Pelican Bay Hotel
Bahamas Bailout Contest Winning Couple Wed at Pelican Bay
By Marva Munroe, Pelican Bay Hotel
Nov 10, 2009 - 4:08:27 PM

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas – November 5, 2010 – Maggie Sand and Jan-Erik Barth, lucky winners in a Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Bahamas Bridal Bailout Contest and maid-of-honour Heather Sand and bestman Leonel Solis share a joyous moment following their recent wedding ceremony at Pelican Bay at Lucaya’s Water’s Edge Gazebo.

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas - Margaret Barth and Jan-Erik Sand, one of five lucky couples bailed out with a Bahamas Destination Wedding, tied the knot at Pelican Bay at Lucaya’s Water’s Edge Gazebo October 17^th . 

The couple was one of many telling their love story in video and essay format in a Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Bridal Bailout Contest.  The stories were judged and twenty couples’ stories selected.  The stories carried a common vein of belief, determination and love to overcome the odds.  The winning five couples won dream weddings at five hotels in The Bahamas.  Pelican Bay was amongst the five hotels participating in the contest and hosting a couple.

“Maggie and I cannot stop thinking about how absolutely wonderful our first trip to the Bahamas truly was!” wrote Jan-Erik.   “Our wedding at your hotel will be remembered forever and the joy that our families and friends shared with us that day will never be forgotten.  From the stunning photos to unmatched hospitality by your ENTIRE staff, our trip was heavenly!”

He continued, “We cannot say enough good things about your hotel and the care you showed us as we describe the details of our trip with those here at home.  We have traveled all over the world and NEVER met such wonderful people.  You and your staff will surely see us again soon (Maggie and I hope to come on our one year anniversary)."
 
“Thank you a thousand times for the care and love you showed us our special day, and we miss everyone at the hotel already!” said Jan- Erik.

The couple hail from Ventura, California and flew to Grand Bahama Island and Pelican Bay at Lucaya with 33 guests for their Destination Wedding.  The bride carried a bouquet of tropical blooms.  Performing the wedding ceremony was Bishop Reno V. Smith.

This is Maggie and Jan-Erik’s Real Life love experience: We were beginning our last, very long convoy across Iraq. It had been a very active, sleepless deployment. On the evening of our departure, at about 1230 AM we were speeding down a two lane highway north of Baghdad, when our driver had to swerve off the road to avoid barbwire and lost control. Totaling our massive truck left me knocked out, waking up to my teammate inside holding onto my legs and yelling to see if I was ok (in turn he successfully secured his spot as the best man in my wedding)… Unable to breathe, my next memory was waking up in a blackhawk as I was being flown to a hospital in Baghdad. 
 
Maggie, a Sergeant in the US Army, was a nurse stationed at that hospital and working on the same floor that I was admitted to after the accident, this is her story… 
 
After we first glanced and each other, we just couldn’t stop smiling! We still joke all the time about how much our faces hurt from too much time laughing together. We immediately began talking every day, and that elementary school “crush” feeling was obvious. This lasted for about another week or so, before we had to say our goodbyes, not knowing what the future held… 
 
About a week later I was finally completing my tour, and Maggie was given nearly 3 weeks of leave back in the United States before having to go back to Iraq to finish the last few months of hers. Knowing our time was short. Maggie and I got to spend only 1 weekend together when she flew out to California just days before heading back to Baghdad. Still, that was all the time we needed to start officially dating. We knew this was it all along, so I popped the question at the beach in Ventura, CA on February 16th.

At that moment we knew the next year of our lives together would be incomparable to the hardships we faced over the previous. We used to joke about Iraq being the, “beach with no water.” So we thought, a destination wedding at a tropical beach might just be what we need to restore the meaning of beauty in our lives. What more beautiful place in the world than the “beaches with water” like those in the Bahamas? We think the Islands of the Bahamas should bail us out so we can experience a wedding that we couldn’t have even fathomed from where we were in our lives just a short year ago. Celebrating a reception with some bongo drums and local foods would make us never want to leave… 
 
The couple and eight of the 33 guests won a trip complete with air, hotel accommodation and ground transfers.