danalauren22

For all those waiting for your wedding certificates... We still have yet to receive ours, married June 29th, but I was able to use the one we got the day of to change my last name! I didn't think it would work since it was hand written, but I was able to get on my husbands health insurance with it as well as get a new social security card with my new last name. Just a lilttle FYI

Quote: Originally Posted by ~*petals*~ Hey GPJ Brides-- my marriage certificate is HERE! Almost 4 months to the day since our wedding. The surprise is that it came from the Resort, not the Registrar's office. (It was mailed via DHL on 9 September.) Happy to hear! Can you still keep me posted on how long the Registrar's office takes? I was married about a month and a half after you and don't want to wait that much longer! Thanks for the congrats!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jh17 and to make things worse I just looked at the AC vacations website and it shows that the Blue Lagoon (which we have booked for our reception) is going to be closed for renovations..... this is pretty stressful when there is only 39 days until the big day. The only consolation I can offer is that we spent 90% of our time in the ocean. We would head over to the pool in the late afternoon, but honestly the beach is nice and I preferred it. I would request to have a private or semi-private reception at the Posideon Resturant, its the one that overlooks the beach. Or if at all possible, no kitchen so may not be, to have the reception at the Spa which is beautiful.

Does anyone have the email address for the lady who replaced Jascynthia? I would like to email her about our Marriage certificate. Thanks!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by ~*petals*~ I got married there in May too with no sign of my marriage certificate yet. Finally gave in this week and went straight to the registrar's office. Here's the link: Registrar General's Department - Marriage Application Fingers crossed that their 7-10 day express delivery is more reliable than going through the hotel wedding coordinators.... Hi Petals, Can you keep me posted on how this works out and if they send everything to you on time. I came on here to send you a message to see when you received your certificate, but I guess you didn't which means mine is a long way behind yours! I really want to get mine, I was recently laid off and was able to get on my husbands health insurance with the temporary one from the ceremony, but would really like to make it official and be able to change my name. We are pregnant and don't want to risk anything with health insurance! Thanks, Dana

Quote: Originally Posted by Islandbride2b Danalauren22- my fh and i just realized that your wedding was one of the ones we were able to witness, we even gave you our chairs up in the infinity bar! lol Your wedding looked amazing! Congrats. Thans Islandbride2b, It was! and I hope you have the same great experience we had. I still love opening up my slide show and watching it, I do it all the time A word of advice to all, if you are brining your own photog, let them know you don't need the resort photog We found him very annoying and our photog found him to be very pushy, like he was trying to make sure she didn't get good shots. Shortly after the ceremony I actually had to excuse him and he seemed really ticked off. But we really wanted to enjoy the steel drum band and have pictures taken of us dancing, and all he wanted to do was set up typical posed shots. Asking him to leave was a good decision

Quote: Originally Posted by OchieBride JerseyKitten, I just opened up the link to look at it again (I'm luvin it) and I noticed the photograher is sungold who I know are some amazing photgraphers in JA. Do you know if theyu have officially opened up to outside Jamaican photgraphers or do you still have to act like there family and wedding guests? From what I understood, you could use an outside photographer that was a GUEST, not another vendor from Jamaica. So Sungold was not an option. This is based on information from other past bride, and i was not taking any chances! My photo just posted out wedding slide show. I cry everytime i look at it! Now I can't wait to really see all the photos. this teasing is killer here is the link: kristina hill photography // blog Jamaica (part 3): Slideshow

Quote: Originally Posted by OchieBride I've heard the beach there is rocky..can someone who has been there please advise? I'm a beach bum so I NEED a good beach! There is a lot of beach at this resort. Parts are very rocky and beautiful, but the rest is great for swimming. Sunset cove beach is the biggest and has all the water sports and doesn't have any rocky areas. We dragged along water shoes based on reviews, but all they did was take up space in our luggage.

Quote: Originally Posted by OchieBride Thanks Jenny. So is the food price included in the package (Tropical, Romance etc) or is there a per plate fee? Sorry for being so daft! The food is included in your package price (+ anyone over the count of . The only time you would have to pay additional is if you choose to upgrade to the lobster. We did not upgrade, and were not dissapointed in our entrees or service. Place cards: I found it easier to just have the place cards set up on the table then to have people have to find there seats. God reference: We had the same minister, VIncent Mackenzie. We also had a civil ceremony and did not ask to not have god mentioned. Civil ceremony just means its a legal ceremony, it is still performed by a Minister! He is a minister after all, so there will be references to god unless you ask for there not to be. The mentions were minimal. We are not religions, but not one complaint about the service. Jascynthia and her assistant, Suzan: Sorry, but I feel the need to defend them. I met with both, first Suzan and then Jascynthia. Both were extremely helpful and very nice. To say otherwise is ridiculous. Ipod during the reception: The way to go. We set up playlist before we left for things like first dances, cake cutting, dinner music and then just let them play. Worked perfect. Steel drum band is definitely the way to go during the ceremony!

