Hi everyone, I'm Anita Gravelle. I want to invite you to come along on an adventure with me and my new husband, Jason. We were married just two months ago on the beautiful beaches of Negril, Jamaica. If you've never been, you must go. Soon. It's one of the most gorgeous places on earth. And the people are fabulous. But I digress.
Even before we were engaged Jason and I both knew we would have a destination wedding. So, the minute that ring went on my finger I began to research. I did the traditional things, bought magazines and went to bridal shows. And I also spent a lot of time online. A lot of time. Jason stopped bothering to ask after a while what I was googling. It was pointless, he knew the answer before he asked the question.
Late one night while scouring the Internet for information, I came across a review written about a resort that I'd been told we couldn't have our wedding at (I think I'll save that whole story for another post). Not at all the shy type, I emailed the author. Now, I didn't really expect a response, I just figured "what the heck". Plus it was very, very late so judgment played a factor. So, you can imagine my surprise when fifteen minutes later I received an email back from Ms. Candy Cain herself. Not only did she debunk the bad information I'd been given, she told me she wasn't only an author... she was also a travel agent and wedding planner!! She could help me.
OK, I was skeptical. I waited until morning and really talked it over with Jason. Did we need a wedding planner for our simple destination wedding? After all, the whole point of choosing this type of wedding was to avoid the stress of a "regular" wedding. AAHHH, but that's the kicker, Candy explained, every wedding is stressful in its own way. The best way to avoid the stress?? Let someone else deal with it! I have to admit, we were won over by the thought of someone else answering the million and one phone calls from family and friends regarding travel arrangements during those last few weeks right before the big day. Yep, totally worth it! We decided in that moment to hire Candy Cain Travel Co. to plan our wedding. But over the next fifteen months of planning we ended up with so much more than just the wedding of our dreams. We ended up with a wonderful friend and business partner - and wow did we NOT even see it coming!!
Let me tell you about Candy Cain of Candy Cain Travel Co., she is the best of the best wedding planners around. The more I worked with her on our wedding, the more amazed I was. I knew she was planning several other weddings, but we never felt neglected or put on a back burner. Whenever one of us called, our wedding felt "top priority". When we returned from Jamaica, Candy did an interview regarding wedding planning on Confetti Blog Talk Radio. It was an amazing piece on destination weddings. I was inspired! I had been active in planning our wedding, and I enjoyed it, but could this be for me?? What would Jason think??
I spent the next few days discussing the idea with Jason - he was more supportive that I could have ever asked for. I mentioned it to Candy and she wasn't just supportive, she began immediately emailing me classes to sign up for and information to read. She was all for it! Within a week I was getting ready to take a course to become a Certified Destination Wedding Specialist, and that's when the twist came in. Jason mentioned that maybe he would take the course too. Really? I didn't know he would be interested, I was so excited. When we approached Candy with the idea she thought it was great, but took it a step further - why didn't Jason train to book travel? Things picked up speed fast after that... next thing we knew Candy Cain Travel Great Lakes Region was born! Our first adventure as a married couple.
It makes sense for us though. We've both traveled extensively and absolutely love it! We're both very detail oriented, which is a huge plus in the travel industry. Planning our wedding was an obsession for me, so it stands to reason I'd want to plan them for other lucky brides. Plus we have this amazing opportunity to learn from a professional who is generous enough to provide us with the knowledge she has gathered building her own business. We're six weeks in and I have to say, it's going better than we dared to hope. It's fun, it's work, it's interesting.
We hope you'll continue to follow along on our journey. In the meantime, if you want to take your own journey, please visit our website: http://www.candycaintravelglr.com/, give us a call at 248-560-7001 or drop us a line at anita@candycaintravelglr.com or jason@candycaintravelglr.com. We would love to talk to you about your dream wedding, ultimate honeymoon or just a weekend getaway.
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