Sandals Real Wedding: Leah and Braxton’s Romantic, Bespoke Destination Wedding

After getting engaged, wedding planning can be a daunting task for some couples. For Leah and Braxton, they knew the minute they got engaged that a destination wedding was in their stars. After their search for the perfect location lead them all over the map, Braxton’s brother suggested their annual vacation spot, Sandals Royal Caribbean. After falling in love with the photos they saw and speaking with a WeddingMoon concierge, Leah and Braxton were certain they had found the perfect place to start their lives together.

The thing Leah remembers the most about first meeting Braxton was how much he made her laugh. A laugh that remains a permanent fixture on her face years later. One scroll through their Sandals real wedding photos and you won’t be able to resist smiling along with this beautiful couple; their laughter along with their love is infectious!

Leah and Braxton 

Date: March 2014
Location: Sandals Royal Caribbean
Number of Guests: 32
Theme: Personal Customizations
Photography: Dwayne Watkins – Sandals Wedding Photography Partner

 One of the things we really loved about Leah and Braxton was how much they incorporated their personal styling and customization with their Beautiful Beginnings wedding. Creative bride Leah really wanted to indulge in the fun side of wedding planning. While her WeddingMoons pre-travel planner planned her big details, Leah and Braxton made fun welcome bags for their guests, including mini “recovery kits” (their reception was a blast!), bottles of Jamaican rum with their favorite drink recipe , post cards for their guests to write a note in lieu of guest registry and personalized door hangers as a way to let other wedding guests know where in the resort they could be found. Hands down one of the best guest bags we’ve ever seen!

Leah had vintage hankies individually monogrammed with a special message for her maid-of-honor, bridesmaids, her parents and her husband’s mom as special keepsakes. Cute way to personalize your wedding gifts for those special people in your life!

Leah’s dress was a designer Lula Kate gown made of Thai silk (perfect for an afternoon wedding in the Caribbean sun) and she completed her care-free look with her great-grandmother’s diamond earrings as her “something borrowed” and “something old”. Her mother stitched strips from her old baby blanket into the hem of her gown as her “something blue”; how sweet!

When we asked Braxton about the most memorable part of the big day for him he told us, “I will never forget standing at the alter next to my father surrounded by my family and closest friends in one of the most beautiful places in the world and seeing Leah walk down the aisle in her wedding dress.” You’re free to go “awwwww” now.

It is impossible to pick one favorite memory from the day. Any day that starts with coffee on the beach, going for a swim before the ceremony and ends with marrying your best friend under palm trees surrounded by the people you love most in the world will forever be the best day of my life! – Leah

“We would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all our friends and family that travelled so far to be with us on our special day.  It would not have been the same without you!  A huge Thank You to our [Sandals] wedding planners, Jasmine and Heather. They made sure the day went as smooth as possible and helped reassure a very anxious type A bride.  We had the most amazing experience with our photographer Dwayne Watkins!  We cannot say enough good things about him.  He took the most amazing photographs all while keeping our vision in mind.  He truly captured the love and joy felt on our wedding day that we will be able to look back on for years to come.

Jamaica and Royal Caribbean seemed like the location we had been looking for but once we spoke with our [WeddingMoon] concierge, I was certain this was the place for us.  Seeing the options we had available with the Sandals Weddingmoon and reading all the real wedding stories on the blog, it was obvious that Sandals was the destination wedding experts that I could trust with our ‘Big Day’!”