asu10

My wedding is on the May 31st. I will have about 50 guests. 99% of them are staying at the suites hotel. I wanted to make things affordable as much as possible. I originally was signed up with destination weddings.com but later decided that they would be too stressful with the contracts and deadlines. Just as I was to make a decision, I found a travel agent here in NY that allows payments for both hotel and air (I'd be happy to share her info, if anyone is interested). We were able to get group rates thru delta airlines and she was able to block out rooms for my group. She has been WONDERFUL!!! No contracts..no minimums..no real deadlines. I was also able to negotiate the same incentives that destination weddings offered. My FI and I were even bumped up to first class for free! The downside of having everyone stay at the suites is I have to pay a day pass fee for them to come over for my wedding and reception. I was able to negotiate 20pp with the resort. I am having a beach ceremony at 430-500pm and reception at Port Maria from 7-10. I want to be able to take pics after the ceremony before the sunsets also. I decided against paying the extras money for a cocktail hour because everyone will be coming over from an all inclusive resort to a 45 minute ceremony...Hopefully they will not come starved (I will let them know, there is no cocktail hour). I opted for the buffet which has a huge menu!! I chose merrick Cousley for photography. I have seen his work and loved them. He is also less expensive than the others that comes highly recommended. I chose Kevan Stewart for my DJ. He is the number one DJ for those that has married at Iberostar. I've only heard great things about him. I heard the hotels videographer isn't bad. I chose him because the other highly recommended videographer (roxroy) is a pretty penny. He delivers a cinema like video. He takes your day and turns it into a 6min video. His work is phenomenal but I didn't want to miss anything from the day so I chose to get the traditional video. I chose real touch flowers by angels accents.com. I LOVE there work. I wasn't too impressed by the resorts recommended florist. I chose Loni Jones for makeup. I haven't seen to many Iberostar brides use her but she is on the next level. Her page shows that she has worked on the set of Americas top model. She is definitely more expensive than Rachel Edwards (the other highly recommended makeup artist) but I decided on her because of her creativity. I am going to go with the resort for hair. I've heard great reviews about them for hair. I've seen pics of the resorts custom cakes and they look just fine. I heard that the cheesecake is to die for. I'm ordering a custom cake, 1/2 red velvet and 1/2 cheesecake for an additional 250.00. I've ordered all of my decorations already mostly thru amazon. The hotel has basic deco but if want anything with a specific color or theme you have to bring it yourself. Some brides has been lucky enough to use deco that was left by past brides. I have purchased sashes, runners, vases to create my own centerpieces (using the bridesmaids bouquets), shells to scatter on the tables, votives, and I also purchased my own aisle runner (I've heard that some brides have said there's was dirty or torn..although that was at the Beach resort). I've also booked a thank you gift for my guests. I booked an excursion to Negril for the day after the ceremony with Jamaica tours. I Don't remember exactly how much that was pp but if you're interested I'll look into my emails. Oh I am also having a welcome "all white party" the evening before the wedding which just involves booking one of the restaurants (at the suites, if it's available) for my guests as a meet and greet. I am also creating welcome bags for everyone. Sorry if I'm all over the place with this message. Any questions..feel free to ask!!

He pretty much will go with whatever I am thinking for the most part. We haven't gotten too far into decor or anything like that. Still in the early stages of...which resort, whats the pricing, gotta talk to the parents--hopefully tomorrow or thursday! EEEK. Thats about as far as it's gotten thus far!! 

Hi asu10:-) Our original wedding date was October 2014, but we moved it to October 2015 to give us more time to plan. After not being able to talk with a live person who could answer our questions, I panicked. My fiancé (God bless him) sat me down and told me to hire a planner in the States. BEST DECISION EVER! We've had our invitations designed and received our first draft last week. EXCITED. I'm concerned with the cost of getting our items to the resort. (Do we ship or do we pay extra for checked bags.) I don't like having our wedding charged to our room. I hope we can get everything finalized and paid in full before we arrive. I found a photographer in Montego Bay whose work is AMAZING. His pricing is way better than Digipix and we can get him for the entire day as well as do an off-site shoot. In the contract, I saw where we would have to book a room for one night for the photographer. I hope this is negotiable. Just didn't make sense to do that.

I think I have finally made my decision to pick Iberostar Grand for our wedding. I feel like if I keep reading reviews and checking out other resorts I will NEVER get a decision made!! I have spoken to the TA from Wright Travel Agency on the phone once. Thus far, she has been pretty quick to get back with me. I have never booked anything through a travel agent before so I'm not sure exactly what to be asking, types of deals I may get. I'm hoping that I can continue to use her and that she does an awesome job! Makes the planning a WHOLE lot let stressful!! Now to pick a date!! How did everyone decide on their date? I was thinking October, however, while reading some other reviews on one of the Grands sister sites they said that due May being a less busy time for the resort, they shut down some of the restaurants. I don't want to run into this when we are there, but I also don't want to have to RUSH to get everything planned to have it in six months, as well as pay even more for high season rooms. I am trying to keep the costs as low as possible. Hopefully this happens!! Any of your thoughts and/or opinions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks so much everyone! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennkn87 
 

