IrieBride08

Hi and welcome to the forum! I'm from the DC Metro area too. I'm taking the easy way out and getting married in Jamaica. (Planning for about 50 guests.)I figured it would save money and time.

Sticky! Is your friend having a destination wedding also? (Who picked the date first?)

Here's another great find about DW's I ran across earlier: "The 10 Commandments of Weddings." This has been super helpful to me! I printed it and posted it at my desk to help me keep perspective!! Attachment 917 The Ten Commandments of Wedding Planning.doc

Quote: Originally Posted by atjorgensen it seems like everyone is a riu bride and no sandals brides!!! i did look into riu but since we arent taking our kids we wanted a kid free resort so we went with sandals. any info is appreciated!! thanks. Hi! I'm getting married at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios on May 17, 2008. We can probably help each other since many of the offerings are the same. Let me know and I can share the info I've gathered so far.

Quote: Originally Posted by lizz10179 Kreation Flowers sent me a quote for the flowers I want and it is really inexpensive compared to the RIU. You should definitely try to get in touch with them! Also, they only charge $32 to send a courier to the RIU with the flowers the day of the wedding, which doesn't seem bad at all. Hey, just make sure to double check whether the RIU charges to have vendors come onsite. While the florist only charges $32, the resort could possibly charge a fee as well. (I believe that Sandals will allow outside vendors--except photogs--but charge a fee for them to come onsite.) Just cover your bases!

OMG, They are stunning! I absolutely LOVE your ML Scarlet wedding dress. It's absolutely gorgeous!

Thanks so much for sharing your story and for being so transparent with your heart. It really encourages me in my own relationship (I'll have to share my story with you later!) Looks like it has truly been a match made in heaven! I wish you peace and blessings in your union that is fast approaching!

I love #2. Very beautiful!

Hysterical!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by foxytv Wow! Sorry to hear about your luck with that company. Its good that you were able to find that out ahead of time though!!! How is the planning going on your own? Have you talked with a TA? I'm glad I found out too! As far as getting a TA, I'm up in the air about it. I've already done the majority of legwork (contract negotiations for both accomodations and air) and feel I've gotten some great deals. Plus my FI recently started a new travel business (YTB) and through that, we will be getting a commission on the group booking, which will help us a lot. The hard part is dealing with the travel plans of all our guests. I don't really want to, but feel sort of stuck doing it. While my FI says he wants to do it, y'all KNOW how that could go! LOL! I'm not going to surrender control to him in that area--too important! I've made arrangements to have my paypal account (with payment buttons) added to my wedding site so that guests can RSVP and submit deposits, payments, etc. I'm hoping that everything will work out. Hopefully, I can find someone to help me once the STD's go out and the responses start coming in. I am already anticipating the headache!

Quote: Originally Posted by Starfish Hello again, I know you haven't had a chance to answer the first question yet but I've just thought of another. Does DW.com give you a time limit? And along the same lines, once you pay and have officially signed up with them, are they essentially with you until the day of your wedding? Meaning if they give us info to look at and then don't hear back from us for a week or two they aren't going to close off the account or anything silly like that would they? (I've heard of this happening with other companies before. . .they say "due to inactivity we have closed your account"). Just making sure I cover everything before deciding to use them or not. Thank you again! Myles & Sarah Hi, I also used dw.com and found them subpar. At the time, I couldn't decide where I wanted to get married. They advertise themselves as experts in the field with connections to several resorts all over. I was looking for someone to give me information on the different types of resorts available as well as cost comparisons to help me choose the best location for my 50 guest wedding in the Caribbean. The first planner assigned to me was very nice and took all of my details and info and promised to get back to me in a week with options. I was soooo excited I could barely wait the week. At the end of the week, I called her and she gave me quotes to resorts that we never discussed previously...and they were WAYYYYY out of the price range we'd discussed. Turns out, she'd confused me with some other bride who was getting married the same day as me! I tried to let that slide, but she had no useful information for me. She called me the next day with quotes that she obviously got online--I could have done that myself! I requested another planner and was assigned one who told me that Sandals properties don't allow non-heterosexual couples to stay on the property--meaning my 2 widowed aunts wouldn't be able to share a room to attend my wedding. It just didn't sound right to me, so I ended up contacting Sandals myself and found out that it wasn't true. After that, I just felt I couldn't trust the information they were giving me and the price quotes they gave me for several resorts were the EXACT SAME as the ones I was researching online. I decided to do things myself at that point and haven't looked back. I guess I expected DW to have more influence among the resorts, have access to better travel deals as well as be more knowledgeable about the various resort properties. They were very nice and everything, but it just wasn't helpful to me. Sorry for this long post, but just helping you be informed!

