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On a recent Beachcomber Tours fam to Mauritius, the agents took part in a mock wedding at Shandrani Resort & Spa. This was no missed vocation for Karl Cushing.
Preparing flower stems, dicing with icing and manhandling towels into floppy swans isn’t my usual Wednesday morning fare, but rule books go out the window when you’re on a Beachcomber Tours fam. So here I am at the group’s Shandrani Resort & Spa in Mauritius in October with 19 UK agents, all tasked with making a couple’s wedding day a special and unforgettable experience – preferably for all the right reasons.
Tensions are running high as we are split into three teams and thrown into the first of our three morning tasks: cake decorating, competing to be best in show. Fun as it is, with the winning creations set to feature in an actual wedding later that day, supposedly for a couple of repeat guests, there is no shortage of competitive zeal either.
Progressing through table decorating to making a bouquet and buttonhole, I soon learn that in the creative wedding planning stakes I am as much use a chocolate teapot, my efforts peaking at a portly iced rose, which is mysteriously passed over for our finished winning cake.
Thankfully, my teammates — not least Samantha Banks of Spear Travels and Hussain Ahmed of Not Just Travel Newcastle, who throw themselves into each task with enviable energy and dedication — prove more adept and inventive.
Next up, armed only with a stash of rose petals, some props such as gifts and champagne and a savvy dash of agent guile, we are tasked with dressing the bridal suite, Jordanne Mears of Millington Travel sealing the deal for her group and the judges by piping in Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing via her phone, cunningly placed under a pillow.
Come late afternoon it is time for the wedding itself, set for the wedding pavilion at the top of Wild Beach, the quietest and most picturesque of the three beaches on the southeastern peninsular on which the hotel sits. With surf-lashed rocks to one side and the beautiful tree-lined beach arcing to the right, it’s a lovely spot.
As the agents gather in their assembled finery, admiring the artful decorations and dramatic vista, rumours abound as to the identity of the couple before it is revealed to be Gary Bagnall and Ria Smith of Beachcomber’s UK office. Then, as night falls, with the mock ceremony complete, we retire to the spa’s walled off central pool area for speeches, a slap-up dinner and one crazy party.
Naturally, there is a serious side to the proceedings as the day serves to showcase Beachcomber’s in-house wedding planners (masterfully aided by us, of course) and wedding packages. Limited to one a day, they come in regular and luxury flavours, equating to £665 and £1,135 respectively for the five-star, 327-room Shandrani, where most guests stay on an all-inclusive basis. The exercise also helps to illustrate the freshly rebranded Beachcomber’s new Art of Beautiful concept and its accompanying “rituals”, including one that sees the couple mix beakers of coloured sand before symbolically emptying the results into the surf.
For Karin Roberts, director at City Travel & Tours, in St Asaph, the day is “a fabulous opportunity”. “It was a great way of making us appreciate how much effort the Beachcomber team takes when preparing for a wedding. Their attention to every detail was second to none and I will take from this 100% satisfaction that my clients will receive the best day of their lives.”
Words echoed by seasoned weddings specialist Nikki Curran of Atlas Travel, in Margate. “Having experienced a Beachcomber wedding from the preparation to enjoying the full festivities, I can assure any couple thinking of a Beachcomber wedding that the attention to detail, love and time that goes into each wedding or vow renewal is unparalleled,” says Curran, adding: “True romance in paradise guaranteed.”
Education aside, it is also great fun, and while I discover I totally suck at wedding planning, I do learn how to make a towel swan. Kind of.
