Photo via Valentine's Resort Facebook page

If your idea of a perfect wedding photo involves some combination of a pink sand beach, sparkling turquoise waters and a tropical setting, it might just be the Bahamas you’re envisioning. And why not? The destination was just recognized as the “2015 Leading Wedding Destination” at the World Travel Awards.

And since the destination is offering wedding packages starting from just U$ 1,300, your dream wedding is well within reach. But The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism (MOT) is looking to sweeten the pot in 2016—the Year of Romance—by giving away the wedding of a lifetime to 16 lucky Canadian couples.

Each couple will be awarded a free wedding ceremony on November 16, 2016 at 16:00 hours and all weddings will take place simultaneously, but at 16 different locations throughout The Islands of The Bahamas.

The promotion was designed to further create exposure for The Bahamas as a premier wedding and honeymoon destination. But tourism officials also hope the promotion will help increase awareness of the destination beyond its primary tourism hotspots.

“It’s a fun and exciting promotion, but it is also educational,” said Paul Strachan, senior director at the Bahamas Tourist Office in Canada. “We want Canadians to know that we are a multi-island destination. That has always been a challenge for us, getting the Canadian consumer to understand that there is more to The Bahamas than just Nassau/Paradise Island and Grand Bahama. Through this initiative, thousands of couples will learn about the various Islands of The Bahamas and their many offerings.”

This is the third time The Bahamas is running a “16 Weddings Invitation” campaign, which previously ran in the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

In 2012, the campaign was inaugurated in the United Kingdom, for which it won the Most Innovative Marketing Campaign Award 2013 by The Chartered institute of Marketing. During 2014, the campaign launched in the United States, where more than 3,000 couples entered for a chance to win a wedding.

The contest now invites engaged couples throughout Canada to select one of the sixteen locations as the backdrop for their dream wedding.

The promotion highlights 16 distinct wedding locations and 16 themes. Couples are encouraged to creatively incorporate the suggested themes into their “dream” wedding scenario. Contestants will then upload photos or a short video describing their dream Bahamas wedding and why they should be selected to win.

All entries will be reviewed by a panel of judges, who will select the semi-finalists and post them on the site for consumers to review. The sixteen contestants with the most votes via social media will win their dream wedding, including complimentary round trip airline tickets from their home town to The Bahamas, hotel accommodations including meals for a minimum of five nights, a wedding ceremony, cake and flowers. The winning couples will also receive the services of a personal wedding coordinator.

"It’s a social media campaign so it’s multi-faceted. Of course this will work to our benefit because the posts about why couples want to get married in The Bahamas will go viral. It’s also a soft form of advertising that we expect will increase the number of Canadians visiting The Islands of The Bahamas, and we are really excited about it,” said Strachan.

The contest ends on June 10, 2016; winners will be announced on June 16, 2016.

Wedding themes and locations are as follows:

You Light Up My Life; Hope Town Harbour Lodge, Abaco (Elbow Cay)
Nautical Love; Abaco Beach Resort & Boat Harbour, Abaco  (Marsh Harbour)

Love in the Deep Blue Sea; Tiamo Resort, Andros

Lost in your Embrace; Bimini Bay Resort, Bimini

Mystical Love; Fernandez Bay Resort, Cat Island

Seashell Beauty; Tranquility Bay, Crooked Island

Barefoot Lovers’ Bliss; The Cove Eleuthera, Eleuthera

Pink Sand Paradise; Valentine’s Resort, Harbour Island

Seaside Serenade; February Point, Exuma

Enchanted Encounter; Memories Resort (Freeport), Grand Bahama Island

Grand Romance; Old Bahama Bay (West End), Grand Bahama Island

Birds of Paradise; Enrica’s Inn & Guest House, Inagua

Tropical Dream; Cape Santa Maria, Long Island

Royal Bliss; Sapodilla Restaurant, Nassau

Colour Me with Love; Atlantis (Host Hotel), Paradise Island

Landfall Elegance; Riding Rock Resort, San Salvador

For more details and to enter to win, visit www.bahamas16weddings.com. 

Follow @MonicaPoling