Kim Deslippe

Hello all 2013 brides!

I just wanted to put it out there for anyone planning a wedding in Jamaica, that Rashel Edwards is now available for Feb. 6/2013 for hair and makeup.

I had initially booked her and was very excited for her to work her magic on me and my bridesmaids, but due to some unfortunate circumstances I am no longer having a destination wedding.  She does amazing work and if you are looking for someone you should defintely check her out (she has a facebook page).

Attention all GBP Jamaica brides-to-be, especially those for 2013, make sure you contact the resort regarding the changes to their wedding packages and photographer policies.

I was planning my wedding for Feb. 2013 at GBP Jamaica, and just as we received official pricing (which was more then what we planned, but were gonna go with it anyway) and we were about to book our trip and get invitations printed, I received some information from the resort regarding changes to their wedding packages and new photogrtapher policies.

They now have black-out-dates for the Free Package from mid Jan. to mid Mar. when you cannot use this package and they now have set times that ceremony are done when you can use this package.

For any outside photographers used at the resort for wedding pictures, you have to pay an $800 fee.

After much debate and crunching of numbers, because of these changes and the cost being more then anticipated, I am sad to say I am no longer a GBP Jamaica bride and will not be having my destination wedding

On the bright side, I get to marry my FI this November (sooner then planned) and we all of our friends and family

I just want to say that everyone on this site/thread has been so wonderful and all information provided has been extremely helpful and I am not trying to discredit anything on here.  Just be cautious as things change the resorts so be sure to stay in contact with your WC and keep all correspondce from them, and if you are unsure of anything make sure you ask questions!

Take care all,

Kim

The make artist is Rashel Edwards and Fiona is her assistant that does hair.  They are not through the resort, so it would be an outside vendor.  I booked Rashel in December; she is very popular and does amazing work, so I wanted to make sure she had my date available as early as possible.   You can see more of her work on Facebook, just search Rashel Edwards Makeup Artistry.  Your best bet for pricing would be to contact her because I believe her pricing may have went up slighty for 2012, but it was really reasonable (about $625 for hair and makeup for myself and 3 BM).  Her email is [email protected].

 

Originally Posted by Kristo 

Is Rashel and Fiona for hair and makeup through the hotel spa? Or is it an outside vendor?  How far in advance did you book them?  And can I be nosey and ask how much they charge?

 

Thanks!

Thanks so much for the review Tammy.  Congrats to you and your new hubby on saying your I do's.  So glad to hear that everything turned out just as you hoped.  It think really helps put to the rest of us brides-to-be at ease (at least it does me anyway), knowing that everything can happen just as you dreamed of if you just have a little faith

I have also booked Rashel and Fiona for hair and makeup and I am sooo excited that I did.  You look absolutely stunning and your picture are wonderful, cannot wait to see more!
 

Originally Posted by tamandrob 

Hello Ladies

I am back!!! We left Feb 25th and got married on Feb 28th. Our guest came home March 3rd and we stayed an extra week and came home on the 10th. We had a group of 33 guest majority flew out of Ottawa. I am not sure where to start and I will probably miss some things along the way so if you have any questions feel free to ask. I just want to say as many others have that there is absolutely nothing to worry/stress about everything will be amazing. I couldn't have pictured my wedding day any better than what it was, it was everything I have dreamed of and more.

 

The resort: Check in was fairly quick and the resort was well organized. We found the staff at the front desk very helpful and pleasant to deal with. I have travelled quite a bit and found the resort rather large and it was hard for my Grandma to get around easily. I think that was one of the only negative things I found and it is just a personal preference. We stayed on the 4th floor in room 21409 and we had an amazing view of the gazebo, pools and ocean. The pools were very clean and a good temperature, we lounged near the far swim up bar as we found it to be quieter. It is hard to get lounge chairs by the pool most of them had towels on them by 7am. Our fridge was restocked daily and our maid Sharon was so nice and such a hard worker. We rented the safe out for $6 a day. No one in our group had any troubles with their valuables. The lobby bar was a great place to meet up after dinner for a few drinks and the entertainment was great. The shows at night were good too. I liked some more than others but we always had a great time. I really enjoyed watching the steel drum band from Kingston they were amazing. We went to the disco a few nights and it was okay, the DJ was good and he would play any song that you requested. The workers at the resort for the most part were very friendly and kind. Our favourite bartender was Jerome at the lobby bar, ask for a Jerome special they are so good! I did find that we were expected to tip a lot or it seemed that way.

