The exciting “16 Weddings, 16 Islands, One Priceless Wedding Promotion” ends on June 13, 2014.

More than 2,600 couples entered for the competition, which was launched on Valentine’s Day in New York.

Judges are now preparing to shortlist the list to 16 lucky couples, which will be married on January 16, 2015 on 16 islands in The Bahamas at 16:00 (4:00p.m.).

Officials say entries have come in from all 50 states in the US.

Director of Romance at the Ministry of Tourism Freda Malcolm said come June 14, voting for the couples will open in the United States.

“We are asking friends and families of the couples to like them on Facebook,” she said. “Whoever has the most likes, they will automatically proceed to a panel of judges and then the judges will choose from those individuals, who will actually be the finalists.”

Ms. Malcolm was part of a delegation from the Ministry of Tourism, which traveled to New York recently to Caribbean Tourism week.

She used the opportunity to spread the word about the dynamic promotion and to lure starry-eyed couples to The Bahamas.

While the Caribbean had a number of booths at a Weddings Show during the week-long event, Ms. Malcolm said the show was a success for The Bahamas as it was the most-visited booth.

“We’ve had couples coming actually wanting to come to The Bahamas for either a destination wedding or a honeymoon. It’s been very, very promising. The majority of visitors to the islands of The Bahamas really come from the United States. And why not the United States this is where we have our feeder markets- Florida, Atlanta, New York and now we are getting inquiries from Washington and Baltimore,” she said.

“So I believe we are right on target we are right on target with this promotion.”

After the voting process is completed, a panel of judges will determine the winners.