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 Travel & Outdoors | January 2008 
Getting Hitched in Heaven
 The Province
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Many Canadian couples are deciding to forgo having a traditional wedding in favour of a tropical trip down the aisle at a destination resort.
Wedding planners report a growing demand for nuptials in exotic locations that combine getaways for wedding guests with honeymoons for newlyweds.
Deanna Isbister spends much of her working life promoting travel to Hawaii's Big Island, and she finds that Canadians appreciate the diversity of her Pacific paradise.
"We do see a lot more romance, renewing of vows, anniversaries and destination weddings," said Isbister, in town this weekend to attend the 29th annual Wedding Fair at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre.
She said Hawaii's destination-wedding business will get a boost from airlines now flying directly from Vancouver to Kona International Airport.
"Air Canada started Dec. 1 direct service Vancouver to Kona, and on Jan. 13 WestJet will start service, again direct to Kona [from YVR]," Isbister said.
"It's so easy to get married in Hawaii," she added.
"You don't have to be a U.S. resident; there's no waiting period," Isbister said.
"You can just come over and apply for a licence, get married and start the honeymoon." Couples can acquire a Hawaiian marriage licence without a blood test. The biggest hurdle is a new requirement to carry a valid passport.
Couples can go for a simple wedding on the beach or opt for a more elaborate ceremony atop snowy Mauna Kea.
"We have wedding planners available," said Isbister. "There are a lot of choices available." Wedding planners say destination nuptials often make sense for a couple whose friends and family are scattered across the country.
A destination wedding may even prove cheaper for the couple than a big, conventional wedding.
After all, only those who truly love a couple will be prepared to travel for them. The result can be a smaller, more manageable production.
Susan Hyatt is known across Canada as "the Wedding Lady," having planned nuptials professionally for the past 22 years.
A native of Bahamas, she got on the destination- wedding bandwagon by accident when approached by a young couple of university students with the urge to merge.
"They had no money and wanted me to plan their honeymoon in the Bahamas," recalled Hyatt.
"I started doing Bahamas weddings. Then several couples asked me if I do other destinations." One couple requested a Hawaiian wedding, prompting Hyatt to fly there and join the Hawaiian Visitors Bureau, which allowed her venture to fall into place.
Now she specializes in destination weddings for Canadians going to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Hawaii and for outsiders who want to come to Vancouver for a destination wedding.
"In a busy month. I had 14 weddings," she said. "I've done weddings for couples in 33 states." Demand for destination hitching has grown to the point that one in every 10 Canadian weddings is a destination wedding, Hyatt said.
"It's so [much] less stressful," she said. "You don't have to worry about the limo and the huge wedding party." One of Hyatt's tricks of the trade is sending out postcard wedding invitations, advertising a tropical vacation in tandem with the inherent fun of attending a wedding.
The Wedding Fair continues today at the Convention Centre at Canada Place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The $20 admission covers fashions shows throughout the day, access to 150 exhibits and 170 booths.
There are 1,200 prizes and gifts valued at over $300,000, including the $87,000 Dream Wedding for some lucky newly engaged couple. |
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