Jamaica’s vast, natural beauty and diverse landscape make it a fantastic option for a destination wedding. From its world-class beaches and world-famous reggae scene, to its delicious cuisine and laid-back atmosphere, this island nation offers a Caribbean wedding experience that’s irresistible to many couples.
In this guide, we take a look at some of the best places to look at for your Jamaican destination wedding, the steps you need to take for planning the big day and how you can move money safely and securely to the country.
Where are the best places to go for a Jamaican destination wedding?
If you haven’t landed on a location yet, rest assured; Jamaica’s diverse landscape has it all, from pristine and picture-perfect beaches to lush rainforests, to the beautiful Blue Mountains range. Couples should easily be able to find the location, setting, and price that best meets their needs.
The country has a wide range of options for the wedding itself, from moderate and low-key settings to upscale resorts and posh private villas with their own security teams, housekeeping and wait staff, and chefs on-site to cater to the wedding party’s every need.
Here’s a quick guide to some of the best places to get married in Jamaica
Montego Bay
Known for its beautiful beaches and vibrant nightlife, Montego Bay has earned its place as Jamaica’s most popular tourist destination. Beachfront resorts host lavish wedding affairs here, and there’s plenty to do here for wedding guests of all ages, including watersports, go-karting or hitting Montego Bay’s Hip Strip for a lively night out.
Negril
Negril is a laid-back town on the western coast of Jamaica, known for its long stretches of white sand beaches and crystal-clear waters (home to some of the best scuba diving spots in the country). Couples can exchange vows on the beach, in a lush tropical garden or at a cliffside venue with breathtaking views.
Ocho Rios
This scenic town on the northern coast of Jamaica is surrounded by picturesque mountains and waterfalls. Aside from some spectacular wedding venues, Ochos Rios is close to some must-see attractions, including Dunn’s River Falls: a 183m-long network of lagoons and natural rock formations that’s perfect for more adventurous guests.
Port Antonio
If you’re looking for something a little quieter, Port Antonio might be a good choice. This secluded, quaint port city on Jamaica’s east coast has less tourism but still offers plenty of venues and activities, such as exploring the Nonsuch caves – a network of limestone formations that are millions of years old.
Kingston
It might not be the first place that springs to mind, but Jamaica's capital city still has plenty of potential wedding venues, including historic mansions, botanical gardens and waterfront resorts. Culturally minded guests will have access to vibrant restaurants and nightlife, as well as museums, galleries, salons, spas and plenty of shopping.
Planning and budgeting for the big day
Caribbean destination weddings are growing in popularity, as are destination weddings in general, and that means planning ahead — as well as making decisions early — can be crucial to not only securing the location of your choice, but also getting the best deals.
It’s typical for resorts and other wedding venues to get booked up to 18 months in advance. This means you’ll need to start researching early in the wedding-planning process to ensure that you’ll be able to secure your venue of choice; the restaurant and/or catering needs; accommodations for both you and your guests; and flights. Planning a wedding is a lot to handle on its own, and adding international travel to the mix only increases the complexity.
It’s common for resorts and hotels in the destination wedding business to offer couples special discounts, package deals or other types of amenities. These can range from free or upgraded rooms; a free one-year anniversary stay; discounts on room rates (often, only if the couple can guarantee an agreed-upon number of guests will rent rooms at the hotel for the wedding); or a discounted, all-inclusive charge that covers the wedding itself, food, rooms and even extra credit at the resort’s shops, bars and restaurants.
Not only will you need to figure out how you’ll finance your Jamaican wedding, you’ll also want to help your guests by providing useful information about traveling to a foreign country, and their best options for securing Jamaican currency or for financing their trip. Working with a currency specialist with specific knowledge of the Jamaican monetary system can help both you and your guests to find the safest and most cost-effective methods for acquiring Jamaican dollars, or for sending an international money transfer to Jamaica.
How to finance your Jamaican wedding
A Caribbean destination wedding takes research and planning. One of the most important things you’ll have to plan for is how you’ll pay for it. Most likely you’ll need to send at least one money transfer, and possibly several, depending on your wedding arrangements and how you plan to pay.
While some wedding packages include costs for all services into one lump sum, meaning you only make one payment to one business, in many cases you’ll have to arrange to pay numerous parties, including the hotel or resort where you’ll be staying, caterers, florists and any other services you plan to have.
Fortunately, Jamaica has an open foreign exchange market and doesn’t apply any restrictions to incoming or outgoing international fund transfers. It’s easy to obtain currency through the country’s formal currency market, and the Jamaican dollar is fully convertible. Tourists can also carry Jamaican currency freely, with no restrictions on how much they can carry in or out of the country at one time.
From large, lump-sum payments for your accommodations, travel and the wedding itself, to knowing the best ways to obtain the local currency for a day of shopping, working with an international FX broker that specializes in the Jamaican markets will help you to find the best transfer exchange rates and the lowest fees for your currency needs.
Use a money transfer specialist
It makes sense to look at FX brokers and international currency transfer providers when you’re researching money transfer options for your wedding, and finding one that specializes in sending money to Jamaica can help you avoid costly fees. They often offer better exchange rates, lower transfer fees and low or no sending restrictions compared to traditional banks.
It’s easy to find one these days using FXcompared. On our website, access free currency tools, country guides and useful stats and research on the international financial markets. Knowing how you’ll pay for your Jamaican destination wedding will help make your planning easier, and potentially save you money too.
So there you have it: hopefully this guide has given you some useful tips and insights to consider when it comes to planning and budgeting for a destination wedding in Jamaica. If you want more tips on planning your destination wedding, see our general guide here or, if you want to see how much it might cost to send money to Jamaica, check out our money transfer comparison tool.
Part of this guide were written with contributions from ChatGPT, with edits made by a human editor.
