I am so amazed at how fast time has gone. One minute you are busy getting engaged and planning your wedding, the next minute you are celebrating 20 years of marriage. That’s what happened recently with my husband and I. We have been through so much together over the past twenty years: good & bad. So one of the things we wanted to do was go back to the resort we spent our honeymoon at. So today I am discussing why you should plan a Retie the Knot ceremony at Sandals resorts*.

I am a partner of Sandals Resorts, and this post contains affiliate links. They don’t cost you anything more, but if you book a trip through my link, a portion comes back to me. Which I will use to book more Sandals vacations. All opinions in this post are 100% my own.

About Our Sandals Retie the Knot Ceremony:

We spent our first honeymoon at Sandals Royal Caribbean in Jamaica. It was a magical time, a special time, before the reality of life set in. We always discussed about going back someday, maybe for our 20^th wedding anniversary. Well, May 2017, we made good on our word and returned to Sandals Royal Caribbean to celebrate our marriage and renew our vows.

Originally when I started thinking about planning our trip, the thought didn’t cross my mind. Until I was reading reviews on the resort and several people mentioned about how special their vow renewal was. When I discussed it with my husband, he was all for it.

So thus the planning began. It was amazing that it was so much fun to plan it, even more fun than our original wedding. Why? Because we truly made it our ceremony. I will admit our first wedding was truly lovely, but it wasn’t *ours*. Basically my parents dictated what they wanted, and we just showed up for the day. At the time, I didn’t care because I just wanted to be married to my best friend. But when I look back now, I wish we would have put our foot down.

That aside, I just wanted to share why you should renew your wedding vows. Keep reading to find out why.

Why You Should Enjoy A Retie The Knot Ceremony At Sandals Resorts:

You can make it your own. When you renew your vows, you can make it anything you want to be. YOU can set the budget. YOU can choose the flowers. It is YOUR decision as to who you want in your wedding party, if anybody. Whatever you are feeling, you can decide. 

The ceremony means a whole lot more. And when I say that it can mean a whole lot more, I am not exaggerating in ANY way. This time we chose to write our own vows. I agonized for weeks over them. Started and stopped. Wrote and rewrote. In the end, I found the words to express to my husband how I truly felt. I can’t even tell you the emotions I was feeling when I saw the tears running down his face.

You can buy the dress you truly want. I liked my dress for our initial ceremony. When I reflect on it now, I realize I didn’t love it. Probably because, again, it was my Mother’s choice and not my own. The only saving grace about the dress is my husband told me “I looked beautiful” after our ceremony was complete.For our vow renewal, I chose my own dress with my own tastes. I felt more feminine and pretty, despite the many pounds I put on since the first wedding. And when my husband again told me I looked beautiful, I truly felt like I did. 

You can re-live the magic on your own terms. The nice thing about doing the vow renewal on the resort grounds was we weren’t on a crazy tight schedule. Minor things like huge down pours before the ceremony weren’t the crisis they were the first time around. Why? Because we were together. And that is all that mattered.

So now that I have shared the why you should renew your wedding vows, I am going to share what it was like to have a vow renewal at Sandals Royal Caribbean.

How To Have A Retie The Knot Ceremony:

We arrived at the resort on Mother’s Day. I was a little bit stressed because of flying(I hadn’t flown since our first honeymoon). But we used Club Mobay on our arrival, and the rum punch was a very relaxing treat. Also, the first class service we received from the lounge was a wonderful way to start our vacation. I was also very relaxed because I made sure we had our vacation essentials too.

Once we were on-site, we waited to get checked in and be escorted to our room. Our assigned wedding coordinator, Sanjae, popped into the lounge area and introduced herself. She then let us know when our planning session was. I immediately felt like we were in good hands.

As far as our planning session went, I thoroughly enjoyed it. We talked about how the ceremony would go. We did a cake and icing testing, along with sampling the champagne. Music was discussed, photos were planned out, and private dinner & honeymoon breakfast choices were selected.

After that, we took a tour of the grounds to decide where we wanted our Retie the Knot ceremony. Initially I had my heart set on the gazebo that was near the building we were staying in. And that was plan. However, Sanjae took the time to continue the tour and discuss plan B locations in case of inclement weather. Well, it turns out we needed plan B. But since we were already prepared, it was no big deal.

I also splurged and got matching flowers for my hair, and had my hair & makeup done in the spa. The ceremony itself was private and intense and emotional. I will say that our vow renewal was more meaningful than our initial ceremony. Probably because of everything we went through, good and bad, to get to where we were. I always said I loved my husband, but I knew I loved him more that day then the day we were married. He is the only person in this world that NEVER gave up on me. 

In any case, after our ceremony and first dance, we had a nice snack and some of our wedding cake before heading out to have our pictures taken. Our photographer, Dwayne, did a good job of finding fun locations for our pictures, despite the rain. I am glad that we splurged and had them done, as they are great memories. 

Later, we had our private dinner. Again, we had to deal with plan B, but it was okay. They had special touches like name plates, personalized wedding menus, and amazing service from our waiter Gregory. We chose different items for our meal, and had fun trying different things. We were so stuffed that we took our desserts back to the room. Waiting on our bed was a nice note from Sanjae, a congratulatory cake, and a beautiful frame. It was those little touches that made it super special. 

So now that I have listed why you should plan a Retie the Knot ceremony at Sandals Resorts, I am hoping that it will help you make the decision to renew your wedding vows, whether it is your 1^st year or 50^th year. You won’t regret expressing how you truly feel about your spouse.

Now you know why you should have a Retie The Knot ceremony, will you be doing it?

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*This post was adapted from a post from my lifestyle blog, Making Our Life Matter. It is updated with a few changes.