Thanks Julee,

No, I guess it's not easy for you to plan with your travels and work...At least, you have the right attitude and all the essential stuff is covered.  Are you doing any special activity with your guests during the week?

I have a special thought for Monica Mai who is getting married this Saturday (April 16th) Whoo Hoo!

After a cancelled wedding in November because of the tropical storm, she deserves really the most amazing wedding ever!

If we do not have the chance to see you online before the big day, I want to send you my best wishes for your marriage and wedding day!

I can't wait to read your reviews about Ladera and Jade Mountain when you will be back! 

Enjoy, you gonna have the time of your life!

Good morning ladies!

OMG! OMG!  3 months to go!  I did not sleep well last night thinking that we just have 3 months left.  OMG!

I really feel the need to stop thinking about things and start "doing" them! LOL

Have a good day!

LilyRose

Well, our resort does not have air con.  I know it sounds strange for a Caribbean resort but I like it!  They have designed the resort so there is always a breeze coming in (our rooms are open and have only 3 walls).  Also, there is voluntarily no TV in the room.  I do not know if this makes a real difference for the environment but I think that our guests will be more outside playing and snorkeling!  Jade Mountain and Anse Chastanet are luxurious but seems also to be eco-friendly.

Hello Vancouver ladies!

Do you know where I could find the greatest selection of bridal shoes in the lower mainland?

Where did you buy yours?  Any ideas are welcome!

LilyRose

Hello Vancouver ladies!

Do you know where is the best selection for bridal shoes in the lower mainland?  Seems like some stores have one or two pairs to try on and the rest is the catalog, but I really want to try them on before ordering.  Any suggestions?

Thanks,

LilyRose

Monica Mai!!!!!!

Your wedding is in 11 days! Whoohoooo!

When are you leaving?  I'm so excited for you!

Hope to have the chance to read you before you go!

LilyRose

Welcome back MEve!

Seems like you have enjoyed yourself!

Your fiancé and you have deserved it so much.

Thanks for reviewing the resorts.  Have you make a decision yet regarding Sandals or another resort?

And how was the weather?  And your hairs?  Is it very hot and humid?

Keep us updated!

LilyRose

P.S. I posted few messages regarding your situation while you were gone. I am sure you are feeling so much better now that you have been in St.Lucia.

Oh, by the way Lees,

I forgot to mention that my TA is the Canadian TA from this forum.  She is based in Vancouver also!

LilyRose

MEve,

I have been thinking about your situation.  You say that you will mostly need land only packages since your guests are making their own arrangements for air transportation.  And then, some guests need the AI package with the airfare.  Am I right?  I understand that your guests' different needs make your situation more complicated. I have been there too and was wondering if this situation is happening because some of your guests want to use their "miles" toward a free reward flight.  Here is want I found out about reward flights when traveling from Canada.

First, Fiancé and I booked directly with the resort to secure our date and we went with their AI package.  So we used our Aeroplan miles to book our flights.  I booked them the day they were released by AE (about a year from our wedding date).  Since flights to St.Lucia are done with small aircrafts with AC (Airbus 319), it's been pretty impossible to book more than 2 reward flights (aka us) for our wedding week.

Also, we looked at the possibility to have guests traveling different dates so they can have a reward flight on another flight.  We found out that booking the AI land only with AC vacations, Expedia or the resort itself for Anse Chastanet was more expensive than our group AI package with AC Vacations! Sometimes, the prices seems lower, but they not include meals, transferts and drinks. Once you add them, there is not economy really. So we told our guests to keep their reward miles and keep them for later! Even if we booked directly, all our guests are in a AI group with AC Vacations, including air transportation.

So, maybe it will help you to wait the release of the Aeroplan tickets before making a decision.  If your guests realize that there is no availabilities for a reward flight or that it cost the same with the reward flight, it will be easier for you to recommend them a group package. 

Each situation is unique but this is what happened to us.  Hope it can helps!

LilyRose

Oh, do you know if we can edit our posts once they are posted?

I am sorry about that but I make a lot of grammar mistakes when writing since I'm still learning English!

Hopefully you do not have a headache after reading my posts!

My English is always better after a few drinks so maybe next time....LOL

Thanks,

LilyRose

Welcome to the forum Lees!

Congratulations to you too for your engagement! Hawaii is a perfect place for a proposal!  So nice to have another Canadian bride from Vancouver here! Julee, from this forum, is also from here.

