kerrij

The steel drum band played Christmas music while everyone waited. I was 45mins late (hair issues) but the band kept the guests entertained!!! They also played Here Comes the Bride and were awesome and played extra long for free since I was so late and the ceremony ran long! I will get their info if anyone is interested. I'm interested! We are paying $400 for a one man band and i think it might be priced high since it's through the resort and for one guy. But i could be wrong! but would love their info anyway please your wedding was beautiful!

Hey BBC...i got a little confused, so it's GBP/Beverly giving you the frustration or ROR? If Beverly, i haven't heard from her in about 3 weeks. not sure why. usually she is so quick on the responses but one other time she did this too where she didn't respond for 2-3 weeks. but another thread someone was like, the WC has X number of brides a day 7 times a week, so she's dealing with a zillion brides, so i'm gonna give her one more week, if she doesnt' respond i may try calling her. but i always conmmunicate with her via email. When is your wedding BBC? I also just got a call from my TA from Sunquest telling us that there was construction at the hotel but would not effect any activities or restaurants. theya re building an addition. the renos were supposed to be done by now, but aren't yet...they gave us the option to switch, but i'm so far into the planning stage that i don't want to leave anyway.

We are going with Sunquest and originally was the 16th person free, but they agreed to give us what another tour company was giving otherwise they'd loose all 42 of us, so now we get 2 people free. but that is it. i'm going to call the hotel and/or WC and see if we can get some deals with them for bringing 42 people to them! seems only fair?! lol

We are getting married at a resort new Ocho Rios the first week then our 2nd week we are going to Negril and getting a beachfront suite, we decided to go all out since this is a once in a lifetime trip, so our 2nd week is $3600 for us both. our airfare was just an extra $90 each to extend it a week. I also booked it through Expedia and i have until about 2 weeks before to get a full money back refund if we find it cheaper elsewhere! yay! We also splurged on first class but it was only $300 each so well worth it in my mind

Ya i would think it's a little too soon to start booking. we started booking in Aug/Sept for our wedding in March. so 6 months, and i wished that we had waited until about 4 months and sent the STD around 6 or 7 months. But i'm pretty sure that there are some threads specific to that to get a bunch of other peoples views and advice. Good luck!

Julia, no i didn't choose colors at all. other than what our wedding party is wearing...yellow. so really it will go with any color they provide. i didn't want to have to worry about those kinds of details. Hey Jo, I recommend GBP! but i haven't been there so i guess i can't really say. hahah there is a private area for the dinner/reception, but if you want the room it's $2500 extra! no thanks. BUT what we are doing is having our dinner in a restaurant, it's semi-private Beverly the WC said, (and we are having 50 people) and then for the dance after dinner we are renting the gazebo and beach area (the gazebo is awesome it's out on a peninsula shaped like a T so it's kinda private and have a private sand area) for $500 from 9-11pm and includs a DJ. but you have to pay for the bar to come down there tho, $20/person. but to me it's worth it. and then after 11pm we'll either go to the hotel's beach party that is on the same night or we'll go to the disco. I'm soooo excited! i looked at so many resorts before making my decision and i went with GBP and i'm so glad i did. what other resorts are you considering?

Ahh too bad eh. no i don't have samplse of colors. she just sent me one photo of the white chair covers with royal blue ties...which didn't look too great, i prefer just the white chair covers actually.

Love it!! I'm going to add something like this to my OOT bags now! Thank you!!!

Not sure where you are getting married, but I discovered Jan's Bridals & FLowers in Ocho Rios and she's so cheap and willing to help out...they don't have much of a website but email her, she got back to me in like 20 mins! [email protected]

If you get a steel band, they prob can play your couple of songs off your ipod or CD? then you could have best of both worlds!

Wow I'm so glad everyone loves the amazing race idea! I'm getting so excited, i have it all mapped out now, just need to think of some fun challenges.. what i know so far is... we are going to start at the beach gazebo, where we are getting married, and we are going to bury each teams clue and put a flag on the pile so they have to dig to get their clue. and one challenge we are going to make them find 3 important things of the resort...ATM! everyone needs to know where to grab cash for stuff, the medical office, just incase of an emergency, this way we know everyone knows where to go in a hurry, and the restaurant of where we are having our wedding dinner...so they will know where to go for the ceremony and then for the dinner! so then we have one challenge that they will have to find a GM on the beach with 2 kayaks and each bring a beer...they the GM will tell them the challenge...the team of 6 will split in half and race eachother, they will put on the life jacket, get in the kayak, paddle out and back in, chug their beer and take of the life jacket and give it to the next team mate, first team of 3 to finish, wins! lol so fun! we are also having our 33 year old Flower Girl hanging out on an island that is in the middle of one of the pools and they have to bring her a drink and have a drink with her, and then she'll take their team photo underwater! and one of my bridesmaids at the beach bar pit stop will play flip cup with the teams! lol So excited! So i need more ideas for fun challenges, but i'm stumped! only have 3 and i need 3 more. hehehe so fun! 3 months today until our wedding!!

