Hez43

When we were freaking out about this, my husband called and asked someone (the TA, or Chandlyn or someone) and we found out the Micheal is the brother of the GM. That's how he gets away with it.

-Heather

Your welcome...agian, I don't know how much more the flowers would have cost us (we paid $700 with the outside florist), but I'm pretty sure that the upgrades would have cost us about half of that (we only had one bridesmaid and 2 groomsmen).

I think I'd like to blame the TA for that one. The resort knew nothing about the trip or where to meet the boat because it was privately booked and they had us running from the sports center to the lobby and back to the sports center due to our TA's noncommunication with the resort. And we had no contact info for them...we just knew they had our $1200.

She demanded $50 pp up front paid to her. We had about 24 people book: that = $1200. This rate, she told us, was for a non-booze cruise. It would be $75 pp for booze. When we got on the boat, the crew asked us if we wanted them to go and get beer and food from the resort, this just confused my husband so he said no. After talking to the crew for awhile after we set sail they said their standard fee for a booze cruise with food was $800 total. So where oh where did our $400 go and where was the food and booze? If you ask me the travel agent kept a vey sizeable finder's fee and then played dumb when we called her on it later.

However, the cruise was fun, everyone loved the falls and we were okay with a morning without drinking, in fact we needed it! The boat was called "Cool II" and Everton is the name of the boat contact. That is all I know.

Heather

Snapfish: Share:Registration

Above is the link to my honeymoon page and all of the sunset pics i took in Negril, if you're still interested. The sunsets there are just so beautiful! (And I live in Erie PA where the sunsets were once ranked #2 after Japan, who knew? LOL).

 

Heather

We did the math...I can't tell you exactly what that is now, but we saved a ton of cash with the free wedding...we even hired an outside florist and saved (I wouldn't recommend an outside florist...tia flora does a very good job).

We had 30 people and went with the free wedding (we had reserved the royal and changed it once we got down there). We still got the gazebo, chairs, champaign toast (enough for everybody)with punch for the kids, free wedding dinner at mammees with menus and servers (no buffet) beautifully set up and decorated,wedding cake, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, & breakfast in bed the next morning. We would have also gotten some of our flowers for free with upgrades etc. which I wish we had done.

We paid for the Minister, Steel Drum Band, the Disco(with dj) and the florist. I think that's it. Total (without flowers) @ $850 us.

Heather

Negril has the most beautiful sunsets. If you are really looking for that sunset wedding picture, put the dress back on in Negril and have someone take a pic with your camera...I know it's not the same, but one day is not enough to get all the pics you want. Plus any reason to wear the dress again is a good reason!

Heather

We had no problem getting through customs down there. Not one person went through my luggage. I know TSA went through some of our checked baggage on the way back (and broke some of our souviniers), but I don't think that they are as picky on the way down. I would say: put them in your checked luggage, don't declair anything, and if you get pulled aside play dumb...truth is you really don't know if they are allowed or not. Worst thing they can do is confiscate them. Then you're out what? $6? Go ahead!

Again, we had professional photographers from home do our wedding for free.

Micheal sent me the first e-mail and we just explained that we were having friends and family take pics. He sent me a reply with the info about professional photogs and how they will be escorted off the premaces and we would have to pay a fee. I again responded thanks but no thanks, letting him know that my photogs may have some pretty nice cameras, but that we didn't want interference from him. He responded with a threatening "we'll see". I was furious. I e-mailed the riu wedding dept with no response. But when we got to RIU we explained to Chandlyn that we had the free package with upgrades and that his services were not included nor were they necessary. My husband let it be known that he would not tolerate this on his wedding day, and we saw Micheal, but walked right past him that day with no problems.

BTW I cannot stress enough how much the free wedding package will save you in the long run, even with the upgrades. We had 30 people. We still got the champaign toast with punch for the kids, wedding dinner at Mammees at no charge, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner at St. Ann's, & breakfast in bed the next morning. Some of the flowers would have been free (a little more with the upgrades), but we went with an outside florist.

Heather

My pics links are under "Trying to get..." go there for my pics and review if you like.

Our dinner at Mammees was included. We didn't order off of a special menu, just the menu they provided, and the food was great.

Congrats! Beautiful pics!

Mind? Not at all. Thanks for the thumbs up. I hope you had a good time too! Congrats

Yes in the disco, but I still remember that it was quite hot from all the dancing, my husband and son sweat alot and it shows in many of the pictures. Mammee is open air. And when the sun goes down it cools off quite a bit. Down into the mid 70's. Sunset is @ 6pm year round in Jamaica.

Thank you! BTW! The pics posted on snapfish are all just friends' and family. We don't have the professional ones yet.

