Bahamas Local Customs
The Bahamas are a beautiful destination wedding location and home to a rich, vibrant, and diverse Caribbean culture. To make your destination wedding ceremony stand out in your memories and those of your guests, consider paying respects to the local culture by following local wedding customs. Make your Caribbean wedding ceremony one-of-a-kind with beautiful native flowers, delicious cuisine, and wonderful local music unique to the Bahamas.
Native Flowers of the Bahamas
Support local florists by using native Bahamian flowers for your bouquets, centerpieces, and decorations at your destination wedding ceremony and reception. Some beautiful tropical flowers native to the Bahamas includes the national flower, which is called the Yellow Elder, and the sweet-smelling Frangipani flower.
Local Music
Junkanoo music is the local music of the Bahamas. Junkanoo music is a rich, expressive style of percussive music with heavy African influences. Traditional Bahamian weddings often include a Junkanoo rush-out, which is a parade of musicians dressed in masks and armed with cowbells, whistles, and drums. Give your destination wedding ceremony and reception unique local flair by celebrating with a lively Junkanoo rush-out.
Bahamian Cuisine
The Bahamas boast a wide array of cuisine featuring both home-cooked Bahamian dishes and international dishes. Traditional Bahamian cuisine is very spicy and features many seafood dishes. The most popular food in the Bahamas is conch, which is an ocean mollusk with tender white meat that is eaten raw with lime juice and spices. Deep-friend conch is also popular. The clawless rock lobster is another seafood main staple. Rock lobster is commonly added to salads and soups.
How about eating a coconut wedding cake at your destination wedding reception? Coconut is a staple in the Bahamian diet and is delicious when shredded and sprinkled on cake frosting or mixed in to flavor the batter. Coconut wedding cake will give your wedding tropical appeal.
For less adventurous destination wedding couples and guests, it is still possible to enjoy international foods at the big Bahamian resorts. You can find hamburgers, sushi, and just about any other familiar international dish in the Bahamas.
The Bahamas is home to delicious liquors and rums that make great cocktails. Tropical cocktails that can be served to guests at your destination wedding reception include the Bahama Mama, which consists of ingredients like coconut rum, grenadine, and pineapple juice, and the Bahama Breeze, which consists of ingredients like dark rum, banana liquor, honey, and orange juice.
Bahamian Wedding Traditions
Bahamian wedding traditions vary depending on the denomination of the couple getting married but some local traditions apply to just about any wedding. If you are planning to have a religious destination wedding ceremony, you will be able to experience the local version at a church in the Bahamas.
Local wedding customs include a ceremony at sunset to beat the scorching daytime heat, a wild celebration at your wedding reception with live music, an open bar, and a DJ/MC. On the island of Bimini, it is custom for the best man to stay with the groom for a few days prior to the wedding in order to protect him from jealous onlookers. One dying wedding tradition in the Bahamas is for the bride and groom to ride a horse and carriage at the ceremony. It is also a custom for the minister to ask everyone at the ceremony if there is any reason why the bride and groom should not to be wed.
Wedding guests at traditional Bahamian weddings customarily receive party favors. Give your destination wedding guests a unique, local party favor. Straw napkin holders and bags, seashell crafts, candles, and junkanoo dolls are all interesting local crafts that can serve as wonderful keepsakes for your destination wedding guests.
Make no mistake about it. No destination wedding ceremony or reception in the Bahamas is complete without adding some local Bahamian flair with tropical flowers, food, cocktails, and music only found on these beautiful islands. Give your destination wedding guests a ceremony and reception to remember by including these unique local customs and traditions in your Caribbean wedding celebration. |
