Photographer Courtney Platt, pictures with some of his photographs that have appeared on the front of National Geographic Magazine.

By Christopher Tobutt

Local wedding showcase at Engage!09 Something Blue, a luxury wedding business summit which took place at the Ritz-Carlton recently, was organised by the Department of Tourism and wedding and honeymoon consultants, Engaging Concepts.

Engage!09 showed the large range of locally-based businesses who are more than able to meet the exacting demands and expectations from the rapidly growing destination wedding business.

Kathryn Arce from Engaging Concepts, said: “We have 175 Luxury wedding professionals from 26 States and nine countries who are here for three days to attend the business symposium, to network, share stories and gain inspiration from the best of the best in the wedding industry.”

Rebecca Grinnals, producer of the event said it had been a huge success. “People are raving about it and they want to come back. The best thing is that most of them have never been to Cayman before, and they are enchanted and delighted and can’t wait to come back and send their brides and grooms here, so we are thrilled…they are all saying that ‘this is the perfect place for a destination wedding,’” she said.

Several professional photographers were at the event. Melissa Wolfe from Better Angle photography said:

“Better Angle is a Cayman Islands Photography Company which photographs weddings and
family portraits.

“I think my photographs are so good because I actually enjoy weddings; I like brides…I like all the décor and I like all the details… and I like to capture it.”

Another locally-based photographer, Courtney Platt said: “I make wedding photography special the same way I do all my photography, which is by lighting. Lighting is the key - crucial to making a spectacular image.”

Of course, there is much more to organising a wedding than just getting a great photographer. Amongst other things, there is the catering to think about, and that special, once-in-a-lifetime wedding cake. Shirley Nakhwa, a manager at Icoa Fine Foods, located at Seven Mile Shops, was there with Shruty Garrison to tell everyone about the wonderful wedding cakes that Icoa can make for that special day.

Sometimes too, a great place for the wedding guests to eat can become a great venue for a wedding.

Melanie Galang from the Wharf Restaurant said: “The Wharf Restaurant offers waterfront dining, by the white sand of Seven Mile Beach. We have beautiful sunsets, along with a beautiful bar and restaurant, so a wedding at The Wharf is just simple and magical…They can have a beach ceremony, inside dining, and try all kinds of different ideas. We can also accommodate 350 people.”

Monique Polack from Cayman Sea Salt had a display of decorative jars of natural Cayman sea salt, something that can be used as a wedding favour. Ms Polack explained that favours were a tradition of giving something associated with the venue of a wedding, and that her special, decorative jars of Cayman’s own sea salt were the ideal thing.

“Brides can custom design their wedding favours, whether it’s the jars or the souvenir bags,” she said.

Several local companies undertake the organisation of every aspect of a wedding.

Francine Jackson is the founder of Cayman Weddings which has been in business for over 25 years.

Francine is a Civil Registrar of marriage, and her husband, Vernon, is a marriage officer. Between them they have conducted about six thousands weddings.

Joy Basdeo who works for Cayman Weddings said: “We are a full service company, we provide the flowers, the photography, the champagne, the limo, whatever our brides want.”

Casandra Hibbert, Managing Director for Diamond Events Management Group, an event management company, said:

“We will organise events from the start to the finish, and even afterwards, sending out thank-you letters and notes. If you need a caterer, photographer, or florist, we do the whole event management process. We help you develop your budgets….assist you with your invites, whatever you need we will do for you,’ she said.

Cindy Downing from event company Creativent said:

“We do event design, décor and coordination, for weddings, parties, anniversaries and special events. We also do favours as well as well as help source out invitations. We are in it to make that special day that much more stress-free so you can enjoy the event.”