Quote: Originally Posted by zuzelh Danalauren or Petals: Petals - I saw that you did the "U" shaped reception.... That was all one table, right? So did you have table numbers for each person? Or place cards? Danalauren: I think you had less people at your reception, right? How did you handle the place cards/table numbers? We also did a U shaped set up. We made our own place cards and I gave the WC a diagram of where I wanted everyone to sit. It was set up perfect when we arrived.

I did get bombarded with people wanting a free vacation. But many were not and did have really nice websites and portfolios. For some reason I was pulled toward Kristina for her response to my original posting, she just seemed sincere. I want to also express that the only reason why this was a barter situation was because it was her first destination wedding and it was for use in her portfolio so that she could break into the field. Normally there is a fee for her services as well as most photographers that agree to a destination wedding.

Photography was really important for me for our wedding and I really wanted to be able to bring someone with us on our budget. I posted an item on craigslist and received a response from Kristina Hill, kristina hill photography. She had shot many weddings but never shot a destination wedding but was really looking to break into the area. She agreed to do a full wedding day shoot in exchange for travel expenses for herself. We also did a day after shoot, which she threw in, and I think was more excited about than I was! Despite a bad flight the day before and a nasty hit on the head the day of, Kristina got it together and took amazing shots for our wedding. She blended in well with our group and seemed genuinely excited to be a part of our day. We have only received teaser so far but I am in love! Parts one and two are posted. Still waiting for part 3! They are posted (a few posts down) in her blog at: kristina hill photography // blog

Some people are amazing, and not in a good way. Hopefully responses like this keep his prized portfolio to a minimum! I'd like to recommend my photographer. We were her first 'destination' wedding, but she did a wonderful job! Links to her blog out below, my teasers pics are a few down.

Quote: Originally Posted by ~*petals*~ Awesome! You guys found our favorite tree branch. lol our photog went looking for that tree branch as soon as she landed!

Quote: Originally Posted by zuzelh Danalauren: tha a la carte restaurants are included in the all-inclusive package? that's awesome news! I didn't realize that and thought that "a la carte" meant that we were paying for each menu item! So you just booked the dinners when you got down there or did you try to set it up beforehand with Jascynthia ? All the a la art resturants are included! Don't even bother with the buffets at dinner, the resturants are too good. The only group dinner I reserved was the rehersal dinner, the other two we just winged. I did not end up going through Jascynthia because even though it came up while we were with her, by the end of our meeting we just forgot. The morning of the dinner I went to guest services and told a woman there what had happened. She was very helpful and called the different resturants to see who could take a large group outside of the designated "group time slot" and not have a fixed menu. As far as winging the group dinners, we found that if you went later, 8:30 or so, and stayed away from the very popular places, steak house, they could accomidate you, no problem. The Mexican was the easiest to get a large table at, and it was good!

Thanks all! There are some more teaser pictures posted! kristina hill photography // blog

Quote: Originally Posted by zuzelh Danalauren: I just had a few questions about your post. For your spa appt, did you JUST get your hair done? They are also charging me $300, but that includes my hair, makeup and pedi/mani. for the "trash the dress" session - did you actually use the dress you wore at your reception? I want to do something similar, but I need to use the dress when I get back to Jersey for the reception we are having with the guests that couldn't come to Jamaica! Group dinner: how much did you spend on the group dinners (and how many people were in your party?) Steel drum band: did you tell them what songs to play, or they just played whatever they wanted during the ceremony? again, your pics look great! I think your photographer was wonderful. I got just my hair done and they tried to charge $300! I ended up paying $97. I did use my real dress and it did not get ruined, After I rinsed it out in the shower and It dried perfectly. But thats not to say that will be every dress! My dress was made of organza and wasn't very expensive which I think helped! For the group dinners we paid nothing. We were a group of 15. But since we just went to a la carte resturants they were part of the all inclusive. For the Steel drum Band, we choose the two processional, recessional and first dance songs. They were on their own the rest of the time, but I'm sure you could request whatever you like. But they were great on their own! Thanks about the photos! We are loving them!

More pictures are up: kristina hill photography // blog I hate just the teasers, I want to se them all!

