Monthly Archives: June 2017

The new Wonder Woman film loses the comic’s playfulness so don’t expect space kangaroos – The Verge

Posted: June 3, 2017 at 12:53 pm

The new Wonder Woman film has most of what Wonder Woman fans would expect from a cinematic adaptation of her comics. There's Paradise Island, the distant utopia where women warriors live and fight together, sans men. There's the magic golden lasso which compels people to tell the truth. There are the magical bracelets that deflect bullets (and the occasional World War I shell, since the film is set in that era). Steve Trevor, brave airman in need of rescue? Yep. Etta Candy, jovial sidekick? She's there. Improbable CGI superfeats? Of course.

Fans of the classic comics may miss a few iconic bits of the Wonder Woman mythos, though. Wonder Woman has some funny repartee, falling in line with Marvel Cinematic Universe films: at one point, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman archly explains to Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) that men are necessary for biological reproduction, but not for pleasure. But while there are jokes, the comics more whimsical elements have been shelved. There's no invisible plane. (At least not as far as audiences can tell.). And the Amazons in the film ride normal, everyday horses, rather than giant battle kangaroos.

Battle kangaroos haven't been part of the Wonder Woman mythos for some 65 years. But in the original 1940s comics, written by William Marston and drawn with elegant stiffness by Harry G. Peter, kangas were one of the most visually distinctive not to mention gloriously silly aspects of life on Paradise Island. Amazons rode kangas in their Paradise Island military contests, and they even had special giant sky kangas that could take them to other planets.

Marston and Peter even had an origin issue for the giant kangaroos. In 1947, Wonder Woman #23 revealed that the kangaroos were brought to Paradise Island by cat-headed male aliens when Wonder Woman was a child. After some fighting, it turned out that the aliens were actually human-looking women. They joined the Amazons, and their giant kangaroos replaced the Amazons former mounts giant bunnies. (Marston and Peter never got around to an origin issue for the bunnies.)

It's clear enough why Wonder Woman 2017 doesn't have giant kangas or bunnies: space-hopping kangaroos are silly. They're a fun concept for kids, but the movie is aimed at an older, more serious and sophisticated audience. Adults want a tormented Wonder Woman grieving for fallen comrades, not a cheerful Wonder Woman using her magic lasso to make dignified Amazon doctors stand on their heads. (The magic lasso was originally a lasso of command much more broadly useful than the lasso of truth.)

The film's revamping of Wonder Woman's origin helps underline the difference in audience and tone. In the comic, Wonder Woman's mother crafts a child out of clay, and Aphrodite grants it life.

That's a child's story about how babies are made, the fantasy of an awkward parent who isnt ready to get into the birds and the bees and the kangaroos. The film is mature enough to know better. In the movie version, the Amazon Hippolyta claims she crafted Diana the future Wonder Woman from clay, and Zeus animated her. But eventually, a character pointedly suggests that Hippolyta and Zeus made Diana the old-fashioned, biological way. Kids love kangaroos and don't know where babies come from. Wonder Woman 2017 is smarter than that.

But being smarter in this case feels a lot like being staid. The whimsical childrens version of Diana's birth is much more adventurous than the movie version. In Marston and Peter's comic, Aphrodite and Hippolyte make a child together, in an intentional vision of lesbian parthenogenesis. Marston lived in a polyamorous relationship with his wife, Elizabeth and their lover, Olive Byrne. He had children with both women. Elizabeth and Olive lived together for decades after Marston died; they were almost certainly bisexual. Marston was attuned to the possibility of unconventional family structures. He created a Wonder Woman origin story that cut out men, and refused the logic of patriarchy, whereby power travels from father to child. The film, in asserting that the facts of life must be the facts of life, and in attributing Wonder Woman's specialness to Zeus power as a god, dismisses Marstons politics in order to tell a more conventional story. Its supposedly more adult, but Marston might have considered it nave.

Marston wasn't just a polyamorist, he was an academic psychologist and sexual theorist whose ideas seem daring even in 2017, and were more so in the 1940s. Marston's Emotions of Normal People (1928) argued, contra Freud, that children's erotic bonds with their mothers were normal and awesome, and if cultivated could save the world. He believed that everyone's erotic life was bound up (as it were) in dominance and submission, and he believed that female love leaders could use their erotic oomph to direct men and women alike to a utopia of peace, love, and bondage games.

