We are looking to do a destination wedding in the Bahamas. My fiancee has her heart set on the ceremony being held at the Cloister ruins on Paradise Island, but she just found out a minimal ceremony would cost about 10k and she feels that is way too high.

Personally I was thinking more of a secluded area on a beach (cloisters seem to be in the middle of a bunch of chaos and not on the beach)

With the wedding being a destination wedding we were thinking about making it a week long vacation for the guests, as they all will be traveling a long way,and we want to make the trip worth their while. We were hoping to be able to entertain the guests with day trips on our boat and my fathers.

So basically we are looking for an area that we can house 20-30 people, whether it be 2 or 3 homes we rent for a week, or a hotel or ???, and to be in an area where everyone can be entertained for a week and a neat place for a wedding ceremony.

After the ceremony, I was considering doing a little Island hopping/exploring for our honey moon.

Any suggestions on any of this?

Go to Key West and have it there!

My friend did his wedding at Atlantis. Works well because they have a marina.

1st consideration is getting there.......Nassau has daily flights, smaller islands might not.
2nd- anything near Atlantis is going to be ridiculously overpriced. If you are he11 bent on Atlantis, book the Comfort Suites next door. You get free breakfast and internet and all the privileges of the Atlantis property (aquarium, waterpark etc). It is literally 150 ft from the Atlantis Marina.
3rd- passports. All trips to the Bahamas require one. If any of your wedding party/guests don't have one, factor in the lead time to get one.

Just got home from Bimini a few hours ago. We chartered a plane for $2680 round trip. Plane seated 7. Commercial flights were $325 a seat though I had seen them as cheap as $210 RT. Of course I went to book and the price was the higher price. Keep in mind this was 50 +/- miles from mainland FL, 33 minute flight at 140 knots!

We did Atlantis last summer, Bimini this summer. My kids thought Bimini was the "real Bahamas" whereas Atlantis was more "Las Vegas meets the Bahamas!"
Also be wary of Baha Mar or whatever they are calling the newest resort in Nassau/Paradise Harbor......It is NOT OPEN YET despite them taking reservations on the US phone lines. They declared bankruptcy and need 75 million more to finish the place! This was per my neighbor who works in Nassau and was back home last weekend.

Thank you Jupiter Sunsation. I am leaning more towards "the real bahamas"

We also are considering renting a VERY large home to house everyone and have the ceremony, if the backdrop is conducive.

Try Abaco. Great area for exploring by boat. Literally hundreds of small islands. Lots of homes to rent. We rented a boat in Marsh Harbor. Stayed at Lubbers Landing on Lubbers Cay and expored all week around there.

Isn't there a OSO member that has a resort somewhere in the Islands?
Padraig

Yeah, that's the place Payton is talking about. I imagine the would even have leads on house rentals...

My suggestion would be Treasure Cay in the Abacos. http://treasurecay.com/
Awesome beach and a good central hub for daily boat excursions to explore the surrounding islands.
You can easily spend a week and never visit the same island twice!

Guana cay!