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Princess Cruise Destination Wedding on St. Thomas

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Planning a Cruise Destination Wedding
Bride in wedding dress

Weddings are a special day in every woman's life, and a cruise destination wedding can make the day even more memorable

Photo Courtesy of Mary Margaret Duncan Jones
Getting married is an important milestone, and the bride and groom (and their families) have many decisions to make about the event. It's almost like planning a cruise vacation--you need to know when, where, who, and how much. Although many couples still have a traditional wedding at home, many others are combining their wedding and honeymoon with a cruise destination wedding.

Types of Cruise Weddings

Although every cruise line with cruise wedding options has slight differences, there are three basic types of cruise weddings, and many cruise lines offer wedding planning services to assist in the decision making:
  • Get Married on a Cruise Ship While at Sea - Captains of a few cruise lines (like Princess, Celebrity, and Azamara Cruises) are allowed to legally marry guests, and the weddings are held in the ship's chapel or another onboard location.
  • Get Married on a Cruise Ship While in Port - The advantage of this type of wedding is that non-sailing guests can attend. The ceremony is held onboard before the ship leaves the dock. Like the wedding at sea, the ceremony is held either in the ship's chapel or one of the other lovely places onboard. After the wedding, the non-sailing guests disembark, and everyone else goes along for the honeymoon.
  • Get Married at a Cruise Port of Call - Cruise ships visit many amazing ports of call, and couples can get married ashore in the Caribbean, Hawaii, Alaska, or the Mediterranean. The shoreside locations might be a beach, rooftop, rainforest, or even a glacier.
I attended a Ruby Princess cruise destination wedding of the daughter of a good friend of mine while on a voyage to the eastern Caribbean. The rest of this article describes their St. Thomas beach and Ruby Princess wedding experience and the couple's thoughts and tips for planning the wedding and their big day.

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