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Plan a Wedding in Turks & Caicos

Powdery beaches and a crystal-clear sea make a perfect wedding setting. Check out these three unforgettable locations.

by Nicole Sprinkle
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Turks & Caicos

The soft, inviting beaches of Turks and Caicos are as white as a wedding gown—and just perfect for a Caribbean ceremony. The islands, where a slew of new properties are under construction, are fast becoming a premier wedding destination. Whether you want a casual vow exchange followed by a beach barbecue or a more formal affair in an oceanfront ballroom, there's a wedding spot here that is sure to fit your requirements. These three properties, all on the main island of Providenciales, represent a mix of styles and prices.

It's hard to beat Point Grace for an intimate, personalized wedding experience. It begins when you're met at the airport by the resort's vintage white Rolls-Royce and are whisked off to the 28-suite waterfront property. The casually elegant hotel attracts celebs (Diddy was spotted chilling out there recently), and its pure West Indies ambience—yellow guest cottages with green shutters and fretted balconies, sprawling rooms with four-poster beds, and an oceanfront spa housed in a whitewashed hut—might be the reason why. During the day, you can lounge around the pool or on the beach, where complimentary afternoon sorbet is served. Then, in early evening, you may choose to savor wine and cheese or bliss out with a delicious spa treatment.

Wedding ceremonies at Point Grace usually take place in the evening on the beach. If you're having more than 40 people at your reception, you can have Grace's Cottage—an open-air restaurant hidden within the resort's gardens—all to yourselves; for a party of fewer than 40, the area is open to other diners as well. There, your guests will feast on dishes like swordfish carpaccio and stuffed veal loin with crispy cassava cake. For more information on their wedding packages, visit pointgrace.com.

If you want a hotel that has more space for your guests to spread out, try the Ocean Club Resort, on Providenciales. This resort has 167 rooms, ranging from cozy studios to massive three-bedroom suites. Set on two properties (with free shuttles going back and forth between them), the resort has a laid-back Caribbean atmosphere that is enhanced by its poolside cabana bars, gym and spa. The Ocean Club's upscale restaurant, Gecko Grille, has a staggering 70 types of vodka on offer. Its menu features tropically inspired dishes like Caribbean lobster with linguine Bianca and plantain-crusted grouper, along with traditional favorites such as grilled Black Angus steaks.

A basic wedding package for a party of eight or fewer guests includes the services of a wedding coordinator and an officiant, a bouquet and a boutonniere, a post-ceremony champagne toast and a wedding cake. But the hotel can easily accommodate larger groups and budgets if you have something more elaborate in mind. A popular option at Ocean Club: The couple hosts a beach barbecue the night before the wedding. The next day, they are married in a beach ceremony under a bamboo gazebo decorated with tiki lamps, bougainvillea and conch shells; then they celebrate with cocktails poolside, followed by dinner at the Gecko Grille. Depending on the season, guests will receive 10 to 15 percent off room rates. They will also have access to a personalized wedding Web page that outlines all the details of the event—a free service provided by the hotel. For more information, visit oceanclubresorts.com.

Just because you're getting married in the Caribbean doesn't mean you have to host a super-casual event. If you want a tropical wedding that still has a more formal feeling, check out The Palms, which is considered by many to be one of the Turks and Caicos' most hipster-friendly spots. This 72-suite hotel manages to be both trendy (iPods are handed out at check-in) and regal (a stately white mansion, flanked by white coral stone cloisters, it overlooks a manicured formal courtyard and fountain). You can opt to have your ceremony in the hotel under a palm-frond archway, or on the beach. Follow that with a cocktail hour held either on the mansion's balcony, around the spa's reflecting pool or in the courtyard. After drinks, you and your guests can head to the resort's opulent oceanfront ballroom, which is decorated with Caribbean flourishes (pale-yellow-and-green-striped curtains and doors that open wide to let in the warm sea breezes), for a five-course dinner.

The Palms doesn't offer preset wedding packages; instead, each celebration is customized, and the in-house wedding coordinator will work within a range of budgets to design your event. Once the wedding festivities have ended, you'll be able to start your honeymoon right away, by relaxing with your brand-new spouse in a private spa villa. Here, you can indulge in a signature treatment for couples, like the mother-of-pearl scrub or the herbal sauna bath, before sharing a candlelit dinner for two. For more information, visit regenthotels.com/thepalms.

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