ashley490

We did a sand ceremony at our wedding back in January. To keep the sand from getting all mixed up I just made sure Chandlyn kept the box the kit came in, stuffed the extra space on top of the sand with paper towel (as much as I could so that it was good and tight), then put the lid on, and put everything back in the box. I took it as carry on for the flight and just asked the flight attendant to keep it somewhere where it could stand upright. It made it home safe and sound and looks exactly like it did at the wedding. I highly recommend doing the sand ceremony. It's beautiful what it represents and makes for a gorgeous keepsake.

I was able to book my 3 personal a la carte's a couple weeks in advance through the email that Kristo just gave. I didn't have any trouble booking them. I was married this past January and it seems the resort has made some policy changes since then so I'm not sure if they changed the policy on booking your a la carte's in advance.

Hi Lianne, I'll try answering what I can and hopefully you'll find it helpful. I got married at 4pm this past January and found we were a little tight on time for after ceremony photos. I would highly recommend switching your time to 3pm so that you won't feel so rushed losing light with the setting sun. There isn't a whole lot of difference if you get married in the gazebo vs getting married on the beach. The best way I can describe the wedding area is a T-shape with the gazebo being right in the middle where the two lines intersect. If you choose to get married on the beach they just move you over to the top far right side of the "T". I prefered the gazebo because it provided a little bit of shade from the sun so we weren't squinting in pictures of the ceremony. Yes, the gazebo for the night reception disco is the same gazebo you'd get married in. I used Tai Flora for my flowers so I can't comment on any other florists, though I have read that some other brides have used Jan's Floral http://jansflowersjamaica.com/ and were pleased with their service. For photography we used Sungold - Paula & Damian. They are the owners of the company so they were a lot more expensive than their associates. I would highly recommend their associate Clayton. He joined Paula & Damian for our wedding and did all the lighting for our photos. He was very pleasant and professional. Some of his work can be viewed here http://wpajamaica.com/ I do however caution you that it seems the resort has recently changed their policy and now charge an $800 vendors fee for bringing any outside photographers onto the property. Perhaps it can be arranged through your photographer for them to book a room at the hotel and attend your wedding as a "guest". I think this way would only end up costing around $250 for the room as opposed to the $800 vendor's fee. As someone else already answered, the chairs are very ugly without chair covers. Navy blue with gold. Definitely get the chair covers. We really enjoyed the steel drum band and would recommend them. Hope that helps you out

I think bringing your own alcohol is already allowed but I would probably just confirm with Chandlyn as it seems there has been some changes in the last few weeks. Better to know the rules ahead of time and be prepared than to get down there and find out that you have to spend extra money on a bartender that you didn't budget for. I think they would probably allow you to bring your own bottles of alcohol because some of the shops in the resort shopping center sell bottles which will still generate business/money.

I think 40-50 people would be a little too much for one long table. If you want a little intimate touch perhaps you and your husband can serve the cake/dessert to guests. We did that and it gave a more "at home" feeling as that's what we do when we have company over for supper...we serve dessert Don't worry about people having fun. They'll all be on vacation mode so they'll be having fun regardless. Most folks also bring larger travel mugs of some type with them so you can always suggest to guests ahead of time to fill up their travel mugs before heading down to the gazebo, that way they'll for sure have something they like to drink If you do end up bringing things down to be placed on the tables I highly recommend giving it to someone in your wedding party to look after. We had brought fans down for all of our guests and had given them to Chandlyn to distribute. I guess she gave them to Donnalee, and Donnalee gave them to some trainee and they ended up being given to a wedding earlier in the day, so I had spent money on something for my guests that they didn't end up receiving. I didn't end up using the flowers included in the resort package. I upgraded and paid the difference. We did however use the same florist that the resort would've used, Tai Flora, so we got a small discount (the cost of what the flowers included in our package would've been) and applied it to our total bill. I got bouquets for me and my bridesmaids, and bouts for my husband, groomsmen, and ring bearers - I can't remember exactly but our bill was around $450, which is very comparable to what we would've paid here. I was very happy with the flowers, they were exactly what I had asked for, and the lady from the flower shop (Jennivie) was fantastic to deal with. The flowers didn't wilt until late the next day which was great because I was able to use them in our trash the dress session that we did the morning after the wedding.