The original Wonder Woman comics were whimsical and playful because they were for children but also because they were sexual. Instead of massive CGI battles and explosions, the original Wonder Woman comics mostly featured stories where Wonder Woman and the villains alternated tying each other up and ordering each other around. Everyone got to top from the bottom and bottom from the top.

Marston very much intended for his playfulness to appeal to childish sensibilities and adult ones at the same time. He even wrote a comic about it: Sensation Comics #31, from 1944. In that story, Wonder Woman travels to Grown-Down Land, where children rule and force adults to take grown down medicine to make them children, too. Along the way, Wonder Woman is compelled to obey the dictatorial children, and she receives a sound spanking from toddlers while a mob of babies cheers. Its pretty tough being a grown down ladys slave! Wonder Woman exclaims. All in good fun, of course.

Sensation Comics #31 is pretty shocking even to the most jaded modern reader. Eroticized material involving toddlers, much less infants, remains taboo for most audiences. But Marston's comics arent out of line with other early children's literature. Peter Pan's innocence is so aggressive precisely because the sexual tension of a boy flying into a girls bedroom window is so overt. In her monograph Between Women, Sharon Marcus writes about Victorian doll stories for children, which often involved children spanking, beating, and tying up sentient animate dolls.

When people read such stories from a contemporary perspective, they tend to talk about repression and perversion. But Marston's goal was to encourage children not to be repressed. He wanted his readers (young and old) to embrace their imaginations, whether it took them to sky kangas or ritualized spankings. In Wonder Woman 2017, the Amazon games are all oriented toward battle preparation and the serious work of war. In Marston and Peters Paradise Island, the Amazons train for battle and athletic contests. But they also have a game where some Amazons dress up in deer skins while others hunt them, capture them, and pretend to eat them. Fighting and competing are fun, but so is goofy flirtation with your sisters. And if children got the message that lesbianism was acceptable, normal, and fun well, Marston, Elizabeth, and Byrne would certainly approve.

Wonder Woman 2017 does occasionally channel the childish spirit of the original comics. Many superheroines on-screen, from Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow to Sarah Michelle Geller as Buffy, find their powers a burden and pine for normality. But Gal Gadot seems to genuinely enjoy her superfeats. In one scene, when she leaps across a ravine and grasps onto a ledge, she smiles gleefully, as if to say, "I am more awesome than I even knew!" Marston would approve; his Wonder Woman also really enjoyed her powers.

But in general, the more adult Wonder Woman is a more conventional superhero than Marston and Peters version. Gadot's Wonder Woman talks vaguely about the power of love, but mostly, her adventure involves beating the tar out of bad guys, and eventually slicing them apart with her sword a phallic weapon added to her repertoire long after Marston died. Wonder Woman doesnt lead Etta Candy and her sorority sisters to the stars to fight the evil Pluto. Instead, she and Steve recruit a pallid A-team of stock male mercenaries to fight, while Etta stays behind in London. Realism means that only Amazons and men have the adventures. Real women hang back at headquarters, and answer the phones.

Granted, few viewers would really want a fully Marston-derived Wonder Woman film, whatever that would look like. (Some sort of combination of Barbarella and Caged Heat?) Mainstream audience Wonder Woman fans, and moviegoers in general, want a heroine who overcomes personal tragedy, trades quips, and fights for rights in sequences packed with lots of special effects.

I don't begrudge anyone their successful, badass Wonder Woman movie. But I think it's worth remembering that something is lost when you trade in the kangas for horses, and the whimsy for angst. Playfulness opens up possibilities for children of all ages. Marston and Peter were hopping about on distant planets decades ago. The new Wonder Woman, whatever its virtues, suggests we still haven't caught up with them.

Noah Berlatsky is the author of Wonder Woman: Bondage and Feminism in the Marston/Peter Comics.

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Uzbekistan dominate home IBSA Judo Asia-Oceania Championships – Insidethegames.biz

Posted: at 12:52 pm

Uzbekistan dominated the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Judo Asia-Oceania Championships on home soil in capital city Tashkent.

Judokas from the central Asian nation dominated across two days of competition at the Universal Sport Complex.

Rio 2016 Paralympic champion Sherzod Namozov was a predictable winner in the under-60 kilograms division after a victory over South Korean opponent Min Jae-Lee in the final.

Another South Korean in Jang Seong-jin shared bronze with Seyed Meysam Banitaba Khorram Abadi of Iran.

Other home wins on the men's side were achieved by Feruz Sayidov and Shukhrat Boboev in the respective men's under-73 and under-90kg events.