Picture link at the end! GRAND PALLADIUM LADY HAMILTON: Everyone in our party loved the resort. It was a beautiful location for a wedding and wedding photos. Our rooms were great, we all stayed in junior suites. Everyone agreed that the AC could be better, but we lucked out, our room had freezing AC. Room was always cleaned early and well. Decorated beautifully on the night of our wedding, rose petals everywhere, would hate to have to clean that up! GROUP DINNERS: Dinner with a big gourp is made difficult there and i can't understand why. But we did manage a welcome dinner and a Rehersal Dinner. If you speak with Guest services and plead your case they will not make you eat at 5:30 (when groups are supposed to eat) and have a set menu. Dinner was great at all the resturants we ate but my personnal faves were the Italian and Mexican. We did not make it to the Steak house because we left fo our honeymoon, but my family said it was by far the best resturant. They said the Asian was so so. BEACHES/POOL: Half the beaches were only to look at because of the coral and rocks and were beautiful, the other half were great for swimming so I don't understand all the complaints about that. We used the paddle boats and took the Catamaran out, really pretty views The pool is fine, yes the tiles are falling off but didn't bother any of us. I have no idea what this place is going to do in a few years though, it was a stupid way to build such a large pool, should have been cement. The pool is huge! There is no way that thing could ever get over crowded. THE SPA: My sister and I had our hair done there. They did a great job and we, but tried to charge us $300 each! We ended up paying $97 plus tip each. Do not pay the $300. THE CEREMONY: AMAZING. We had a beach ceremony and it was so far beyond my dreams that i get chocked up thinking about it. It poured when we were going to the spa, but luckily passed after an hour and our ceremony was pushed back a half hour so they could clean the area up. Decoration, flowers, were beautiful. Our minister, Vincent Mackenzie, was great. He did an amazing job especially when he took a minute to talk about my husband's dad who had recently passed away. We did two sets of vows, he had us do his which were beautiful and then allowed us to say our own, which I really liked. We hired the steel drum band, BEST DECISION of the wedding. When my sister and I pulled up to the site I could hear them playing and it made me cry. They played here come the bride as i walked down the aisle. They continued to play after the ceremony and we danced our first song to them. RECEPTION: Our reception was held at the Blue Lagoon Restaurant. We had the fee waived because the heavy rain had moved the creole resturant down to the Blue lagoon. We didn't even notice they were there because we were so seperated from them we were both on our own seperate "wings", but I wasn't going to argue with a waived fee! We ate off the Jamaican Creole Menu. Crab cakes, Seafood gumbo and the Steak and Tilapia for entrees. I heard no complaints and everyone enjoyed. My sister has Celiac (a severe allergy to glutto and wheat) and has a difficult time finding food she could eat. Jascynthia worked with us for a special menu for her, and the servers knew just who to deliver those dishes to. The cake was really good! My husband who really doen't do cake ate a whole piece. It was really pretty, we gave them a cake topper and star fish and they did a great job. We offered the remainder of the cake to the staff and they were really happy about it! For music we did our own little setup. My husband is a sound engineer so he took care of that. He actually took three ihomes and linked them together and we were able to place them around the reception area and use one ipod. Worked perfect! We had out second "first" dance, father/daughter dance and mother/son dance. We did a bunch of dancing before the first course came out. It was great timing. Following our reception, we headed upstairs to the Infinity Bar, where a live band was playing. It was a really good time and a much better optionthe DJ. After their second set we headed to the Disco which was so much fun! And of course we finished off the VERY VERY long and FUN night with cheeseburgers and the sports bar. Jascynthia and her assistant Suzan may be hard to reach prior to, but I promise she will do an amazing job the day of the wedding. Our day exceeded our expectations by a mile and everytime I think about it I get a smile on my face. Our photographer Krinstina Hill (kristina hill photography) has started posting photos on her blog. She did a great job and I can not wait to see the rest of our photos, especially the trash the dress. Here is the first set, but you can keeping checking her blog for more to be posted: kristina hill photography // blog Destination Wedding - Jamaica (part one) Hope this help all you GPJ bride-to-be's out!

