ktdawson

I have been looking for pics of receptions at port maria where did you find pics? Thank you

My photographer is Misha Earle and we have her 10 hour package which comes with the photo booth. I don't know how much it is separate though.

Sarah if you don't mind me asking what are your rates running. I just want an estimate even though I know it won't be the same in 2014. I just want to know what ball figure my guests may be looking around. My paperwork says premium bar is included with the private reception and when i asked Janielle she said both included the alcohol. It is so weird because at all of the Iberostar Jamaica resorts there are mixed issues when it comes to the WC. I noticed that when I get a response it is very short maybe like two words are so but it covers what I need it to cover and if not I re email her the question again and reiterate what I asked her.

How exactly do you sign up. I sent the request and i looked for the document they were talking about but if it is the calendar it stops in December of this year so I guess I may have to wait.

Jaciv2000 I am getting married at the Grand but they do not have rates out yet. When were you able to get rates from your resort? I would like to have people be able to book but even my TA says the rates aren't available to her. Did yours have talk to a certain person to get rates?

Yay some more April 2014 brides. I thought I was crazy for planning this early. I am not happy though. I am such a worry wart but also impatient so we have sent save the dates out but we can't seem to get rates until possibly March. i don't like that. I mean since it is a wedding can't they just make up the rates for us so our people can start booking? For this reason alone I am thinking about switching properties but is that being to hasty?

I have been doing a lot of researching and I chose Misha Earle for my photography. Her pictures don't look so generic, she really captures the essence of the day and the moment in all of her pictures and I heard from a lot of brides on here that she is an awesome person and gives great service. I found her just by googling her name but here is the link to her website. http://www.mishaearlephotography.com I emailed her and she sent me pricing the next day she is really nice. Hope this helps

Kristy did you end up using Sheila's Bakery for your cake and if so how did you contact her. I am having a hard time contacting her. My resort can't do the cake i want so i have to take another route.

Thank you so much. I contacted Jodi at Tai Flora and sent them the pic. I am keeping my fingers crossed

Everyone is welcome. The lady I got it from off of another thread really saved me a headache with that. I told her she was awesome because I would have never thought of that and I had no clue where to start. Her time line is a God Send

Dreamer catamaran. Got it I will look it up. And thanks for the info on the parasailing. I am excited.

My travel agent was straight up with me when I first started talking to her about a destination wedding when i told her I only wanted at the most 30 guests. She then said then feel free to invite 50 or more because you will get a lot of people who will say they are totally coming and will even book their rooms but until you start getting confirmations on people booking their flights you won't necessarily have an actual number of attendees. She said she invited over a hundred and ended up with 50 total at her wedding. As for your mom she is probably just waiting to get the better deal because tickets were high not too long ago but the new year usually brings good specials. My TA told me that is the downside to the destination wedding because it is harder to get an actual head count until close to the last minute. Either way I am sure the ones that mean the most will be there. So excited to hear the after experience of your wedding.

We just decided tonight we want to do Dunns. It looks like so much fun. We are doing the ATV's and Buggies to. I think we may need a vacation from the excursions. Do you know if they have parasailing there?

Just when you made it easier for me with your planning thread you stressed me out again with this list. lol That is a lot of stuff but all necessity stuff. Oh Lord good thing my fiance is strong. lol This is an awesome list but I get lost a quarter way down. Would you mind e mailing it to me as well where it is easier to read. You are awesome. I'm telling you you have helped me out a ton. I just suggested to someone to look at your planning thread like I did to get an idea of everything. My e mail is [email protected] Thanks.