 

The food: The food was great!! I am a very picky eater and I always found something to eat. I liked eating at the smaller buffet as it wasn't as busy as the large one. The A la Cartes were hard to book for early dinner times. If you don’t mind eating late then I wouldn't worry about it but if you like to eat before 8pm I suggest that you book them in advance. I booked the Japanese for the welcome dinner the day we arrived and it was so much fun we had 3 tables were the chiefs cook in front of you and it was so enjoyable and the food was delicious. We also ate at the Don Pablo and the Grill which were great too! The Jerk Centre on the beach had melted in your mouth chicken, we ate lunch there often. If you go to the guy cooking it on the grill he will give you fresh chicken which I found was better.

 

Now on to the wedding!!!!

 

Meeting: There was a note delivered to our room the night we arrived asking us to meet Chandlyn in the lobby at 10am the next day. Chandlyn is such a sweet lady and is very well organized. She had every email and request I sent in our file. We sorted out all the fine details such as menu, cake, decorations, etc. She told us to drop all our decorations off at the front lobby on Monday. Chandlyn and Donnalee are fantastic to work with and I only have great things to say about both of them.

 

Rehearsal: We met Donnalee at the Gazebo on Monday at 5:30pm with the wedding party and she walked us through everything and was happy to answer any questions that we had.

 

Getting ready: I hired Rashel Edwards to do are makeup and her friend Fiona to do our hair. I am so happy that I went with them. I showed Fiona pictures of how I wanted my hair and she did such and amazing job and it was exactly what I wanted. I also told Rashel I wanted a very natural look and that is what I got. I would highly recommend them to any bride. My bridesmaids loved their hair and makeup as well and were very pleased with the results. Rashel came to our room for noon and my ceremony was at 4pm.

 

Flowers: I went with Jan’s Flowers as they were cheaper than Tai Flora. My flowers arrived at the hotel at 2pm and 2 bridesmaids went to the lobby to get them. I did receive all of my order as I have heard other brides have had a few things missing. The only thing is my flowers weren’t exactly what I had asked for but they were still beautiful and it wasn’t that big of a deal to me.

 

Ceremony: I met Chandlyn in the lobby at 3:45pm with my bridesmaids and father, she took us to the beach on the golf cart and cued us when to start walking down the aisle. We hired the steel drum band and they were great. Our guest really enjoyed the ceremony music. After the ceremony everyone enjoyed a glass of champagne and listened to the steel drum band play. Then the pictures started.

 

Photography: We hired Sungold associates and Clayton Foster was our photographer with his assistant Shane. Clayton is such an amazing person and a great photographer I highly recommend him. I have only seen a few teaser pictures and they are beautiful!!! I can’t wait to see the rest. Clayton’s boss Paula was great to work with as well she always replied to email and phone calls very promptly. If you are in need of a photographer I would suggest you hire Clayton. We had him for 8 hours on the wedding day and then he came back the next day and did the TTD. We hired Kevin Morrison to take us and the photographer to our TTD destination, he was a great driver. I would recommend him if you need a taxi. We went to Mohoe Falls for the TTD and again I can’t wait to see the pictures! I can’t say enough great things about him, he is such a wonderful person and his work is truly amazing!!!!!!

