hollisandsteph

Wow everthing looks wonderful! You can see how much planning and work you have put into everything. It is going to be a perfect day!

Amanda- I wanted to tell you, I grabbed my friends memory card and had some of her pics developed. Guess who was in the background of one- you! Actually it was you and your family setting in the Rivera lounge either before or after you wedding! I'll get it downloaded and post it.:-)

Those are great! I also love the welcome letter!!! You two did such a wonderful job on them!

I was confused about it too and had the same arguement with my husband..lol I went to the post office and made photocopies of the original and took them to the notary. I then sent the photocopied version in and then emailed Darma and asked her to verify that I did the right thing. She ok everything and there was not problem with it. I got an offical confirmation from Sandas a few days later. They will tell you if you don't have everthing in order but it much more simple then I thought it was going to be..lol BTW do you all have your passports yet?

We got married 5/18 and are having our AHR on July 11th. I had originally planed it in June but changed venue and had to take the dates they had available. We have kids and are going to do a Sand Ceremony with the kids uniting us as a family. I felt bad cause they were not involved in the actual wedding so this is the best thing I could come up with. I hope it works out ok! My step-daugher is 14 and wants to dress up so I am looking for an inexpensive bridesmaids dress and I am going to have her hair done that morning. I just want her to feel special! I already have a dress for our 2 year old (thank god for after easter sales..lol) You could do honerary flower girls/ring barrer. Get them all dressed up (try some of the secound hand stores or ebay for deals) and make mention of them at the reception. You could even have BM and groomsmen. I have herd other brides talk about doing this. Other than that I am not sure. Hope that helps!

The pics are beautiful. They are from your offsite recpetion right? Everytime I see all the pics it gives me an almost homesick feeling. I want to go back! When we left we said we would prolly not go back there anytime soon but would with out a doubt do a Sandals resort (in Bahamas or St.Lucia). Now I am thinking our next vacation will be SGOR!! LOL If I have not told you yet, your dress is beautiful! I love it!

Ok here is one last picture. My MIL scaned it. It is one of the professional ones we bought. It is better quailty than what it shows up but I thought I would post it anyways.

Dedra- I saw both a wedding with the arch and one with out on the beach. I REALLY loved the arch! The weddings were the same day. I really did not see too many except those two. Then I saw Amanda all dressed up in the lobby but did not see her wedding. I also saw Iriebride gettting pictures taken on the beach and my friend from another forum getting married on the pier. Other than that I really did not notice other weddings. I was looking for them though since I was getting married the next day and I knew 3 people getting married there.. The cabbies name is Homa and his number is 1876-530-0450 or his home number (you can call him there get a better deal. That is what we did) 917-3022. I belive it is area code 876. Like I said he is a really nice, down to earth, outgoing guy.

Dedra- I looked through my pictures and I do not have any that show a good view of the beach were the weddings are. I am getting my friends pics tomorrow and I am pretty sure she has some that show whole beach so you can see how close you are to people swiming. I'll post them when I get some downloaded. We originally wanted a beach wedding but decided privacy was very important to us. I loved our spot and felt very comfortable there. It felt like it was just us. I did leave the resort with my photos but we only bought a couple of them. They were ready 2 hours later. As far as the tickets go, you will recieve a package via DHL or fedex with tickets. Atleast we did anyways. I hope that helps Bridget- I would do Dunns River for sure! We went through the resort and just booked it the day after we arrived. It was no problem at all and well worth it. Take a water camera though. They are cheeper to buy at home!! I also loved Coyaba gardens but I recommend doing it before you do Dunns River. Coyaba is beautiful and well worth it. Dunns River is bigger and it is just the falls. I would do both all over again. We booked both through the resort but if you wanted to save money (they rack up the prices through the resort) I do know a very trustworthy cabbie. He took us all over the place (tubing, shopping and dinner)and he was awsome! He originally was my husband golf caddie. They do reccomend you do not leave the resort with strangers but they make sure they get the name and license plate number of the person you are leaving with. I was nervous about it but I am glad we did it. It was a blast that day!

