IrieBride08

Great thread! I absolutely LOVED planning my wedding and the fact that I was able to do it with my BDW ladies made it even more special. I'm glad it's all over and mostly lurk here as well. I'm loving married life. It's funny cuz hubby and I look at each other daily and comment on how great it is to be married and how happy we are. I know, I know, we're just corny like that. The biggest adjustment for me has been being a stepmom. We have a special needs daughter and she's taking a longer time to adjust to me being around all the time. (Hubby was a single dad.) So, learning patience on all levels with that! We're currently TTC so that's my current obsession. My new favorite threads on BDW are now the Mommy to be and TTC threads and such. We are also househunting and getting pretty close to our first home purchase so that's pretty exciting for me as well. So spending time preparing for that as well.

Awww! I just love this thread! All you mommies to be are to cute!

I def think the Butler service is worth it for the room service and having a person at your beck and call. We wished we had one thru out our trip! If you can swing it, it's worth it!

I experienced the same thing as a SGOR bride. Don't feel pressured to make any selections until you're ready. You will have the opportunity to get whatever you need when you get there. The onsite WC will give you all the help you need. I ended up basically ignoring my stateside "salesperson" WC as I got closer to the big day. My onsite WC was much more accomodating and helpful. Don't stress!

I asked to join too! No place to add my BDW screen name. Gionne

I chose a birdcage veil cuz I wanted to feel "bridal" with a veil, but not have to deal w/ wind, etc. I ended up doing hair flowers and the birdcage. I absolutely LOVED my veil. (Wish there was an excuse to wear it again!) LOL!

After my ceremony and reception (we had the reception offsite) half of my guests (parents, older folks, etc.) went to the piano bar and had a ball and the other half (us and all the younger people) met up at the Manor side pool and did some lounging, night swimming and volleyball. It was nice to just hang out and chill after all the festivities. I think it's a good idea to keep things laid back, that day will fly by like a blur and it will be the chill moments that mean the most in the end. (taking time with your family and friends for unplanned bonding.)

Quote: Originally Posted by ARichmond Do you still have pictures of all of the different wedding locations at Sandals Ocho Rios? I am getting married there in Nov 2009 and wanted to see what all the different areas looked like in order to get an idea of the types of flowers and decorations to order. Here's a thread that shows the different wedding locations at SGOR. Good luck with your planning! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t20085

I believe that you can hop resorts, but I think it's only the resorts in the country that you're in. For example, if you're at Sandals Montego Bay, you can hop to any other Jamaican Sandals for free. I'm not sure if it applies if you hop islands. Maybe TA Jennifer can clarify!

I had several single guests at my wedding and they shared rooms. I will say that Sandals Grande told us that there were only king-size bed, but does have some rooms with double beds (queens). My cousin had a room that had double beds. They were the bungalow style rooms on the Riviera side of the resort and were pretty cute. It's probably safer to bank on having the one bed though since that's how the majority of the rooms are.

I did personalized m&m's. I ordered 5 7oz bags and got one 7oz bag for free. This cost me about $60. I divided the m&m's into small baggies with ziplock tops and put a baggie into customized travel suitcase tins. I'm not sure how many guests you're trying to accomodate so I can't say how much you should get. I only had 40 guests and we had enough for our purposes (though one more bag would have been great to have!) Hope this helps!

Kisa, I got the shoes literally the day before we left at a side-store at Tyson's Corner in the DC area. Thanks for the compliments!

I'm 37 also and we plan to try for a baby starting Feb 09. I agree with the ladies who share that with great pre-natal care, healthy lifestyle, etc. everything should be fine. I'm banking on it!

Wow, you looked beautiful! Loved your flowers and dress! Congratulations! Everyone looked like they had a blast.

The majority of my guests (including parents and sister) stayed in the Bamboo Grove Building and I will say that it is very picturesque. I'll see if I can post some photos for you when I get home tonight. Yep, all this talk definitely makes me want to go back!

