Bride010101

Jen as I told you last night our house is split - Sean votes #2 and I vote #1 (well for now at least - before I officially vote I want to see #2 in person). Although I love the detailing on dress 2, something about #1 just shouts "jen" to me... It seems to have a classic but sexy bride look and I don't think the pictures do the lace or the sparkle justice. That being said dress two is beautiful and unqiue and has the lace-up back I know you wanted plus fits you so well which makes it difficult to pass up. Either way you can't go wrong... they are two gorgeous dresses, just two different looks. Hopefully you wake up one morning and just know which one is the dress for you! If not, Katie and I can always play eeny-meeny-miny-moe or rock-paper-scissors and decie for you. ; )

Welcome Jen : )

I wore Maggie's Treasure for my wedding and loved it! A corset back was a must in my search... and the dress felt so light! Plus I loved the illusion train - perfect for a beach wedding. I bought my dress for ~$500 from a local bridal salon. Of note, I called most of the salons in my state that carreid Maggie Sottero to check on prices. The one I bought from had it listed for $200 cheaper than everywhere else. Not sure if it was a mistake or what, but its worth making a few phone calls! As an added bonus it fit absolutley perfectly - no alterations were needed! THe corset made the bodice very form fitting. And I was able to order it in a petite for no extra charge!

Ours were little circles (probably dime size-ish) that we bought from Michael. We put them in a little plastic snack bag with a note saying to keep your room cool. And then a sentace explaining they can put it over the sensor on the balcony door frame when the door is open to keep the AC on. Of note - you can hear a little click when you get it in the right place - and obviously can hear the AC still on. Plus I would add a note to consider taking it off when you are leaving the room - or provide multiple magnets - because several of our guests lost theirs when the maid closed teh balcony door and the magnet fell off. They worked perfectly@

Quote: Originally Posted by evtalbot Thanks for the review! You look so beautiful! Interesting comments on Carlson Wagonlit Travel. I met with someone from that company when I was trying to figure out my destination. Something just didn't seem right with them. She said they charge $250 to "plan" your wedding and communicate with the resort, which you can easily do yourself. Every time I tried to call or e-mail her a question, she was out of office for several days. PLUS, she told me that they don't like to book the RIU, which is what I really wanted, and tried to convince me that everyone has problems doing group bookings with them!!! Needless to say, I am not using them. Luckily who I worked with didn't charge to "plan" - then again, maybe if she would have charged up front we would have gotten better prices at the end? She also mentioned that the Riu wasn't one of there "preferred"... she heavily pushed Sandals. But I also do want to mention my in-laws have had GREAT service with the CarlsonWagonlit Travel they normally use in Toronto. So it may just be office specific. We have used the Toronto branch to book mutliple trips from MN to Toronto.. and for our trip to Disney last year. Looking back I wish I would have had the Canadian guests use that branch instead... it probably would have been way easier.

I've recieved some questions from several individuals... and since some of them are repeated I thought I would just copy and paste some of the answers here for anyone else who is curious: 1) Do you have templates of the documents you gave your guests about the resort, your wedding...etc that you would be willing to share? I *think* i still have them and will email them to you who have asked. I should have my invitations/std letter, our welcome letter, timelines, and programs saved. For information on the resort itself I mostly used my wedding webpage. For more details look at: Our Wedding Website (most of the info is taken from the Riu website) 2) How much was the poolside reception and what did it offer? (if you don't mind speaking about price, of course) The poolside reception cost me $15/person. This included $10/person for an open bar and $5/person for the tables and tablecloths. The extra $5 for tables is kind of a jip because I think the tables are already there anyways... but I didn't bother arguing about it. I also brought candles and petals that they put on the tables for me. Then I spent $300 for the dj for 2 hours. He was awesome! 3) What photography package did you get and how much was it? We actually didn't go with a photographer. We had originally won a contest for one but had some financial problems come up that zapped our remaining wedding budget. (thankfully I did so much way ahead of time or I would have ended up cutting even more). We were lucky to have one of my uncles and a close family friend who are into photography - so they had nicer cameras and the eye for better pictures/setups - who were already coming that did our photos from us. Our family friend even got up with us to do a TTD. Still waiting to see how they all turn out. I know lots of brides have used the Photoshop that's onsite. If you do a serach through the Jamaica section you should be able to find some updated prices. 4) What decor did you bring with you? Would you do that again if you could or buy things at the market there? We brought down all our own flowers. I have mixed views on whether I would do it again. We ordered them from an online vendor - and although I loved them - they were a pain to bring down with us. Also, since I ordered them early and our bridal party changed I spent more money in the long run. On the positive side they look great in pictures and we were able to bring them home with us. I also brought down hanging flowers for the gazebo. They looked cool and were easy to do. We also brought flower petals for the aisle which added a nice touch. We also brought bubbles and programs down. The programs added some more color. And we had a sand ceremony stuff we brought from home on the table inside the gazebo. We chose not to get chair covers and sashes. I'm so glad we saved the money hear. We didn't want it to look super formal or anything... so the basic brown chairs were perfect for us. 5) Was there a website you found the off property excursions or did you go through the hotel? We booked our Dunns Falls catamarn trip through the resort. They were the cheapest and easiest. (You can get 15% off just by getting a Riu card when you are there). The rest of the excursions we booked with our travel companies. You will have a meeting set-up to meet with your company the day after you arrive. They will have all the information and prices. 6) Did guests pay their own way on the excursions, or did you and your husband pay? We would have loved to be able to have a group activity that we sponsored. However, that defintely wasn't in teh budget. Everyone paid their own way. We dealt with this by including in our timeline the approximate prices of each activity and the statement "anyone is welcome to join us on any of our activities or plan their own." No one seemed to expect it. And since we booked as a group - we didn't end up paying for our own. Each time some member of our family took care of Sean's and I excursion. 7) Is there anything you wished you had know ahead of time, or anything you would change I spent so much time on the forum in my early planning stages that I felt pretty prepared going in. If anything, I wish I would have relaxed more and not spent so much time worrying about the little details. Once we got there we changed to the poolside reception- from the Seagrape beach bar - and I'm so glad we did. It was easier for our guests and felt more private and intimate. I also was very worried about the semi-private Mammee Bay reception. But I am so glad we didn't pay more for the Plantation! Mammee Bay worked perfectly for us... we had our own space... but it was more of a relaxing atmosphere.

