Decorations for Your Destination Wedding

Also see: Planning a wedding at the JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa.

How can the decorations set the stage for the wedding of your dreams? We put that question--and a few others--to Claudia Alvarez, Special Events Sales Manager for the elegant JW Marriott Cancun Resort & Spa and CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort. Claudia gives us her tips on you can use decorations to create a special atmsophere for your wedding day.

How can brides use decorations to give their wedding location a uniquely local atmosphere?

The details are the most important thing in order to give a local atmosphere to a wedding. For example, because we are on the beach, you can use shells and star fish in the wedding cake, in the gentlemen’s boutonnieres, in the ladies’ corsages, on the tables, even in the ceremony decoration.

The flowers make a big difference in every single wedding, and in order to create a local atmosphere it is very important to use many colors, not just white or peach, but also red, yellow, pink, etc, because with these you can give a tropical touch to the decor.

And to be completely in tune with the ocean, you can use some blue lights in the illumination for the reception area, and tiki torches if the reception or ceremony is right on the beach.

What suggestions do you have for the brides who would like to import decorations? Can you assist brides in working with a customs broker if they’ll be bringing in large amounts of decorations, favors, etc.?

We can assist the bride with everything that she needs, and we can get all the information that the bride needs in order to import decoration. However, I don’t really recommend to the bride that she bring large amounts of decorations because they can find almost everything here and almost for the same price. Therefore, it is not really necessary to make this planning process more expensive and difficult.

How can brides on a budget stretch the decorating budget for their destination wedding?

The casual weddings are one of our specialties, which means not investing a lot of budget in decoration. We can work with the bride to choose the flowers and determine strategic places for those small beautiful decoration details…the result is a gorgeous decor with a small budget.

Also, we have many decoration details already in the hotel that don’t represent any cost for the couples to use such as center pieces for the tables, tiki torches, lights, etc. You can have a beautiful wedding with a small budget; everything depends on your creativity and imagination.

What trends are you seeing in terms of decorations at destination weddings?

In Cancun the trend in decoration for the wedding receptions are the lounge type setups. As I mentioned earlier, casual weddings are the craze in Cancun, so a lounge set up with faint lights on the beach or on one of our terraces close to the pools are definitely popular. It is very intimate and relaxed and this atmosphere permits the bride and groom and guests to feel unstressed and comfortable, which is splendid, particularly considering that everybody is usually so nervous and stressed on this special day. So you just need to focus on the fact that this is one of the happiest days in your life and feel relaxed.
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Photos courtesy JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa and CasaMagna Marriott Cancun Resort

To plan a Marriott wedding, call the Marriott of your choice and ask to consult with the hotel's wedding event planner. For more information on Marriott Hotels, Resorts, and Suites, call 1-800-228-9290 or see www.marriott.com.