My ROR review

Wow! I feel horrible that I have not been back on the forum since my wedding. I started new positions with my job, and life has been a little crazy since coming back home. This forum was such a blessing to me when planning my wedding though, so I wanted to make sure that I wrote a review. I'm sure I missed some things, so feel free to ask any questions.

Photographer:

David Christensen and his wife Paula flew in from Atlanta. This was the best decision I made. They are amazing. The work was beautuful, which you can see for yourself. David also shot my boudoir pics and our trash the dress shoot. His work speaks for itself, but they are just wonderful people. They made friends quickly with the rest of our group. They wre a lot of fun and kept us laughing. I highly recommend them to anyone who is still looking for a photographer. They ended up coming to our at home reception as guests. He put together an awesome slideshow that we were able to show our guests.

Airline:

We flew Delta out of Atlanta. We booked a group reservation, and we were able to save some money. I was able to add addtional guests as needed. The added guests rates were higher because of the booking time, but it was still cheaper than the adverised rates. We were able to check 2 bags at no additional cost, which was a blessing because we had 11 bags with us. We gave each of out guests matching fabric to tie to their suitcases, which made getting out luggage run really smoothly.

Transfers and transportation:

We used Lees Travel, and I cannot say enough good things about Norma and this company. She greeted me at the airport with a huge hug. Our group really enjoyed having private transportation, and it was a lot faster than those who opted other transfers. Gary drove Pete and I into town on Thursday, and was able to get us a deal on 30 bottles of rum that we used for place card holders. Norma also took the time to find a somewhat private waterfall that we went to for our trash the dress shoot. She arranged us a private catamaran that we took to Dunns River Falls, for only $1 more than the non private boat at the hotel. They were very accomodating, and went above and beyond.

The Riu Ocho Rios:

The hotel is beautiful. Our guests were so impressed, and they all said it was the best vacation that they ever had. Our first room had a horrible view, but we were upgrade to a suite the night before the wedding. It was a pain to move, but it was so worth it. The room was amazing. We has a HUGE bathroom and a walk in closet. The balcony was large with an ocean view. The beds were really hard, the older guests in our group really loved that.

The food was okay. We ate at St. Anns the most. The Japanese resturant was okay, and Mammee Bay was awesome!

Unfortuneltly, we didn't get to take advantage of a lot at the Riu because we were only there 5 days, and we did 2 all day excursions.

There was a sewage flood during our stay. It flooded the sports bar and parts of the beach. They had it cleaned up within a day, but there was no internet or atm during that time. Also, one of our friends had a lot of trouble with their shower.

Make sure to bring some bug spray that protects against sand fleas and anti itch cream. My sister had about 100 bites, and Pete and I got bit pretty good on our honeymoon.

OOT bags,

We had koozies, beach bags, beach towels, mugs, beach balls, shot glasses, squirt guns, splash balls, and playing cards. If I could do it again, it would only had beach bags, beach towels, mugs, shot glasses, and beach balls.

Excursion:

We took the H'evans scent tour which included zip lines, atvs, lunch, fern gulley, and a garden tour. It is beautiful and the staff was great! Fern Gulley was cool, but I don't think it was worth the extra time it took to get there. We also took a private catamaran to Dunns River. I can't remember the company, but Norma from Lees set it up. Private was definetly the way to go. We had 24 people.

Chandalyn:

She is amazing! Everything was exactly the way I had wanted. She went above and beyond. I was nervous about this after reading other reviews, but I have no complaints. She even got rid of the brown chargers and blue rimmed glasses!!! She also put rose petals and champagne in our room free of charge!!!

The rehearsal:

The rehearsal was fast. It only took about 5 minutes once everyone showed up. Chandalyn reserved tables for us at St. Anns for dinner. After dinner we had our bridal party come to our room for drinks. That's when my wedding drama started. I had mentioned one of my bridesmaids in previous posts. She ended up going off on me when I asked he to get my sister's computer from her boyfriend. She cussed out my mom, her boyfriend through a chair at a little boy in the lobby, and everything went crazy. She called and told Pete that she didn't think that she should even come to the wedding. It was really stressful. My other bridesmaids helped me finsh the last minute projects, and I called it a night.

