Keegan and Vanessa O’Neill

Keegan and Vanessa O’Neill

May 16
Married at: 

Kim helped us start the process of channeling our hopes, dreams and our idea of what a destination wedding would be, into the tangible beautiful reality it could be.

Getting engaged to the partner of your dreams is one of life’s greatest milestones! It’s exciting, but also can be an overwhelming process with too much information out there. If you haven’t been planning your wedding since you were a child, there’s an uneasy feeling of where to start. Every book is different, every family member and friend have their own ideas, opinions, and traditions, but this day is about the unique relationship of the newly engaged couple and they need to be aware of what they truly want. 

For my husband and myself, we were lucky to have the most amazing support from our family and friends in having the wedding of our dreams on a white sandy beach in the beautiful country of Mexico.  Both of us are laid back, so planning a wedding was something that intimidated us and we felt lost in the multitudes of information and tips that are out there. There was one thing we knew we wanted for sure: to say our vows, with the sand in our toes, on a Caribbean shoreline with our loved ones.

Where do you start when you finally realize the perfect wedding is miles away and you have to prepare everything through phone and email? To not see the location but only hope it looks as good as the pictures? To place your trust in someone you have never met, hoping they can carry out all your wishes on this special day? To get your family and friends to pay for a vacation just for you and your partner’s union, and not know how to organize them all and ensure they are getting what they want as well?

After scouring the internet and comparing a substantial amount of resorts to book at, we were surprised at the limited destination wedding resources available. We were overwhelmed with information but did not know where to start. Everywhere looked beautiful but we didn’t know the first thing about planning a wedding and neither of us had ever been to Mexico to know where the best locations would be. Luckily, we were referred to Kim at SunLovers and she began to unravel the mysteries of destination wedding planning and the stunning Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Poor Kim. We walked in there with a million ideas and no clue where to start.  Kim helped us start the process of channeling our hopes, dreams and our idea of what a destination wedding would be, into the tangible beautiful reality it could be. The hardest decision was choosing the perfect resort that was best suited to us, the engaged couple. It was hard to put ourselves first when we knew that our family and friends would have to spend money on the resort of OUR choosing…so it had to be perfect. And it was. The Karisma experience is one that I recommend to anyone willing to try, it is the ultimate resort experience, and if it wasn’t for Kim, we never would have found this gem.

The El Dorado Royale and Spa was absolute bliss. The resort is incredible, with its lazy rivers going from one pool to another, the stunning turquoise Caribbean waters, the relaxing cabana’s lining the beach and the best part is they have the friendliest employees who are always there with a smile on their face and a kind ‘Hola’ as you walk by. Our wedding day was perfect: overlooking the gorgeous blue sea, the fine white sand squishing in our toes, the beautiful decor better then imagined (the pictures don’t do it justice), the unreal staff was so helpful, and in the end we all jumped in our own private pool to cap the night off as the best party we could of hoped for! We couldn’t have picked a better place to say our vows. All thanks to Kim. With her incredible knowledge of the region and her great connections with the Karisma hotel chain, she was able to get us the wedding of our dreams, at a good cost.

The peace of mind we had because of the confidence in Kim made planning the wedding exciting, and not stressful. If we had to do it again, we wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you Kim, it meant the world to have your constant support through this amazing journey of ours.