BusyBee123

I bought cheap $1.00 vases at the dollar store and a bag of rocks that cost me I think $4.00. Then I just brought a ton of tea lights and little seashells to put out on the table! Wasn't heavy to pack and definitely did the trick! Donnalee also used some of my extra chair ties to drape on the cake table and table we had set up with the sky lanterns which was a nice touch.

I used the bouquets that I ordered for my bridesmaids in the centrepieces for our reception at the Dolce. I just got the girls to give them to Donnalee before the reception, and then they got them back afterwards. I don't have any of my pro pics, but here's one that a friend took. Unfortunately they didn't push the stem all the way down in the vase, but I definitely didn't notice that night.

I bought a cheap steamer that we used for my dresses and the groomsmen's outfits. I think I only paid about $12 for it and it was perfect! There was an iron and ironing board in the rooms, however if the guys prefer. In terms of the welcome dinners, we were told 2 weeks as well, however when I emailed a month in advance they said they would just take care of it. When we arrived, we found out that our reservation that we had been told was at 7pm, was actually at 8:45pm, but they were quick to correct it without any fuss! We also prebooked a rehearsal dinner and a dinner for the two of us on our last night without a problem. I think the problem with your booking is because it is such a large group. We only booked for 18, so they were able to seat us all at the grill without a problem. I'm guessing that with 33, it would take up too much of any of the restaurants to accommodate all at once. If you push for it, they might be able to close off part of the Dolce Vita for you, but the other restaurants are smaller and it might be more difficult.

Tables of 8 people are the standard at the Dolce. So it would depend on what you want for a head table - if you want all of your bridal party seated with you as traditional, or if you want a sweetheart table for yourself and your hubby and seat the rest at the guest tables.

I wore a veil and despite the wind (it was quite a windy day!) it sat quite nicely throughout the ceremony. When I really enjoyed it was afterwards, as we were able to get some cool pics with it blowing in the wind!

We asked about that as well more than once and were told it was mandatory. We ended up finding a place that did it for $20 and just did it. We didn't have to give her the physical copies we brought with us when we arrived, as they had already had the ones we faxed.

I ordered from http://www.weddinglinensdirect.com/index.html. I bought the organza ones and loved them!

One more thing about the dinner...I know its a tough decision. We went back and forth too, especially since we were wondering about Italian food, but in the end, the privacy factor won out. I just read JayKay's review and saw that she was able to have a little bit more privacy at the Grill which is great! I'm not sure that that is always the case, as 4 of my guests went to dinner there a few days before our wedding and were seated DIRECTLY beside the wedding table about 3 feet away. And they were not the only ones..they were surrounded! They found it really awkward to be so close to the wedding party, and kept asking me if that was going to happen to us. They had a lot of inside jokes and whatnot in their speeches that they didn't really want others to overhear. Also they were limited to only one large rectangular table. The advantage, in my personal opinion, of the Dolce is that it is totally private. There is no one else within about 75 yards. We were able to do speeches, tell inside jokes and not worry about anyone overhearing. We were also able to have several smaller tables, a sweetheart table for us, a separate cake table, a separate table for our photo frame matt that we asked people to sign and a separate table for our sky lanterns. Its a more traditional setting if that's what you're looking for. Its totally up to you, but that's just my personal experience. I just wanted to make sure it was known that the other two nights we saw at the Grill were not as private of a setting.

Thanks so much exquisite. I always wanted more details and was dying to know more, so I tried to be as thorough as possible. The Japanese restaurant was great, I would highly recommend it for a rehearsal dinner/group dinner/welcome dinner. They can comfortably seat about a max of 12 around the station. We were exactly 12 at the rehearsal and just fit, more would get crowded. I would suggest emailing to book in advance and specify that you want the teppanyaki at the Mikado. If you don't specify that you want the teppanyaki there are a number of other tables where you miss out on the show and just eat off the menu. No you do not have to pay extra for anything! Its all inclusive which is great! Hey...We got the 7 passenger van just for the space! The guy we used had the choice of a car, (which may have fit the 4 of us if we put 3 in the backseat), but we also had my two wedding dresses, our changes of clothes, extra shoes and our two photogs with all of their equipment. I just wanted us to be comfortable for the day. So only the 4 of us went out...with our driver. There was an alarm clock in the room, but the power went out so often that it didn't really work. Most of us just turned off the network on our cell phones and used them. My parents tried the wake up calls, but never got it on the last day. Thankfully they are early risers and didn't miss their flight. I bought the sky lanterns from: http://www.justartifacts.net/flskyla.html They were FABULOUS! In terms of diagrams, I made them in powerpoint and sent them to the planners about a month before I left. I drew out the seating plan, table arrangement, table decor, gazebo seating and decor and how to set up the centrepieces. The WCs really appreciated the extra guidance. Hope that helps.

