muneera0302

Originally Posted by Jenna1511 

 

Here's our website: I went with the knot....

 

www.carlsonhughes.ourwedding.com

 

Hope this helps!

So we just found our next vacation spot!!! your resort is gorgeous!!!! nice website too for December wedding in jamaica. i'm working on my website and yours definitely helped me with wording! thanks!

Originally Posted by Marymack 

 

Adori designs...it was in an earlier post,I just went back and looked because I liked them as well. Cherina I am about to message you on Facebook.

thank you!!!!

Originally Posted by alexisinjamaica 

 

 

Thank you! I forgot to reply back on this thread but I saw the pics, and that helped. Thanks again for the tip!! Are you all booked at WO? Also, what is your date?

I'm finally booked for WO Dec. 20, 2013!!! Yay i'm so excited. I'm also booked for the rooms as well. What did you decide about your rooms?

I  think im going to go with these

I actually didn't know there was a difference until now since the pics are all mostly the nice, modern WO rooms. I just found some on Trip Advisor that I think are St. James and that is totally sneaky of them!!!! I'm currently booked on the St. James side but since I prefer the modern look of the WO side I asked my TA to check into switching me and my guests to WO. Hopefully they still have space/the rates are similar. I wonder if switching sides affects where on the beach you get married? I will need to reach out the hotel WC once I hear back on the rates. Ugh. So glad you said something. I wouldn't have known! I haven't had to do this yet (I will next month) and I will try to remember what happens so I can update you!

I actually didn't know there was a difference until now since the pics are all mostly the nice, modern WO rooms. I just found some on Trip Advisor that I think are St. James and that is totally sneaky of them!!!! I'm currently booked on the St. James side but since I prefer the modern look of the WO side I asked my TA to check into switching me and my guests to WO. Hopefully they still have space/the rates are similar. I wonder if switching sides affects where on the beach you get married? I will need to reach out the hotel WC once I hear back on the rates. Ugh. So glad you said something. I wouldn't have known! I haven't had to do this yet (I will next month) and I will try to remember what happens so I can update you!

I actually didn't know there was a difference until now since the pics are all mostly the nice, modern WO rooms. I just found some on Trip Advisor that I think are St. James and that is totally sneaky of them!!!! I'm currently booked on the St. James side but since I prefer the modern look of the WO side I asked my TA to check into switching me and my guests to WO. Hopefully they still have space/the rates are similar. I wonder if switching sides affects where on the beach you get married? I will need to reach out the hotel WC once I hear back on the rates. Ugh. So glad you said something. I wouldn't have known! I haven't had to do this yet (I will next month) and I will try to remember what happens so I can update you!

I'm using Saab, and here is their website: http://www.saabweddings.com/ Not sure if you meant them or another photographer in Jamaica. There are a handful out there that other brides have used, try doing a search to see what pops up in the forums for photographers there. I know there are a few threads on the topic! The WB at Secrets isn't usually very fast about replying to me, but I'm not yet in the 2 month window so I get it. Hopefully when I get closer they'll be on top of it! Otherwise we will have issues. Haha. And yes, love Wright Travel!!

Originally Posted by heather1214 

 

Get used to all the "extras"  It really adds up quick, and they don't budge on price. 

 

We also went on a site visit and LOVED it!  We are budgeting around 20K for about 60 guests, with everything (except my dress).  We really wanted to do a destination wedding and although it's all inclusive and you don't expect to pay for open bar, it's all extra charges. If we had a wedding at home it would have been more like 50k, so once you can get past all the extras, and realize how absolutely amazing it will be, it doesn't seem so bad.

 

Once piece of advice I have been trying to follow is, establish your MUST haves, what's very important to you, and every bride is different. How many weddings have you been to that you can even remember what the centerpieces look like, or what the food at cocktail hour was exactly?  Personally, flowers are a big part of my day but I'm also remembering that most guests wont even remember them.  So not to stress to much about it.

 

You can save money on all the other "little" details that people won't even notice.  After planning for over a year, I just want the DJ to be amazing, our photographer to catch some great memories, and the bar to be fully stocked!  After all, who's going to remember what color linens I had anyway?

YOu're absolutely right, i've been in several weddings and i honestly can't remember most of those little details :-) my fiance is from Jamaica so we're going to buy as much decorations as we can and have it sent down there in someones suitcase lol. and yea these EXTRAS are no joke, i'm surprised people aren't charging for oxygen at these resorts :-)

Originally Posted by Jaciv2000 

 

Hi!! I am glad to hear that you did a site visit because we booked our wedding at the Suites without being able to do that. So I am glad to hear that you got to see it and liked it so much!!

My advice to you would be going through a travel agent. They do all the talking for you and also look for the best rates for you. We started planning a year and a half ahead of time so luckily we got our date without any issues (October 25, 2013) But I would find a travel agent and leave all that stress to them!! Plus usually they can get you a price locked in even before everyone puts their deposits down :-) Good luck!!!! Is there anything you can share with me about the resort? Any suggestions? How about the food? People friendly?

 

Thanks!

