This past month we got to add Destination Weddings to our list of areas we service as our Wedding Photo Booth activity found its way to a little island known as Jamaica to help celebrate Carla & Jon’s wedding 🙂 From the moment I crossed through customs it was a breeze, both literally and metaphorically as the weather was perfect the entire weekend down there. Andrea Smith from the Half Moon Resort made the setup relatively easy from start to finish.
I got to the location early the day of, so I had plenty of time to take in the atmosphere and take tons of photos which you can find via +Scott Roth Events on Google Plus. The Gazebo right on the ocean, the old boat, the wooden bridge……Half Moon Resort provides the perfect setting for a Destination Wedding.
I got to stay at Grandiosa which is about 20 minutes outside of the Half Moon Resort area and loved staying closer to the local folks. Local Jamaicans were overall very pleasant to be around…..and are very generous to offer taxi rides lol. Getting around Jamaica was easy as there are tons of safe taxis to take…..just look out for RED license plates and JUTA logos on the mini buses. If you do rent a vehicle, be aware that is $1000 us deposit and driving is on the left side of the street. I wouldve loved to rent for that purpose alone 😉
My first day in Jamaica consisted of walking around the small towns where a local “friend” joined me. I knew he was gonna charge me for the walk and call it a tour…..so i negotiated with him lol. He showed me where main street is which has a lot of locals out and about selling home grown foods, chutney, jerk chicken, home made tools and crafts. Its a little bit nerve-wracking being in a whole new world like that outside of the tourism areas but overall I enjoyed it and felt safe…….almost safe enough to take out my camera and/or cell phone but i passed …..so no photos of the experience 🙁
Day 2 found me BEACH TIME lol…….Jamaica has some of the most gorgeous beaches which is heaven for a photographer, and being that these beaches are secluded, paid entries, tourist spots etc, I felt safe having my camera out (although if not careful, sand can be a camera’s worst enemy). I spent the day at Doctors Cave beach along the Hip Strip area of Montego Bay. My favorite photo was taken with a self-timer and using a beach towel that said Jamaica on it that I got at the local store……the photo came out great as it shows the word Jamaica along with the beach and ocean behind me lol. I got some good photos with the Iphone also.
So yea….the HIP STRIP 🙂 This a tourist shopping area. Every 5 ft is another local offering taxi, and “other”. You can imagine on your own what “other” means lol. Some of them are kind of pushy asking several times, which is the only downside of the Hip Strip area. The hotels along the strip all look like they use to be really happening until hurricane season caused damage. I would’ve loved to visit here before then to see what it was like as I imagine something similar to South Beach Miami. Margaritaville is the main tourist spot here and there is also a great local restaurant called “the Pelican” and believe it or not a Burger King was there too…………in the local section i mentioned above there was a pizza hut / kfc spot too so there are quite a bit of American spots throughout Montego Bay.
Day 3 brought me the day of the event which went great
Day 4 found me mostly resting at the hotel. I would’ve loved to go to Dunns River Falls (Jamaicas top tourist spot) but the taxi was too expensive for the 1.5 hr journey there and there were no tours running on Sunday. So i spent some more beach time at one of the local beaches along the Seven Miles Beach between Montego Bay and Negril. At that point it was almost like the Corona commercials you always see (albeit Red Stripe in hand)….no phones, no distractions, just me and the sound of the beach. It was the off-season so the beaches were almost empty lol which means I had heaven almost all to myself 🙂
As you can see with all the smiley faces and lols that the entire trip was an incredible experience and it was all worth it as the event went incredibly well as Carla & Jon had a great time, and their scrapbook came out great. You can see some photos of their wedding over at Facebook.com/scottrothevents
the only sad note of the weekend there was the passing of Whitney Houston who when all is said in done, was a jersey girl.
Scott Roth 🙂 Owner of ScottRothEvents.com