Natalie2012

Originally Posted by IrieBride 

 

 

Hi Natalie-congrats on your recent nuptials!! Great photos! I am considering this hotel for July 2013. Do you know what the beach ceremony site is like? Also I am reading mixed reviews on the beach in general-is it decent?? We'd also like to have dinner after the ceremony on the beach - do you know if that is a possibility at GBP? Thanks so much, Sarah!

Hi Sarah...I didn't see any beach ceremonies while I was there...The gazebo was the popular choice...it was beautiful! Not sure about reception dinner on the beach...it wasn't a choice for us...however we did have a romantic dinner for 2 on the beach...which was awesome:) And I thought the beach was amazing...you just have to walk a bit more to the left...I loved every part of my wedding and am so happy I chose this resort!!

I also highly recommend Merrick:) He was absolutely fantastic! I paid about $2000....that included 6 hours wedding day and TTD the next day..and TTD was so much fun...the best day!! Pics are going to be amazing! Email Merrrick...he is quick to reply and is booking up. Jaykay said it all regarding the hotel photographers...not very good at all.

Originally Posted by DandM2013 

Absolutely lovely! 

 

The flowers got me thinking... in the packages the flowers are suppose to be included... I assume the selection is not great. If you want to upgrade your bouquet with their florist will they at least give you a better rate? ( based on  the fact that flowers are part of the package)

 

Also seems like the photographers the hotel uses are not a hit. Any idea how much the pacakges start if you go through the hotel and how much a photographer from Merrick Cousley would cost instead?  Their pictures seem great. Hopefully they are affordable.

 

Have a good weekend!

My flowers were from Plumeria's Wedding Flower Boutique....They were ordered about 8 months in advance...she books up quickly. The flowers are Plumeria's:)

 

Originally Posted by pask454 

By the way -- I love your flowers. Where did you order them from, and if you dont mind me asking, what type of flower is that? ( I am NOT a flower person..:S) Thanks again

Hi Ladies...Well, I just returned from having the best wedding I could of ever asked for! Everything went perfect...it was so beautiful at the gazebo...Chandlyn and Donnalee are the sweetest and so wonderful. I had my make up and hair done by the spa...I went in with no pictures and they worked their magic! I was so soooo happy with the end result!! We hired the steel drum band and had them play while I walked down...it was so awesome! We had the reception dinner at The Grill..I was able to customize my own menu which was delicious and great! After dinner we all just hung out at the lobby bar then off to the disco..I didn't rent the gazebo and glad I didn't...far away from washrooms and bar..we all had a blast dancing the night away at the disco:) We hired Merrick Cousley for our photographer and he is AMAZING!!!! I can't wait to see the pictures...I highly recommend him!! Free pictures from the resort are just ok..I will post some below. Any questions feel free to ask...thought I would keep this review short and sweet:) Don't stress the small stuff..relax and enjoy every moment:)

I agree HOT YOGA definatelly sheds the inches!! I have been totally hooked and have gone just about eveyday since January...ended up committing to a year:) It has done wonders for every part of my body inside and out! I highly recommend it too:)
 

Originally Posted by JodyandTara 

So I noticed that there are a few girls posting lately that are trying to lose weight...Two words...

 

HOT YOGA!!!!

 

When I found my wedding dress, the sample size was too big. The consultant had me try on the size smaller in the same brand and it fit so we decided to order that size. When my dress came in in it was very snug. It's a mermaid dress and the rouching(sp?) wouldn't lay down properly and I couldn't sit in it. The consultant said that is cold be taken out but there was no way I was going to let that happen.

So I started my mission. I'm normally pretty active and I eat very well. So did a 30 day hot yoga challenge. I did yoga every day for the month of February. Some days I had to go twice to make up for other days that I absolutely couldn't go. Then in March I have been going as much as possible (everyday truely is a challenge) which is probably about 5 times a week. Hot yoga is great because you can literally roll out or bed, brush your teeth and go. And then you shower after and head to work. It really gets the day started out great too. I also takes a lot less motivation to get there than it does to get to the gym or hop on the treadmill and the hour goes by so fast. Just remember to drink lots of water.

 

So I tried on my dress recently and its loose. I lost 2 pounds but I must have lost about 3-4 " off my butt and thighs and my arms are getting really defined (a nice feminine defined haha!)

 

I would like know if anyone else is dong this or planning to and what your results are?