Well we were in Jamaica for our annual christmas vacation so we decided to look at wedding places while we were there. we had to call Iberostar and set an appointment with the wedding coordinator prior to us going to the resort. Honestly, i personally didn't care for Ibero Beaches but Suites and Grand are really both pretty. They did have alot of kids there at Suites but that was expected since it's the holiday season and Suites are kid friendly, Grand is adults only . We only took a tour of the lobby, pool area and beach which all those areas were very clean. we were actually trying to see Grand so we didn't ask to see the Suites ammenities and rooms, but online it looks really nice as well. People are friendly if you are staying there.

I did find a travel agent and they started putting together packages for us, you're right, it is much easier going thru them. Thanks! Congrats to you too....and good luck as well! i know you're have a blast there.

Originally Posted by cbritto 

 

We got married at sunset in the big gazebo on the beach and it was absolutely beautiful! Overall, it was the best wedding experience I could have asked for. The staff was so helpful and friendly! I thought the wedding extras were ridiculously expensive, so we brought as much with us as we could, which I would definitely recommend. We ended up bringing chair sashes (which were $6 each to rent through the resort, and I think I bought them for like .69 each online), our own centerpieces (pottery barn glass vases with fake flowers wrapped on the inside with a candle in the middle, then little votives around the table), ribbon for the bouquets and boutonnieres and cake, and cake topper. I just brought one set of chair sashes and they moved the chairs from the ceremony over to the dinner tables for the reception. We also hand-delivered all of our welcome bags to the guests instead of paying $4 each to have them delivered to their rooms. We did pay extra for the tiki torches, $8 each, and I think it was a nice touch. I asked them to put the ribbon I brought around each tier of the cake instead of having the icing flowers like in their pictures, and they did not charge me extra for that. Honestly, nobody even remembered the cake but did remember our cake topper we bought on Etsy. The wedding staff did a great job of setting everything up that we brought with us, but I think they did charge an extra setup fee, I can't remember how much it was but I don't think it was bad.We paid to have the flowers upgraded to orange roses, which I thought was expensive but worth it as I did not like the flowers that came in the package. We brought our own sound system with an ipod dock and used that for the music for the ceremony and reception, which worked out fine. The best decision I think we made was to bring in an outside photographer, Misha Earle, who was amazing! The photos taken by the resort photographer were fine, but nothing spectacular and I would have been disappointed if those were the only photos we walked away with. We got the silver menu for the wedding dinner, which I think was fine, but I really don't even remember what we ate! Each course of the meal took a little while to come out, but it's the caribbean and everything moves slower so just prepare yourself for that. The reverend was very funny, just make sure you are very clear with him about what you want, as we told him we had written our own vows and then during the ceremony he had us say his vows and never gave us a chance to say ours. It worked out fine, as we ended up walking down to the beach and saying our vows privately to each other, which was really special, but just a head's up. The ceremony and reception flew by, so we ended up going to the wine bar with everyone afterward and then some of us went to the nightclub. Let me know if you have any other questions. I will add that we have booked our trip to go back to Secrets Wild Orchid for our one year anniversary in November because we loved it so much there!

Thanks for your detailed info! do you remember the website you bought your chair sashes for .69? I've been looking online and most are around the price that the hotel is charging to rent. I'm planning on having Dec wedding at Secrets. Just want to start early on the planning process.

Originally Posted by alexisinjamaica 

 

My wedding hasn't happened yet, but the day pass fee for outside guests is $80 for wedding activities. If you have guests staying elsewhere who want to come on the property on a day when you're not having the wedding, like if they just want to hang out with you and the other guests, the cost is more but I can't remember what. So the $80 is a special reduced rate (probably because you already have to pay for their food/alcohol at the wedding.) I know some brides offer to pay this for their guests but I feel like I chose the resort for a reason and it's not my problem if someone decides to stay elsewhere!

 

Yes. I'm bringing in a bunch of stuff.

 

 

Contact information for who?

 

Happy planning!!

Sorry, im new to the site and was trying to reply to a comment regarding outside photographer, i was asking if anyone had the contact information for them? Also, we decided to go with Secrets for December, i am extremely excited! You're definetly correct about guest should pay for the day pass if they choose another hotel but i know my fiance will want to cover that for them instead.   I really want as many people possible to stay at Secrets but im still giving people the option to stay at Sunset beach next door if they want to go the cheaper route. How is your interaction with your wedding coordinator at secrets? are they quick to respond to emails? Again, i'm so glad you ladies are on here experiencing the same thing, makes this so much easier and fun to plan! I'm also working with Wright Travel as well. They are extremely nice!

Does the hotel have their contact information? I totally agree on splurging on photos!

Will Secrets allow you to bring your own decorations and do it yourself? If so, I'm definitely going to do the same!!!! 

This is so helpful! Im trying to decide between Secrets and Iberostar Grand, so far seems like IG is way more expensive. Did any of you ladies have guest attend your wedding that did not stay at the resort (day pass)?

Hi everyone!

My fiance and I took a tour of Iberostar last week and loved it. We started pricing to have our destination wedding at the Grand and my goodness the price/cost is adding up quickly! We were pricing for a party of 50 and a party of 60 to compare the cost and both were high. I've also emailed the wedding coordinator to see if there are any deals or discounts they can give. Im searching this thread to see if anyone else knows of a good way to budget the wedding here, im almost not even sure where to begin anymore. (i calculated based on the info packet they provided and it's around 14k without me adding the extras for how i want it decorated). Btw im looking at December 2013 as well.