By Courtney Roberts
When planning a vegan wedding, naturally you want to make sure that your honeymoon reflects your cruelty-free lifestyle as well. Sandals Resorts are a popular destination for travelers of all walks of life, but you may not have known that they are also very adaptable to vegans! For this post, I sat down with real vegan bride Shannon (who’s real vegan wedding we featured earlier this year) to discuss her honeymoon at Sandals Barbados.
What made you choose Sandals Barbados?
Quint and I chose Sandals Barbados for a few reasons. Originally we knew we wanted to go somewhere out of the United States since neither of us have been, we wanted somewhere tropical, and where we could completely relax after stressful wedding planning; plus my mom passed away in the beginning of the year and and moved to a new apartment in April. 2018 being exhausting is an understatement. With a October 27th wedding we were both a little worried about hurricane season so we knew for sure our destination had to be out of the hurricane belt. My parents went to vacation in Barbados in the early 90’s so I have grown up hearing amazing stories of the island and our family room had paintings and memorabilia of Barbados as well. Once we started talking to a highly recommended travel agent Barbados seemed to be the best bet for our qualifications. My dad was almost in tears when I told him our choice and said how excited my mom would be we picked Barbados. Sandals as a whole is a resort meant for couples. It is adult only and all rooms/prices are meant for two. Many of their seating and design throughout the resort is meant for two as well. It a top honeymoon destination. It is also all inclusive which was very nice since with all the wedding planning we didn’t want to have to plan a lot more- I just wanted to relax on the beach and be in peace. Sandals Barbados is a unique spot, I don’t usually hear people going there, it is a peaceful tropical island with friendly locals, and it also sharks do not travel that south. Just another “worry free” bonus!
Was it easy to find vegan options?
Yes! Sandals claims they are the most dietary accommodating resort. I made sure to read many reviews of vegans at Sandals Resorts beforehand to make sure I wouldn’t starve. My husband is obsessed with food, eating good was a big priority. I even checked reviews of vegan options for the Miami airport we would have a layover at- luckily it made a top list of vegan friendly airports. We had an amazing vegan burger and fries at Custom Counter Burgers. Once you arrive to Sandals you can even meet with customer service to discuss dietary needs- they want to serve you! Sandals Barbados had 18 restaurants and 7 bars on resort to choose from daily. For breakfast we had a typical buffet usually with hash browns, fruit, smoothie bowls, and more. We were weirdly obsessed with the hash browns. Getting non dairy milk with my coffee was simple, and one day we had room service included and they were able to make us vegan French toast.
For lunch we usually stayed at the beach/pool since I wanted to soak in every minute of the warm sun and ocean. We ate at the outside lunch shacks where there was pizza, veggie burgers, fries, and customizable quesadillas. Frozen drinks at the swim up bar of course too! The restaurants were all very different with Indian, Japanese, Thai, Italian, English, and more types of cuisines. The Asian inspired restaurants were the easiest to eat. When I got back home I jokingly weighed myself and I had gained 7 lbs. I’m sure most was water weight and bloat, but I found it funny. That is an indicator it was not hard to eat and we ate a lot!
What was your favorite meal that you had there?
The restaurant Soy- we even ate there two of our seven nights. Miso soup, edamame, spring rolls, ginger salad, and a lot of sushi. Their drink special was so good too. Sounds very simple, but it was so great and fresh. It’s really hard not to order the whole menu when it’s all inclusive.
What is your favorite memory from the trip?
Wow, how can I choose? I really enjoyed our day where we did an excursion. We got to take a bus tour of the island and then be on a boat all day. We cruised the ocean for hours and stopped four times. One to snorkel with sea turtles- it was a spot they are frequently found at. It was so cool being with them up close freely in their natural habitat. Another stop we snorkeled at a shipwreck seeing so many beautiful tropical fish. Our third stop was a private beach. Being away from the resort it was much more blue. I even jumped off the top of the boat into the water. Our fourth stop we just stopped and enjoyed lunch on the boat. Another favorite memory would just be being at the beach. I was born in Florida and have such a strong connection to water. We would wade in the ocean for probably an hour at a time before coming back to land. Enjoying the waves, doing flips in the water, and trying to grab rocks below with my toes. My third favorite memory would be the night we went to the rooftop bar. It was just beautiful seeing everything from above. Feeling the humid breeze, hearing the waves, and the saxophone player nearby. It was really a moment where I realized wow I’m on a tiny island with my best friend away from everyone and all problems soaking in that I married the love of my life. Seriously the whole trip was wonderful, romantic, relaxing, and perfect with the sun and ocean.
Shannon also posted about her experience with Sandals Barbados on her YouTube channel, where she also shares vegan recipes and tips for living a healthy lifestyle.
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Courtney Roberts is a wedding videographer based in Southern California. Filming weddings is truly her dream job, because it combines her interest in storytelling with her passion for couples who are madly in love. She believes that empathy and connection are the basis of a meaningful life, and that veganism is an important part of that.