I like #1 best! Love the clean classic lines.

My contact at Air Jamaica told me that taxes can start at $88 or more per ticket and can fluctuate all the way up until the departure date. When I booked my group rates of $348 and $317 from Baltimore and Atlanta respectively direct to Jamaica, the taxes were $88 per ticket, but it has gone up to $108 per ticket. So the tickets are all over $400. All my contract does is secure the cost of the tickets only. (Kinda frustrating!)

We chose Ocho Rios, Jamaica because it seemed the most similar to Hawaii (with the beautiful lush gardens, waterfalls, mountains, and ocean) without the expense. We chose Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Resort because it's a great AI and includes our welcome reception, rehearsal dinner, et al.; affordable for us and our guests; a short flight for our east coast guests; and b/c we LOVE Jamaican food.

Kelly, I really think you should be ok because your ceremony starts later in the evening. By reception time, the weather should be very comfortable in Florida. (I used to live in Miami and it was never hot in the evenings.) I highly doubt there will be sweat inducing heat.

Quote: Originally Posted by lizz10179 Not that I'm fishing for presents (lol), it's just that we invited 240(!) people and are expecting probably 80 or so to come. I wasn't sure if I should register for a lot of things or not. I don't want anyone who IS coming to get me a gift because their coming is enough, but didn't know if those who weren't would still send something. BTW - Sorry I totally highjacked this thread!!!!!!! I'm in the same boat. Plan to invite a little over 100, but anticipate about 50 guests. I don't want my guests to worry about buying me a gift after they come all the way to Jamaica to attend my wedding. (A few presents at the AHR would be nice though... LOL) I'm still trying to figure out the proper way to handle the gift issue. (I haven't registered anywhere yet.)

I have yet to do this too! I think the ring does have to be appraised first before adding it to insurance. I need to do this post haste because the ring was covered from the jeweler for only 6 weeks after purchase. (Today makes 8!)

Looks like we're all trying to throw money to Air Jamaica for the same wedding weekend! I booked a group rate directly through Air Jamaica and have seats reserved through 2 different cities for $348 and $317 respectively. (Those prices do NOT include the exorbitant taxes though! Those are just ticket prices only.

Quote: Originally Posted by carlymcmullen That is my dilemna as well. I absolutely HATE getting my pic taken, I am a total baby about it. So I think I need a good photog who can help me relax, but also blend into the background and get some good candids! I wish I had a family member who was good at taking pics!! I feel exactly the same way! The last thing I want is to be looking crazy on my wedding day! LOL!! (I haven't even taken any engagement photos yet for that reason! I'm trying to get it together.) I asked FI's friend to send me his photo gallery and the shots weren't bad. Not super great, but passable. Here's his site. I'm glad he'll be there though. Maybe between the two, I'll get some good shots in.

OMG Thank you so much! You're on a roll! I wonder whether they were taken by the SGO photogs though... Hmmmm... I'm strongly considering bringing my own as a guest. FI's best friend takes pretty good shots, I'm considering using him.

Hi Carly! I'll be getting married at the Sandals Grande Ocho Rios on May 17. We're wedding twins! A lot of the wedding details are similar between the two resorts. I have yet to see the work of any of the photographers at SGO! It's driving me crazy!

So cool to see a groom connected to the planning process. Welcome and congrats!

Welcome! I'm a fellow Jamaica bride too! Getting married May 17, 2008 in Ocho Rios. Congrats to you!

Thanks for all the love! I will definitely take you up on it! So far, I've been doing all the planning myself (without travel planners, etc.) I started off with one, but wasn't getting good help. I'm trying to finish my STD's (boarding pass) and get it mailed out ASAP.

Hi everyone, My name is Gionne and I'm getting married on May 17, 2008 at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. This is my first foray into the world of forums and looking forward to the advice and camaraderie!