SWOK
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Posts posted by SWOK
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please don't get miha earle! I was sooooo not impressed with my pictures! just not thought out and was too spur of the moment for me. take my advice , im really unhappy
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@@photogirl0403 - I just got my pics online (have the watermark on them), but still don't have the cd with the images to print or create anything yet, just the option to purchase thru her website at ridic high prices sooooo
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@cora4600 - One of my bridesmaid is also my hair dresser so she did my hair and my moms. I did my own makeup. I gave my bridal package to my sister who got her hair and makeup done and was very pleased. (one weird thing was that they didn't use eyeliner, but rather shadow to line her eyes. It was pretty but a different look for her) a few of the other bridesmaids also made appointments for hair and no one had any complaints. BUUUUUT if I didn't have Shayna I would prob consider an OV since it is your big day if its in your budget.
@@pzl101 - Thank you! So happy to help. I did, I emailed them a few options which were ridic (like 400-475 just for mine) so I finally said just make me a bouquet for $100 with the blue orchids, my sisters was the same only smaller for $70. You can email the wedding coordinator once you are in your 2 month planning period and they will forward it to Tai Flora and give you the cost - caution it takes ~ 1 week per email to get a response. For me it just was easier to give them a price point and a color scheme and let them take care of the hassle.
side note: STILL WAITING ON PROFESSIONAL PICS. Misha Earle initially told me 4-6 weeks and we are now at 8 soooooo hoping those come soon
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@@cassandraragin - I glad you liked it!
the table clothes and the chair covers were included in the Ultimate wedding package for up to 20 people (including bride and groom)
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@ WesnKris
haven't gotten my pics back yet, but I can tell you that as a photographer and a person, she was great to work with. we did nothing but laugh! she even put my husband at ease who is someone that hates getting his picture taken! she came prepared knowing the shots that she wanted to take and was open to my suggestion of some! ill let you know more when I get the pictures which is 4-6 wks from wedding and should be coming up soon!
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great great thread!
had my wedding at secrets wild orchid
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just got back from my Jamaica wedding! trust me, it will all be perfect!
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Hello all!
I just got back form my wedding at secrets wild orchid in December 2013 and it was amazing!
trust me, it was all be perfect and don't stress! good luck planning!
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just added my planning thread on secrets wild orchid
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just added my wedding review on secrets wild orchid
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Just posted my wedding planning thread from my wedding at secrets wild orchid!
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Just put up my review form my wedding on Dec 3 at secrets wild orchid!
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Hello! Although I am not a blogger, I just had to make a post on this site to share and thank the people who were invaluable to me during my wedding planning by helping others. Planning a wedding is daunting, especially when it is in another country and you've never been there! After we got engaged, we decided to do something different and plan a destination wedding. We were the first of our friends and family. We got engaged in June 2012 and sent out the "save the dates" for our December 2013 wedding. We wanted to give people plenty of time (1.5 yrs) to save up and make plans to join. I think the extra time paid off because we had 65 people join us to celebrate! It also gave me plenty of time to do little projects for the wedding and make it stress free!
RESORT:
We chose Secrets: Wild Orchid which is actually connected to Secrets: St James in Montego Bay based on a friend who had been there's recommendation. They each have their own pools but share the restaurants, the spa, and entertainment. There is a boardwalk on the beach that runs the length of the 2 hotels. Secrets Wild Orchid (SWO) is a little newer and more modern and is closer to all the restaurants. You cannot go wrong at either and we had guests stay at St James (SJ) because SWO was sold out. Everyone was saying this was the nicest place they had ever been! One of our guests had the swimout room in the preferred club which was pretty cool during the day because we could hang out in the lazy river and be close to the room!
PREFFERED CLUB:
We stayed in the preferred club which was gorgeous. The best thing about it was that there was your own bar in the lobby filled with different tapas at all hours of the day, one night we didn't even go out, we just ate there! there also is a bar filled with grey goose, ciroc, crown royal etc - all top shelf liquors that you can make however you like! sometimes the fruity drinks become too much! Im not sure if it was 100% worth the extra money only because ALL the resort is soo nice. Some other brides I spoke with even said they were bumped up to it for free!
TIPPING:
One things I must note is how nice all the staff is. They are all kind and try to know you by name. They really really appreciate any tips so I recommend bringing as many $1s as you can. change is hard to come by and trust me you just want to tip these sweet people. $1 American is = $100 Jamaican dollars so your tips are really making a difference in their lives.