I think what the other brides did was just make friends with one or two bartenders (any of them) the days leading up to the wedding. Maybe even ask them ahead of time if they'd be willing to do that for you and of course offer a tip. The beer in the room is also Caribe....the resort only serves Red Stripe on tap. Past brides have just left a note and a tip for their maid asking for extra beer the days leading up to the wedding and "stock piled" it so to speak until the big day. Then they just had it all brought down to the reception site by one of the members of their wedding party...No Problem! lol! They'd also ask Chandlyn to have a table set up with cups and ice, which seemed like they had no trouble arranging. I could be wrong, but I think they only use square tables. The wedding coordinators have said in the past that the tables fit 8-10 people. If you really want round tables I'd say just ask and maybe they can accommodate your request. For me personally, I had my whole group seated at one long table all together. There were only 23 of us so it worked out well. I actually felt like I got to visit with my guests during the dinner rather than being seated away from them....but that was just my preference.

We rented out the gazebo for after dinner dancing for our wedding this past January. We had a good time. The DJ has lots of up to date music and there was plenty of space for folks to dance. We also paid the extra money per person for the bar. My thoughts are if you have a lot of beer drinkers it's not really worth the money as the bar does not have Red Stripe...just the yucky cheap version Caribe. If you have a lot of cocktail drinkers who are actually going to drink then it's worth the extra money. If you have folks who will only have 2 or 3 drinks then I'd say skip hiring the bar and just do what some of the past brides have done by tipping one of the bartender's to make a couple jugs of rum punch and serve that to your guests. Hope that helps!

You can always check with the florist to see if they can tint flowers turquoise blue. I was initially going to do that through Tai Flora (they told me they could) but ended up changing my color to purple.

I don't have any pictures but it's the outdoor snack bar. It'd definitely be large enough to hold a few hundred people. It's only an option if you're willing to pay the $1700usd close out fee whereas the Dolce Vita or Grill are a semi-private reception at no charge.

My MOH wore this dress (style # BY11024) by designer Sophia Tolli. She had it shortened to about knee length and it was beautiful. It comes in about 30 different colors, is a very light weight material, and has a corset back. Very flattering on all figures (from slim to busty to full figured) because of the halter neck and the rouching. Something like this might work for everyone. Just a suggestion though. We had went to the bridal shop to hunt for bm dresses and my MOH tried this one on. It was really over priced at the shop so we just took a picture of the tag with the style number and went home and found it online for half price!

I did the same thing as you in terms of delegating a color for my girls and not a style (they could choose what they were comfortable in). I found that because they chose dresses made from different fabrics and by different designers that the color shades were very different. If you want the shade to be all the same it'd probably be easier if they all selected a dress by the same designer (still leaves option for different styles). If they want short dresses check with the salesperson to see if long dresses can be shortened. Since my BM's wanted short dresses and the selection of short dresses was limited, lots of different possibilities opened up by keeping in mind that long dresses could be shortened. Also, I'm sure you already know but, anything with rouching/draping is very figure flattering on lots of body types and corset backs are always good because they can go up or down 2 sizes (on average) which allows some wiggle room for bloating/swelling from the heat.

So I'm not from Alberta, I'm from Manitoba but all I did was contact Vital Statistics for my province and they emailed me an election of surname form. It says on that form that after marriage you have the following options in choosing your surname: 1) You may retain your present surname; 2) You may assume your spouse's or partner's name; 3) You may choose to combine your present surname with your spouse's or partner's surname, with or without a hyphen (in any order); or, 4) You may choose to assume your spouse's or partner's surname, and retain your present surname as a given middle name I assume these options would be very similar for Alberta. Maybe give vital stats a call and they can send you their form. It only took me like five minutes to get through and have the form emailed to me. Hope that helps!

