starchild

Even if you get stopped you should be fine. It's funny, the weekend of my wedding the President of Mexico and every Mexican governer were in PV for a Navy anniversary or some big celebration, so going into the PV marina was strenuous. The security checkpoint was more intense than the airport's with the President being there and all. They gave us a hard time about everything because most people entering the marina aren't bringing luggage, but we were on the way to the wedding so I had my dress, suitcase, etc. They let us in but we held up the line for like 10 minutes while they called in superiors to approve us. The airport was a breeze!

There was a wedding almost every day we were there, 2 one day. They are on the beach at the gazebo, one had a chuppa set up that was very pretty as well. The weddings all looked beautiful. There isn't really a downside but if I had to pick a negative it would be that people kind of eavesdrop but I think that's the case at most hotel weddings. There were people laying on sun chairs maybe like 50-75 yards away, but there was definitely an area surrounding the wedding where there were no people. Once a volleyball rolled real close to a wedding but someone stopped it before it got in the midst of everything. The beach that the weddings are on is beautiful, an awesome site for a ceremony. As for receptions, twice we were eating in a reservation only restaurant and there were receptions going on. They basically set up a big table for you and your guests. I'm not sure if there is a special menu or if you eat what we were eating? They did serve beautiful wedding cakes too. We sat right next to one of these receptions and were trying not to stare LOL but it was so pretty. The set up was closest to the water. This was in the Mamee Bay restaurant both times I saw it. BTW, there are several restaurants. A few are buffet only, serving all meals and an Italian place that served until midnight. Most restaurants were reservation only serving a la carte meals (no buffet), some were for guests in suites only. I heard on tripadvisor that getting reservations was impossible, but we got one every night except the first day because we arrived in the early afternoon when they were all booked up. They say to call at 11 am and we called at 9am each day and had our choice, so call earlier than they say to. I liked all of the food. Breakfast rocked, omlette station was soo good, so were fried plantains and brown stew fish/chicken...mmm. Some of it was outstanding, I particularly loved Sir. Richard's, Mamee Bay, and the Japanese place I forget the name of but it's one of those suite-only guests can eat there restaurants. The 24 hour food may be a tad misleading, after midnight there is a refrigerator in the 24 hour sports bar with fruit and sandwiches, and a popcorn machine. It was tasty enough but just don't expect a warm meal between 12 am and I think 7 am when breakfast starts. The live shows each night were great. Once was a live reggae band, once was a beach party, the other nights were theme shows put on by the resort. The kids/teenagers are awesome. They practice almost all day and really turn it on at night. Fabulous dancers, it was more difficult to get a seat there than by the pool/beach during the day. I think the shows start at 9 p.m. so get there early or it may be standing room only. There is a disco at the resort that is super fun & we danced there every night. Once we went in and a wedding reception had been there but they let everyone in at 11p.m. The wedding guests continued partying and regular hotel guests were dancing too. The wedding party didn't seem bothered by this at all and were having an awesome time dancing. I figure they are told they get exclusive use of the disco for a set time until 11 pm when it opens for everyone? Several times we saw brides/bms/gms/etc. hanging at bars around the resort. It was cool because they got a lot of attention. It's a great resort for groups, really big. I saw several people with OOT beach bags, koozies, cups, etc. for weddings they were there for. One couple had huge plastic cups made with their logo and people were getting mega-sized drinks put into them - looked like a good idea to me. We kayaked, sailed, swam, ate, & drank. We tipped religiously but it appeared that the people who weren't tipping were treated just as well. There were craft fairs 3 nights that we were there, vendors set up tables with all kinds of wares. The trip was entirely relaxing! The nicest people I've met in the world so far were here in Jamaica. We paid our sailing instructor to take us on a tour of real Jamaica and had an awesome experience, our best day in fact. He took us to his home and we met tons of truly nice people. He even took us to soak in a healing pond that no tours go to...it was awesome and we had a few ailments that we swear are gone now. We were welcomed everywhere we went. Children ran up to us and hung on to our hips the whole time we were in their village. We ate homemade potato pudding and took in the good vibes. Our Jamaica honeymoon was a soul vaccination and the wisdom we got from our Jamaican hosts was life changing. I have no doubt that you Riu Ocho Rios brides will have the same experience at the resort. What a beautiful place for a wedding! Be happy with your decision. If you're feeling fiesty, pay a local to take you around rather than going on an organized tour, it just may be life-changing for you too ) PICS: Sign in to Wedding Channel create photo gift, make digital Kodak prints, and more

We spent 7 glorious days at the Riu Ocho Rios and are so glad we picked this resort for our Jamaica honeymoon. After flying into Montego Bay we got on our shuttle for the 2 hour ride to the Riu. We dropped a few people off along the way and weren't too impressed with the looks of the resorts we stopped at. One was a Sandals (not sure which one) and one was the Ritz which didn't look awful but wasn't as grand as I thought it should be. So we stopped for jerk fish and redstripe then arrived at the Riu. It is massive, all light purple and white on the outside, and dark wood and a variety of colors on the inside, stunning. We were glad this was our stop!! We were told this is currently the largest resort in all of Jamaica. It was the nicest of the few we saw. Upon check in we were greeted as honeymooners and told a special gift would await us when our room was ready in about 1 hour and 1/2. We ate lunch and had some drinks then checked into our room. It was a spacious suite, all marble and clean. I think all the suites are in a separate wing. This resort in general is immaculate, always someone cleaning the rooms or the beach. It is fairly new so doesn't have the wear and tear older resorts have. The room had that musty kind of jungle smell but I've experienced that basically at every jungle resort so we were used to it and it didn't bother us. We peeked in a standard room and it was very nice also, just a little cramped without the extra sitting area. If you can book a suite, the extra space is nice. We checked in to find a yummy fruit platter, bottle of rum, and a happy honeymoon letter from the resort. It was a nice touch.