Shang-ri-la Florists did all the flowers. I wasn't thrilled with the ones on the gazebo, we asked for more roses and birds of paradise. They were more plain than we would have liked, but in the grand scheme of things it didn't really matter.

Couples swept away. Per our travel agent. It wasn't as nice as ROR, but it was good to get away. We hired a private driver and he stopped a couple places for us. It was also nice to walk down to Margaritaville via the beach and very cool to go to Rick's cafe. Also, Couples was laid back and relaxing we really got to spend a lot of alone time together!

Gotta say, i don't think they paid much attention to time. They were there playing prior to the ceremony...I think they stopped during...or played quietly I don't remember. And they stayed and let us dance for awhile after our pictures and stuff. One hour was quite enough. Perfect in fact!

How do I put my profile pic uner my name to the left?

The boat ride was the day after. A private cataman cruise that we set up with our travel agent. It took us to Dunns River and Snorkeling. Yes we jumped off the boat. Come on! We had too, but I almost drowned with all the fabric wrapped around my legs. LOL! We rented the disco with the dj. It was a lot of fun. Yes, it was dark, but the perfect size and they gave us our own bar tender.

The Good: The ROR was just beautiful. We reserved the most expensive suite because we worried about upgrades falling through. It was amazing! Our families were impressed with the resort. My new step-mom-in-law, however, was disappointed that the food was the same every night, but she went to the same restaurant every night, so whatever.

 

The weather was perfect. Yes, it was a little windy, as you'll see in the pics, but I still wore my hair half down and my vail. Both faired okay. It rained only one day...in Negril where we honeymooned and only for two hours. The Jamaicans look at rain as a blessing, and we didn't let it get us down.

 

The beach gazebo was beautiful...we were up in the air about where we wanted to get married until we got down there...and guess what, that's okay. Chandlyn let us make all the cahnges we wanted at our meeting with her. She was very easy to get along with. We gave her our bubbles, our dj music and our wedding favors along with a seating chart and she took care of it all. (The favors had everyone's name on the box she placed them at their seating assignment).

 

Our wedding was at 1pm at the beach gazebo, follwed by a 3pm reception at the disco (there were 30 of us). The dj played the songs I brought and some of his own. Dinner was at Mammees @ 6:30 and our guests used the extra time to freshen up and change. Later that night there was the resort beach party and that just added to the night. Lots of fun!

 

Our friends are wedding photogs and they came down and took our pics as a gift. We were worried about Micheal and some of the e-mails we had recieved from him, but we didn't pay a fee and he left us alone.

 

We got the steel drum band: I highly reccomend this. They added so much to the ceremony. They played Is this Love by Marley as I walked down the isle, and stayed until after the pictures were taken. They even made us get up there and play with them. The bass player was super impressed by my husband's skill on the guitar. It was funny. I don't think they thought he was really gonna play. I didn't have as much luck on the steel drums, but I just pretended.

 

The Bad: Our travel agent screwed up our departure time. And if it weren't for the ice storm, we would have missed our flight to Jamaica. She also promised upgrades that no one recieved. She had my husband convinced that we should hire an outside florist. This was totally unnecessary and cost us much more than it had to, not to mention that the outside florist didn't show up to my room with my boquette and the boutineirs until 3 minutes before the ceremony. This put me in a bit of a panic! My mom also had to run down with the boys' flowers and pin them on them real quick. The travel agent also arranged our catamaran cruise on Sunday, which turned out to be a fiasco, but we made the most of it. I wore my wedding dress to climb Dunn's RIver Falls for my TTD photos. No, I don't have them yet, but I will post them later.

 

Other bad news. I had shingles for most of the trip, but I didn't let it bother me too much. My friend's mother ended up sick and in the hospital down there. The baggage handlers went on strike at MBJ the day my guests all left which caused them to miss most of their flights and have to be delayed. I lost a diamond in my wedding ring 2 hours after Gavin put it on my finger. My girlfriend spilled a beer on my dress right before the reception (it came right out). One of my wedding photographers had the flu.

 

After a while it was a comedy of errors...all of which were out of our control, so we just had to laugh and I thank God that I am as layed back as I am, otherwise I'd have been feaking out! By far the good out-weighed the bad and the bad just gave us some great stories to tell.

 

Here are some more photos...Honeymoon and stuff.

 

Snapfish: Share:Registration

Snapfish: Share:Registration

 

 

Okay, So I don't know if that will work, but that is supposed to be the link to my snapfish photos of our wedding. Scroll down for my review.

I'm having trouble uploading pics...never had trouble anywhere but here, but I'm trying!