Ok, I think I may be the only Sandals bride who had an outside photographer. My photog was a local and the only reason I was able to use him is because he personally knew the general manager of the SGOR property and they let him onsite as a favor to the manager. On my wedding day, my wedding coordinator started to give me grief about the offsite photog and wouldn't allow him on the property, but he was able to call the manager and they let him and his assistant in with no other questions. While I was lucky (since I was able to get "getting ready" shots, and have the photog with me for the wedding and my offsite reception), I also had to give up some things for that privilege as well. The pictures were pretty good (still not the journalistic ones I wanted, but pretty nice) but my wedding video is pretty hokey. The great thing is that they captured the entire wedding and reception and I will always have that. He was pretty reasonable though and I was able to get my pictures (high res on a disc) and the video for a pretty affordable price. PM me if you'd like additional information on him. I really like Erin's idea of hiring a photog for an offsite photoshoot. That's a great option!

I second Teacherbride's comments. I'm use the NuvaRing and I absolutely love it. I think you should give it a try. The hormones are low-dose and it's not something you have to remember every day. I experience no side-effects with the ring.

Hi Sarah, I think that your beach wedding should be fine with just you, hubby and witness. The beach area is fairly small, but there is another more secluded part (near the scuba diving area) that I think would work perfectly fine. (I don't think you HAVE to choose the beach area that's close to the boardwalk.) They used that area to host private romantic dinners, etc. and it's near a pool (that I used for my welcome reception) that around 4pm should be pretty quiet. I chose to marry at the gazebo overlooking the ocean because I wanted to be close to the water, but not on sand. Plus, I had 40 guests and I think it wouldn't have been as easy to host that many people for a ceremony on the beach. I wish I had some pictures! I'm kicking myself for not taking any, but I did have a girlfriend who married on the beach a year before me and her wedding was beautiful. Just her, groom and about 6 guests at sunset. Hope this is helpful! Gionne

Hey Angela, The photographer I'm using does BD photos in US and Canada. Here's her website: Tait Boudoir Photography Blog A modern photo studio providing fine art boudoir photography. You should check with her to see when she'll be back in Canada for a marathon session. Good luck! Gionne

I have a BD session scheduled for Dec 20 and I am super excited/nervous about it. There's a marathon session happening in the DC area with Tait Photography. I'm getting a 5x5 album, but there is an online gallery as well. I'm dieting and shopping for shoes and outfits as we speak!

Wow! You look great!

Oh, I was an emotional mess! I cried at my welcome cocktail reception, the rehearsal dinner and then I had the nerve to try to serenade my groom at the ceremony. Needless to say, I barely made it through the song! (I sang "From this Moment" by Shania Twain)

Beautiful job on everything!! Your colors and details are fabulous! Have an amazing time in Los Cabos!

I kept mine in the boxes they were shipped in (condensed down to one box) and checked the box with my luggage to get them there. I carried my bouquet with me as a carry on when leaving. The other flower centerpieces went back in my luggage.

Hi Bridget, I got married at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios (SGOR) and had 40 guests attend. I would recommend this resort since you are anticipating a similar guest count. My guests loved the resort and it was so large and had so many activities to participate in, I think it was the best choice. I think that Dunn's River is a beautiful resort too, but it felt more like a hotel than a resort to me. It all depends on what you prefer. Through Sandals, I was able to host a welcome cocktail reception and rehearsal dinner for free (since we had more than 20 guests). These events turned out beautifully and my guests were completely impressed and blown away. With these events, we had private servers and bartenders, etc. They even provided music. We did host out wedding reception offsite at Evita's, a local Jamaican-Italian restaurant in downtown Ocho Rios. This was preferrable to me because the Sandals reception was $75 per person (for a three hour reception, open bar, etc.) and I had a fully customized reception at Evitas for $45 pp for a 3-hour reception, reggae band, and custom wedding cake. Feel free to PM me if you'd like additional information. I'm happy to help! Good luck with your planning! Gionne