I just put them in my checked luggage and didn't have any issues. The fuel cell is really just a piece of cardboard, although it does have a chemical on it to make it more flammable. I just wouldn't put them in your carry on.

Its a catamaran cruise on the ocean, definitely not on a river. I'm not aware of any rivers nearby, especially rivers with coral reefs for snorkelling! Dunn's River Falls is directly on the ocean. The swells are pretty large, so if you tend to get sea sick, this may not be the excursion for you! Quote: Originally Posted by GBP2012 Hi BusyBee!! Congrats on your wedding! Thank you for the detailed write up on your experience. We are getting married in less than 55 days! I cannot believe how time is flying by! I have a question about the cruise. Is it on a catamaran or boat and is it on the river? I ask this because we went on a snorkeling/catamaran excursion in Cuba, and I was sick the entire time! Although we boat all the time in the lake, getting out on the open sea and in the catamaran was NOT the same and I was sea SICK! Your excursion sounded fabulous as we were planning a trip off the resort to Dunn's River and my dad really wants to snorkel! Would love to hear back from you as I may book for our group! Thanks!! Laura

He had super current music, it was more the older stuff that he was lacking sometimes. We asked for "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and he looked at us puzzled! But he had TONS of current stuff. We brought a bunch of back up CDs just in case but only used them for the first dance. We only brought US with us and used it everywhere. I've only every used Jamaican on one of my trips there as I was staying close to the market in Ocho Rios and was spending more time in local shops. That being said, they still accepted US, I had only changed as I wasn't sure. Otherwise I've used US everywhere. All excursions we paid and tipped in US dollars. Also I would NOT exchange it at the hotel lobby as they charge a much higher exchange than you would be paying at your local bank. Change to USD before you go.

Hey.... The woman I worked with was named Casita and her email is as follows: [email protected]. She works for Caribbean World/Island Routes. She was absolutely fabulous to work with and helped us SO much! Plus she responds super fast to email. When we first booked we had 18 people....then ended up with only 14 going on the cruise and she allowed us to still use the group rate. She also refunded us the deposit we had already paid for the extra 4 people. We paid $70 per person. What we did was pay a 50% deposit at the time of booking, then paid the rest about a month and a bit before we went. We paid for all of our guests, so it went directly on one credit card. The cruise includes transportation to and from Ocho Rios in a bus. It also provides all snorkel equipement, Dunn's River admission, and the cruise, drinks, snacks. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much ACW! Hope you're doing well and enjoying married life! I still can't believe it is all over! It felt like a dream come true! I somehow missed jaykay completely! I had planned to go and congratulate her on her wedding day, but ended up with a horrible migraine! I watched a bit of her ceremony from our balcony before I headed to bed! It looked lovely from what I could see! Loved her bright aqua chair ties! Quote: Originally Posted by acw271011 Congrats on the wedding and being Mrs.! your review was terrific and I'm so glad everything turned out so well, and that you were happy with it all. isn't it great? even though our wedding is done I'm still enjoying seeing the reviews of the ladies that have been on this site at the same time as me. I can't wait to see pics! did you see jaykay and creep her wedding? did she creep yours lol I'm anxious to hear her review too. congrats again!!