We just plan on reception dinner then hanging out at piano bar lobby...crashing the disco or the karaoke..who knows where we will end up...lol:) Super excited though...leave 2 weeks today!!!! Eekkkkk!!!
 

Originally Posted by bedrockbride 

Hi
We are getting married April 28 and arriving april 24. What have you guys decided on for reception at night?

As far as I know they do not have face cloths...I have added them to my oot bags too:)

 

Originally Posted by Kim Deslippe 

Question for the recent brides...I remember reading somewhere in the 342 pages here , that the resort does not have face clothes in the rooms.  I this correct?  I was at making some returns at Zellers today and noticed that they had B1G1 on some of their towels, face clothes, etc....came across some face clothes that were a 10pk for 4.97.  We are figuring on having a fairly large group, so I grabbed 6-10pks, which ended up being 60 face clothes for about $16.00 that I can put in OOT/Welcome bags...SCORE!! 

But if the resort does have them, I'll just return them and keep my eyes peeled for other hot deals!

Beautiful Pictures!!! I am using Merrick too! Yay! 44 more days:)

 

Originally Posted by erindegagne 

Hey Ladies!! I got the link for our pictures from Merrick Cousley today, he did such a great job. There are a ton of pictures (725), enjoy

http://www.merrickcousley.com/clients/2012_0106_eringillwedds/

Holy Crap...that can't be right!! Here was my reply from Chandlyn in regards to bringing in an outside visitor... I would definately call if you can.

We have booked Merrick Cousley for our photographer..
is there a visitor/outside vendor fee we need to pay? He will need to purchase a pass at a cost of USD75.00
Is he able to get photos from a variety of locations within resort.... On wedding day and if we do ttd at resort?Yes he may
I was thinking of inviting him to our reception dinner so we can get more photos...is that ok?This would be ok,

I love your sticker labels...what size did you order??
 

Originally Posted by J and G 2012 

Just my two cents... I love that so many ppl want to join us in Jamaica for our weddind and I think they all are just as excited as we are. We chose to put our logo on all the mugs so that when we use them again everyone will remember what an amazing time we had (are going to have!).

 

Now are mugs are actually red (bought by our TA by the way) but you get the idea. We bought them from Etsy seller DavetDesigns, she was great to work with and the stickers cam pretty quickly from shipping from the states. They are like a plastic material and I've all ready put it through the dishwasher and it didn't fade or come off!

 

 

 

 

We also got our Bubba Mugs engraved at "Things Engraved" Not too sure if I love them yet (although they are a great souviner) The wording is hard to read, it has our nicknames on it too. I will probably use the Red ones eveyone will be using, FI will use his BIG Bubba!

 

Congrats to you and Thank you too for the review it is greatly appreciated!! Your pictures are just BEAUTIFUL!!! 5 months today for me!! I am sooooo excited!!!

 

Originally Posted by futurejohnson 

Hi everybody!!

 

I’m finally married and back from the GBPJ!!  I had the best week of my life so far, and for all you ladies who will be getting married at GBPJ, you made a great choice!

 

I’ve received a lot of helpful information from BDW over the past year, so I will do my best in providing a thorough review in the hopes of “paying it forwardâ€.  So this might be kinda long lol. 

 

Wedding Planner: We dealt with Donnalee for the last few months leading up to the wedding, and we also met with Donnalee the day we arrived at the resort.  Throughout my entire experience with Donnalee, I never had any issues with her being rude, or unhelpful, etc.  On the contrary…she was always very nice and polite, and always had a smile on her face.  So it’s unfortunate that other brides have had issues with her….she was great with us!  There were 2 weddings on my wedding day, so I think Chandlyn was more involved with the other wedding, whereas Donnalee was more involved with mine.  Donnalee was very helpful and ensured that all of my requests were met.  Since I brought my own flowers, she gave me a centrepiece for the head table free-of-charge.  I didn’t bring any decorations for the gazebo or any chair ties, but since my colour was bright pink, the resort had pink tulle on hand and Donnalee ensured that the gazebo and chairs were decorated nicely.  (We originally weren’t planning on doing chair ties, but I’m glad we opted to pay the $2.50/tie because it really made a difference in the pictures.)  Also, we had 4 surprise guests on our wedding day, so even though we hadn’t accounted for them, Donnalee made sure that they were included in our wedding dinner.  (Sidenote: I don’t think she even charged me for the 4 extra people afterwards!)

