Kosher Weddings in Puerto Rico

Did you know that Puerto Rico is one of the few Caribbean islands that can accommodate a kosher wedding? There is a large Jewish community and even a temple in San Juan where people can get assistance with kosher catering and religious services.

We recently had the opportunity to plan an orthodox wedding in Puerto Rico at the El Conquistador. They do not offer kosher catering there, however, they were willing to work with my rabbi to kosher the kitchen, design the menus with kosher ingredients, and even provide an eruv and elevator assistance on the Sabbath.

The story goes like this.

It was a Wednesday morning in early April when we got the call from the bride. She had gotten engaged on Monday and knew she wanted a destination wedding. She mentioned that she did not have a particular destination in mind, but that it had to be within direct flight of New York City and Miami. She went on to say that the wedding would be an orthodox Jewish wedding and that they would be inviting many observant people. 1600 to be exact! As a result, they would need a hotel that had 500 or so available rooms as the guests could not use motorized transportation on the Sabbath, and a ballroom that would accommodate 1000 people. Oh, and did I mention that she wanted to be married on July 4th..a holiday weekend?! I was very skeptical that we would find a hotel that was available on a holiday weekend that was only 8 weeks out, and that fit all of the above criteria, BUT Katie O and I set to work.

We worked almost around the clock for 3 days scouring the east coast and the Caribbean and believe it or not we found options in Rhode Island, Virginia, North Carolina, and Puerto Rico. We met the clients in Newport, RI by that Sunday and then again in Puerto Rico the following Wednesday. We happily settled on the El Conquistador Resort in Fajardo, Puerto Rico within a week of their initial phone call to us. We worked closely with El Con, the family and their personal party planner, Stephanie Esquenazi over the next seven weeks to make the most amazing wedding happen without a hitch. It was truly magnificent and one of the highlights of my career. I cannot say enough about the professionalism of the team at the El Conquistador, especially Chef Thierry De Lage who was open-minded and willing to work with us to create a week's worth of kosher meals for our guests.

For more information on kosher destination weddings, call the planners at Lisa Light, Ltd. at at 518.392.7766.