Thanks so much! I appreciate it! I can understand where you're coming from. You have a number of options. The first is not to have a reception which is free. A lot of the brides that didn't have receptions just wandered around on the terrace or went to the nightly entertainment and waited for the disco to open at 11pm. That being said, dinner will be done by about 8:30pm so that's a long while to wait and most of their guests seemed to have gotten bored and dispersed. For our guests, after dinner, we were all ready to continue the evening and spend more time together, so for us, moving to the gazebo was perfect. I can't imagine the night ending there....I would have felt that it was incomplete and disappointed. Plus we really wanted to have a traditional first dance and have everyone come together and do the sky lanterns. For $250, you can rent the gazebo by itself, which really is the crucial part of the after reception should you choose to have one. The problem with that is that there is no sound system included in the rental. If you want the sound system, you have to pay for the DJ which is an additional $250. To be honest, we were really impressed with the DJ and $250 isn't a lot of money compared to what you would be paying for a DJ at home. What you could do is spend money on a sound system and bring it down with you, but to get a decent sound system that would project out there on a windy point might cost you the same. If you did get a sound system, I guess you could bring it home with you, however, if that's something you're interested in. You'd have to assign a guest to DJ or change CDs for the evening. With that many people, I can definitely understand why you would second guess the bar. Honestly, if I had that many people, I probably wouldn't have gotten the bartender either. With that number of people, perhaps you could assign two or three guys to be in charge of bringing down some of the beer that you collect from your rooms and getting the bartenders to mix you up some jugs of rum punch or something. With only 16 of us, to lose 3 people to get drinks would have really toned down the fun! The wedding planners will provide ice and cups along with a table if you want to do that, so that's definitely a possibility to save money. If you want my honest opinion, I would pay the $500 for the gazebo and DJ and figure out the drinks yourself. Then you get your full evening reception and can just get a few guys to get drinks. You only get to do this once, so make the most of it! Hope that helps!

We just let off sky lanterns on Wednesday at our wedding reception in Runaway Bay Jamaica! They were a huge hit and everyone loved them! Unfortunately, there was one that didn't quite work and caught fire instead but the rest were lovely. So many people at the resort were commenting on them the next day, especially the kids! I would highly recommend doing them if you can! Definitely worth it! Good luck with your resorts!

Oh, I completely forgot the excursion and the TTD! Two super important things! EXCURSION: I planned an excursion for my whole group the day before the wedding. It was definitely the best day of our trip (minus the wedding of course!) We went on the Island Vibes Party Cruise out of Ochos Rios. We departed the Sandals resort and went snorkelling, then Dunn's River, then party cruise back home. This cruise was different from the one booked through the resort as they gave me a better group rate and also provided premium drinks and hors d'hoeurves on the ride home. I booked it through Casita at Island Routes and have the info for anyone who wants it. We had a fabulous day! Although we were not the only ones of the boat, the staff really focused on our group and kept announcing our wedding and playing special songs for us! They also kept pouring us shots and more shots, so needless to say it was a bit of a rough ride back to the hotel and a few of us were still feeling pretty good come rehearsal time! The good thing, was then no one partied too hard the night before the wedding! Don't worry, the falls and snorkel were done prior to all the drinking. As someone who scuba dives, I thought the snorkeling was just ok, but the other guests enjoyed it. Dunn's River was fun with a group! We'd done it previously by ourselves but it was so much more fun with everyone. All in all the excursion cost us $70 per person tax included. We booked it a couple months in advance and weren't disappointed! Having also done the Cool Runnings that they offer at the resort, I prefer this tour as there are some minor differences. If you want contact info, let me know! TTD: What a fun day! We rented a 7 passenger van and spent about 6 hours driving around taking the most amazing photos! Our driver's name was Kevin Morrison and he can be reached at: [email protected]. He also emails back faster than anyone else. When we first emailed him, he showed up in lobby 10min later so we could meet him before we hired him for the day! His prices are also super negotiable. We started out from the resort to Ochos and stopped at a number of little towns along the way. Kevin had a bunch of great suggestions and I cannot thank him enough! He brought us out into this gated condo development, to the best ocean view we saw our entire stay. I also mentioned something about how it would have been nice to take a pic on a horse, and 10min later we were pulling up and he had managed to find us a horse to take pics with for only $10! He was incredible and has a ton of connections on the island! We took pics in everything from jerk huts, to town centres, to fields with goats! We stopped at the Great Civic House, which had some really cool old wall backdrops. In the end, we ended up back at Dunn's River which was perfect! Dunn's River costs $20/person, so for us and two photogs it was $80. That being said, I'm sure the pics will be well worth it! We arrived between a lot of the tour boats so it was initially very quiet. We were able to trek into the falls without anyone in the background and take some great pics. We didn't climb the whole falls, by any means, but were able to get some relatively dry shots by getting on at the exit/entry points. Then we went down to the bottom and jumped into the ocean and did more of those pics. Our photographers had an amazing sense of adventure and were such a pleasure to work with! They somehow managed to bring 6 cameras half way up the falls and still make it look easy. They were also super relaxed and made it such a fun day for us! Now I just can't wait to see the pics! So I think that is officially it! I'm sure I missed a lot, so feel free to ask me questions!

