some other wedding party

You always have to be on top of your wedding coordinator to make sure that everything is being done as promised (we had the wrong cake! It didn’t match anything and was not what I ordered. We cut it and I didn’t say anything, because I was just having fun. Then they brought us the real cake at the end of the night and we had a cake cutting do over!!!)

MAKE SURE you spend enough time choosing your photographer. Pictures are everything for this type of weddings. And Kristina Hill simply did a wonderful job!

Also, if the wedding video means a lot to you, then don’t trust video guy from the resort. It’s a waste of money.

In conclusion, people are very friendly and pleasant, it was definitely memorable and unique experience!:)

Venue/Cake/Catering/Flowers/Hair – Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton Resort & Spa
Photography: Kristina Hill Photography
Make Up – Bride’s Mother
Hairpiece – USABride Weddings
Dress- Lace & Satin
Shoes – Badgley Mischka
Rings- My rings were custom made by Ariel, name of the company was “Fine Laser Cut Inc.”, Gurban’s ring we got from Zales
Pillow for rings- Etsy Shop: creativebridal
Cake topper & cutters: Wedding Mountain
The andle next to the cake – I Do Originals
The sand ceremony set – Amazon.com
Wedding favors, silk fans: Beau Coup

Thanks to Vusala for the details and tips and to Kristina Hill Photography for submitting this beautiful wedding.

Related posts:

1. Huatulco, Mexico Destination Wedding – Susan & Kirk
2. Destination Wedding in St. Petersburg, Florida – Chelsea & Casey
3. Uluwatu, Bali, Indonesia Destination Wedding – Natalie & Claudio

Looking through these images, I just want to pack my bags and head south to Jamaica! Jessica & Christiaan are from New York City, and had a destination wedding at Rockhouse in Negril, Jamaica was shared with us by the amazing Steve Koo out of Chicago, Illinois. The photographs are gorgeous and capture not only the beauty of the couple, but of the surroundings as well!

From Steve’s email to me: Jessica and Christiaan have some amazing friends and family – while most destination weddings are relatively small, 86 people made their way down from all over the US to attend their wedding. They had a beautiful ceremony and reception set against the cliffs of Negril on the edge of the island. They wanted their wedding to feel fresh, clean, and fun, and I think they did a fantastic job pulling it off!

Jessica shared with us the story of her & Christiaan’s love, their wedding, and more!

When we first met: We met Junior year of college at Indiana University. We knew each other’s friends but didn’t know each other. We were finally introduced at my best friend’s 21st birthday party and 8 years later she was actually the one who officiated the ceremony!

The Proposal: He actually proposed at the Rockhouse back in Oct 2008- It was our first night there and we just finished dinner. He suggested we go on a walk so we could check out the rest of the property and while standing out on one of the cliffs overlooking the ocean he got down on one knee and proposed. After we had our little moment, he tried to rush me back to the room so we could call our friends and family… there was only one problem – I couldnt move because I was frozen in shock!

Why have a destination wedding? We fell in love with the Rockhouse while we were there the first time. Ironically there was a wedding going on while we were there, so we got to see all the behind the scenes action! When we got back to the states and started looking at different venues, we just couldnt get the Rockhouse out of our heads. We realized that no matter where we looked it would always be compared to the Rockhouse- so we decided just to do it!

Why did you choose your destination? The Rockhouse is such a meaningful place to us and we just thought it
would be so wonderful to share this special place with our closest friends and family.

The most memorable moment of the wedding day: Probably the moment when everyone was lined up to walk down the aisle. The music started playing and we both looked at each other and realized this was actually happening!

Your favorite detail of your wedding day? The beautiful natural backdrop of the sky, cliffs, and ocean- it just looked like a scene out of a movie!

The best part of having a destination wedding: Most weddings last 5-6 hours and its over. This was a weekend (or even a week for some) long event. Being that our families and friends are scattered across the country it was so wonderful to see everyone bonding and having fun together. When else in your life do you get to go on vacation with all your friends and family?!!?

[Ed. note: I think that may be my favorite scene-setting reception photograph ever. Gorgeous!]

The honeymoon afterwards: We “mini-mooned” at a hotel called Moon Dance Cliffs for a few nights to get away from it all before heading back to NYC. We are planning a small Honeymoon in December to have that true “honeymoon experience”

A shout-out to all the awesome vendors that made this wedding happen!
Ceremony & Reception Venue, Cake & Caterer: Rockhouse in Negril, Jamaica
Photography: Steve Koo
Florist: Floral Fantasies Jamaica
Bride’s Dress: Amarildine
Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Melissa Sweet
Groom’s Attire: Theory
Groomsmen’s Attire: J. Crew
Stationary: Wiley Valentine
Makeup Artist & Hairstylist: Erin Hunt
Bracelet: Tejani Bridal Jewelry
Shoes: Alexander Mcqueen

Related posts:

1. Lea & Brian’s Costa Rica Destination Wedding
2. Getting Maui’d!
3. DIY Pom Poms for Destination Wedding Reception Decorations!