lol I am still trying to figure it out. Just when I thought I was planning too early I found this site and felt just like you like I was way behind. Because our TA is giving everyone a year to pay on it we went ahead and sent STD's out. My TA is budget friendly so she tells me ways to cut my budget in half. So far we have confirmed our wedding date, booked me and my ladies make up artist, are working on the menu for the reception, passports will come next month, We have narrowed down photographers and cinematography (which I highly suggest if they offer it where you choose to have your wedding) and I will start shopping for my dress March 2, 2013 oh and started talking to the florist about our flower arrangement. That's a lot but a lot more still to come. What I did was I actually asked on another thread and one of the ladies had a planning thread that she said I could use. So i printed it and it is helping me out a lot. I have not followed it to the tee but it has helped tremendously. Here is the link that she posted in that thread. : http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/77917/courtney-matthews-iberostar-rose-hall-suites-may-4-2013-planning-thread/10#post_1807333. It is a God send! Good luck on your planning and sorry I can't help with the resort reviews. Congratulations on your wedding and good luck with your planning.

Definitely agree with Cherina planning early will be less stressful in the end. Congratulations ladies. I am so excited for everyone.

I'm sold!!! After watching your video I am figuring out how to sweet talk future hubby into putting this into the budget. I thought about a videographer but after seeing your video plain videography is just plain boring. I definitely want to have one of those. They did a great job and I am ready to spend the money.

I am a 2014 bride and now that I am planning it does not seem we started early enough. Even though it is over a year before our wedding it seems like it is going to take forever to find the certain things we want and gifts and all. In the process of that we are relocating to a new state buying a house and I am planning a surprise birthday party for my future husband for March so this is definitely stressful and I am glad we got the early start. I am so excited for everyone.

The first and best thing to do is to find a travel agent first. I work in hospitality so I know Travel Agents work for commission which means your price may be a little higher but they take a lot of the stress out of things when it comes to accommodations and they usually can tell you where your best bet is. I myself am like you we are not officially engaged yet because even though the ring has been purchased he wants it to be a real proposal but we wanted to give our guests and ourselves time to save on this wedding we started planning. Travel agents are also good because most of them only charge a 50 dollar deposit per person and people can make payments. That was another reason I chose to not do this thing without a travel agent. We are getting married at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Montego Bay because in the beginning my choice was Ocho Rios and Sandals but after talking to my TA who happens to also be a friend I grew up with she told me that Sandals weddings are usually more expensive. So I looked at my options and started doing research and found that I am happier with where we picked instead of Sandals. She has also helped me with information on passports and tips about the wedding. She is also giving great advice on how to make the most of our budget. We are having about 40 people that we are inviting and my TA says only half will probably come. We are low maintenance to but it still seems that things get to be a little bit expensive even without all of the bells and whistles but with a good TA you can make it work. Hope this helps. Even though 2014 seems a while away I feel the stress of planning already but have got a lot of great tips from the ladies on here so far.

The color blue of the bows you had on the chairs where did you get those from because I was told the resort only has a certain type color. That blue though is the same exact blue we want our bows to be on the chairs. Where did you get them and what was the actual color called? Thanks in advance

My travel agent is having everyone contact her for travel arrangements to take the stress off of us. We did save the date magnets and put her info on those. She is going to keep me updated when people put the deposits down. We just included in an insert with the magnet that the deposit is 50 per person and after that they are free to pay on it at their leisure so that is getting the ball rolling and our wedding is not until April 2014. People are fine with it. The only extra rooms we are paying for are our mothers because they will be traveling with the children so we put their deposits down with ours.

It took about three days for me to initially hear from them but once I did it has been smooth sailing with every question I have had so far. I initially had to talk to Syrecka Janielle's assistant because Janielle was out of the office but both of them have been very helpful. She sent my response to my first e mail and sent me the paperwork to fill out to confirm the date I filled it out scanned it and e mailed it back to her and she sent my wedding confirmation a couple of hours later. I know your post was a little while ago have you had the chance to get in touch with them yet?

I cannot begin to thank you enough for your timeline. I printed it out and it is helping a lot. It has taken ten times the stress off of me. During figuring out how to plan this wedding we are relocating and buying a house in a few months, and I am planning a surprise 30th birthday party for my fiance. So it was beginning to be a bit overwhelming when I started reading all these posts. But your timeline has helped me out big time. Thank you again.

I was told the CD I heard the iPod is good for the reception though just in case.