How One Couple's Honeymoon Turned Into a Double Celebration at Sandals Royal Bahamian

Heidi and Stephen will always remember their wedding day in West Palm Beach, Florida, as “a blur.” They’d finished the planning a few weeks prior to the big day. All Heidi and Stephen had to do was stand in front of 175 guests and pull the knot nice and taut.
“It felt like we closed our eyes, opened them, and it was over,” Heidi says. “Just like that, we were married.”
She and Stephen felt the same way about their flight to the Bahamas, where they would melt into the Caribbean’s daydreamy rhythm for five honeymooning days at Sandals Royal Bahamian. They’d briefly discussed traveling to a faraway destination, like Sandals Barbados, but they had a tiny factor to consider.
“I was six months pregnant with our baby boy,” says Heidi. “We wanted to go somewhere tropical, somewhere to celebrate each other, and somewhere close.”
So, Heidi and Stephen stepped onto a plane in Miami at 10:30 a.m. and an hour later they stepped onto an island a gazillion miles from their responsibilities — all in the blink of an eye.
“We didn’t even have time to take naps during the flight,” Stephen says.
The thrill of their honeymoon began with views of the incomparable ocean during the 10-minute ride from the airport to the resort. Once there, they stood on a magical red carpet leading directly from the car to their hearts’ foremost desire: A week of pure relaxation.
“That’s all we wanted from our honeymoon — to relax,” Stephen says.
You can tell from their pictures that the cares of daily life had vanished. No one had to tell Heidi and Stephen to smile for the camera. You can practically hear their laughter in the photos.
“I fell in love with his laugh on our first date,” Heidi says. “It always puts me at ease.”
The ocean at Sandals Royal Bahamian made a similar impression, elevating the love, laughter, and tranquility.
“I’d never seen anything like those colors,” Heidi says. “We looked at some pictures online, but it’s different when you’re staring at the ocean and feeling the breeze on your skin at the same time.”
Within minutes of arriving at Sandals Royal Bahamian, Heidi and Stephen were already being swept away. It would only get better.

A few weeks before the honeymoon, Heidi casually noted something for her and Stephen to mentally tuck away: “You know, this could be a babymoon, too.”
When Heidi mentioned the idea to their Sandals vacation concierge, she was told about a babymoon package offered through the resort: chocolate-covered strawberries, a parents-to-be massage, candlelight dinner, sleep mask and prenatal pillow, an exclusive cravings menu, a baby bump photo shoot, and a departure gift.
“When I heard about the package, I said, ‘Oh my goodness, yes! Let’s do that.’ It’s one thing to hear the details or to see descriptions on a page. But nothing can prepare you for experiencing all of it on a tropical island with the person you love.”
After their red carpet walk and after their introduction to the ocean, Heidi and Stephen were guided to their suite. When the door opened, the dual concept of a honeymoon-babymoon met them in real life. They saw the words “Mr. and Mrs.” over the bed, the prenatal pillow for Heidi, a platter of cheeses and those chocolate-covered strawberries, a rose, and a breathtaking view of the Caribbean paradise. All of it had been arranged to be equally personal and spectacular.
“That’s when the waterworks started,” Stephen says.
Heidi laughs about the moment now because of the way her husband describes it.
“Yes, I know it’s all part of the babymoon package, but it touched my heart to see how much attention the staff put into everything for us. That’s the kind of thing a family does.”
Stephen caught another inspiring sight past the flowers and fruit. There, between the back patio and the sea, a swim-up pool meandered past their suite. It would be among a potpourri of cues welcoming Heidi and Stephen to relax in ways beyond their expectations.
“From that point forward,” Stephens says, “we literally didn’t have to do anything for the entire trip.”

They did need to make one decision every day: the pool or the beach?
When they went to the beach, loungers were set up for them, with a cooler of drinks chilling. When they went to the pool, a butler placed chicken Caesar wraps into their hands before they could raise them. Stephen’s preferred Tito’s and pineapple always showed up just in time, with virgin strawberry daquiris and virgin mojitos for the mama-to-be.
“The butlers were making everything happen without us knowing they were doing it,” Heidi says. “They’d set up our chairs before we arrived and make appointments for massages and meals so we didn’t have to think about anything. We could be completely in the moment.”
Every moment took them over the moon — two moons, actually. At the end of each day, Heidi and Stephen would retreat to the back of their suite and lower themselves into the pacifying pool. There, sitting up to their necks in sun-warmed water, they soaked in more honey-babymoon memories.

It’s two months after Heidi and Stephen’s honey-babymoon. They’re still smiling, still laughing. They can close their eyes and practically feel the gentle Caribbean breeze. They can still feel it when they open their eyes and turn through their photo album from Sandals Royal Bahamian. There’s a picture of Heidi making a heart with her hands on her baby bump. There she is with Stephen in the garden gazebo and there they are on the white-sand beach with the brilliant water behind them. One mood shows up in every picture.
“You can see the relaxation in our faces,” Heidi says.
Stephen tells one simple story that brings the spirit of this honey-babymoon from Sandals Royal Bahamian back home. At least once a day, he and Heidi would stop by the food truck Sweet ‘N’ Tings for crepes. “Nutella and banana for her,” Stephen says, “and a little Bailey’s Irish Crème on mine.” On the day they departed the resort, Heidi had a crepe in one palm and Stephen’s hand in the other. They were not at all sad.
“It was like we were taking the sweetness and happiness of Sandals Royal Bahamian home with us,” Heidi says.
One day they’ll go through the pictures of the honey-babymoon with their son, Nicholas. He was there as the babymoon subject, but he’ll be seeing it all for the first time. To his mom and dad, the moments won’t seem like a blur. Whenever they relive them, it will seem as if the best time of their lives continues to stand still.