Sayidov beat team-mate Davurkhon Karomatov in the final as Kazakhstan's Temirzhan Daulet shared bronze with Yang Seung-jun of South Korea.

Boboev beat South Korea's Lee Yuhan in the final as Iranian Mohammad Ali Shanani shared bronze with another Uzbek in Kuvondikjon Bobzorov.

Saeid Radmati claimed Iranian gold after beating Kazakh opponent Azamat Turumbetov in the under-66kg final.

Jaydeepkumar Hridaya Singh took Indian bronze along with Adizjon Tuymurodov of Uzbekistan.

South Korea claimed under-81kg honours courtesy of Kim Yun-ho.

He beat Seyed Omid Jafari of Iran in the final as Shohruz Toshev and Akhliddin Umarov had to be content with two host nation bronzes.

Only four countries participated in women's competitions as Uzbekistan claimed all five titles.

Yokutkhon Komilova won at under-48kg and Sevinch Salaeva took the under-52kg title.

Nafisa Sheripboeva, Tursunpashsha Nurmetova and Vasila Aliboeva took respective under-57kg, under-63kg and under-70kg honours.

There were no entrants in the heavyweight over-70kg competition.

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Inside the Seychelles’ New Six Senses Zil Payson Island Resort – Robb Report

Posted: at 12:52 pm

Theres something of a Jurassic Park feel to Flicit, the Seychelles island thats home to the new Six Senses Zil Pasyon. Jagged, giant granite boulders loom over the verdant, hilly island, and play a direct role in some of the activities available at the resort: To get to the pavilions of Six Senses trademark spa, you walk a rope bridge strung between boulders. Guests can also scale another boulderthe islands highest pointfor the perfect perch on which to watch the sunset with a bottle of Champagne.

The 30 villas, all with infinity-edge pools and sea views, are spaciousstarting at 1,880-square feetand designed with local stone, wood, and contemporary furniture swathed in fabrics bearing the same vibrant turquoise shade as the Indian Ocean outside. Each accommodation also comes with a butlercalled a GEM, or Guest Experience Makerwho can arrange activities such as hiking the trails on the islands 652 acres, cycling the nearby island of La Digue, or golfing on neighboring Praslin island.

Of course, most guests are content to stay right where they are, splitting their time between the spa and the sea. The former features the Six Senses Integrated Wellness Program, offering five journeys that use local and African treatments. The latter, is home to a wonderland of coral formations, a panoply of multicolored fish, and a trio of powdery beaches. A 5-minute boat ride to nearby Coco Island brings the additional experience of swimming with turtles.

At night, culinary creations take center stage, spotlighting both local cuisine and international specialties such as just-caught tuna wrapped around sugarcane stalks, octopus-and-soft-shell-crab curry, and grilled Wagyu beef. But the most satisfying meal comes early in the day, with a breakfast of coconut pancakes or scrambled eggs and crab, enjoyed on your private villa deck overlooking the sea. (sixsenses.com)

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Caribbean Culinary Affair Attracts South Florida’s Most Fabulous – South Florida Caribbean News

Posted: at 12:51 pm

MIRAMAR With the backing of City of Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam, The Taste the Islands Experience, an evening of fine Caribbean cuisine, attracted hundreds of South Floridas most fabulous.

On Thursday, June 1, to kick off Caribbean American Heritage Month in high style, guests arrived early for the sold out affair and enjoyed an array of gourmet appetizers by celebrity chefs Jamaican Hugh Chef Irie Sinclair, Haitian Cynthia Chef Thia Verna and Barbadian Barbara Brathwaite.

The event celebrated the launch of Taste the Islands Season II, a Caribbean culinary and travel series airing on Create TV and public television stations nationwide.

The evening started with a welcome hour, and pageant queens as well as costumed Barbados Crop Over players dancing to the music of a steel drum.

Guests perused a selection of silent auction items, raising money for Jamaican and Haitian causes through non-profit event partner Food for the Poor, whose Executive Director Angel Aloma spoke passionately about the organizations mission later in the evening.

Guests received welcome drinks and were ushered into a lavish room appointed with tropical plants, elegant cocktail tables and intricately carved signage, compliments of luxury interior designer Marsha McDonald of Seacrest Designs and Decor.

The appetizers on display were so enticing that attendees anxiously awaiting, intercepted servers as they entered the room.