 

Weather: If you’ve been to the resort, you’ll know that it rains for about 10 minutes every afternoon….no biggy, the grey clouds come and go.  Plus it’s super windy out by the gazebo, so it keeps you cool.  However, 2 hours before our ceremony, it started thunderstorming and it proceeded to downpour for about 1.5 hours.  Totally freaked me out, because I really didn’t want to get married in the lobby.  Chandlyn called me 45 minutes before the ceremony and asked whether to move the wedding to the lobby, so I begged her to wait another half hour because I finally started to see some blue sky in the distance.  Thank goodness I waited, because 10 minutes later, the rain stopped.  Chandlyn and Donnalee quickly set up the chairs by the gazebo, and everything turned out perfect.  Only downside is that the wind stopped dead after the storm, so it was extremely hot and humid.  I stuffed a handkerchief into my wedding bouquet and used it as a sweat napkin throughout the ceremony LOL. 

 

Hair Salon: Loved my hair!  I didn’t even have to show the salon a picture, but they did a great job and the hairspray/freezing spray they used was so crazy heavy-duty, nothing moved all day/night.  

 

Ceremony: We wrote our ceremony script ahead of time, so I sent it down to Donnalee a few days before we left and she gave a copy to the minister.  The minister was awesome and everything turned out perfect, except for a couple things:  1) This is pretty ridiculous, but they don’t stop the poolside entertainment during your ceremony, so throughout my ceremony, I could hear club beats and guys on microphones coming from the pool.  I tuned it out and was off in my own little world, but I know a lot of my guests complained about this afterwards.  I wrote this in my comment card after the wedding, but I’m not sure if this will change in the future. 2) Some stupid kid was snorkeling by the wedding gazebo and at one point, started yelling “SHARK!  SHARK!† Again, I was off in my own little world and didn’t even notice, but a bunch of guests told me afterwards.  Other than those 2 issues, everything was great.  Our ceremony was at 3:15pm (originally 3pm, but there was a slight rain delay), which gave us enough time to take pictures before the sun started setting.  (Sun started setting around 5:15-5:30pm….it was pretty dark by 6pm.) 

 

Cake: Delicious!  We added an extra layer for $40, and we’re so glad we did since we had 65 guests with us.  We chose vanilla, vanilla raspberry, and coconut.  Everybody told us it was delicious.  Downside: We didn’t get any of the extra cake afterwards, which we didn’t care too much about, but it would have been nice to try the other flavours.  I spoke with Donnalee about this a few days later and she felt really bad…she had instructed them to leave it in my fridge after the wedding, but they never did.  Oh well.  If you care about saving the cake, I suggest you bring your own container and have somebody scoop it up for you. 

 

Steel Drum Band: They were awesome!  They played for the entire hour after our ceremony and really added to the Caribbean setting.

 

Dinner: We had our dinner at the Dolce Vita and the menu we chose was: caesar salad with chicken, roasted thyme and squash soup, stuffed chicken and risotto, and tiramisu.  Not many people liked the Caesar salad, so I’d probably avoid ordering that.  Everybody loved the soup, and the chicken was also really good!  Our dinner was supposed to be at the Garden Grill, but when we got to the resort, we found out that the Garden Grill was under renovation so both weddings were held in the Dolce Vita.  Since our wedding group was larger, we were in the main room while the other bride was in the circular room off to the side.  It was a little awkward having 2 weddings in the same restaurant and I felt really bad because our wedding group was a little loud.  We originally planned to do all our wedding speeches at the gazebo after dinner, but the best man brought a bunch of Bristol boards with him with pictures on them, so he asked to do his speech at the restaurant since the lighting was better.  So it was a little awkward because the other wedding probably heard his entire speech, and all the hootin’ and hollerin’ from the pictures. 

 