 

Dinner and Reception: Dinner started at 6:30pm at the Dolce Vita, we had a head table with 8 people and we had 3 circular tables in front for guest. Our guest book was setup as you walked in and our decorations were exactly how I asked for them to be. The food was great we had the caprese salad, squash soup, chicken breast with ricotta and dessert. I did find that everyone was so full from the meal that no one ate the wedding cake. I asked for a very simple wedding cake with no designs on it but that is not what I got lol. Again we are very laid back and that was not a big deal to us. We did have a few speeches through dinner but nothing very formal. We rented out the gazebo and hired a DJ and the bartender. At 8:45pm we headed to the gazebo and had our first dance, the father and daughter dance and groom and mother dance. At first we weren’t going to rent anything after the dinner but when I got thinking about it more and heard the other girls reviews we changed our mind and my husband ( I love saying husband) and I are so happy that we did. I think it was one of the best decisions we made and I have no regrets. The Dj and Bar was open till around 11pm after that some people went to bed and some headed off to the disco.

 

I know I am probably forgetting tons of information so please if you have any question feel free to ask. Check out our teaser pictures http://wpajamaica.com/tammy-rob/

 

 

As far as I am aware they do not privatize for anything less then 45 guests, which kinda sucks because if you do want to privatize a restaurant it is about $2500 and the Pisces is $1700.  So if your paying that kind of money who cares how many guests you have.  They do however offer the Dolce as a semi private space because it kinda has a room off to the side.

I would suggest that you contact the WC at the resort because they seem to be making quite a few changes this year and who knows, they could have changed the policy on this too!!  This site is wonderful and super helpful, but contacting the resort with your questions is you best bet to make plans for anything because then you also have your correspondence with them as evidence of what the quoted you for stuff.
 

Originally Posted by Jamaicanmecrazy 

What are the options for a private dinner? I am expecting around 30 guests 

Thanks JayKay....I have an email out to the resort to check and my TA said he would see what he could find out too!!
 

Originally Posted by JayKay 

We had face clothes in our rooms, two of them.  We were in the royal golden so I'm not sure if thats why we had them or if anyone has them.  I did bring my own though because I had heard some people say there were some but others say there wasn't, so I think it would be a great thing to include in the OOT bags.

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!

Thanks for posting this!! It's going to work out great for my welcome books!!

Glad this thread popped up, I've been kinda wondering how to work this tradition into our DW.  We really have no preference either way ourselves, but our folks/friends have questioned what we plan to do.  Our ceremony isn't until 4pm and I'm guessing that hair and makeup is going to start around lunch time, if not earlier, so we probably won't see much of each other the morning of anyway.  Thinking that maybe we'll just stay together the night before, have breakfast with each other and then part ways until the ceremony.  It's not like we don't have lots of time to figure it out, since our wedding is not until Feb. 6/2013

Great reading everyone else's thoughts on this though!

Love these shoes!!! They are the exact colour I am looking for but there a little bit too high for me or I'd be purchasing them too!  The price is excellent as well!!

 

Originally Posted by acornk 

Has anyone used the www.myus.com ? I just signed up for it and ordered my shoes, I hope it works and that they arrive in time !

 

These are the shoes ( in purple) http://www.dsw.com/shoe/lulu+townsend+bailey+pump?prodId=225142&productRef=SEARCH

Tori, everything looks so wonderful.  You put so much thought and effort into all the planning and if definitely looks like it all paid off.  The Majestic Colonial was our second choice if pricing didn't work out for GBP Jamaica, because like you I wanted something different then the usual.  I'm glad you mentioned something about the blingy shoes catching on your dress because I kinda wondered about that as I search for my shoes.

Congrats to you and your hubby!

JayKay, your pictures are beautiful, you and your hubby look so happy!!
 

Originally Posted by JayKay 

We got our link to our photos this evening and I just wanted to share with you all!

 

http://www.merrickcousley.com/clients/2011_0113_jaymaswedd/

 

Here is the email for the spa: [email protected]

If you send them a message they get back pretty quick.
 

