When our dear friends Laura and Laura told us they were planning their wedding in Grenada and kindly invited Juliette as the only baby in attendance, we were game! Bust out the pool floaties. Get your game face on. Time to party!

How to get there

Genada is a beautiful island about a 3.5 hour flight from Miami. We thought of it as just a hop from Florida but it isn’t…it’s actually a hop from Venezuela to the South. There are very few flights in and out of Grenada so your options are limited. From SF, we took a redeye to Miami, layover in Miami and then the flight to Grenada arriving in the late afternoon. On the way home we took the one flight a day to Miami, spent the night in Miami and then got the 6.5 hour flight back to SF. I totally get why East coasters go to the Caribbean. There are direct flights from NYC and it is a relatively short flight. Reinforces for me East –> Caribbean, West –> Hawaii. But we’re always up for an adventure! And Juliette is still at an age where she is a pleasure on airplanes!

Where to stay

The wedding was held at Mount Cinnamon, an absolutely charming boutique hotel on the stunning Grand Anse beach. The highlight of this place was the hotel staff. Not only were they so accommodating to our requests to find a washing machine for some baby clothes or arranging last minute baby sitters, but everywhere we walked on site everyone would wave to the baby and say, “Hi, Juliette!”

The rooms are situated up on the hill so there is a little walk down to the beach (golf carts are also available to drive you down). There is a great beach bar and lounge area on the beach. The sand is like powder and the ocean water is so warm. Swimming was a pleasure since the floor was all sandy bottom and there were very few waves. Juliette chilled in her floaty out there for ages (and we got some great beach time)!

Our friends had the most beautiful wedding on the beach and it was so special being able to celebrate with them. 

One of my favorite moments of the weekend was during the reception when I spotted Justin and Juliette doing a Father-Daughter dance.

And just shy of that highlight was when we passed her off to a babysitter so mama and papa got to go to the beach for an after party (yay!).

If you go to the Caribbean with a baby

As always, go with the flow. We tried to keep Juliette mostly on PST — where she would go to sleep around 9:00 or 10:00pm and wake up around 9:00am. Somehow that worked for us in Mexico. But here, we put her to bed late but somehow popped up (literally) at 7:00am. We woke up to that shinning facing peering at us over the top of her Pack and Play.

Oh well, go with the flow :). Fortunately she took epic naps. Probably due to our two favorite sleep travel products, the Snooze Shade which keeps things dark and our travel white noise machine. She even fell asleep before hitting her bed. She partied hard.

TIPS

• We were there at the end of October which is mosquito season. I definitely became breakfast, lunch and dinner to the entire population on the island. Fortunately I must have filled them all before they could get to Juliette but I certainly looked like a welted Dalmatian at the end. If you’re prone to that too, check the month before you travel.
• Don’t bring any clothes you don’t want to sweat through. I am glad I had a few dress options for the wedding. The one I was planning to wear would have been an absolute joke in 2 min outside with the heat and humidity.
• Plan to relax. The island and specifically Grand Anse Beach is just stunning and a wonderfully quiet place to decompress. You can do rum, chocolate or food tours. Or, you can sit on the gorgeous beach and look out at the turquoise water. You pick.