LENGTH OF TRIP:
We came down on Fri and our wedding was on Tues. We stayed until the following Sunday and I think 9 days was just the perfect amount of time. I wouldn't have wanted to leave any sooner! Monday we hosted a welcome bonfire in lieu of a rehearsal. We chose Tuesday for our wedding which seemed to work out the best because it is definiately the most fun leading up the big day! Most guests left Wednesday after the wedding (fri-wed).
DRINKS:
Our guests favorite cocktails were: dirty banana (kinda like a chocolate banana smoothie with alcohol), grasshopper (tastes like a thin mint cookie), espresso martini from the piano bar, all different flavors of mojitos, jamaican smile, purple rain, bob marley (that's the tri colored drink in pictures), and icebergs (red stripe draft beer with a floater of margarita on top) YUM-O!!
FOOD:
All the food was very good! For breakfast there is a buffet at the world café which has everything. There is also the coco café which is a coffee bar that is open all the time and serves hot and cold drinks including blue mountain coffee and some that have alcohol in them. That is how I started off all most everyday!
My favorite lunch spot was the restaurant at the st. james pool. they had a nacho bar daily, and pizza, and many great dishes was a daily soup. the restaurant oceana at the wild orchid pool had different wraps that you could customize. there is also a snack bar in between each resort on the boardwalk that has soft pretzels, and the best little "meat pies' and Saratoga chips. This is all serve yourself which is great for a quick bite. Lastly there is staff that walks the boardwalk for 2 hrs each day and serve fresh fruit, jerk chicken, and fresh coconuts! (you can take them to the bar and they will add some rum too
For dinner if your want to go to the Japanese restaurant, make a reservation as soon as your arrive. there was a 2 day wait for a table while we were there. It is delicious and you must try! The French restaurant Boudaeux has filet and lobster but make sure your hubby brings pants or else your cant get in! I would skip Portofino - the Italian restaurant. You can get much better food at all the others. El patio is the Mexican restaurant and was delicious. One thing to plan around is that Saturday night is all you can eat lobster night! YUMMY The Jamaican restaurant Blue Mountain was also very very good. The crab cakes and pumpkin soup are tasty and my husband loved the goat?!
Our entire group probably wiped out the room service staff because we were all obsessed! the fried cheese triangles were to DIE FOR! they ran out multiple nights lol. The club sandwich was fab and the fish sandwich. It was such a luxury! we would order after dancing all night at DESIRES the nightclub!
WELCOME BAGS:
CEREMONY:
We initially were going to have the ceremony at the big gazebo where the cocktail hour and reception was held but at the last moment switched to being on the actual water. I truly think it is even more private because the beach front gazebo is on the walkway between the resorts and closer to the public while the beach location is in the corner of the resort next to the preferred club beach. This was the best decision by far! The wedding coordinator, Rocio picked me up from my room with a golf cart and drove me over so I didn't sweat! Many other guests at the resort watched the wedding and every time I went out afterwards, someone would come up to me and tell me how beautiful it was or that they liked my dress! haha it was very sweet.
Instead of having bridemaids I asked all my girls to wear purple dresses to the wedding. I wanted to save them money since they were already traveling to come to my wedding and it looked beautiful in all the photos!
COCKTAIL HOUR:
During the cocktail hour, we upgraded from the Jamaican Trio to the Steel Drum Band which was $200. They were absolutely fabulous!! All the guests were impressed. The Secrets Ultimate Wedding package included a photographer so I utilized him to take photos of all the guests during the hour while we were with Misha Earle (our photographer) This worked out perfectly and we got to chose 50 5x7 photos and they placed them in an album. The resort photographer pics were surprisingly gorgeous!! I love the album. The wedding package also included a 30 min DVD of the ceremony, clips of the cocktail hr, cutting of the cake, and the first dance. This was priceless! I am soooo happy we got this package and all the extras. The DVD is my favorite! We had a viewing party back at home with family and friends and every thought it was great. They truly did amazing. You even get to pick the songs featured in the video. Both items are treasured memories.
DECORATIONS:
From home I lugged the table runners and chair sashes that I ordered from weddinglinensdirect.com. I brought candles and center piece rings, I made table numbers in little frames I purchased from the dollar store, and I sprinkled blue and purple crystals along the tables. The resort provided tea lights on the tables and cocktail tables as well. I also brought some purple and turquoise tulle that was wrapped around the gazebo.
