It's Engagement Season

It’s Engagement Season! Congratulations 💍

What to Do After Getting Engaged — A Destination Wedding Planning Guide for Puerto Rico

It’s engagement season, and if you’re recently engaged, congratulations! The holidays are one of the most popular times to get engaged, and celebrating with family and friends makes this moment even more meaningful. If you’re wondering what to do after getting engaged or thinking about your next steps after engagement, take a deep breath—there’s no rush.

Before diving into wedding planning, the most important thing you can do is enjoy this moment.

Engagement Season: Enjoy This Moment First

Being engaged—especially during the holidays—is something truly special. Take time to celebrate, take photos, share the news, and enjoy being surrounded by loved ones.

Once the holidays pass, conversations naturally shift toward wedding planning. Until then, allow yourselves to simply enjoy being engaged without pressure or expectations.

Just Engaged? The Questions Are Coming

After the celebrations settle, many newly engaged couples begin hearing:

  • “Have you picked a wedding date?”

  • “Where are you getting married?”

  • “Are you planning a destination wedding?”

If you don’t have answers yet, that’s completely normal. Learning how to start planning a wedding—especially a destination wedding in Puerto Rico—takes time, guidance, and the right support.

How to Start Planning a Destination Wedding Without Stress

When you’re ready to begin planning, a thoughtful approach helps create a stress-free destination wedding planning experience—especially when planning from afar.

Decide Where You Want to Get Married

One of the first big decisions is choosing your wedding location. Many couples consider:

  • Getting married in their home state

  • Planning a Puerto Rico destination wedding

  • Hosting a Caribbean destination wedding with family and friends traveling together

Puerto Rico offers the perfect balance of tropical beauty, rich culture, and easy travel—no passports required for U.S. citizens—making it a top choice for destination weddings.

Wedding Budget Tips for Destination Weddings

Budget conversations are often uncomfortable, but they are essential—especially when planning a destination wedding.

Most couples haven’t planned a wedding before, and destination weddings add an extra layer of logistics. Establishing a budget early helps protect your investment and allows your destination wedding planner in Puerto Rico to guide you toward the best options for your vision.

Why You Should Hire a Puerto Rico Wedding Planner First

Here’s the most important advice I give couples—regardless of what the internet says:

Hire your wedding planner first, not your venue.

An experienced Puerto Rico wedding planner and destination wedding planner helps you:

  • Clarify your vision before contracts are signed

  • Recommend venues that truly fit your style and guest experience

  • Navigate local logistics, permits, and vendor coordination

  • Protect your budget and timeline

  • Create a seamless, stress-free destination wedding experience

When couples ask why hire a wedding planner for a destination wedding, the answer is simple: local expertise matters.

Planning a destination wedding in Puerto Rico without a local planner can lead to unnecessary stress, missed details, and costly mistakes.

Your Engagement Is the Beginning of Your Destination Wedding Experience

Your engagement is more than an announcement—it’s the beginning of a carefully curated experience for you and your guests.

Whether you’re envisioning a beachfront ceremony, a historic Old San Juan celebration, or an intimate tropical elopement, how you begin planning sets the tone for everything that follows.

So for now:

  • Enjoy being engaged

  • Celebrate with family and friends

  • Ignore the pressure to have all the answers

  • Trust that expert guidance makes all the difference

When you’re ready to explore destination wedding planning in Puerto Rico, I’d love to help you take the first steps with confidence, clarity, and calm.

✨You’re engaged. Enjoy the moment. When you’re ready, Puerto Rico will be waiting.

All Around the Island

Happy New Year!!!!

It has been a long time since I wrote anything here but as I am going through the 2022 wedding photos to update the page I realized we were really at a lot of places on the island last year.

From San Juan, Vieques, Fajardo, Rio Grande, Loiza, Rincon, Cabo Rojo and Guayanilla just to name of few.

We did hotel weddings, VRBOS, AirBNB, tents, restaurants and the list keeps going.

Weddings were as intimate as 2 and as grand as 180.

I love that we can assist our clients in creating an experience for themselves and their guests.

NEW LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MARRIAGE LICENSE IN PUERTO RICO

2021 New Legal

On November 28, 2020 our legal requirements for Marriage changed in Puerto Rico.

Here is the new information.

 

You are now required to do Lab Work – this can be done at home or in Puerto Rico but cannot be done more the 14 days prior to the wedding date.

You will need to test for the following:

Syphilis, Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and HIV

 

You will also need to bring the following documents:

Original Birth Certificates

Divorce Decree’s (if they apply)

The fee for the Marriage License Stamp is now $30.00.

 

1/57 MASTER WEDDING PLANNERS IN THE WORLD

Did you know that Sari Skalnik is one of 57 Master Wedding Planners in the World and the only one in Puerto Rico.

She earned her designation through the Association of Bridal Consultants (www.bridalassn.com), in November 2013 at their Annual Conference in West Palm Beach Florida.

She was one of 16 planners to apply for the designation and only 8 planners earned the title that year.

Stay tuned to hear more about what the process was to earn this title.

TOP 6 REASONS TO GET MARRIED IN PUERTO RICO

 1. NO honeymoon delay, because you are already in paradise. Just walk away and start your honeymoon! 

 2. You will have an amazing tan before the ceremony. Everyone will be jealous and your photos will be fabulous.  

 3. Your wedding cake is made with with local Puerto Rican Rum. The best wedding cake ever. 

 4. Two receptions?!  PARTY here for your reception and do it again when you get home!

 5. Hate shoes? No worries, no shoes required.  You are getting married on the beach. Toes in the sand! 

 6. No boring wedding march! The ocean waves will be your music down the aisle. 

POST HURRICANE MARIA - PLANNING YOUR WEDDING

Things on our beautiful island are improving daily.

Many of the hotels and venue's are open and fully operational.

For more updates check out the Puerto Rico Tourism Company's web page www.seepuertorico.com.

Here at Tropical Weddings we are open for business.

We have internet (when the generator is on) and are working hard on all of your wedding needs.  We are making weekly trips to venue's and taking what we like to call "proof of venue" photos so that you can see what they look like.

Many of the hotels on the island have taken advantage of the storm and are doing complete remodels.  What does that mean for you?  If you are planning your wedding for 2018 or 2019 you will be having your wedding at (basically) a brand new hotel.

Looking forward to planning your wedding.

All the best,

Sari and John

 

Sunset Sail Weddings

Have you every dreamed of being married on a sail boat in the Caribbean Sea.  If you have we had the pleasure of working with Mr. Wally Gonzalez Jr. to help plan a memorable evening with East Island Excursions. 

Thanks to our amazing videographers Mirna and Francisco Ferrer at www.ferrervideo.com we have the beautiful video to show you.

https://vimeo.com/139298378

 

 

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