Summer is wedding and honeymoon season. Whether you decide to elope, invite a few friends or family, or throw a large bash, here are several picture-perfect destinations for your big event. Don’t worry about breaking the budget — all offer discounts for military couples.
Caribbean and Mexico
What’s your wedding budget? How about — free? Book 10 or more rooms for at least three nights at any Hard Rock all-inclusive resort in the Caribbean or Mexico, and you’ll get a free $3,000 wedding package, combined with up to $1,800 in resort credits. “I am a military officer in the Army reserve, so it’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart,” says Quentin Carmichael III, director of Product and Commercial for the Destination Weddings Travel Group. Choose from Hard Rock Hotels in Cancun, Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico’s Riviera Maya (this hotel just opened in May, so it’s brand-spankin’ new), and Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. You must book by Dec. 15, 2014, with a travel window through Dec. 23, 2015 (so you have more than a year to plan). All the details are here, or call (888) 536-1923.
North Carolina
The oceanfront Ocean Isle Inn — a short drive from Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune — offers several elopement, wedding, and accommodations packages, with discounts up to 15 percent for active duty servicemembers. An onsite wedding director is available to assist with all the details. Click here for information, or call (910) 579-0750.
Puerto Rico
When it comes to planning your destination wedding, don’t go it alone. Let a pro deal with the details. “We are huge military supporters — my husband was in the Air Force,” says Vieques Island wedding planner Sandy Malone (who is also the star of TLC’s reality show Wedding Island). Malone’s company, Weddings in Vieques, offers active duty servicemembers a year-round 15-percent discount on wedding-planning services. “We have a lot of them,” she says. Reach Malone at (787) 741-8000.
Virginia
The Claiborne House Bed & Breakfast near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia (near Norfolk’s Navy base) offers all-inclusive intimate ceremonies and romantic elopement packages for $649. Active duty servicemembers get an additional 10-percent discount ($65) off that price. (You will not find that discount on the website. “We don’t publish it, but we always offer a ‘we salute you’ special rate of 10-percent off,” says and owner/innkeeper Shellie Leete.) The price includes a one-night stay, a ceremony in a choice of beautiful settings, a celebrant/officiate, a choice of vows, music, a bouquet and boutonniere, a wedding cake, a wedding toast, digital photography, and breakfast the next morning. The offer is limited to four people (bride and groom, plus two others). “Virginia offers easy marriages with no waiting period or blood tests,” says Leete. “Pick up your license at any Virginia courthouse, and it’s good for 60 days.” Reservations are required. See this website for details, or call (540) 483-4616 — and remember to ask for your additional 10-percent military discount.
And more …
We previously told you about military discounts in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Lake Arrowhead, the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cancun, Lake Las Vegas, and Newport, Rhode Island. Many of these offers are still valid.