From the resort we purchased the Chinese lanterns ($390) that were strung across dinner. It gave such a beautiful ambiance and I felt was worth the splurge! We rented 12 tiki torches that $8 each which had double duty. We used them to line the aisle at the ceremony and then the staff moved them around the dance floor and reception tables after the ceremony!
I ordered shell and starfish frosted glass drink coasters from favorwarehouse.com. Each seat got 2 so a couple would get 4! People were even asking me for extra. One thing about these was that they were very heavy so I had to spread them out among guests to bring to Jamaica! Thanks you everyone! lol Got them on labor day sale so there was free shipping - great deal on them in bulk too.
My friend Danielle made us the programs which we had on each seat at the ceremony. It was pretty warm so everyone was using them to fan themselves! great idea...
CAKE:
We chose the vanilla cake which was delicious - moist and we got a lot of compliments. We had a 2 tier cake and wanted one chocolate and one vanilla but that was a $50 upcharge so we declined. I purchased the cake topper off of etsy and got the butterflies at joann fabrics. Adding this on was no extra cost and it looked gorgeous!
We also had the welcome sign on the cake table:
GUEST MAP:
In place of a guest book I will never look at again, we ordered a vintage map of Jamaica on Amazon and brought gold sharpies for every one to sign! We now have it framed in the basement!
GLOWSTICKS:
I ordered glow sticks in purple and blue. I got 2 cases of necklaces and bracelets. I placed them in sand pails I got at the dollar store and filled them with crystals from the dollar store so they would hold them up. This was the best idea for sure! All the guest loved them and even the staff at the wedding was weaing them! I made a sign that said "you've made our future bright, now lets so the same for tonight! grab a glow stick and light up the dance floor" I made a couple of my friends pack them and bring them to Jamaica and they were not happy with me haha but after the wedding they said it was totally worth it!!
PRIVATE CANDLELIGHT DINNER:
This is a must! It is included in the honeymoon package if you stay as the resort for 7 nights. You can also purchase if not and use some of the resort coupons. It was ~$350 for the lowest package. On our last day there, we had a romantic day at the spa with the hydrotherapy circuit and a couples massage. The spa is very high class. Later, we went to the barracuda bar and waited for our private waiter to get us and take us to our table. It was set up on the ocean at sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking. He served us a 3 course meal of the best food we had the entire time we were there with a bottle of champagne. This was the perfect way to end our trip!
All in all, the wedding concierge has done this many many times before. They will eventually respond - don't forget they are on island time. There is no need to stress because it will all be amazing, so relax and enjoy every moment. After all, you are in paradise. <3
I will post more and the trash the dress shoot when I get my professional pictures back!-
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Quote:Originally Posted by Jennkn87
Thanks!! Has anyone used weddinglinensdirect.com?
i used them for my chair sashes and table runners. they look great!
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$500 is bonfire only. No dj no bar. $1500 for first 20 people then $25 per person after that. Since we had 60 people They gave us a discount to $20 per person...I think that applies if u have 50+
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Quote:Originally Posted by muneera0302
our hotel package includes transfer between airport and secrets, you should check to see if you could get that as well. if not, i saw shuttles for about $10-20 per person that will go to secrets
yes, mine doesnt include it.
the 20pp - was that just at the airport? so i dont have to worry about purchasing before hand? I know you have been there before so you know the drill!the hotel can arrange a private transfer but is $112 which is a little too expensive for a 10 min car ride
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Quote:Originally Posted by muneera0302
thanks. is that all you used? i've seen other brides use a detailed hour by hour timeline, so the dj knows when everything is going on (like toast, dance, etc). how did your timeline for everything work out for you? is there anythign you would have added or changed? sorry for all the ?'s, i'm a month away so def trying to get everything done :-)
hmm dont know yet, my wedding is dec 3rd so i can let u know after. thats all the info i got from the wedding corrdinator! all they keep saying is "relax, no problem, we've done this before" so im not worried!! lol
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Quote:Originally Posted by Jennkn87
How many people do you have attending your ceremony and reception? How much extra did you pay for the 3 hour reception?? I am now looking at possibly having more guests at the ceremony than I had originally planned. I see they charge an extra $80 per person you have over the 20 included in the wedding package. I was just looking for some more details on how to approach having the extra people, and approximately how much more it could end up costing. Thanks and sorry if I've already asked you these questions! I can't remember who all I've previously talked to on here these last few months!
we have 60 people attending, $80 pp over the first 20 + 15% service charge. The 3 hrs reception is included.