The wedding day:

Pete and I booked couples massages. They ended up losing our reservation, but were able to set us up anyway. Pete's therapist got sick though, and they only did half of the massage. We ended up having to negotiate with the spa to get our many back. The massages were not that great. The beach front. hut was really too hot too. After the massage I met my mom at breakfast where she told me that my bridesmaid was looking for me. I went with my mom to see her. She and her boyfriend cussed me out...ON MY WEDDING DAY!!! I ended up leaving because it was my time with Pete. I spent the next hour crying. I ended up buying her dress off her and putting another friend in it. That was one of the best decisions I made. After calming down, I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. My friend Lindsay, who became my bridesmaid, did my hair. My sister-in-law and I did my make-up. The morning went by so fast, and I was really scrambling right before the ceremony. It all came together though. The ceremony was at 4:00 on the beach with an arch. We put together our own ceremony which the minister did perfectly. We had dinner at Mammee Bay and the reception at the Seagrape. The worst thing I did was not stressing to my guests to go immedietly to the Seagrape. The reception ended up starting 30 minutes late. The DJ was incompetent. I wish I would have hired an outside DJ. He had the times mixed up, and he kept playing all the worng music. The bartenders were fabulous. The cake was pretty good. Pete and I were the only ones to eat it. My bridal party had a cake fight at the end of the night. Everyone had a blast, and by the end of the night my entire wedding party was in the ocean. Pete and I did a surprise swing dance which most people missed because it was not properly announced. My uncle did our video, and he didn't get it on tape either. At the end of the night, Pete had asked my mom to put candles in the room. When we got to the room she was still there. I never though I would have to wait for my mom to leave my room on my wedding night. It was pretty funny.

Trash the dress:

This was so much fun. We went into Ocho Rios, a waterfall, and the beach. It was probably 4 hours long. We had a great time though, and the images are AMAZING!!!!

Couples Swept Away:

This place is awesome!! We honeymooned there for a week. The food is incredible, the entertainment staff is great, and there is so much to do. We were put in the wrong room upon check-in, but they moved us to the correct room the next day, and gave us a $100 credit for the inconvienience. Not everyone got moved or a credit, so you have to be insistent.

Sounds awesome. Makes me miss it. I'm sorry to hear about your bridesmaid. That sucks. I would of went bridezilla on her. I'm glad that everything turned out though!

Congratulations! Did you have enough time at the mamme bay reception to do speaches? Thanks for all of the advice. I will remember to tell my group to go immediately to seagrape after the dinner.

I'm sorry you had to deal with the drama of your bridesmaid, she sounds like she was a real handful, especially with her cursing you out on your wedding day. I don't know how you managed to not kick her A$$!

Your mom really did a good job with your room. The candles were a great touch.

Anyway its good to know that nothing ruined your day! You looked beautiful & your pics tell that story!

Thanks for the review. All in all sounds like everything worked out. Congrats to you!

Congrats!!! Great Review, I am sorry you had to deal with your bridesmaid that really sucks. Glad it all turned out.

Sorry to hear about your bridesmaid, but it seems like it worked out for the better anyway. Congratulations I am glad that everything else went perfectly!

Congrats and thanks for the great review!

Booking a private trip for your group to Dunn's River Falls sounds great. Did you book through a travel agent or directly through Lee's tours? If you booked through Lee's tours, could you tell me how to get in touch with them? Were you able to arrange this trip before you got to the resort?

Also, I was wondering how you went about handing out your oot bags.

Thanks!

WOW! I'm so sorry you had to deal with all the drama on your wedding day. That girl should be ashamed of herself!! Talk about bad Karma! Anyway, sounds like the important stuff went smoothly and your pictures are breathtaking! Congrats