Hurrah! It’s mango season!

Today we share the delicious recipe for MANGO LEATHER – a healthy treat that children and adults adore here in Jamaica.

You’ll need ripe mangoes (2-3 ripe, firm fruits), wax paper and a dehydrator (or gorgeous tropical sunshine).

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1. Carefully wash and peel 2-3 fully ripe mangoes

2. Cut the mangoes lengthways to remove the seed (here at Hummingbird Hall we plant a large number of the used mango seeds in our gardens, or for visitors to take as gifts).

3. Scoop the soft mango flesh into a blender and process the pulp until a smooth purée (there’s no need for additives).

4, Place wax paper on dehydrator trays (or on a regular baking tray if you are fortunate enough to live in a warm climate)

5, Spread the purée on the wax paper (for extra cuteness, we suggest spreading the purée in letters, hearts or interesting shapes). The purée needs to be around an inch in thickness.

6. Place the tray in a dehydrator with the temperature set to 125°F to 130°F or place the tray in direct sunlight covering with muslin to fend off all too friendly insects.

7. When the dried pulp can be easily peeled from the plastic, the treat is done! Please note that dried mango leather is usually a darker colour than dried slices.

Be sure to roll the mango leather in plastic sheets (or cute boxes),as uncovered leather rolls will stick together.

You’re welcome – enjoy!

Limbo!

At a recent wedding, an exuberant bride and groom threw an impromptu limbo session thanks to our very own DJ – who always has a limbo stick and calypso at the ready!

The world record for lowest Limbo dance is held by Shemika Charles who successfully danced under a bar only 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) above the ground in 2010.

How low can YOU go?!

Hummingbirds have long been a loved feature of Hummingbird Hall’s wedding gardens (our name comes from the friendly hummingbirds!), but recently we have noticed flocks of parrots and parakeets becoming more plentiful. In fact, a recent bride asked whether we would consider changing our name to Parrot Hall hall due to the number she had seen (lol!).

Today, we introduce you to our most frequent parrot visitor – the gorgeous,olive throated parakeet. Found from Jamaica to the southern tip of Central America; these green beauties frolic in the trees around Hummingbird Hall daily.

The increase in their numbers is wonderful news for hummingbird hall – and points to the success of our conservation efforts in general, and is another reason why there really is nothing like the exquisite destination weddings, vow renewals and LGBT blessings held at Hummingbird Hall Jamaica.

The destination wedding florists at Hummingbird Hall were tasked with creating a one of a kind orchid for a bride planning a Monet/water colour themed wedding. We’re yet to know if this orchid made the final cut (our wedding designers Leona and Jayla have SO many ideas for this wedding!),but we thought we’d share the cool result.

Using the same logic as 5th grade celery / food colouring science experiments; our florists created a delicate and fun bloom! Paired with multichromatic wedding cookies – also available as an upgrade at Hummingbird Hall – art themed weddings never looked so chic!

We receive a number of thank you emails and cards from couples who have held their destination weddings with us.

This week, however, we were touched to receive a beautiful card from the grandmother of a groom (a first for Hummingbird Hall!).

In the card she said that she loved her grandson’s wedding for several reasons, one of which was that it reminded her of her own beautiful wedding 40 years ago.

We melted!

Custom luminaries add a romantic and whimsical touch to a Jamaican destination wedding reception. Opportunities for customization are endless; however, for the wedding shown below, The Workshop complemented the couple’s monogram themed wedding with custom initial luminaries.

Rather than carrying bouquets, at this recent Hummingbird Hall destination wedding in Jamaica, bridesmaids sprinkled gorgeous smelling, home made pot-pourri whilst walking down the aisle.

Of the many extraordinary things about being in a tropical country such as Jamaica, a favoured place for tropical destination weddings, are the amazingly fruitful soil and the range of colourful flowers that one can see almost everywhere.

Visitors to Jamaica are often surprised by the greenness of the place, the impossible varying shades of green and more the colourful flowers that seem to grace and punctuate that sea of green. There is a range or variety of flower to suit the various micro climates, soils and weather patterns that characterize the island. Thus, gorgeous gardens are among joys of this tropical island paradise.

The gardens of Hummingbird Hall, the award winning destination wedding venue, exemplify all that is glorious about nature gardens in Jamaica. The mansion, build on interesting elevations, bursts with a range of flowers and herbage to the delight of couples and their guests.

A perennial favourite at Hummingbird Hall, is the bougainvillea hedge on the eastern side of the property. That fence is a wonderful example of vision, patience, commitment and continued labour of love.

These characteristics are arguably those that Hummingbird Hall Jamaica’s couples will seek to cultivate in the blissful life they envision for themselves.

No wonder destination weddings in Jamaica have so much to recommend them, and Hummingbird Hall Jamaica is considered a favoured place for destination weddings in Jamaica.

Trade winds are a consistent weather pattern of easterly winds which blow near the Earth’s equator and so are found in the tropics. They were so named because of their ability to quickly propel trading ships across the ocean.
Historically, the trade winds have been used by captains of sailing ships to cross the world’s oceans.

For the non-nautical and nautical alike it is interesting to note that the romance of trade winds has always held fascination and intrigue for poets, novelists and lyricists alike. There are countless figurative uses of the term in literature.

Couples in their adventurous search across the ocean for tropical wedding venues are among that fortunate set that will experience first-hand the cooling and resulting aesthetic effects to these extraordinary winds.

Architects of the unique Jamaican wedding venue Hummingbird Hall were careful from the outset to capitalize on these trade winds. Hence the Lagoon deck of Hummingbird Hall, where most of our weddings are held, was constructed in the ideal spot to capture the cooling breezes as they steer their way across the tropical island of Jamaica.

Tropical weddings have many glorious advantages to recommend them, and at Hummingbird Hall we count among them the trade winds that caress and cool our couples and their guests, already in tropical wedding heaven, and indeed inspire our wedding décor to dance in glee. That is the aesthetics of which we spoke earlier.

So, as well as the unimaginable sights, tastes and sounds of a tropical wedding at Hummingbird Hall, couples will inevitably experience the sun kissed trade winds, a sure and enchanting complement to their tropical wedding bliss.