How we source the numbers

Every destination, wedding and month page shows figures rather than adjectives. This page explains where each figure comes from, what it can and cannot tell you, and why some fields are blank. Data date: 2026-10-30.

Climate

NASA POWER daily records (MERRA-2), January 2001 through December 2025, at the representative point named on each page. Within each calendar month we average the daily maximum and minimum temperatures, wind at 10 m and relative humidity, and total the daily rain. We then average the 25 yearly values for that month equally. All 9,131 days must be present, without fill values. Temperatures are converted from Celsius to Fahrenheit and rain totals from millimeters to inches. We do not use the climatology endpoint's temperature extremes as average highs or lows. Coastal grid cells blend land and sea: these are historical estimates, not resort forecasts.

The go / maybe / skip verdict

Go = monthly rain at or under 3.0 in, mean daily high inside the comfort band (72–90°F for beach destinations, 65–86°F in Europe) and not a peak hurricane month (August to October inside a hurricane season). Skip = rain over 6.0 in, or a peak hurricane month with rain over 3.0 in. Everything else is Maybe. It is arithmetic on the climate record and NOAA season dates, not a forecast and not a recommendation; Ann adds your dates and the resort's weather policy.

Best wedding months

A month qualifies when monthly rain is at or under 3.0 in and the mean daily high is in the comfort band; months are ranked driest first and hurricane-season months are flagged, not excluded. If fewer than three months qualify the rain cap relaxes to 4.5 in. We keep the temperature limits. If no month qualifies, the page says so; Ann can suggest dates and an indoor backup plan.

Hurricane and seaweed seasons

NOAA National Hurricane Center season dates (Atlantic June 1 to November 30, peak September 10; eastern and central Pacific from May 15 and June 1). Sargassum notes come from the University of South Florida Sargassum Watch System bulletins; beach-level impact varies by coast and week.

Travel advisories and entry rules

Advisory levels, titles and dates come from the U.S. State Department's advisories API; the one-line summary paraphrases the official headline and every page links to the full advisory. Passport validity, visa, blank-page and online-form rules were read from the State Department's destination pages and the issuing government's own site, with the read date shown. Hawaii is domestic: no advisory or passport applies.

Fares from Omaha

Lowest economy round trip for one adult, seven nights, found through the Ignav flight-price API (Google Flights data) on the date shown, for the third Saturday of January, April, July and September 2027 and the second Saturday of each month on the month pages. They are observations, not quotes: airlines had not published October and November 2027 schedules when we checked, so those fields say so. A season whose fare is more than double the others is shown as an outlier, not a price.

Marriage requirements

Only official sources: U.S. embassy pages, government registries and ministries, and official tourism authorities, each quoted with its link and read date. Where an official page did not state something (blood tests, witnesses, fees in some countries, how common the “legal at home, symbolic abroad” route is), the page says so rather than guessing. Where two official pages disagree (Jamaica's 24 vs 48 hours), both are shown.

Holidays and events

Fixed, official public holidays from each government's published list; where a rule is given instead of a date, the derived date is marked. Crowd and occupancy levels are left out because no sourced data exists.

Ann's own words

Firsthand lines are quoted from Ann's public posts and appear only for places she has been (Aruba, Italy, Costa Rica). Everywhere else the copy says what Ann can arrange, never that she has been.

Questions about a figure? Ask Ann.