Quote: Originally Posted by IrieBride08 Yah, I definitely think the Reef Terrace is the best kept secret. It was super hot that day, but my guests were cool and shaded in that garden. The treatment was GREAT. I was wanting to bring Caroline home with me and keep her for life--it felt that great. It was a seaweed scrub wrap or something like that. My skin felt like silk afterward. LOL! I wanted to do the seaweed wrap!! I kept going back and forth on weather or not I wanted to take the time/money to do it. There was sooo much I wanted to do and just was not sure how to fit it all in...lol It was super hot on our day too. I was really regretting my choice to wear crinlen (not sure how it is spelled). The first thing I did after the pictures was lose it..lol Quote: Originally Posted by redheaney Congratulations! Can't wait to read the review and see more pictures! Be sure to let us know how the resort was - as we're still looking for a place to honeymoon at! I was there also. The resort was great! I had such a relaxing and wonderful time. I would recommend it to everyone! I also loved that it was an adult only all-inclusive resort. I would recommend staying on the Rivera side though. Close to the beach with wonderful views!

The pics are great! Cannot wait to see more! BTW What a great wedding site. I have a pretty good feeling it was the best location there! :-) HEHE BTW how was the spa treatment??

Quote: Originally Posted by Asteff2001 What a beautiful bride. I think you picked a wonderful location We picked a great location...lol BTW What did you think of the Preston Bailey Package you got?

Quote: Originally Posted by dedra27 hollisandsteph and all others getting back soon ~ I'm glad there is someone to talk to who has actually been there now! My wedding is the end of June, so i'm getting down to all the last minute stuff. Any info and tips you have would be great! Did you get any of the a la carte pics and how was getting the digital CD of negatives, I heard the CD is $200? Did they do a nice job of doing your hair? How about the off site tours, would you recommend or not recommend any of them? I hope you had a great time! Thanks Hey Dedra. I am actually jelous of you! I wanna go back and do it again..lol I would with out a doubt chose a Sandals wedding again. Not that I would ever need to but you know what I mean..lol I loved it. Tips..Bring small bill. Like 5's and 10's. There is no ATM at the resort either and it is kinda hard to get cash. You can get a cash advance at the front desk but it is only in Jamaican dollars and they don't always have the cash. Tipping is almost required by everyone non-Sandals. The bus drivers, the men carring the baggage at the airport and the excursions are just examples. We also slipped a couple of our favorite Sandals employee a little cash. At the actual wedding there will be a photographer if you requested one or not. You do get a free 5x7 and we ordered one 8x10 at $25 and our friends surprised us with a picture they ordered for us so we have 3 all together. The same friend took the rest of our pictures with our camera and they turned out great! I was worried that I would be upset not purchasing a photo package (or the ala carte) but I am not at all. My friend did purchace a picture CD with pics they had taken around the resort. I was never offered this but I never asked either. We were happy with the picture we had gotten and did not want to spend any more money. My hair was great! It with held the humidity perfectly! The ladies at the Red Lane Spa are sooo nice. Both my and my BM had our hair done and they were both awsome! We did 3 different excursion. The Dunns River was included when we booked through Sandals but even if it wasn't it would have been worth the money! It was a lot fun. Take the party boat and you get to snorkle afterward. You don't get back to the resort til dark either. BTW the sun sets at 6:30. It is hard to get used too. We also did the Coyaba Garden the day before Dunns River. I loved this one too. It is really inexpensive and you get a tour through a beutiful garden then then you walk up a smaller waterfall. There was hardly anyone there. They said don't go when the Cruise lines are docked. It is packed and the prices get hiked up. The last thing we did was my favorite. My husband's caddie when golfing was also a cabbie. He owned his own cab and they worked out a plan to do several different thing. I know they warn against this but the guys spent 5 hours with the man and felt comfortble with him. He took us rafting, shopping and to the Hard Rock Cafe (we were gonna do Margritiaville but went there the night before through the resort...and hated it) It was nice just being taken wherever we wanted and when we wanted. He also helped us barter at the shops. This man was so nice and alot of fun. I still have his card so if anyone is looking for someone trustworthy let me know and I will give you his number. He took us around for $20 a person and then we had to pay $20 for the tube at the river rafting place. So it was about $40 a person. The rafting through Sandals was $80 a person so we saved a ton of money and got to go shopping too. Sorry this is so long. Once I got started I couldn't stop..lol Can anyone tell I had a great time:-)