Originally Posted by Emi-Lou 

Does anyone know the price(s) for massage/facial treatments in the Spa or a contact email address?

Beautiful pictures!
 

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/

OMG, that is absolutely outrageous.

I went through my emails from Donnalee/Chandlyn and I don't have any mention about pricing for photographers specifically because we are probably bringing ours as a guest (FI cousin) and not even telling them.  I was quoted by Donnalee for having Rashel Edwards come in for hair/makeup, if she was staying through the wedding it would only be the cost of an additional guest per the wedding package chosen, so like $20 if we had the free package and if she was not staying for the day then there was no charge for her to come.  So I don't see how the situation would be any different.  Maybe try to get an email for the manager to clarify this and provide an explanation.

Hope she doesn't try to pull anything like that with me, because I've kept all my emails from her and will gladly provide proof of what she quoted.

 

Originally Posted by Kristo 

So I need to vent a little bit here.... I've been dealing with Donnalee for a little under a year now and have had no problems with her.. up until this past week.  We booked our photographer and knew there would be a charge to bring our "vendor" onto the resort for the afternoon.  My understanding was this fee was around $40.00.   I emailed Donnalee to confirm the charge just so we could factor that into our budget.   This is the email I got back from her:

 

"The vendors fee is USD 800.00. You can also email our photo shop for photo packages and their email address is: [email protected]"

 

Say what?!

 

On top of what I'm already paying my photographer, I now have to pay an additional $800.00 for her to come to the resort for a few hours??  She won't even be there for our reception or overnight.  We've literally hired her for 3 hours! 

 

I emailed Donnalee back, thinking it was just a typo.  I asked for a little bit of an explanation, or a breakdown of exactly what that $800 is for.  Her well thought out and detailed response to me was:

 

"This information was sent to us by Manager of the resort."

 

Ya, thanks for clarifying that!

 

Can anyone shed some light for me here?  What have past brides had to pay?  What are current brides being quoted?

 

Ok, end rant. 

 

Hey ladies, sorry I had never even thought of that because we have a US postal address that we use for shipping certain stuff.  I have heard of the company that they recommend on their site and I did some checking into it and it seems legit.  The only downfall maybe would be additional shipping fees.  I haven't placed an order yet because my date is still a little too far off
 

Originally Posted by Butterfly67 

Hi Kim

 

Have you ordered from minimus?  I looked into their international shipping and from what I understand, you need to open an account at a company that will give you a US address and then it will be sent from there.  They have sooo many great travel items, I really want to place an order but wondered if anyone had ordered yet?

 

Norma   

 

Thanks for the tip!
 

Originally Posted by MJKH 

I ordered from minimus...I loved the little eco bamboo foot files...they're hard to locate on the site, but if you type "bamboo" into the search window they pop up I think.  One tip...when I placed my order with minimus, I asked that any items with an expiration date expire no sooner than one year after our wedding date.  I noticed they highlighted it on the warehouse form and everything came just as I had asked.  Otherwise, you may end up with a box full of OTC meds that expire before or right around your wedding!
 

 

You're welcome.  I came across it when I was searching for travel size items and I think I may have seen it mentioned on BDW somewhere, but I've been through so many threads looking for ideas, I cannot remember which thread it was.  I've also made a list of the products that I want to get and am just waiting for a more accurate number of guests too!  Thinking that I have a pretty good idea of how many guests we're going to have but things can change and I've got lots of time still!
 

Originally Posted by Dominican Ally 

Thanks Kim! That site is fantastic! I'm bookmarking it, and when I finally have a better idea of the number of OOT bags I'll be needing - I'm totally ordering from this site! I am thinking of getting tylenol, pepto, immodium, the lens cleaning wipes (super cheap and great for sunglasses!), and the little sewing kit (which is also super cheap!).