Reception at the Gazebo:  AMAZING!!!  So so glad we booked out the gazebo and hired the DJ.  We didn’t pay for the bar set-up because I thought it was ridiculous to pay $1,800 for liquor at an all-inclusive resort.  So instead, we just asked Donnalee for a table to be set up in the gazebo with ice and cups, and our groomsmen left the dinner 15 minutes early to set everything up.  We brought our own inflatable palm tree cooler (http://amazingpartystore.com/storefront/productdetail.aspx?idproduct=33301&idcat=2597) which we filled with ice and bottles of pop/mix.  For the liquor, the gift shop sells 26ers for $20USD, which is pretty expensive considering you’re in Jamaica, so one of our groomsmen spoke with a bartender the day before and managed to get 1L bottles of vodka, rum, and whisky for $10/bottle!  Ended up spending $60 on 6 litres of liquor, another $25 on bottles of pop/mix (which we just got at the gift shop), and we had around 60 cans of Caribe beer, which the groomsmen got from the maids since they stocked the mini fridges daily with Caribe.  I think they left her $5USD and a note asking for their fridge to be stocked with beer instead of pop/water.  Worked like a charm!  As for the music, we had an entire playlist prepared on our iPod, but the DJ was awesome so we never even used our playlist!  He played all the newer top 40 hits, and a few requests that we had on our iPod.  The gazebo rental was supposed to be from 8:45-10:45, but our groomsmen kept slipping him money for more music, and we ended up having the gazebo until almost 11:30-11:45!  Everybody had a blast at the gazebo and kept saying it was their favourite part of the night. 

 

All in all, even though there were a few minor hiccups, we had an amazing wedding and our guests kept telling us it was the most beautiful wedding they’d ever been to.  Yes, there were a few things that could have been changed, and I could have complained about a lot of stuff…. (ie. not getting the leftover cake, not getting a room upgrade, or robe/slippers, or a welcome fruit basket, having 2 weddings in the same restaurant, etc), but in the end, that stuff didn’t matter to us.  The resort was beautiful and everything turned out perfect! 

 

Just one tip: Bring Tide-to-Go and make sure you have it handy on the wedding day!!!  I got a bleeding nose when I was back in my room changing for the gazebo reception, and two long streaks of blood fell down my wedding dress.  I quickly took the dress off and used Tide-to-Go, and not one trace of blood is left on my dress.  Amazing!!!  Plus one of my groomsmen spilled red wine on his linen pants, and again, Tide-to-Go erased everything!! 

 

Anyways, I’ll attach a few pictures that our photographer gave to us….we flew him down with us and he took over 6,000 pictures during the entire week.  He edited around 200 while in Jamaica and gave them to us as a teaser, and will be giving us another 1,000 pictures shortly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just in case anyone is looking for their OOT bags still I found these cute ones at Dollarama today...they are a great size and zipper at the top! $2.00 each:) Now, if I could only sell my other ones before the FI founds out....LOL!!!!!!!

Hi Ladies:)

I have 39 Brand new OOT bags for sale...

25 White bags with Blue Handles bought from Oriental Trading... (pd $30US plus shipping and customs)

14 large brown bags bought from dollarama (pd$28)

Both of these are great for OOT bags! I have decided to go with some other OOT bags instead:) Send me an offer if interested:)

Congrats to you!!!!! Thank you for the awesome detailed review. I am so happy everything turned out so perfect for you! Thank you for writing about the high heel walk for us inexperienced heel walkers...lol...I have been so back and forth with that! I have Merrick Cousley booked too...your teaser picture is BEAUTIFUL!!!! He is an amazing photographer....can't wait to see more pics from him!! Only 162 more days to go for me!! Yay!
 

Originally Posted by acw271011 

and here's the teaser from Merrick...

 

OMG!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE your cake topper!!! Where did u get it from and how much was it?????

Originally Posted by luvmoo 

after my rant about the dress nightmare.. I needed to post something that makes me happy heheheh i got my Cake topper on friday.. and i LOVE it!!!!!!

 

( it is real starfish, painted )

  

Whoo hoooo!!!! I am so excited for you!!! Have an amazing time and wedding day! Can't wait to see pics and hear your review:):) YAY!!!!
 

Originally Posted by acw271011 

OMG ladies - this place is spectacular!!  4 days to go!!  the gazebo is just exactly what it is in the pics. it's gorgeous!!  can't wait for thursday!!  hair and nails trial on tuesday at 4 pm then the big day. going to do the sunset cruise tomorrow (Monday). sounds like fun. still trying to find someone to take our camera and do pics for us.

 

wish us luck. it's almost here and we're definitely in PARADISE!!!!  I'll try to update again later in the week. catching some rays today.

no problem:) my bags are done....everything is bought...just have to put them all together:)
 

Originally Posted by 2012mrstobe 


Natalie2012,
That's perfect! Thanks hon. Have you done your bags already?
Thanks again.
2012mrstobe

I used..."Sew in love"

 

Originally Posted by 2012mrstobe 

Ladies,
I have been trying to find the thread with it in it but can't seem to do so but can anyone tell me the little saying some brides have put on the front of the travel sewing kits?
Thanks in advance!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reply, your advice and for a closer picture of the oh so long walk....Flip flops it is...I will change into my heals for the pics:)

 

Originally Posted by cupcake1382 

Well, the walk is pretty long and it stone but not the kind that has the creases in between the rocks.. It is pretty smooth..  so if you aren't an experienced heel wearer I suggest wearing other shoes. I'm assuming your dress is long and no one will see your shoes..