It's funny that you ask about the price in St.Lucia. If you have few minutes, I would recommend you to read the posts of the last few months on this thread.  Here are my advices:

1- Stop trying to find a place that everyone will like.  It will not happen and most of your guests will be those who you did not think they will come! 

2- Think about what your fiancé and you would like for your wedding.

3- Some questions can help you to decide... For example, is it important for you to have a lot of guests coming to the wedding?  If yes, Mexico will be a better option.  If you prefer a more intimate wedding, St.Lucia is a good choice.

I heard a lot of things about St.Lucia and other choices.  Here is a review of the most common ones:

St.Lucia:

Pros: Boutique Hotels, Polynesian feel, no spring break crowds, quality before quantity, the kind of place that you do not go very often so guests want to go to see.

Cons: price, less guests, airlines schedules.

Mexico, Cuba...

Pros: Good prices, lot of choices of hotels and resorts,  lot of flights and packages deals with tour operators.

Cons: big hotels, sometimes quantity before quality, you can go anytime you want so some guests have been there before, crowds...)

So yes, Lees, I had the same dilemma than you.  But since I was sold to the resort, I decided to do it to please Fiancé and I.  We decided that even if we were the two of us eloping, we would be happy with that.  Now, we will be 18!  A lot of our most close friends and family won't make it though.  But it's hard to tell if it's St.Lucia the problem or not.  It could be the date or their personal financial situation...

Good luck with your decision. I know it's not easy but like I say often, once you realized that some of your important guests won't make it, it becomes easier!

My TA is based in Vancouver, please PM me to have her contact details.

Keep us updated!

LilyRose

Originally Posted by Lees 

Hi Lily Rose, congratulations on your up coming wedding!!! I am also from Vancouver and in the beginning stages of planning our destination wedding for next Feb or March 2012! We actually just got engaged in Hawaii three weeks ago! We would love to go to St Lucia for our wedding but are concerned with the price for our guests. It just seems like it would be more affordable if we did Mexico as their are charter and direct flights from out west but we want something different. Were you faced with the same dilema? Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm feeling so overwhelmed just trying to pick a location thats going to please everyone! Which travel agent are you working with? Would you recommend them? Any feedback would be most helpful! Thanks so much;)

Hi Monica Mai!

You are so nice to ask me about the wedding!  Yes, I am getting very excited.  I can't wait to be there.  We still have a lot to do before July.

Yes, I booked directly with the resort and we have 7 nights in the Total Romance Package!  It's such a nice package with awesome perks!

I found out that this week that Jade Mountain have updated their menu online. The food looks so lovely and yummy!  Take a look to the 78 pages menu (yes, 78 pages!) http://www.jademountain.com/dining.html

Click on the link : "Download sample menus". I think that all inclusive is the way to go since you have access to a lot of specialty meals and drinks. Yes, we are planning to have our wedding on the Jade Mountain Terrace.  I do not know yet where I will do the reception though.

For all St.Lucia brides looking for a photographer, I have been in contact with Mikael Lamber this week.  His wife, Julie, is answering my emails very quickly and I feel good about the fact we can contact him before the wedding.  Their price are very advantageous.  I am strongly thinking about using him instead of our resort photographer.

The group bookings and the wedding dress are the major stress elements right now.  Our price dropped but only new passengers can enjoy it.  So it seems unfair to the 14 other. 9 of the received a little credit and the 5 of them who have paid their deposit but not the balance will have to pay the original price.

I have received my wedding gown but it's too big so I am sure not if I still like the fit on me.  The store told me that it will look completely different when the alterations will be done.  I really hope that this is true!

Monica Mai, your wedding is this month...very soon!  Can you keep us posted before you go so we can think of you on your special day? And we surely want to hear from you when you return!  YOU GONNA HAVE THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!  I'm so excited for you!  Enjoy each minute of it!  You will be such a gorgeous bride!

LilyRose

Originally Posted by Monica Mai 

LilyRose are you getting excited? Did you book a package at Jade? We are spending the honeymoon part of our weddingmoon at Jade and booked the Total Romance package. Your wedding is going to be soooo amazing. Are you going to have the ceremony at the Celestial terrrace?  Happy planning to you and cant wait to see your pics!! The architecture of the place is A-Mazing!! 

 

Monica

MEve, sorry for the stress...I swear you will feel better soon on the sunny beaches of St.Lucia.