Picture link at the end! GRAND PALLADIUM LADY HAMILTON: Everyone in our party loved the resort. It was a beautiful location for a wedding and wedding photos. Our rooms were great, we all stayed in junior suites. Everyone agreed that the AC could be better, but we lucked out, our room had freezing AC. Room was always cleaned early and well. Decorated beautifully on the night of our wedding, rose petals everywhere, would hate to have to clean that up! GROUP DINNERS: Dinner with a big gourp is made difficult there and i can't understand why. But we did manage a welcome dinner and a Rehersal Dinner. If you speak with Guest services and plead your case they will not make you eat at 5:30 (when groups are supposed to eat) and have a set menu. Dinner was great at all the resturants we ate but my personnal faves were the Italian and Mexican. We did not make it to the Steak house because we left fo our honeymoon, but my family said it was by far the best resturant. They said the Asian was so so. BEACHES/POOL: Half the beaches were only to look at because of the coral and rocks and were beautiful, the other half were great for swimming so I don't understand all the complaints about that. We used the paddle boats and took the Catamaran out, really pretty views The pool is fine, yes the tiles are falling off but didn't bother any of us. I have no idea what this place is going to do in a few years though, it was a stupid way to build such a large pool, should have been cement. The pool is huge! There is no way that thing could ever get over crowded. THE SPA: My sister and I had our hair done there. They did a great job and we, but tried to charge us $300 each! We ended up paying $97 plus tip each. Do not pay the $300. THE CEREMONY: AMAZING. We had a beach ceremony and it was so far beyond my dreams that i get chocked up thinking about it. It poured when we were going to the spa, but luckily passed after an hour and our ceremony was pushed back a half hour so they could clean the area up. Decoration, flowers, were beautiful. Our minister, Vincent Mackenzie, was great. He did an amazing job especially when he took a minute to talk about my husband's dad who had recently passed away. We did two sets of vows, he had us do his which were beautiful and then allowed us to say our own, which I really liked. We hired the steel drum band, BEST DECISION of the wedding. When my sister and I pulled up to the site I could hear them playing and it made me cry. They played here come the bride as i walked down the aisle. They continued to play after the ceremony and we danced our first song to them. RECEPTION: Our reception was held at the Blue Lagoon Restaurant. We had the fee waived because the heavy rain had moved the creole resturant down to the Blue lagoon. We didn't even notice they were there because we were so seperated from them we were both on our own seperate "wings", but I wasn't going to argue with a waived fee! We ate off the Jamaican Creole Menu. Crab cakes, Seafood gumbo and the Steak and Tilapia for entrees. I heard no complaints and everyone enjoyed. My sister has Celiac (a severe allergy to glutto and wheat) and has a difficult time finding food she could eat. Jascynthia worked with us for a special menu for her, and the servers knew just who to deliver those dishes to. The cake was really good! My husband who really doen't do cake ate a whole piece. It was really pretty, we gave them a cake topper and star fish and they did a great job. We offered the remainder of the cake to the staff and they were really happy about it! For music we did our own little setup. My husband is a sound engineer so he took care of that. He actually took three ihomes and linked them together and we were able to place them around the reception area and use one ipod. Worked perfect! We had out second "first" dance, father/daughter dance and mother/son dance. We did a bunch of dancing before the first course came out. It was great timing. Following our reception, we headed upstairs to the Infinity Bar, where a live band was playing. It was a really good time and a much better optionthe DJ. After their second set we headed to the Disco which was so much fun! And of course we finished off the VERY VERY long and FUN night with cheeseburgers and the sports bar. Jascynthia and her assistant Suzan may be hard to reach prior to, but I promise she will do an amazing job the day of the wedding. Our day exceeded our expectations by a mile and everytime I think about it I get a smile on my face. Our photographer Krinstina Hill has started posting photos on her blog. She did a great job and I can not wait to see the rest of our photos, especially the trash the dress. Here is the first set, I'll post more as they come in: kristina hill photography // blog Destination Wedding - Jamaica (part one) Hope this help all you GPJ bride-to-be's out!

I have tofind some time to leave a review but in the meantime, anyone getting married there should relax be cause it will be AMAZING. My wedding day exceeded my dreams my a mile and we could not have been happier.

So, who gets tipped and how much?? The wedding coordinatior and the servers at the reception, but I have no idea how much. And anyone else? Thanks for any help!

Quote: Originally Posted by Panda Hello Ladies! I am down to the last few days before I head to Jamaica for my wedding on June 27th. Any Suggestions?? Did you carry dress on plane? I am packing a bunch of silk rose petals and flowers...did anyone have any problems with items like this on the plane? DId anyone hear the saxophonist while there? I'm right behind you! Bring your dress on the plane! Can you imagine if they lost it with the luggage. I have a friend who is a flight attendant and she said before you board mention to the attendants that you have your dress with you and ask very nicely if it can be hung in the first class coat check, its not like there will be winter coats in there! We have silk rose petals as well and they are in the suitcase. See you in Jamaica!

Petals, How much did you pay for the steel drum band and how long did they play for? Do they charge hourly? Do you know if their price is negotiable? Thanks! Dana

Quote: Originally Posted by TheGs72509 I am wondering the same thing. How does the music work at the ceremony? I just heard from Jascynthia. She said that they provide the setup for the ceremony, and there is a plug for the ipod. She said that burt CDs seldom work and would not recommend.