They may be able to do something for that price, excluding drinks and with fewer tapas. The initial price we were quoted was $29 pp without drinks, we added open bar and changed the menu so it came to about $50 pp. That was more than I wanted to spend but was so worth it in the end.

I wouldn't worry about that, the chance of May rain is very slim. I've even been there in mid June with no rain but a LOT of heat. May should be beautiful!!!

Reading your post made me sentimental because I felt just like you when I wrote my "last post". I'm excited for you and know that all will be well. Enjoy yourself!!

I got a red light going into PV which means they got to open my bags and search through them. One entire bag was full of all favors, OOT stuff, etc. The girl searching through my bag was on her cell phone and barely paying attention so maybe I lucked out, but she searched through boxes of stuff that was obviously not for personal use and she waived me on. Maybe they're only looking for dangerous stuff? Not sure but it wasn't a problem for me.

Quote: Originally Posted by lavalos Beautiful pics and everyone really looked like they were having a great time! I love your bridesmaid dresses; where did you find them? Congratulations--everything looked beautiful! David's Bridal, color is burnt orange. Thanks, I was really happy with them )

Quote: Originally Posted by MarlaB Awesome pictures!!! I think it was picture 108 of the cake on the table that I was trying to figure out what those two colorful objects were on either side of the cake. It looks as though it might be some sort of Mexican decoration. Did you bring those or did Nicole set that up? What about the black runner? Did you choose that? Is it available in different colors? I absolutely love the pictures on the bed. I remember seeing that bed when my FI and I went on the nature walk during the day. I took a picture of it because I thought it was an odd spot for a bed and had no idea why it was there! Did you spend two full days at Las Caletas before your actual wedding? I know one day was with Nicole to go over the final details but did you go back the following day? It's impossible to ever get enough of that place!!! Thank you for sharing those photos. The colors of the bridesmaids dresses are gorgeous. Those were battery operated lanterns that I brought. I ordered those from Oriental Trading but if you google battery operated paper lanterns you'll find tons of sites that sell them. I chose the table runner but Nicole has several colors, that's all included. We spent one day at the site inspection and then the whole day of the wedding, got there around 10am, wedding started at 6:15, so I had a lot of time to explore. I directed my poor photographer all around that place and made sure we got the bed shots.

Okay the forum being down delayed me but I just posted them in the photo section )

Quote: Originally Posted by RaydensMama Ya I was thinking about that. Im just worried if I get them too colourful that they may stand out too much, ya know? I was also thinking about getting all white but buy them the smaller ones and the large one for myself. That's a good idea too. I think as long as yours is slightly different than theirs it will work. What if you make theirs white and you have the one colored one, that way you stand out? That would make for some cool pictures for sure )

What a PITA! I hope it turns out the way you want it to.

Amy those are so pretty! And how cool was it that you got to be Kashif's first DW shoot? Looks like a great party!!

Yay it worked!! Just when I was about to kick my computer.... Thanks, I loved the flowers too....I told WC white calla lillies surrounding orange flowers and she came up with the perfect bouquet for me.

Happy Birthday! Everyone is entitled to a Birthday week so take advantage of it!!

Here goes nothing...you may have to log into Snapfish but you should be able to see them. Wow it was hard to condense them but I made a special slideshow just for you so as not to bore you with 700 photos, lol. They turned out better than predicted, hope you like them ) P.S. In the 2nd one I look like a total bridezilla but I think I was pointing at my drink, lol! Enjoy ) Snapfish: Share:Registration

Thanks Drea, I'll be posting my official pics like asap.

Quote: Originally Posted by akh well, that's just par for the course with my experience there - people never got messages or things that were supposed to be given to them. i had even asked if there were any messages for me throughout the week - you'd think that would have come up. are there are Dreams PV brides in the near future? would they ship it? Good question? Let me see what I can find out.

Don't feel selfish, it's just a casualty of a DW. It happens. As I went through this I sometimes thought that some people were jealous...like their wedding was just downtown at a hotel and they don't want to validate my cool DW wedding. LOL That was for the people I know with money who like me and FI but still griped. Haters will find reasons - it's so far, you can't expect people to go, we already have a summer vacation planned the following month, etc. In the end they didn't come and we didn't miss them AT ALL. Now the people who couldn't afford it I had sympathy for and if it was in the budget I would have paid for them. Want to sort out the good from the bad in your circle of friends and family? Throw a DW!! You'll soon see who really cares. I had broke students on payment plans come to our wedding and wealthy people decline because they are stubborn and old fashioned. We lost a bridesmaid and two groomsmen in the 11th hour because they failed to plan, but it didn't matter. We had fun!

Sure that's not a problem, well as far as I know anyway. Maybe you can call the airline to be extra certain but I don't see why not.

Ouch! I'm glad you went in. Sometimes even the best make mistakes, I'm sure he's a great oral surgeon. Take all those antibiotics and get well )

Yep I agree with Susan, your ideas are really good and enough without overdoing it. I went to a similar event once where they rented a bubble machine and that was neat to have bubbles floating around but it may be too much. I really like your ideas, simple but festive.

Quote: Originally Posted by DREA14369 do you know that you have a year to give a bride and groom a present? My FMIL told me that.... That's funny, my mom just told me that. I had never heard that before either. But yes, I agree to ship gifts before or after. I got a few small gifts at my wedding from people that also sent gifts, but it was all useable stuff like fragrant candles for my hotel room and lingerie. It wasn't a burden because it was easy to bring back to the hotel and it was kind of sweet.

Yay!! Thanks Tammy )

Welcome Michelle! Don't know about that photographer personally but I bet someone here does. Happy planning )