For those of you who are worried about Micheal and his fee: I got married on 3/8/08 at ROR. We were worried about Micheal too. Especially after he e-mailed us a week before our wedding...several times. My best friends are wedding photogs. They came down and stayed 3 nights and took all of our pics as a gift. We told Chandlyn and Micheal, "no thanks". He said "we'll see". I was worried he would come down to my wedding and make a scene, but he didn't. We didn't pay his fee and all was well. Heather

We are getting married on Saturday 3/8/08 at ROR. I wasn't going to do wedding favors, but at the last minute, I ordered everyone a custom flask from Switchplates, Business Card Holders, Personalized Gifts, Engraved Cases They came in cute little black boxes which I labled with everyone's name in black and white. I'm going to have Chandlyn or my mom or someone place one at every setting at the dinner table before the meal and they will serve as the place markers. And yes, I mapped it out due to divorces and families and kids and what not.

Heather

March 8, 2008 We leave in one week! I'm finally getting excited. The snow is coming down hard up here in PA. We leave on March 5, wed on March 8, leave for Negril via private driver on March 11 to stay at Couples Swept Away, and return to the states on March 15. There are 30 in our group and we have reserved a Catamaran (sp?) for the day after the wedding to take us to the falls to TTD. Heather

 

Riu Ocho Rios Brides

 

January 2008 Brides

Cherie: wedding January 17th, there January 12th-26th

Becky: wedding January 23; there 1/19 - 1/26

Becky (bex1975): wedding Jan 26; there 1/23-2/1

Ktownbride - wedding Jan 31; there 1/27 - 2/10

 

February 2008 Brides

Natasha (pouchie) wedding Feb 7th

JamaicaBride08: wedding Feb 8th, there 2/3-2/10

Janelle (Jmhein): wedding February 12, there 2/9 - 2/16, then off to Sandals Royal Caribbean until 2/23

Therese (chicago88 ): wedding Feb 15th, there 2/12 - 2/20

Mopher: wedding Feb 20th

Flowerchic2323: wedding Feb 26

 

March 2008 Brides

nancylou7: wedding on March 3

Hez43: Wedding March 8 RIU from 5-11, Negril 11-15

Crawford2B: Wedding on March 13, there 3/10-3/17

Anna: Wedding on 14th March, there from 6th March - 21st March

Octavia: March 15, dates there 3/12-3/19

Becky(Olivia): Wedding March 21, there 3/17 - 3/27

Kimmykatbride: March 26, 2008-there from 22-29, then in Negril for 1 week

 

April 2008 Brides

Heidi: wedding on April 4; there from 4/1-4/8

Ange: wedding on April 8; there from 4/5 -4/12

Jen (J&M): wedding on April 9

Marlon(Ilandking): wedding on April 10' there from 4/7-4/14

Jocelyn: wedding on April 10; there from 4/5-4/12

yboone98: wedding on April 11; there 4/9-1/13

Mandie (pook2b) wedding on April 11; there from 4/8 - 4/22

Jenn (jenanmag) Wedding on 4/12 there from 4/9 to 4/15

Twelve Piece: wedding on April 12; there from 4/9-4/19

Amanda: wedding on April 17; there from 4/12-4/19

Ochoriobride: wedding on April 22nd

 

May 2008 Brides

Alexandra (geology_rocks): wedding day May 5, there May 2-9

md_ocr: wedding on May 10

Albrosious: wedding day on May 12th

amandatheo: wedding on 13th May

leslie: wedding day on May 14th; there May 10th-24th

Lizz: wedding on May 16; there from May 10-19

AlmostMrsForbes: wedding on May 19th; there from May 14th-20th (then off to Couples)!

Jenn08: wedding on May 23, there from 19-26

2BMOSLEY: Wedding on May 31. Arrive: May 28.

Davina: wedding on May 29; there from May 26-June 1

 

June 2008 Brides

Sara (cantwattobemrs): wedding June 10, there June 6-14

FutureMrsButler08: wedding on June 14

JuneBride2B: wedding on June 14

Bobbi-Francis: wedding June 28; there 6/25-7/3

 

July 2008 Brides

Juanslake: Wedding on July 3; there 6/30 - 7/6

Brittney: Wedding on July 12; there from July 9-14

MrsInTraining: wedding on July 19; there from July 16-23

RiuBride2B: wedding on July 26; there from July 23-28

 

August 2008

Melissa (Shenmaat): wedding Aug 8th, there Aug 4th - 10th

 

October 2008 Brides

Kishalee: wedding Oct 4th, there Oct 1-8

Msklee: wedding Oct 25, there Oct 23-27

 

November 2008 Brides

Dara: wedding on November 1st: there from October 27 to November 3

Kater: wedding on November 7th

GeminiLibra: wedding on November 15

 

January 2009 Brides

Becky (naga0066): wedding on Jan 5th, there Dec 31-Jan10

Christene: wedding Jan 22nd

 

May 2009 Brides

drbrainfreeze: wedding on may 9th

 

September 2009 Brides:

KHarrod: wedding on Sept 12th