So on to the wedding! Please try to relax because the wedding planners are absolute pros! This place is a wedding factory and does this a ton! In fact, they have 50 weddings in January alone and this is their quite season. They mentioned that sometimes they will have up to 4 weddings a day in May-September! THE INITIAL MEETING: The night we arrived, we received a note from Chandlyn about our meeting time the next day. To be honest, I went to the meeting ready for a fight. As some of you might recall, about a month before our wedding, we were told that our gazebo reception had been cancelled as we didn't have 25 people. So I was ready for a battle and brought my mother along for backup. Needless to say, it was all for nothing! Chandlyn was the ultimate professional, and had every email, every picture, everything I had ever sent in my file. We went through my list of requests and there were no concerns about any of them. I got my reception sorted out, and they agreed to even allow me to have the bartender for the 2 hours. I was also worried that they might give the Dolce to another group as they were larger than us, but they kept their word and allowed us the semi private option. I was thrilled! I also provided them with diagrams of how I wanted everything set up at the dinner and the gazebo and provided a suitcase full of decor. The meeting was seamless and so reassuring. Honestly as rough as the email correspondence might be, they were FANTASTIC. I cannot say enough great things about them. GETTING READY: I had a hair trial at the spa on Sunday that was fabulous. I had brought a few pictures of styles I was hoping to try, and the stylist was able to do all of them for me before deciding on the best one. She was also kind enough to give me a new style before I left for dinner that evening, so my then FI wouldn't see my wedding hair. She was so accomodating and lovely! I saw the same girl again on my wedding day for hair and makeup. She replicated exactly what we had done at the trial and it was exactly what I wanted. I had bought clip in extensions for my wedding day and there were no issues whatsoever. My makeup was also exactly what I had wanted, and I had brought in a photo as well! So no concerns with the spa whatsoever. My two bridesmaids and mom also had their hair done at the spa, and they were able to accomodate all of us easily! They also provided champagne to get the day going! Please note that the prices just went up at the spa as well...It was $180 for my trial plus day off hair and makeup, and the girls paid $80 for their hair. It gets charged to your room, so you pay when you check out. If you plan on tipping you need to bring extra cash as you can't tip through your room. We started at the spa at 11am which was perfect timing for our 3pm ceremony. THE FLOWERS: I ordered all of my flowers from Tai Flora and did not use the hotel package. In all I ordered 4 boutonnieres, 1 wrist corsage, 2 bridesmaid bouquets, one bridal bouquet and two HUGE arrangements for the gazebo. All in all it came to $500 + tax. My flowers were exactly what I wanted! My colours were coral, ivory with hints of pale green, so we got a combo of coral and ivory roses, white orchids and green hydrangeas. I couldn't have been happier with my flowers. I will post pics soon! THE GAZEBO: We were lucky enough to be able to see the gazebo from our balcony as we were getting ready, so it was nice to be able to check up on the decorating! One thing I would say is chair ties are a must. We saw a few weddings without them and they looked pretty blah. The colour on the chairs provides a great pop of colour! We also added some of the chair ties to the standard white fabric draped on the gazebo for an extra pop of colour. I'm also SO glad that we ordered the flowers for the gazebo. I didn't see anyone else with flowers the rest of the week, but I thought it really added a nice touch. I think more colour is better to stand out against the stark white of the gazebo pillars. We also had bubbles, fans and programs on every seat. To be honest, no one used the bubbles, except my mother! They were kind of a waste but looked pretty. Not too many used their fans either, as there was a good breeze on our day to cool people off. Given what I had heard about past sand ceremony kits not being set up, I gave that job to my father. Everything else I left up to the wedding planners and it was done perfectly! I couldn't have asked for anything better! THE CEREMONY: We met Chandlyn in the lobby at about 3pm ( we were running a bit late ), and rode over the gazebo in the golf cart. Wow did it feel like a long ride! When we arrived, the steel band was playing and they were fabulous. They were definitely worth every penny of the $400! My guests kept commenting on what a nice touch they were and all enjoyed getting their photos taken with them! They played the exact music I had asked for without a hitch! The walk down the aisle is long so be prepared! There are also these rocky steps at the top that were a bit tough to navigate. If you are planning on stilletos I would be SUPER careful! I had brought a high heel option and a flat, and ended up picking the flat after the rehearsal and those steps! We had written our own script which the minister simply read. He didn't deviate at all. I'd say he was good, but nothing really special. He had a bit of a hard time turning the pages in the breeze, but otherwise it was ok. He was also wearing this hideous leopard print attire, which we got a good laugh out of. My hubby said they had a great chat while they were waiting for me, but I didn't really get to talk to him much. The sand ceremony and signing went off without a problem, however, the sand as we were pouring kept blowing into our eyes and mouths! Again, the breeze is lovely down there but try to keep your mouth closed! lol! After the ceremony when you walk down the aisle, they hand you and your guests champagne for the toast. The steel band was playing and we all danced around for a bit and just enjoyed the moment! I couldn't have asked for better! All in all, our ceremony lasted about 35 minutes from start to finish. THE PHOTOGRAPHY: We then moved into taking pictures and continued to take photos right up until our dinner at 6pm. We were really glad that we had chosen the 3pm ceremony as otherwise we would have had to cut the photos short (we