I walked down the aisle with flip flops and I wear heels every day. But since I knew all the dancing and pictures would be taken next to the gazebo right after the ceremony in the sand I didn't want to have to change shoes. So in our pictures I wear heels but everything else I had flip flops on.

 

Ok so to give you an idea.. We are halfway down the aisle at this point. The golf card drops you off back at the stone wall (behind a tree so no one can see you). To me it was a pretty long walk. My song was 2 minutes long and my song was almost done by the time we go to the gazebo.

 

 

 

 

Does anyone know what the walk down the isle is like (gazebo)...are wearing heals possible or is it a flip flop walk?? I just found some beautiful hot pink heals with bling bling on them that I would LOVE to try to wear...lol..I'm not a very experienced high heal walker either so I am torn...not sure what shoes to wear??  Thx ladies:)

Hey Ladies....

Just an FYI.....Mini sewing kits are back in stock at Michaels and still only $1.50!!!!

OMG!! LOVED looking at your pics...I have Merrick booked too and I am now even more excited for my wedding day!! Thank you so much for posting....I couldn't be more happier about my photographer choice:):)
 

Originally Posted by Espejo2be 

Hey girl,
It sounds like you're all a little stressed and things aren't going the easiest with the wedding coordinators right now. I remember being there and I remember SOOO many things going wrong on the day that we had already planned out and thought would be perfect.... In the end we ate married, we can look back and laugh at some of the things we stressed about because overall, it wasn't just the day that we had to look back on, it was the whole week we had to make memories with family and friends.

We got a link to a sneak peek if our wedding photos last night, they were done by Merrick cousley ( who by the way is not only an amazing wedding photographer but he lifted my spirits when so many things went wring and on top of it all, our wedding was down poured on! I don't know what unwound have done without him!!) our trash the dress pictures are coming this weekend, I will be sure to post them.

Hope this makes you girls feel a little better, looking ahead to your big day, because no matter how many things went wrong... That what made our wedding special and unique to us!

Enjoy!

I agree with you his work is great!! I have Merrick booked as well!!

 

Originally Posted by acw271011 

try merrick cousley photography in jamaica. that's who we're using in 4 weeks! his site is merrickcousley.com and I think his work is great!!

 

 

I just ordered real touch flowers from Plumerias wedding boutique...She does AMAZING flowers!! My cousin used her for her wedding in Jamaica as well! They really pop in pictures and look amazingly real!! She ships to Canada...her prices are pretty good too and definately worth it:) Here is her website...she also has a fb page with more of a portfolio.
http://www.plumeriasweddingflowerboutique.com/ 
 

Originally Posted by amjohnson 

I agree with Tori, when you feel stressed about all the planning and diying it is great to know that you ladies are there for support and advice!

 

Okay, so here is what I need your help on. I am starting to stress now thinking I didn't do enough for the wedding and ATR planning this summer and now back at work I am freaking out as I look at the calendar!

 

Flowers- I looked at the flower pdfs the resort sent me and the choices are not that great...I am still wanting a real bouquet for me...may be pretty basic. But I am now wanting to get real touch or nice silk flowers for me and my bridesmaids(3). I know it is hard to get them shipped to Canada with certain companies and I know given the time I have left, most of the shipping dates are gone.

I have been looking at Bloom bridal.com and Wedideas. Since you Canadian girls always have great advice, I am asking you what you would do? Have any of you used these companies?

They have some ready made bouquets but I think I want to do some changes to those. My wedding is Jan. 4th so I need to act on this now.

 

The other option is, getting silk flowers and getting my sister who had a flower shop to help me put them together....It is hard to get silks that are nice enough without have a flower shop license to go to the wholesalers. Michael's flowers right now are pretty picked out due to their big sale.

 

Advice, ideas???

 

Thanks!!!

We have booked Merrick Cousley for our photographer...and I couldn't be more happy and excited about our choice...he has had great reviews from past brides..Check out his portfolio his pics are stunning!!

 

Originally Posted by monarch 

Hey Ladies!  Thanks for all of the info on the photographers.