Quote: Originally Posted by flamingo101 What may I ask did you decide to do for photos? did you pre-purchase a package? or did you just wing it?? Were you able to get them on disc?? Quote: Originally Posted by bridget917 Your pictures are wonderful! Whoever took them for you did a great job You looked beautiful and you guys both look so happy! Congratulations! Thanks girls! We were actually given an awsome camera as a prewedding gift from my SIL. She had told us about a month prior when we were deciding weather or not to purchase a package. We decided to wing it and have our friend that was with us take them. I agree that he did a great job. He has some good ones on his camera too. I can't wait to get the all back. We did buy a couple of the professional ones and you get one free 5x7. They are not copyrighted but when I took them to Walmart they kinda questioned me. I said my friend took them and I copied them for the MIL and my SIL. I will have my MIL scan them soon and post them too so you can see examples of the professional. I do know you can get them on a disc. My friend did. Hers were not wedding ones but I am sure they offer the disk. They are all pretty pricey!

The flowers are actually the "free" ones provided by Sandals. I loved them too and was pleasently surprised. I almost opted for the upgraded flowers but I am relieved I saved the money. They were still alive 5 days later and it killed me to throw the away! Here is a better picture of them

Quote: Originally Posted by DougsGirl you looked lovely! thanks for sharing! ps, doug is like that too, hates his smile. i've finally convinced him to at least smile even if he doesnt show his teeth, so many people tell him he looks mad or something, and he finally realized it Hollis is the same way! It drives me nutt. What is really cute though is when he gets laughing really hard and tries to still keep his teeth covered (he was a thumb sucker til he was 12..lol) He makes the cutest face then!

We did an excursion to Coyaba Gardens. I wonder if this is the same general area as the resort. I know the Gardens were beautiful!!! We also walked up a little waterfall there. It was very nice!

Thanks I was/am happy. We waited 8 years for this! Don't let his non smiling fool anyone. He was happy too. He just hates his smile..lol He has been telling all our friends and family about the wedding ever since we got back in the United Stated. We were very happy with our choice to have a destination wedding. The level of comfort and relaxation was the best!

Quote: Originally Posted by Melissa G Congratulations! I am so glad it went well. I can't wait to see the pictures! I am getting married at SGOR in August! Go to the Sandals forum. I posted several pic there. I also added pics of a couple of different sited and the flowers and such under "Sandals Brides update" I believe is what it is titled.

I figured out how to post pics...whooohoooo...lol but I started a new thread...oooppps. It is under the Sandals forum so go check them out... Thanks for those who offered to help!

Here is the "Free" flowers. I was happy with them since upgrading cost so much more and you can't take them home. This is the table setting with the cake. Again. I did no upgrades so this is the included package.

Here are a couple of the wedding locations Reef Terace This is where we got married and I loved it. There is a nice Ocean View in the backgound. It is located right beside the Rivera building. It is more private than the rest. I am not sure the name of the others but this one is the Gazebo in the left hand side of the pic (red roof). Here is the last one I have a pic of: I also saw a couple of weddings right on the beach. They were very pretty but people were laying out and playing right in the water beside the wedding. It was kinda awkward being there when a wedding was going on. I felt like an uninvited guest..lol

Here is more. Sorry the are sooo big!!

Ok I hope I have this figured out! Let me know if you don't see the pictures! IMG]http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll320/hollisandsteph/Jamiaca178.jpg[/img]

The pics are beautiful! Did you know that you, me and Iriebride all chose the same location? It was definatly my favorite one!