Here is how we did it with our group booking for our wedding in July 2011

February 2010: Engagement and resort research

July 2010: Booked Fiancé and I directly with the resort, just to secure our wedding date. (no other passengers)

June to November 2010: Design of the invitations (not including the TA info and price, but just the wedsite address.)

Early November 2010: Our passport invites arrived and we posted them ASAP

Meanwhile, I started to look for the best deal.  A TA from this forum helped me and we booked with her.  10 passengers deposits were required to hold the group. I then put the info on our wedsite so people could see the price when they received the invite.

In late November, 5 passengers paid their deposits and then we paid the 5 other deposits (150.00 each).  Our group rate was all inclusive with Air Canada Vacations (flight, hotel, and food.)

We had an early booking bonus December 15, so 9 other guests booked that day.  We got our (150.00$ X 5) deposit back.

Then I checked the price online often to see a price reduction.  With our deal, we had a chance to do a one time price reduction.  Our amazing TA was able to get a lower rate, 300$ lower per person in March.  Unfortunately, this new rate applies to new bookings and we were able to get that rate for only 25% of the already booked passengers.  We decided to split this difference to all passengers who had already paid.  They will have a certain amount on their credit card.

Now we have 16 guests booked, all with the AC Vacations package.  For me, in Canada, it seems that it would have been even cheaper if I would have waited in February 2011 instead of November 2010 to do my group bookings.   The AC package was really advantageous comparing to booking directly with the resort.

According only to my experience, it seems that you are very in advance for your group booking. I realized that sending my invites 9 months was even more than needed.  If I were you, I would wait since the price for 2012 are not probably out yet anyways. Use the 2011 prices to give you an idea if the resort is realistic or not.

Good luck  and keep us posted!

Dear MEve,

I can relate to what you say.  I felt exactly like that few weeks ago.  Guests say they will come and then change their mind and explain to you how cheaper it would be to go somewhere else like Mexico or Cuba.  The good thing is that I feel so serene about it now. It's like if it's a kinda step: when you get through that part, the rest of the planning is easier.  I'm sure you will see the light soon! 

LilyRose

Wow MEve!  What a great opportunity to visit St.Lucia in two weeks!

Lucky you!

For the single room problem, it depends on what you are planning.  Are they paying for their own trip? If this situation would happen to me, here is what I would do:

Since these person are close friends (father, MOH, brother in law...) I would not expect them to share a bed either.  And I would not want them in another resort.

If we were in your situation, I would use a part of my wedding budget to pay the price difference (single supplement) for them.  We are paying for some extras like that for some of our guests.  Even if the resort provide double beds, it's not everyone who like to share a bedroom.  This said, I understand that this solution may not be for everyone.

We are eager to hear about your visit in St.Lucia!

Welcome Texas Bride!

Congratulations!

I will update our wedding chart so your name will appear on it!

Just do not know yet how to make it a sticky!

Hello Ladies!

Do not freak out Marie-Eve! LOL.  My fiancé just loves it when I wear my hairs down.  But after being in Africa so many times, I would also suggest you to do a up or low do. My hairs are very easy to manage here in Canada but it's not that easy under the humid and windy tropics. I am going with a loose soft low do and probably with extensions just to add more volume (I have long blonde and very fine hairs so it will looks fuller with extensions.)  I am also considering real hair extensions.

Do not forget that St.Lucia is quite windy.  I watched a wedding video yesterday and the bride was wearing her hairs half way down. We could see from the video that her hairs were going all fizzy and she needed to play with them all the time during the ceremony to not have them in her face.  Same thing for the veil: Take a long one if you wear one because the short one will just go crazy during the beach ceremony!

I have seen your dress and I think you do not need to dress it down since it's perfect for a destination wedding.  Just my honest opinion!  You could have a similar "casual" effect by doing a soft loose low-do I think. Hope you are feeling better...

Awesome Marie-Eve!

Congrats for your date, location and honeymoon venue.  Now you can start with the details...Well, I guess you are ahead of me with the shoes... It's my next step.  I am thinking something silver as well. I'll go shopping next week! 

Question to all of you,

A have a question regarding cell phones...Are you asking guests to leave them in their room on the wedding day?  Or I should not ask because it will be natural for them to leave them behind?  I do not know how the cell phone range will be but I would prefer to not see any cell phone at the ceremony AND the reception. We will have teenagers guests and I do not want to see them playing games on the cell phone or surfing the web!  What do you think?

Welcome Futuremrr !