Julia here is the email addy for the spa...Paula does all of the Renova Spas at all the Bahia hotels, and others too i think... [email protected] email her to get pricing and stuff. you have pay 50% upfront to reserve...so i'm kinda putting that on hold for now. Ahhh Misha Earle, i wanted to hire her but i think she was booked, i forget my reason. but we are bringing someone from home now and just paying for her trip! yay! But Misha is sooo good, she was one of my favorites! Here is Beverly's email addy incase you want to contact her... [email protected] And try Jan's Flowers for your flowers, waaaay cheaper than Tai Flowers that (spelling?) that the hotel uses. for example...to get rose petals through the hotel, the price is $85-175 and at Jan's, it's $18 including a basket!! lol i even sent Jan a pic of my bouquet i get with the package and she said she can match everything else to it! Chair covers are $5 each and ties i think are $2. the chairs are ugly so we decided to spend the money to get the coveres. that is all that we are doing extra for decorations. They hang tulle, Beverly can send you pics. and i think the tulle is so pretty, but you can purchase other decor. but i like the pretty simpleness of just the ocean in the background and the gazebo. aaahhhh. maybe if you talk to Beverly she can cut you a deal since you only have 10 people?

Quote: Originally Posted by latoya1908 I'm sorry Kerrij for all that you're going through - but (if you don't mind) could you PLEASE tell me what in the world you're paying $700 for?? And for just 7 guests?? Something doesn't sound right... Also, can someone explain how the flower upgrades work? Do I contact Jan's Bridal and Flowers myself and set everything up (what I want, how much, wedding date for delivery, etc.) or do I do all of that through Chandlyn. Also, If I'm just doing the free package and decide to go outside for my flowers, will Chandlyn let me add or upgrade something else since I'm not using those sucky Martha Stewart purple flowers? Latoya...it's not me, it's Joannew76... But i wanted to comment again on Jan's Flowers...they are AWESOME!!! they are going to coordinate all my flowers to match my bouquet i get free with my package...and their flower petals with a basket is only $18!!! they charge a $25 delivery fee, but i'm ok with that! yay! thanks girls!

So great of you to offer! I'm not until March at GBP, but just loved that you put this out there!

Well in my opinion, i wouldn't call it at Tip. I'd call it a gift, even if it's cash. But i do plan on giving my WC a gift. she has been great so far. Mayb a nice little gift and some cash. Hmmm...but what currency? Jamaican dollars or US?

OH MAN!! that clip made me cry! here i am sitting at work bawling to steel drums! heheh I knew we wanted to have steel drums but we didn't know when or where to have them played...thank you sooooo much i now know what I want!!

Quote: Originally Posted by sportsdog2 My date is December 3, 2009. Don't worry, everything will work out just fine. I believe the civil ceremony is 15 minutes without adding a hand ceremony, readings, etc. We went with the Free Package and are upgrading our cake and flowers. I checked with the vendors suggested by Chandlyn and the RIU, but decided to use other vendors who are less expensive. Norma from Lee's Tours & Taxi is working with us to get a traditional Jamaican black (rum) cake for $100 less than the baker suggested by the resort. Also, she is getting me prices on flowers. I also found another florist (thanks to this site) that is $128cheaper than Tai Floral - - Jan's Bridal & Flowers ([email protected]). Jan's sand ceremony supplies (two colors of sand and the vase) is $38. Every penny counts! If you want to upgrade anything or purchase supplies for the sand ceremony, I would check with outside vendors for a better price. It's not too late and Chandlyn did not have a problem with me using other vendors for the cake and flowers. Good luck and I'll probably see you in Jamaica. Thank you sooooo much for this flower info! My WC uses Tai too and just for flower petals it costs $85-175 no way hosay! i'll contact Jan today! Quote: Originally Posted by joannew76 Can someone email me the civil ceremony words please, I don't have enough points to open the link thread. I have emailed Chandlyn 2 days ago as I leave Sat 6am, to ask when we would have a meeting. I have no response on flowers yet!! The Classic selection....is terrible. Honestly I heard Sandals has way better organization, If I read more about this place I would of chose someplace else. We are paying $700 for a service for 7 ppl including myself and fiance. I am just fustrated. I know everything will eventually be amazing, but when people ask me questions.. I can't answer them regarding half of the wedding info..It's very embarrasing. What is a hand ceremony ? Is it extra cost ? If the sand ceremony is $50- does anyone know if they provide the Sand kit, or If I bought my own would I still be required to pay the $50 fee ? Sorry for asking too many questions, ......fustrated..and anxious!!! Good luck to all you brides!!! Wishing you all the best!! Oh man, i feel your stress! can you try calling her? write our your list of questions and call her until she answers or until someone answers that can answer all your questions. Leaving in a few days and not having any questions answered is totally going to be nerve racking i'm sure. My friend who had her DW in Mexico went through this too and she got all her questions answered when she got to the hotel and it went so smoothly! I'm been verrry fortunate to have a responsive WC at my hotel though. Good luck and congrats to your wedding sooooo soon!!