Inside the Sandals sponsored VIP area, guests enjoyed a selection of premium appetizers, complimentary cocktails and lounge seating, as well as massages by Goldson Spine. A whos who of dignitaries were in attendance including Jamaican Consul General Franz Hall, Haitian Consul General Gandy Thomas, Haiti Tourism Minister Jessy Menos and Barbadian Consul Joseph Hunte.

L-R: Haitian Consul General Gandy Thomas, Guest, Haiti Minister of Tourism Jessy Menos, Miramar Mayor Wayne Messam Photo: Gregory Reed

The evenings live program included speeches by dignitaries, Mayor Wayne Messam, Jeneissy Azcuy of presenting station South Florida PBS, and series and event producer Calibe Thompson, who also unveiled the production teams first issue of the highly anticipated Island Origins Magazine, as well as a preview of Taste the Islands Season II, and a live cooking demonstration by the shows celebrity chefs.

L-R: Event Producer David I. Muir, Rory Lee, Host Lisa Lee Arneaud, Show and Event Producer Calibe Thompson, Chef Cynthia Verna, Mayor Wayne Messam, Chef Hugh Sinclair, Adam Heim, Tyler Council, Allison Hunte and Associate Show Producer Lukkee Chong Photo: Gregory Reed

Guests received swag bags including sponsor products and the new Island Origins Magazine, available free at South Florida events and retail locations throughout the month of June.

Taste the Islands is a half-hour cooking series featuring Caribbean-themed recipes and travel segments. The family friendly program presents an opportunity for viewers to learn about the fascinating food and culture of the Caribbean.

Viewers around the country can watch the second season premiere on Sunday, June 11 at 7:00PM EST on Create TV, and can find their local channel number by visiting Create TV.

Funding for Taste the Islands season two is provided by Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc, Grace Foods and Lakay Food. It is distributed nationwide by American Public Television.

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Samsung is releasing a Pirates of the Caribbean themed Galaxy S8 that comes in a booty chest – The Verge

Posted: at 12:51 pm

For some reason, Samsung is releasing a Pirates of The Caribbean-themed Galaxy S8. Spec-wise, the phone isnt any different than the standard Galaxy S8, save for a fancy box, some wallpaper, and a case. But when Disney is trying to make a film with a $230 million budget a success... well, this is what you get.

The phone, which is currently on sale at JD.com, only comes in the 4GB of RAM + 64GB of storage version, and retails for $880. It also comes with a special phone ring holder.

Honestly, theres no reason to buy this. But if you are a huge Johnny Depp fan (or, more likely, Johnny Depp himself) your dreams of a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed cellphone case and wallpaper can be fulfilled. Or you could just go to the flea market, buy a knockoff case, and wait until someone uploads the wallpaper to Reddit and save approximately $870.

Your call.

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Red Cross: Social Ills Make Disasters Worse in Latin America, Caribbean – Voice of America

Posted: at 12:51 pm

TEPIC, MEXICO

High levels of violence and inequality complicate the challenge of managing humanitarian risks in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that is not investing enough in keeping its people safe, said a top Red Cross official.

As the Caribbean hurricane season approaches, Walter Cotte, Americas director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said the region was making use of early warning systems and was better positioned to deal with the wrath of huge storms, but still needed to spend more on preparing for natural disasters.

We are advancing enough in response, the problem is were not advancing enough in prevention, Cotte said on the sidelines of a recent U.N. disasters conference in Cancun. This is a gap, and were condemned to pay for response instead of investing in prevention.

Many issues, but violence is No. 1

He listed tackling violence as the top priority in a region where gangs rule the streets of many towns and cities, and murder rates have been on the rise.

Latin America also needs to combat high rates of road accidents, hydro-meteorological problems like water shortages, and unhealthy lifestyles, whose effects such as obesity are proving expensive to tackle in the worlds most unequal region.

Honduras, which is struggling to contain drug-fueled gang violence and organized crime, is one country where the Red Cross is helping thousands of people who are fleeing, and is even working with gangs such as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) to try to reduce violence, Cotte said.

We are focused on resilience, and this long-term approach is really creating a new way to offer solutions to communities, he said.

Caribbean making progress

While low-lying Caribbean islands, among the most exposed to rising sea levels and other climate change impacts, are making progress in adapting, more resources are needed to improve technology and coordinate fragmented disaster response, Cotte said.

Comparing the impact of last years Hurricane Matthew on Haiti where up to 1,000 were killed while mass evacuations in Cuba avoided deaths, Cotte said greater cooperation between governments, business and aid agencies in the region was key.