I've heard of people using their maiden names for middle names. I think as long as you have documentation (ie marriage certificate) you can change your name to whatever as long as it makes sense and not some random name you picked out of the air. There's also always the option of having a hyphenated last name.

Yes, men are allowed to wear sandals. My hubby and his groomsmen all had sandals on and there was no problem. We actually ate at all of the a la carte restaurants while there and we would see men wearing knee length shorts and sandals without issue. The only a la carte that does firmly adhere to the long pants rule was Don Pablo's...but even then men were allowed to wear jeans.

The walk only took me about a minute. I walked a little fast but it's not like I was running lol! I'd say even if you walked slower (which I don't think most brides do since we're anxious to get up there) then a minute and a half would be about right.

We had the bar for our wedding but I didn't really find it worth the money. Some past brides have just asked the bartender's to make up a couple jugs of rum punch and tipped their maids extra and left a note asking for extra beer to be left in their rooms the days leading up to the wedding.

I never had that problem but my travel agent always said that if I send an email and a follow up email and haven't heard back then to let her (my travel agent) know and she'd phone the WC for me. So I'd either let your travel agent know or just call the resort yourself.

Since I used the free package I didn't have to put down a deposit. Another bride that I met went with an upgraded package and said she did have to put down the deposit. So I think it really depends on the package you select. If you picked something other than the free package then I'd just send Chandlyn an email to see when the deposit is due.

I highly recommend Sungold photography. Although due to budget you may not be able to get the owners themselves (Paula & Damian) they do have some associates that they work very closely with and their prices are cheaper. There was actually one of their associates that tagged along on my wedding (his name was Clayton) and was doing the lighting for Damain & Paula. Clayton was super friendly and very professional. Have a look at their website www.sungoldphoto.com and look under "associates" for sample work they've done.

No problem! We didn't do speeches either so it was really nice to have the non-traditional table arrangement (we ate at one long table). I was able to see and visit with everyone and didn't feel like I was separated from my guests. Once I get my pics back from my photogs I'll definitely post a few of the dinner venue

I also used the free package and when I was emailing the WC she had said no substitutions. I had also previously arranged for the extra layer of cake and was fully prepared to pay for it but then at the face to face meeting she offered the substitution. I don't think substitutions are something they advertise for the free package. The best thing to do is plan your wedding the way you'd like to see it, and prepare to pay. It just might be a pleasant surprise when you get down there that they may offer a small substitution.

Yes, we did eat at the Palmyra. The area where tables are is a shallow "U" shape. They had my group on the far right side of the restaurant so we found it fairly private. It also helped that it wasn't very busy in there so they tended to sit most other folks on the other side of the restaurant. I enjoyed it. They had some really nice soft dinner music playing as well. This buffet restaurant is located closer to the 23000 section of the resort, and I found it not too far from the wedding gazebo. I would definitely recommend the Palmyra. As an added bonus I found the chairs a bit more comfortable

Since we were only a small group of 23 we booked when we got to the resort. I also wanted to wait to make sure that once we got there everyone still wanted to go on the excursion. The catamaran (yes the company is called cool runnings) holds about 200 people so if you book when you very first get to the resort you shouldn't have any problems. We didn't look around for prices, we just booked through our travel reps. We were able to compare prices from our travel reps (Air Canada) with another travel rep (WestJet) and the prices were exactly the same. Hope that helps!

Thanks JayKay! Congrats to you as well. Hope you're enjoying married life

One last thing...we did a couple of excursions one to Dunn's River Falls through Cool Runnings (Catamaran) and one shopping trip. I highly recommend doing Dunn's River Falls but if you get sea sick there is a Jeep Safari version that may be a little easier on the stomach. I don't really recommend the shopping excursion as I found you can get all of the same stuff at the shops on the resort (in the shopping center) for the same prices as you'd get in Ocho Rios. If you want to save a few bucks more, wait to do your shopping at the airport. I found lots of the same things at the airport as I had already bought at the resort and in Ocho, but the stuff at the airport was usually $3-4 cheaper than the price I had bartered at the resort.