Oh that makes me feel good knowing you guys are paying pretty much what we are paying too! Ya i got that form too and i've been slowly filling it out, but same here, i thought we covered that all of that once we got there. if you get it clarified please let me know i haven't heard from Beverly in a couple weeks. she goes on spurts where she's sooo good and gets back to you right away for like a month or two and then she'll quit and will take 2-3 weeks to hear back from her...not sure if she goes on holidays or something or what! lol I have a list of questions for her and that is one of my questions...when do we have to have our docs in for our license...i read yesterday on a website that most resorts need it 30-60 days prior, but her comments on the form say that we just have to fax it before we arrive at the resort, doesn't give a timeline. but my FI had to order his birth cert, so as soon as we get it in a couple weeks then i'll fax a copy of both. I needed up goign with the Free Package. i studied the Free one and Blissful and the Blissful was going to cost like $1000 more for silly things i didn't care about, like transportation to the wedding site (which Beverly told me was $10 if we wanted it) and extra photos and stuff. but the minister fees are $400...so for our group of 50 it'll cost us $1250 for the free package instead of $2150 for Blissful (including the extra pp costs) we are also renting the gazebo/dj for $500 to have our dance! yay! but we have to pay for a bar which is $20/pp for the 2 hrs. but worth it to us. we don't want to loose our guests when they walk to the bar, get distracted and don't come back. lol how about you, did you choose a package or any extras yet?

Oooh STD's ok that makes sense! hehehe I wish I had done it more like that. I've read a few posts that say don't go overboard with OOT bags cause people end up not even using the stuff is a waste of moola...but i guess that depends what you are putting in there. we wanted to do the whole sunscreen and toothbrush stuff, but who goes to jamaica and doesn't already take it! lol so ya we are just doing shirts and beads.. The group events are both taking place at the resort...i put them on another post in better detail, but in the short form what we are doign is the first night there we are having a party at the disco, didn't want to pay for a cocktail party or whatever so we'll all be wearing the mardi gras beads (with shot glasses on them) which will be "identifiers" for everyone that night. so we don't have to make sure we introduce everyoen they can do it themselves when they see someone else with the beads on! and everyone will have some liquid courage too! then the next day we are doing an amazing race kind of event with teams and pit stops and they have to do funny things between each pit stop, and at the end they'll find us in the pool and we'll have a pool party! it's gonna be so fun! Oh ya we are both going to Runaway Bay! we go the 5th to 12th...and then lucky us are off to Negril until the 19th for our honeymoon!

So all this talk about the brides is so awesome, but i have a tip for our sexy Grooms! a guy i work with just got back from his Nov 09 wedding in Jamaica and he said he was sooo thankful that he wore a suit jacket because it was so hot out his shirt was so wet and sweaty and it would have been terrible for pics. the suit jacket hid all the sweat marks! He also said luckily he packed a couple extra shirts for after the ceremony when he wasn't wearing his jacket he was able to change, but still was getting sweaty so he had back ups! He ended up going through 3 shirts throughout the night! I thought it was really great advice for our Grooms as they will be sweating, even without a jacket, so pack your man an extra shirt so he can refresh before dinner or whenever! Happy planning!!!!!!!!

Paula with Renova Spa is also the contact for the Gran Bahia Principe in Jamaica. i wonder if they do most resorts? hmmm.