had originally planned on 4pm). Our photographers were AMAZING as I cannot say enough great things about them. They are from the Ottawa area and were an absolute pleasure to work with! They took everything we could have wanted and more and had spent the whole beginning of the week scouting out all the best picture spots! By the end of the week they felt more like friends than photographers and were definitely one of the best decisions we made in the planning process. If any brides are looking for a photog to travel with them, I can definitely provide contact info! THE DINNER: We had our dinner at the Dolce Vita at 6pm. I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend the Dolce. We observed several other brides having their dinners at the Grill and although all of their guests were at one big table, they were seated right next to other guests at the resort. There was no privacy at all. The biggest advantage to the Dolce is that you get a private room off the main restaurant that overlooks the water. There are no other guests even nearby so it was great for speeches and felt more like a normal wedding. If it is still available, that would definitely be my choice again hands down. The set up of the Dolce was great! We had a sweetheart table for us at the front of the room, then two long rectangular tables for our guests. We also had a separate cake table, a table with a photo matt and our sand ceremony and another table on which we handed out sky lanterns, personalized matches and sparklers. They planners couldn't have decorated better! Everything was perfect and as per the diagrams I had given. They moved the large flower arrangements from the gazebo inside and used them on either side of our sweetheart table. The bridesmaids bouquets doubled as centerpices and we used the sand ceremony vases to hold them. We just added some lights and coral stones, and they were perfect! We also had bought a TON of candles which provided really nice mood lighting. The waiters took great care of us and were very professional. We had the squash soup which was delicious, followed by the Ravioli Boscaila. The ravioli was good, but the sauce was quite salty. We then had the Stuffed Chicken with Risotto which was good, the risotto especially. We had the protiferoles to follow we we had heard questionable reviews about the tiramisu. The good thing about the protiferoles was that it was small, so most people still ate cake following. We had the vanilla raspberry cake which was SO YUMMY! However, the cake looked, well...like the other pictures we had seen. Cake decor is definitely not their forte. Cake wasn't super important to us, so we didn't care too much. We bought gum paste seashells and starfish with us as decor, which was a nice touch. Even despite that it was a simple cake at best. The good thing, was that as we were a smaller group, we were able to send everyone home with a cake box of cake as well...most of which were eating after our dancing at the gazebo when people needed a snack! Just remember to grab plastic forks at the Pisces during the day! THE RECEPTION: Apart from the decision to get married, I think renting the gazebo afterwards was our next best decision! We went straight from the dinner back the to gazebo and the bartender and DJ were ready to go! Prior to starting the first dance, we went out next to the gazebo and let off the sky lanterns. It was definitely one of the highlights of the night for me. They were so beautiful going up, and several other resort guests commented on them the rest of the week. We also had sparklers and had some fun with those! Next we did the first dance and father daughter dance. We brought a CD for the DJ and there were no problems. We also bought a IPAD just in case, but he preferred CD. The DJ then played his own selection of music the rest of the night, and it was fabulous! We had heard awful reviews, but he took request, played what we asked and was a great guy! We also gave him a tip and he stayed a full extra half hour for us until 11pm! The bar wasn't a standard simple bar, and had all of the premium liquors on it! They could also make up any of the mixed drinks you could get elsewhere in the resort. I was expecting beer and rum, but it was SO much better! The guests loved it, as it would have been at least a 10min walk each way to the lobby bar and wouldn't have been feasible. It also saved us the hassel of trying to set up a bar ourselves, which I really appreciated. We had an absolute blast at the gazebo and all of our guests danced the night away until 11pm. It was totally worth the $500 for the gazebo/DJ and with our small group the bar was only $230. Best money I ever spent. One thing to keep in mind if you don't rent the gazebo is that the disco doesn't open until 11pm. We saw a lot of other brides wandering around on the terrace or at the sports bar waiting for the disco to open. Again everyone has a preference and different financial situations and group sizes, but I would highly recommend it! Made for the perfect night! AFTERWARDS: After all that dancing we were all super hot, so instead of going home to shower, we all got changed and jumped in the pool! We had a lot of fun and were the only ones their! Eventually we ended up at the late night burger joint for a burger and to eat our cake! So all in all our day was perfect and went off without any problems. I am usually very type A and need to make sure every detail is perfect, but the wedding planners made it so easy for me to relax and just enjoy. There is nothing I would change at the end of the day, and I think that says a lot! All that being said, I did hear from a few other brides that their days had taken turns they weren't expecting. The bride the day before me, got moved at the last minute from the Grill to the Palmyra buffet. They were still allowed the grill menu but it took them over 3.5hrs to get all of their food and it was cold by the time it got there. Hopefully that won't happen to anyone else. The planner commented that they appreciated how detailed I was with diagrams and very clear instructions as they felt they were better able to ensure that I got what I wanted. For the extra time it took to do that, it was definitely worth it! If anyone has any questions, please feel free to let me know! I'll do my best to answer them all!! Also I'll post photos as soon as I can!