Here is another thread with some ideas.... http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t11617

Here is another thread with some ideas.... http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t11617

Beautiful pictures! I love the overlooking shots as you walked down the aisel. Very cool!

I would advise checking back in with them from time to time or watching the site closely. When I went to book my wedding last year for this January 5th... I was told that booking wouldn't open up until end of March or early April. At the time I was a bit inpatient and worried that I wouldn't get the time I wanted so I emailed them weekly and was told the same thing over and over. I was quite suprised (and a bit mad) come February 20th when all of a sudden I heard other brides on here were booking. My date/time was available when I went to their website so there wasn't a major issue... but I was still pissed. The month of January filled up really quick!

so pretty! love the colors!

Everything looks so perfect! and you're flowers are gorgeous!!! Plus... don't you just love that tree? It was our favorite... we made the whoel bridal party climb it for a picture. haha

Congrats and welcome back!

I had 3 bridesmaids... 2 of them ordered their dresses at the same time from our local bridal store. The bridal store had warned me that colors could vary if we didn't order all the dresses together - however at the time it wasn't possible and I didn't want to wait any longer. In the long run my third bridesmaid ended up ordering hers online through houseofbrides.com as it ended up being way cheaper than ordering it from her bridal store in Canada. She had no problems with ordering the dress and the shipping was on time. When we compared the dresses from online and the store... the color ended up being identical. There were no problems with the dress. Here is a pic of the 3 dresses together in 2 different lights...

Thanks everyone! We had a fabulous time. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I can try and help. Quote: Originally Posted by Abbie wow becky! i cant believe your wedding has come and gone already, it seems like just yesterday you were planning everything! it sounds like you had an amazing time, and im so glad! you and sean are glowing with love and the pics are such a great testament cant wait to see your pro pics! ps ADORE the brown and white bikini! what a great pic! I know... time just flew by! It's amazing that its already come and gone. And thanks that was my favorite suit - got to love VS!

Hmm... I don't recall seeing this while we were there. They did have an area on the beach that had 2 soccer goals set up in the sand in addition to a beach volleyball court. Plus on the other side of the buildings there were 2 tennis courts. We didn't explore much of the non-beach side of the resort... so maybe there was more?

We just got married at Riu Ocho Rios on January 5th. My husband and I went for 8 nights and upgraded to a Junior Suite. The package cost (including air, transfers and room) was a total of $4200. Our guests went for a week and stayed in the regular room resulting in a total cost of ~$1400/person. We went with the free wedding package at the Riu (which really costs $265). This package included the minister, basic decorations, champage/rum punch afterwards, semi-private dinner at Mammee Bay, the cake, and the wedding coordinators. In addition we added: *Bridal hairstyle $100 *Steel drum band for ceremony ($350/hour) *DJ at reception ($150/hour) *Poolside reception - open bar and tables ($10-15/person) We also brought down our own (totally optional): *Flowers (my bouquet, 3 BM bouquests, and bout ~$300) *Ceremony decorations + sand ceremony set (~$50) *Petals and candles for reception tables (~$30) I would suggest setting your limit and then categorizing things in order of importance. Figure out what you MUST have and go for it. And don't worry so much about the details that aren't important to you.

Congrats and welcome back!

I went there early on in my shopping and had positive experiences both times I was there. The girls were always super friendly and actually listened to what I was looking for. I never felt rushed or overlooked. I had appointments both times, which I think is the way to go. I thought I had found the dress but knew I would want a few changes made - so they brought up the seamstress so I could discuss it with her personally. I feel it is the perfect way to try on a ton of different styles in your size. My only negative is now that they have my phone number I keep getting phone calls - even though I've told them mutliple times I've already purchased my dress.

I really like the first one on you... the flowy look seems perfect for the beach. I also really liked your first runner-up... kind of combined the flowy and the lace-up.

Part of our Dunns group on the catamaran Our group at Dunns Dancing on the catamaran Dinner at Sir Richards

OOT Bags (one per couple, singles got their own) Stag/Stagette/Welcome Party View from our balcony Me and my maids My fam at Margaritaville One of our busrides Top of Mystic Moutain

Mammee Bay Reception *Hopefully one of my guests got one of the whole table... I thought we did... but I'm still trying to get photos from everyone My brother's singing us the Barney song Cutting the cake Poolside Reception Setting - not the best picture to show the layout First Dance Father Daughter Dance Dancing Cha Cha Slide

Post Wedding Dancing with the steel drum band Climbing our favorite tree Hanging at Dunns River Bar before Dinner

Wedding Day: Pre-wedding photos Ceremony Honoring our Parents Blessing of the Hans - Read by my sisters Sand Ceremony