Now the hurricane season is stronger and more frequent. ... The impacts are very big, and if youre not yet at the level of preparation required, (it) will be worse for your population, he said.

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Movie Review: ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" – hngnews.com

Posted: at 12:51 pm

Ive found that the Pirates of the Caribbean movies benefit from low expectations.Take the original, Curse of the Black Pearl from 2003. At first, it seemed like a bad idea to invest so heavily in a pirate movie (two words: Cutthroat Island) based on a Disney theme park ride (three words: The Country Bears). But the movie pulled a huge upset and proved the naysayers wrong: it was funny, it was exciting, Johnny Depp got an Oscar nomination for playing the mischievous Captain Jack Sparrow, and it made a ton of money. Then came three sequels that were maybe good for a handful of chuckles and one or two decent action sequences apiece. The franchise got old and wore out its welcome. Early word on Dead Men Tell No Tales was that it was a pathetic, desperate attempt to extend the series. Its not that bad. Its on the same level as the first three sequels. Its nowhere near as good as the first film, but its better than what I expected.

The plot is convoluted and messy, but basically everybody is racing to acquire the Trident of Poseidon, a mythical wish-granting device. It can be used to collect treasure, destroy enemies, or in the case of Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites), get his father (Orlando Bloom) out of the commitment to the Flying Dutchman thats kept him away from his family for the past 20 years. Out of desperation, Henry enlists the help of Sparrow and amateur astronomer Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) whos been sentenced to death because shes a woman who practices science, and therefore a witch. Also in pursuit of the trident is Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), an old enemy of Sparrow whos been stuck as a decomposing ghost for decades. He wants to rid the sea of all pirates, but is supposedly willing to spare Captain Hector Barbosa (Geoffrey Rush) if he helps him reach the trident first. Sparrow, Henry, Carina, Salazar and Barbosa all bounce off each other as they use various strategies to manipulate and outmaneuver the others.

The film has all the failings of the later Pirates movies. The second and third acts are overstuffed with poor lighting, confusing action, magical mumbo-jumbo, and bad CGI. I thought based on the trailers that I wouldnt be able to get over the unworkable dead-skinned face on Bardem, but whats even worse is the way the effects team cant render simple things like water, metal chains, and wooden planks. You know your movie is doing something wrong when Im dwelling on how lousy the wood looks. As for characters, Henry and Carina have nowhere near the charisma as original Pirates power couple Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley. Speaking of Carina, maybe the fifth movie in the series is not the time to introduce a science-minded character who is shocked to learn that pirate magic exists - weve been through this before. As for the humor, this movie hopes you like snickering at the word horologist, because that joke keeps coming up as if it never gets old.

So what saves Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales? Theres a nice little subplot for Barbosa; Geoffrey Rush steals the ending of this movie the way Michael Rooker steals the latest Guardians of the Galaxy. But Im mostly referring to two imaginative action sequences at the beginning. One sees Jack and his crew steal a bank (the omission of the word from is no accident) and the other is a botched double execution. Its nice to see Jack Sparrow back to his old tricks, simultaneously experiencing the best and worst luck a pirate can have. The film cant keep up the energy of these early scenes, but its nice to know the franchise isnt entirely creatively bankrupt. This movie is by no means redemption for Pirates of the Caribbean, but its not dead in the water either.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is rated PG-13 for sequences of adventure violence and some suggestive content. Its running time is 129 minutes.

Contact Bob Garver at rrg251@nyu.edu.

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Southwest Airlines adds Cincinnati, Caribbean hot spots in schedule shifts Sunday – Dallas Business Journal

Posted: at 12:51 pm


Dallas Business Journal
Southwest Airlines adds Cincinnati, Caribbean hot spots in schedule shifts Sunday
Dallas Business Journal
Those are among the scheduling changes that take effect Sunday for Dallas-based discount carrier Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV). Also on Sunday, Southwest is launching four flights from Fort Lauderdale to Caribbean destinations. They are: Montego Bay, ...
Southwest Airlines announces details of new Caribbean serviceCaribbean News Now (press release) (blog)

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List Of MicroNations No Trouble – Don’t Mess

Posted: at 12:46 pm

With several important qualifications, a micronation is any entity which purports to be or has the appearance of being a sovereign state but isnt. Micronations are typically created and maintained by one person or family. Many exist solely on the internet, or in the imagination of their creators. Some have a more corporeal existence, making ambit claims over, or occasionally even physically occupying defined geographical locations albeit often tiny, remote or uninhabitable ones and producing physical artefacts such as stamps, coins, banknotes, passports, medals and flags. Micronations are generally viewed as ephemeral, eccentric and somewhat amusing by most external observers. Micronations should not to be confused with, which are small extant sovereign states such as the Andorra, Kiribati, Monaco, Nauru, San Marino and the Vatican. Nor should they be confused with, or exile government groups, which typically have many hundreds or thousands of active supporters, and are often engaged in armed campaigns in support of their aims against the governments of one or more sovereign states. The purpose of this website is to serve as a portal to the world of micronations, document the micronation phenomenon in as objective, accurate, comprehensive and accessible a manner as possible, and to facilitate communication between micronationalists and those interested in micronations.