I am sure you will find this forum useful and quite addictive!

Like a lot of brides, I am using the resort vendors.  But I do know that a bride here, Julee, is getting married at Villa Capri and had sourced some vendors.  Maybe your wedding planner can help with that too.

Monica Mai, for a girl with a cold, you are VERY productive!

You are almost ready to go!...

Thanks for the tip with the steamer...Are you bringing the dress in the cabin?  I am bringing the dress in the aircraft cabin for sure!

LilyRose

Hello ladies!

I do not know if you know this website but it was really helpful to me.

Go to the yellow menu of the webpage and select your wedding month.  It will give you interesting statistics! 

Could be helpful when planning the time frame of your day.

Let me know what you think!

Here is for the July brides:

On a typical July day, during the early morning hours you will probably find the temperature will be around 81.5 degrees. In July, temperatures typically rise to around 84.9 degrees by early afternoon. By the early evening hours in July the temperature will generally fall to somewhere in the vicinity of 80.2 degrees. Overall, temperatures in St. Lucia during July average around 82.9 degrees. During July, rain is most likely to occur around 8:00 AM , and least likely to occur around 2:00 PM . To the extent thunderstorms occur in St. Lucia during July, they are most likely to occur around 8:00 AM , as shown in the following table.

http://stlucia-guide.info/weather/july

LilyRose

Hi Monica Mai, 

I agree, the tent will be perfect, do not worry about it. :-)

For the flowers, I completely understand how you feel.  I have hesitated many times between real touch and the flowers provided by the resort.  The thing is that you never know what fresh flowers they gonna have and how they are going to look. Our resort made it clear that special flowers need to be imported.

I think you will like the ginger lilies. The wedding arch will look good. I am crossing my fingers for your bouquet! Keep us updated!  It will help other brides to choose their flowers!

LilyRose

Hello ladies!

Since we are such an active and nice group now, I had this idea to regroup every "bride to be infos" in a single post.  Maybe there is a way to make it a sticky but I will have to research that.  Any help welcome!  And please let me know if your info has changed (specially dates and resort) or if I forgot someone (hopefully not...)

St.Lucia's Brides to be

Hello Crystalg3!

Glad to see your date is chosen!  I will sure share pics and details with you!

You are right, you can feel my "Frenchie" Montreal girl in me! (Sorry by the way for my poor grammar!)

I am from Montreal but have been living on the West Coast (Vancouver) since the last 6 years now.

I have been to Burlington a couple of time!  Gorgeous place by the Lake!

Sorry MEve for the forum signature.

The forum had a major facelift few months ago and since then, the permissions had changed. 

But, finally, I am now a Junior Member!   Yeah! LOL

For the villa for sale in Soufriere, I would love it!  Just need some spare millions dollars! :-)

Awesome plans Jess Marie!

I am from Vancouver so I understand the long flights you are going into! 

For the special license, I would double check with the resort, specially since you arrive on a Sunday in St.Lucia.

(You said it's a Wednesday but on my calendar, Feb.15 2012 is a Sunday?..sorry if I am wrong).

In my case, I will arrive on a Saturday, and get married on the Monday.  The resort said it was ok (with the license surcharge) since the lawyer and paper work will be done at the resort before we get there and they will come to our resort upon arrival or on Monday morning. I will met the wedding coordinator on the Monday morning for the last minute details.  Most of the planning will be done before we arrive. We will still have Tuesday to Saturday to enjoy as husband and wife (5 days).

It's a personal choice but I like the idea of having one complete day in St Lucia before the wedding, just in case something happens.  That way, I can do a group activity the day before the wedding, enjoy the spa and make sure everyone is not on an extreme jet lag fatigue since my trip also involves a red eye flight for fiance and I.  I think also that I will have more time to put together the last minute details.  But once again, it's a personal decision and the resort will be able to give you the best answer regarding the legal part.  

Let me know what you think!

Originally Posted by JessMarie 

Hi:)

 

So, the expedition is what I want to do- we will arrive on a Wed early afternoon...ay chance of getting married the next day? Or is is the day after that?  We still need to book our resort and I am sure I will get the answers when I talk to the wedding planner but I am curious:)

 

And yes- it's a 12 hr flight to St. Lucia for us:(  Luckily on our way home we are splitting our flight- we are flying 7 hours into Orlando and then going on a cruise for the last 4 days of our weddingmoon, then flying home 5 afterwards:)