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Quote:Originally Posted by muneera0302
previous brides, does anyone have a schedule for a 4pm wedding? i'm trying to find a schedule so we can give to the dj, so he knows what's going on at what time.
i just got mine. 4 pm ceremony
430-530 cocktail hr
530-830 reception
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Hi everyone! For those of you who have already travelled this year...what did you do for travel between airport and hotel?? And what was the cost??
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Quote:Originally Posted by Jennkn87
Nicole -your pictures from your wedding are amazing! Looks like everyone had a great time and everything turned out beautifully! Did you only use the resort photographer? I'm still waiting to secure my date but am trying to get some more details while I wait on the WC to get back with me. Did you have a private reception? How much did they charge you to bring deocr and set up? I'm kind of nervous about the food choices, as I have some pretty picky eaters in my group, as well as one with a gluten allergy. Do they accomodate food allergies? Any extra information you could give me would be SOOOO much appreciated! Thanks...and CONGRATS on your marriage!
the form that they send you 2 months prior to your wedding asks about food allergies and vegetarians. It is my understanding that it is $50 to set up if your bring your own decor. if you PM me your email, I can send you all the pdf files they have given me thus far
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Quote:Originally Posted by angelsj247
I am unsure as well. I would like to get married there, but if it ends up to much of a hassel or if its more than a couple hundred cheaper then i would get married in secret here first. I would do my anniversary the day of the ceromony then.Jen & Angel,
We are going to get married in the states before and keep it hush hush. I think either route is fine. The only difference I see at Secrets is $300 for a wedding fee vs $150 for vow renewal. We just werent comfortable sending our birth certificates and other personal information via courrier to another country. All we are instructed to bring down is the marriage certificate when we come. I think each way has pros and cons -- bc we were just discussing the anniversary thing yesterday and haven't decided!! I will say that my cousin got married in Jamaica in 2007 and is divorced now and the US said that their marriage wasn't even legal in the first place bc something was wrong with the documents. lol Guess it doesn't matter now!!
Im so excited to get there!!! Trying to organize 65 people people coming in less than 41 days!!!!
GOOO BUCKS! ( we are going to be there for the OSU vs Michigan game and are setting up a provate screening!) -
Quote:Originally Posted by Jennkn87
I was also almost 100% positive on booking with Iberostar as well, and have recently decided to go with Secrets, wild orchid (most likely). They do include more in their packages than iberostar did, but I kind of feel like anything extra you add on is really expensive. Some of the stuff we can definitely do without, or I can bring my own, I'm hoping. I keep reminding myself that this is supposed to be a simple wedding, but Ikeep finding too many ideas on this website!!!
im in ohio too! im booking at wild orchid...wedding dec 3 1013! cant freaking wait!! good luck with planning!!!!
My Secrets: Wild Orchid Jamaica Wedding Review Planning Thread 2013 By Swok
in Jamaica Accommodations & Site
Posted · Edited by SWOK
@@Kassizee
the white chair covers and table clothes were included in my wedding package.
they were def not upset I brought the extra stuff. almost every bride who goes down brings some of their own décor. you just bring the items to you wedding meeting the day before and they set up EVERYTHING! soo easy! cost was $50 to set up décor.
I brought: chair sashes, table runners, candles, candle rings, jewels to sprinkle, table numbers in frames, coaster favors, name cards, map for guest book, pom poms for head table and around gazebo, glow stick bracelets and necklaces set up in sand pails
@@Jennkn87
Me, my husband, and the entire wedding party were OBSESSED wih DJ blu! I would definitely recommend. We were a little anal about the music for the wedding so we sent a very detailed list of specific songs to be played during dinner and the reception. But I was a hit. I felt the DJ gives it a more wedding feel and since we had so many people attend it gave it a more party vibe and atmosphere. They have lights and he MCs too. The day after the wedding, people and workers all over the resort were coming up to us and talking about how fun the wedding looked.
Also of note he played all the songs we requested (I feel this is impt to note bc I know some brides say DJs just use the list as a reference guide and play what they want) He was like it took me forever to find this "HANG ON SLOOPY" song hahaha We all graduated from The Ohio State so we had to have that one!