Hello-

My fiance and I are planning on getting married this August, we stay at Royal Islander. There will probably be 20-30 people joining us, so I will need to find rooms, etc.

Does anyone know of a wedding planner that could help us assist in ensuring everything goes smooth.

good morning. i had my 25th wedding renewal of our vows in july. i spoke to many wedding planners and ended up with

Maressia Baily-Mohamed, Artemia Event Planners, Sint Maarten Mary –Me.

They went out of there way for my perfect ceremony on the beach. they didn't charge so much as the others and i probably got just as much if not the same. Asking around the others didn't have as great of a reputations as they did. I couldn't have been happier! Met them the morning before to go over all the details. One of the girls actually took my phone to video the ceremony for me. Wonderful company and people!!! Good luck

We had a friend get married in SXM, though they legitimately got married in the states afterwards. But as far as rooms, they rented several houses for all their guests. I think you could get some great rates for an August wedding. You could have the wedding at one of the houses you rent, possibly. Our friend's family would love to go back and re-do the event it was so much fun. Best of luck to you and your planning.

Many villa rental companies have rules prohibiting parties/weddings/etc. on their property. I'm not sure I understand exactly what the issues are, but I guess it has to do with damage from drunken guests, noise, etc. Before planning a wedding at a rental villa, you need to check with the company.

That is true, Carol. She was inquiring at all the houses she rented if they allowed marriage ceremonies there, and she got more than one "NO". But she did get married on the pool deck of one of the houses that did approve it. She hired catering company, photographers, and videographers. Family flown in from all over, it was quite the event.

I recently spent three weeks in a condo at Blue Marine in Maho, where all the units are individually owned. Several of them are available through VRBO. Blue Marine has a huge pool and lovely grounds. Whether or not a wedding would be allowed on the grounds, I don't know. However, this is the contact information for the manager of the C Building, who likely could answer your questions: Marianne Finney, [email]dreamhomesbymarianne@msn.com.[/email]

Hi,
My sons wedding was in 2011. We blocked rooms at the Flamingo thru Diamond Resorts for $99.00 per night. We had like 20 rooms. He did not use a wedding planner. Good luck on your upcoming wedding.

It was beautiful but so expensive for what he had. We did my daughters wedding in NY and had so much more for the money. The venue was on the water.

Happy Holidays Carol. To clarify, there are plenty of villas that will allow a wedding and special event. They are quite popular since they are the ideal destination wedding venue. Spacious, large, private and can handle up to 150 guests.
St Martin is becoming increasing popular as a destination wedding spot.
Personally, we have about 35 villas in Terres Basses that will allow an event.

Happy new year.
Rob

That's good to know, that there are a lot that do allow it. I know that there are some that do not allow it, so it is a good thing to make sure your villa rental agent, like you, knows that requirement up front.

My son and his wife were married in St.Maartin several years ago and used a wedding planner that was very helpful. Marry-me.com

I see this was posted a few weeks ago but ….My son recently got married in St Maarten. He got married at La Semanna on the French side. It was amazing! He had about 90 people so it was quite large for a destination wedding. The food was fabulous! The guests stayed at Simpson Bay resort and were bussed over to the wedding. It was too expensive to stay at La Semanna.

Intrresting. For some reason, I thought I remembered that the French side had some kind of laws that made it almost impossible for tourists to get married there. I wonder if they changed that?

There is a work around. Typically, they get married officially in their home domicile (justice of the peace) and then have a ceremonial wedding on St Martin.
If you are looking for official wedding status then it will be complicated on French St Martin.

Rob

OK, that's actually what I thought. When people said they got married, I assumed that meant legally married on island.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but, need similar help. Can anyone verify Kaya Events? Want to make sure they are legit before we send them all our personal info needed for a wedding.

ETA: Also, any info about getting certificate translated and accepted back in the US would help. First time I've heard of that wrinkle.

Thanks.

We were married over 12 years ago in St. Maarten. We had our official wedding on the dutch side and then had a ceremony and reception at a villa in Terre Basse. It was amazing. We had 30 people come with us. They stayed at the Flamingo and at Royal Islander (rented nights). We stayed at the villa along with a few family members.

We were given the certificate in Dutch and in English, so there was no issue in having it translated. We didn't have any issues with it being accepted in the US.

tonydead - Uncomplicate things, now and forever. You're potentially looking at legal ramifications regarding where you get legally married from day-1 until retirement and beyond. Do yourself and your bride a future favor - have a very quiet (US Legal) ceremony at home, and have a later show wedding on SXM.

I disagree Bahston. When I was researching my wedding seven years ago, it would've been an additional $400 to have the Dutch marriage certificate translated to English. It's partially why we decided to just get married on Anguilla...British and English certificate.

I have experienced no problems whatsoever. It is acceptable with reciprocity in the US. Military ID, passports, social security card, drivers license for my name change.

Thanks for all the replies. What a pain. A couple questions about documentation:

1- I've had some planners tell us that the birth certificates have to be issued within the past 3 years. Is this true? Is it true even if the apostile was done recently? Doesn't make any sense.

2- We've also had them tell us the Declaration of Marriage (Saying you are currently single) has to be within 3 months of the wedding. Is this true? Despite the fact that we've already got these and paid for them 5 months out. It seems difficult timing to apply within 3 months, take several weeks to receive them and then get them to the planner within their time constraints (usually 2-3 months in advance)

Talking to Kaya Events and Marry-me. Marry-me appears to be legit. I can't find reviews or anything for Kaya Events online other than their websites. Interested in any feedback on these two planners.

Thank you.

Declaration of Marriage Status has to be submitted/turned in 3 months in advance so we're good there. But, looks like we need to get one of the birth certificates redone and current within 3 years (regardless of what date is on the apostille).

I tried to convince my daughter to get married on the island on this! Tall Ship Mercedes

Hence the reason we were married on Anguilla. So much less B.S.
Though we became engaged at Mullet Beach on St. Maarten it became too cumbersome legally.