A beach wedding package at a luxury resort combines the best of both worlds

A beach wedding package at a luxury resort solves two problems. All inclusives usually aren't private or super fancy, but they have a lot of activities. Villas are private and scenic, but lack activities. What to do?

You guessed it. Try a beach wedding package at a luxury resort. Now there are a couple of ways to do this.

But first, a caution. If you've read our page on Caribbean destination weddings, you know by now that we recommend a little healthy skepticism when considering Caribbean hotels. If you haven't, then just read on down to the bottom of this page and you'll get the idea.

We'll make a couple of assumptions here:

Your budget isn't so tight that you can barely afford the all inclusive vacation packages.

But you have some sort of budget in mind - in other words, you're not saying, "I don't care what the cost is. Send the bill to my accounting people." If you did say this, you can still keep reading because the people I'm about to recommend can get you to your own private island in a private jet if that's what you want.

Method #1

Do your own research. We always recommend tripadvisor.com because of its extensive collection of RECENT (this is key) reviews and forum discussions about hotels and wedding experiences.

Tip: Read lots of reviews because there are people that are so happy to get out of Ohio in the winter (or wherever) that they'd be happy with anything (not very selective, so to speak). There are also occasionally people with ulterior motives. So make sure you read some of the negative reviews (check the colored circles next to each post for ratings).

Then call the hotel sales department directly and ask about wedding packages or buy a beach wedding package from someone like Wyndham, Expedia, or Classic Vacations. (You can get ratings of these companies at tripadvisor.com too.) Just type "expedia" or whatever search term you want into the search bar.

If you don't find a beach wedding package at your hotel, ask for a wedding coordinator that has worked with the hotel before. Unless you are intimately familiar with the area, you don't want to plan a Caribbean destination wedding alone.

Method #2 - our recommended method.

Use www.classicvacations.com to find your perfect beach wedding package at a luxury hotel. Here's why: They use the best hotels in the Caribbean. This is big because Caribbean hotels can be EXTREMELY inconsistent - no kidding.

They use a limited number of 3, 4, and 5 star hotels because they personally inspect and visit every property that they book every year. They do more than sell you a ticket. They know where the best rooms are at a hotel and they know where the best views are - details.

They can take care of everything from airfare to limo service to activity reservations.

They seriously reduce your research time. Still, look them up at tripadvisor.com and look up reviews of the hotels they recommend. Things may have changed since the Classic Vacations people visited.

They can book you a private jet to a private island or limo you from the airport to a private estate, villa, or the finest hotel.

They can find beach wedding packages as well as tee times and spa treatments.

A beach wedding package at a resort like you'll find on Classic Vacations will allow you the comfort, space, and privacy of a villa with all the activities and food (better food) than you'll find in an all inclusive vacation package.

If you do nothing else, at least check out the hotels at Classic Vacations because they are the one's where you're least likely to have problems. Then you can book the hotel with a discount travel service.

If you don't think you'll use a beach wedding package at a luxury hotel, try an all inclusive wedding package, a Caribbean villa rental , or just bring the beach home with a beach theme wedding or reception.