I'm getting married in St. Maarten this year. I will be sailing my way down there in RCCL but will have a ceremony on shore. Am I allowed to bring my fresh flower bouquet in the island from the cruise? Does anyone know a little bit about custom restrictions there? Thank you. E.

My son and daughter inlaw were married on the Dutch side and had to be on the island two or three days prior to the ceremony for legal reasons. They also needed permission from the Dutch government and their marriage licence is all in Dutch.

I was wondering that myself, in terms of whether the original poster actually COULD get married on island like that Perhaps there is some special deal with the cruise lines for that??

With regard to the original question, as far as customs are concerned, when people get off a cruise ship, unless something has changed really recently, there are no customs checks. I think you should have no problem taking a bouquet off the ship.

I'm sure one of the wedding planers could answer those questions.

Found this site: http://www.mywedding.com/travel/planning/destination-wedding-st-maarten/

Presumably that information is correct, although I don't know about calling ST Maarten an island "colony".....

There's usually a whole lot of paperwork involved to get married on a foreign island! I've heard of people who had a fantastic time by getting legally married at home (JP,Town Hall) and then having a second wedding ceremony at their destination spot! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Ahh, how romantic! An island beach wedding. My wife and I were legally married on the Dutch side last May, in front of Mary's Boon. We leave in 2 days to go back and celebrate our 1st year together!!! We hired a wedding planner who helped us through all the paperwork and legal issues. It turned out to be a wonderful experience when it was all said and done. Not an adventure for the faint of heart though. Most American couples get married in the US and then just do a celebration on the island. Much, much easier.

We married our daughter on SXM several years ago, and even though the wedding planner stated it would fly back in the US, they had to get a court house quick wedding back home. Don't know if everything is screwed up in South Carolina or the fact that the groom was Canadian and the bride was from USA.

I always find it interesting, and a bit disturbing, when a person registers here, posts a question, gets lots of helpful responses, and then doesn't respond to any of them. Hopefully the original poster will return to at least thank those who tried to help her.

Maybe they broke up! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Shocked.gif" alt="" />