Hello All... So I am officially back on Canadian soil and married...well at least according to the Jamaican certificate! We had an absolutely amazing time and I cannot say enough great things about the resort and planners! I was a huge fan of detailed reviews, so I'm going to do by absolute best to provide that! That being said, we have an absolute mountain of laundry and piles of wedding stuff that I need to put away, so I may take a few breaks in between! lol! So to start.... THE RESORT: As someone who has travelled quite a bit and stayed at over 20 resorts including 3 others in Jamaica, I have to say the resort itself is superb! The check in was a very simple process and went relatively quick! I specifically requested that we all be placed in section 18000 as it has the best views and most central location. I also asked that we all be on the 3rd floor or higher to maximize the ocean view. All of my requests were granted with no hassels and we got our free upgrade and were just one floor above our guests. All of our rooms were ready on arrival (well ahead of 3pm) which was much appreciated after a long day of flying! The rooms were great with 4 poster beds and we had no concerns about towels or linens as I had previously read! The safes are available, but I believe are an extra $6 per day. We all rented them and there were no concerns at all regarding thefts or feeling unsafe at any time. The entertainment in the evenings wasn't great, but the boys really enjoyed the sports bar and the late night burger runs to Burger Principe. In fact, I think they ate there almost every night. The disco was a bit sketchy at best, and we didn't spend much time there. The kareoke bar was entertaining for a bit as well. THE FOOD: So one thing to know is that you can book your a la carte's in advance. We made advance reservations for the Grill for our Welcome Dinner, the Mikado Teppanyaky for our Rehearsal Dinner and the Don Pablo for our last night supper for me and my hubby. Keep in mind that these reservations are booked under you, NOT under your guests. Therefore your guests can still take advantage of 3 a la cartes or 4 if they are golden club. So we all ate at the a la cartes pretty much every night. There are two buffet options, the Orchid which is larger, or the Palmyra which is smaller. The larger has a lot more options, but the smaller was nice as it was quieter. There are a lot of types of food to choose from, and we never struggled to find something to eat. The quality was pretty good too. There is also the Pisces which is a snack bar on the beach which serves jerk chicken, nachos, pizza, etc, etc. It was great to just relax in a bathing suit and grab a quick bite. Watch out for the "Hell Fire" jerk sauce though! So from the a la cartes, our least favorite was definitely the Grill. We all went for our Welcome Dinner and found it a bit odd that you do not order your appetizers but rather go choose them from a small buffet. Many ordered the steak and were unable to eat it as it was really gross and grizzly. The chicken wasn't bad, and the lobster was ok. Definitely the most dissapointing by far. The Dolce Vita we only did on the Wedding night, so I'll comment on that later. I'd likely rate it 2nd, as it was definitely better than the Grill but not a clear fave. The best two were for sure the Mikado and the Don Pablo. We did the Tepanyaky with our 12 person Rehearsal Dinner, and it was so much fun! "Blackie Chan" as he called himself put on a great show and prepared delicious veg, chinese rice, beef, fish, chicken and shrimp! We also had a choice of appetizers, soups and desserts. The food was delicious and we had so much fun! Definitely one of the best nights! We also went back a second night to just eat off the menu (you have to specify if you want the teppanyaky or menu). The 4 course menu dinner was just as excellent and we really enjoyed it as well. A large selection of tempura, meso soup, sushi, lots of seafood options, but great beef tenderloin as well. Plus they have a fabulous ice cream tempura for dessert! Yum! The Don Pablo was also amazing and probably the best food if I have to vote for just one! We had a delicious Chateaubriand that they prepare for you directly at your table and banana flambe also prepared at your table for dessert. Its the most romantic of the restaurant, so definitely worth booking for just the two of you! We were glad we did! THE DRINKS: The bars are plentiful as are the drinks. A small tip goes a long way and ensures you won't be waiting at all or that they will serve you directly in your beach chairs. My only complaint is they have those drink machines that serve pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris. I prefer when they make them from scratch, but really that wasn't a huge concern. They also have champagne at every bar (except the burger joint) which my mother loved! I highly recommend the Purple Rain...we found it later in the week and loved it! Tastes just like sweet tarts! THE BEACH: So as with other Jamaican resorts in MoBay, Ochos and Runaway, the beaches are not as pristine as some of the other islands. This resort was no exception, however, we were expecting this. There are areas of the beach, especially in the central cove near the gazebo, that are quite rocky. Your best bet was to move towards the larger area that goes into the nude beach. The only trouble there is that the bars are a little further away, but the beach was MUCH nicer. There was also some decent snorkeling in the rocky areas, so we were glad we brought our snorkel gear. THE POOL: So there is one large pool that runs the whole resort. The boys enjoyed going from one swim up bar to the next and swimming the whole pool. We tended to stick more to one area and just relax. Either way the pool was great...just a little bit cooler than the ocean! Also we found that the best chairs were towards the end of the resort near the newer section 23000. They had comfy wooden chairs with thick white padding as opposed to the standard blue ones. Worth the bit of a walk! So that's a bit of the resort stuff....I'll continue with the wedding day soon! Hope that helps!