 

Just wanted to throw out this FYI for any ladies that are looking for places to buy stuff for survival kits/OOT bags.  This site has a huge supply of travel size items available, http://www.minimus.biz/, and I have found a few things at Sam's Club in the states, such as Advil packets, Shout wipes, bulk hand sanitizers, etc. I realize it's not Canadian, but if you are close to a border and have a membership or know someone that does, the prices work out really good, and you can even look online, http://www.samsclub.com/sams/homepage.jsp.

Excellent thread Jen!!  Love the idea of the wish pot!  Congrats and best wishes on your wedding!

Me too! and I am not having any luck finding any that I really like either.  I have come across a few but the heels are all way to high for me, someone who does not wear them often and really doesn't want to start on her wedding day!
 

Originally Posted by FireyNurse 

I too am searching for purple shoes!! 

 

Although I am in Calgary and there are tons of shoe stores I am not having any luck finding anything great that I really love. Perhaps waiting till summer would be best for me, but I am definetely going to check out that Bridal shoes Canada site ! I always shy away from ordering shoes online since the shipping to send them back is never really worth it, but this sounds perfect!!

 

 

Just an FYI, when I questioned Tai Floral on changing the colors of the flowers in the free package, they stated that they can accommodate some change and are not opposed to trying to incorporate our color theme into our selection.  So you may want to just verify with the floral company that they can do exactly what you are looking for if it is something specific, so there is so surprises later.
 

Originally Posted by pask454 

I asked the WC if the FREE flowers can be subsituted for other colours, and she said they can be.

Thanks ladies,

I checked out the link for Etsy, and her prices are really good, I am just a little leary on ordering outside of North America (it says shes in Singapore).  Did you have any troubles received your orders and how did you make payment, if you don't mind me asking?

I looked at the Victoria Secret ones too and they are a good price also, but yes the colors are limited

Heading out with my girls today to go look at some dresses and I get to put mine on again, so exciting
 

Originally Posted by exquisite02 

I just wanted to add my two cents worth on the convertible dress option. I bought convertible dresses for my girls. I was going to order it from Henkaa because its a toronto company but I didn't want to pay that much. I used this company http://www.etsy.com/shop/kinderbliss?ref=seller_info because it was much cheaper for regular size and plus size. This seller makes custom sizes and has a large range of color and convertible style. One of my bridesmaid is a true plus size girl. she wears a 42 DD cup bra and street size 18/20. she is 5'9 tall though. She wears the convertible dress with the tube top. it is great because she can wear it many ways. there is at least 5 flattering ways that she can wear it. the tube top allows for a bra which is important. The seller makes the straps very wide and long so that it can cover well. I think my bridesmaid look great and they can use this dress over and over again.
 

 

Originally Posted by sbelland 

Victoria Secret also has some but they are very limited on colour options, but come at a great price. I own two and love them. My MOH is also very busty and she also recently had a baby so coverage was a concern of hers. She bought the Henkaa dress as well as the matching tube top and loves it, and I love that they can actually wear them again as well. Also as for the price Henkaa is much cheaper than the more popular Two Birds and the fabric is amazing! It has some good weight to it which is very flattering yet it is very cool in the sun. 
 

 

 

 

 

So excited, we are officially less then a year away from being married!!  When I started the whole planning process a couple months ago, it felt like forever, but time has flown by already.  Here's to hoping the next year goes by quickly too!!

Thanks, great find!

I just checked out the site for this dress, it's pretty cool.  I am just concerned that it may not be very flattering for my quite busty BM, but I sent them the info on it to see if it was something they would be interested in.  I also ordered some samples in the colours that I liked, they were free.  I might just even order one of these dresses for myself, I have a couple weddings to attend this summer and it would be perfect, and then they call all try it to see!
 

Originally Posted by sbelland 

www.henkaa.com is a great alternative they cut the dresses in the same fabric so they all match but each girl can tie them however you want or is best for them. It's also very practical as they can definitely wear them again. They also come in long and short lengths! Plus a Canadian company : )