Congratulations to your daughter. I understand why she would want to be married on the island. We got married on the beach at the Westin last year and had the best time. I recommend getting legally married at home prior to the actual ceremony in SXM. It's over $1000 more to have a legal ceremony there not to mention the hours and hours of paperwork you will have to gather, file for and have notarized and translated. Guests and family will never know the difference if that is a concern.
The Westin went above and beyond for our 50 person wedding and I cannot say enough about how amazing they were. We did use a planner, St. Martin Marry Me. While they were very nice, their execution was a disaster. There were so many things completely wrong or not done. It was quite disappointing. In their defense, they did reimburse us for many of the mistakes and apologized profusely.
Touching on Deverd0n's comment, all of our guests were dressed appropriately and were barefoot/sandals for our ceremony on the beach. The Westin cleans and packs the sand where the ceremony is held. You will not "learn the hard way". My Monique Lhuillier dress still looked great at the end of the night! It was a classy affair and not just a dirty BEACH wedding.
Feel free to ask any other questions you may have. Good Luck!
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