Can't wait! We'll be in relaxation mode soon enough! Good luck with the rest of your packing! It will all come together in the end! I had my FI weight every single suitcase multiple times just to be sure! I would hate to have to repack or rearrange at the airport! I always feel awful for those people! Safe travels and see ya on the beach!

I'm officially packed and ready to go! We're off to the airport at 3am tonight for our early morning flight! Can't wait! In the end, both myself and my parents each have a 50lbs suitcase filled with OOT, decor, steamers, etc. Then both myself and my FI each have one suitcase for clothes, cosmetics, toiletries, etc! I honestly thought we'd end up with 5 suitcases in total but we managed to get it all in with 4, and there's some room left in the 4th! Here's hoping we haven't forgotten anything! Good luck with all of your last minute planning! Can't believe our time has finally come!

Gran Bahia Principe Jamaica!

Quick last minute question, can someone confirm if they are hair dryers in every room? I really don't want to pack one, but will definitely need one while I'm there! Thanks a bunch!

Thanks JayKay! Safe travels to you too! I'm sure I'll cya down there! Pop by on the 11th...I'll be the one in white! lol! Love the hair! Here's hoping they can replicate it!

For all of the ladies concerned about the pricing, take the time to shop around and talk to multiple different travel agents. We're travelling in January which is high season and have guests going from Ottawa and Toronto. When we initially were shopping around about 10months ago, we were quotes rates from 1750-2100 for the one week all inclusive. We shopped around and were able to get it for $1300 out of Toronto and $1400 out of Ottawa. Also with certain group bookings you're also able to get a few guests free. With Sunquest, you get one person free for every 11 you book! Not a bad deal at all! I would highly suggest shopping around...its definitely worth it! So....only 3 more sleeps before we leave! I cannot believe it! Feels like I've been on the forum and planning forever and a day! I guess the time has finally come! Have a full 8hr day booked at the spa tomorrow, one last day for last minute packing, and then we're off! Thanks so much to everyone on here for all of their advice, encouragement and tips along the way! I couldn't have done it without you! Will definitely be back with a review and pics if not before! Happy planning for now!