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This Destination Wedding Venue on a Private Island Is Actually AffordablePromise! – Brides.com

Posted: at 12:46 pm

There's something to be said for having an island wedding with a "castaway" feeling, but it's not easy to achieve that and still give your guests the kind of luxurious accommodations that many of them crave when they travel to a tropical destination . Frequently, choosing a remote-feeling destination wedding location means having to ask your guests to make compromises. Unless you choose to get married on Palomino Island.

Palomino Island is one of only three privately-owned islands in Puerto Rico. It's just a little over 200 acres, and it has been owned by the same family for generations. The vast majority of the island has been rented to the Waldorf Astoria's El Conquistador Resort , a popular destination wedding venue on the east end of Puerto Rico, about an hour's drive from San Juan.

While El Conquistador's gardens and terraces on the cliff overlooking the water (and Palomino Island) are popular ceremony locations, for brides seeking a beach ceremony in an unforgettable locale, the resort has a very special treat for them on the shores of its private island.

There's a ferry that runs between the resort and the island every 30 minutes, free to guests of the hotel. It's only a 15-minute trip each way, and many couples choose to get married on the private island, and take their wedding pictures there, before returning to the resort for a fabulously posh reception. Choosing to get married before the regular ferries stop running at 5:30 pm keeps your budget in check, as all of your guests will travel to and from your ceremony for free. But not to worry, El Conquistador has kept the rates reasonable if you choose to charter your return trip so that you can capture sunset in your wedding photos.

For brides and grooms attracted to the Gilligan's Island -vibe of Palomino Island, it's possible to rent the entire private island for your wedding festivities. As in, you can get married on a beautiful Caribbean island that is entirely yours for the evening, and treat your guests to a fabulous tropical experience that is unlike anything they can experience anyplace else.

Just because Palomino evokes a castaway feeling doesn't mean your wedding ceremony or reception has to be any less elegant and sophisticated than you want. El Conquistador and its recommended vendors have designed numerous elaborate weddings, and other special events, on Palomino. You can have as many bells and whistles as your budget allows. For those who choose the private island for its Jimmy Buffet-esque appeal, you can stick with that theme and keep it casual while your guests party all night long. On a PRIVATE island that you and your fianc have rented for your entire wedding night.

Kamil Rivera Lopez, a catering sales manager at El Conquistador who plans weddings, explains that brides and grooms can literally have anything they want catered to their wedding reception on Palomino.

"We take everything over to the island on the ferries, and set it up exactly as the clients imagined it would look," Kamil says. The only caveat to her "anything you want and can afford" policy is elephants. The resort is popular for Indian weddings, and she's had that request more than once. There are no elephants available for rent in Puerto Rico. However, Palomino Island is equipped with beautiful horses that are frequently brought into service for wedding ceremonies and photo shoots.

See More: How to Choose a Wedding Planner for Your Destination Wedding

There are many lovely destination wedding venues on tropical islands, but El Conquistador is the only one in the Caribbean that boasts a private island that can be used exclusively by wedding couples for their wedding festivities. And since El Conquistador itself is located on the island of Puerto Rico, brides and grooms who choose Palomino Island as their wedding destination are getting married on an island, located off of an island. It makes their destination doubly special.

Another added bonus is the fact that this resort is in Puerto Rico, which means your wedding guests won't need passports for the trip, and they can use U.S. currency for their expenses. Don't forget to check out the off-season rateswhile temperatures in the continental United States become unbearable in the summertime, El Conquistador has stunning views and spectacular breezes on its cliffs year round.

Sandy Malone is the owner of Sandy Malone Weddings & Events and author of How to Plan Your Own Destination Wedding: Do-It-Yourself Tips from an Experienced Professional. Sandy is the star of TLC's reality show Wedding Island , about her destination wedding planning company, Weddings in Vieques .

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