Quote: Originally Posted by erinleigh What I WOULD Do: - Have a destination wedding! It was amazing, and truly beyond all my expectations. If anyone is doubting the decision – don’t! Every single one of our guests said that if they could do it over, it would be this way. - Have our reception on the La Barcaza Yacht. It totally MADE our wedding. Our wedding was reception was the best party I’ve ever been too! He he, and it was my wedding! It made the day so much more extra special to leave the resort and do something so spectacular as a sunset dinner cruise for our reception. - Stay for 2 weeks – one week with family, one week alone. It was really sad to see everyone go, but it was really nice to have a honeymoon all by ourselves! - Upgrade to the Royal Service - all the little extras where really nice. - Go Swimming on my wedding night – yup, I went swimming. Our reception boat docked at a natural swimming pool and the party was in full swing…a few of the guys decided to strip down to their skivvies and get in…then a few of the girls followed and they convinced me. I handed my dress to my mom and got in! When I got out, I dried off, put my dress back on and kept partying, it was so great! An awesome memory! - Have Orange and Aqua wedding colours. Some people thought I was crazy when I told them my colours, but they just POP in all the photos. I love it. And my beautiful bouquet was all orange roses and tigerlily’s, it was so pretty! - Hire HDC photo instead of the resort photographer. Our photographer, Arnaud Brichet, was phenomenal. I love every single picture he took. Plus he gave us all 700 digitals. - Have my wedding in the garden gazebo instead of the beach. It was so private and intimate; all my guests were inside the gazebo (which is beautiful), and there were no topless or speedo-clad people in my photos! We took lots of pictures on the beach, so I still had that as a part of my wedding. - My DIY projects – they added really nice, personal touches and I think people really appreciated all the little things. - Hire the musical trio and have them stand inside the gazebo, rather than follow me down the aisle. They were awesome! And because I had them inside the entire time, everyone could hear them the entire time. - Sand ceremony with my cousin as the reader. It extended the ceremony a bit, made it more personal and was beautiful. What I wouldn’t do again This is hard for me, because I honestly loved everything about my wedding. These are very minor: - Stress so much about small details. Everything was beautiful. - Forget my cake topper. I left it on the boat and I’d really like to use it again at my AHR. - Not be more firm about booking our welcome dinner. I didn’t get the restaurant I wanted, but it worked out fine in the end. - Not have any wedding cake. I only had the small bite when we fed it to each other and forgot to have a real piece. I heard it was good and wish I had some. - Write my speech the day before the wedding. Although it turned out great, I should have done it before we left, I felt rushed. Oh i just looooove that you went swimming!! we are having our dance on the beach on this peninsula thingy at our resort, and later in the night i'm going to strip down and go for a swim, me and my hubby! i'm sure he'll agree to it! thanks for the fantastic idea!!

Quote: Originally Posted by A2Bride I think we need to start a March 2010 bride thread. I feel like I am doing ok with all of my planning, except for getting my invites out. Curious where everyone else is at in the planning process? Hi A2...thanks for starting this! i wanted to start one too. So you haven't sent out your invites....brave girl! hehehe you must be getting a really good rate booking it so late in the game? i sent out my invites in August for our March 9th wedding. As for planning, i'm trying to keep it simple cause i don't want to stress the day of the wedding or during the week. So as for me, i have my OOT bags still in the works, we are making shirts for a group event we are going to do at the resort, and a CD of our fav songs ( i love homemade cds as a gift) as well as some mardi gras beads for another group event at the resort, along witht he welcome letter and stuff. we have all of our outfits ready for the wedding and the day planned out. we are having our dinner in a restaurant and then the dance on the beach! yay! So excited! 100 days until we leave!

My girl friend had her DW in the Mayan and it was amazing. the trip itself was the best part. but just being able to see her walk down the aisle and say their vows was incredible. They also took us on a snorkling catamaran trip after the ceremony (which was at 11am) which was so fun! althought quite a few people were sea sick, including the 2 photographers! lol and Yes, Sammysgirl, they did pay for the whole group. basically instead of the OOT bags.

Hey reidtobe! Another calgary girl! love it! They have a photographer at the hotel you can hire but i didn't like their packages. Beverly will send you their price list and then you can check out their website also. i did lots of searching around at local photographers on the island but ended up hiring someone from Nelson, my sis in laws friend and i just have to pay for her trip! so it's only going to cost me that much! I just emailed the spa this week to make our appts. they said we should make them now, so you prob should too! I find with Beverly you just have to ask detailed questions to get the answers you are needing. Flowers i'm pretty sure we deal with once we are there, cake as well. DJ i hired already with her for our dance at the gazebo. Location i am pretty sure we booked when we booked our time slot. Can I ask what kind of rate you guys got for your group? i know each week is a differnet price. Our original online price was $2400 and our best group rate we could get for a direct flight was with Sunquest for $2016 (incld tax) but now Nolitours has come out with a online rate of $1650! so we complained and Sunquest dropped ours by $275! yay. did you guys get a good group rate deal?