I think I have finally made my decision to pick Iberostar Grand for our wedding. I feel like if I keep reading reviews and checking out other resorts I will NEVER get a decision made!! I have spoken to the TA from Wright Travel Agency on the phone once. Thus far, she has been pretty quick to get back with me. I have never booked anything through a travel agent before so I'm not sure exactly what to be asking, types of deals I may get. I'm hoping that I can continue to use her and that she does an awesome job! Makes the planning a WHOLE lot let stressful!! Now to pick a date!! How did everyone decide on their date? I was thinking October, however, while reading some other reviews on one of the Grands sister sites they said that due May being a less busy time for the resort, they shut down some of the restaurants. I don't want to run into this when we are there, but I also don't want to have to RUSH to get everything planned to have it in six months, as well as pay even more for high season rooms. I am trying to keep the costs as low as possible. Hopefully this happens!! Any of your thoughts and/or opinions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks so much everyone!

Hi Jennkn87 - my only advice I can offer is make sure the TA is getting you the best incentives for what you are booking.  This is my lesson learned....I've seen multiple posts where brides are receiving a free room/nights for so many rooms booked.  Unfortunately, we did not look into this very much and I think I could have done better.  But we have booked with our travel agent and it is what it is.  Just make sure they are working for you.    I pretty much picked my date based on what was available at the resort. We had booked our trip so I reached out to the wedding coordinators asking about the available dates and we picked from those available.  I wasn't very picky, just wanted it to be around a weekend for those coming in for the wedding.  I would just confirm with the wedding coordinators about any potential shutdowns, but I wouldn't think they would shutdown in October...seems to be a pretty popoualr month for the Carribean. 

I think you will find things you can DIY to keep costs down.  It really just depends on how many people you think will come to the DW and what you want to do.  We aren't expecting a ton of family/friends to I'm hoping to keep it under 30 people so we can do the semi-private dinner at one of the restaurants.  I don't necessarily want to have a full blown reception as I don't want the added expense.  We are also doing an AHR, so I'm trying to budget costs for both.

I hope this helps! 

Jen

Hello, I am a newbie bride gettingmarried at the Grand as well. The planning process for me had been stressful. I finally broke down and hired a planner in my home town. She immediately put me on punishment. LOL I have to admit, the break from planning was just what I needed. I've seen reviews about Tai Flora and Digipix and I'm not sure if these two vendors fit our needs and budget. I want to do a lot of DIY projects to cut costs and add personal touches. Any advice is greatly appreciated. CONGRATS! :-D

asu10- Thanks! May I ask what travel agent you used? I have contacted Wright Travel Agency through the BDW website after reading many great reviews on their agents. I however haven't read any reviews on the lady that contacted me back. I'm hoping she is good. 

Great ideas for the wording! Thanks!

Ok I'm trying to save as much money possible... Is it necessary to send out save the dates for a destination wedding? I'm getting married may 2015 I was going to send out save the dates in may 2014 followed by a invitation in the fall of 2014 I was just thinking maybe I could send the invitations out may 2014 and no save the dates? Has any brides done this? I just know that half the people that get the save the dates won't come so would I be safe with just giving the invitations out a year in advance or is the save the dates necessary? Thanks everyone

Hi Jennkn87. I tried to reply the other day but I guess it didn't post...thank you and congrats to you as well! We did book through a travel agent and I would recommend doing so. But make sure you find one that will offer you the most incentives for the rooms/trips you book. We have our date and trip booked. We did not book a block of rooms, just referring everyone to our travel agent. Good luck on selecting your destination! We haven't been to the Grand, but from all the reviews it sounds fabulous!! :cheers:

Great job! These turned out great!

These are awesome!! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome invites!!  They look fabulous!  Does anyone still have a template for this design?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennkn87 
 

Congratulations! I too am leaning towards booking at the Iberostar Grand for a projected fall 2014 wedding. We are thinking October. I am waiting on a travel agent to get back with me before booking! Did you book through a TA? Have you only booked your wedding date or have you booked rooms as well? I just feel like I'm skipping steps! My head is all over the place when I'm looking through this site! I am already overwhelmed with all the different things there are to plan and look at. I feel like I spend hours upon hours on this site as well as others and I really never get anywhere with anything!! I have found SOOOOO many ideas and helpful threads on here already. I wish I could find more recent ones, however. I'd love to hear some of your ideas, insights! It's too exciting! 

Thanks!!  Congrats to you as well!!  We did book through a travel agent and i would strongly recommend doing that.  Honestly, I'm not sure we got the best deal with the travel agent especially booking multiple rooms.  I've seen some posts on this website where people received incentives from the resort for booking so many people.  My advice is to make sure your travel agent will do this for you.  Unfortuantely, I asked the question after we had already book and I think we are getting a few perks, but probably not as much as we could have.  We have the trip booked as well as our wedding date.  The one thing I really liked about the Iberostar is that they only hold one wedding per day per resort (Grand, Suites, Beach), which I think is fantastic!!

I agree...there are so many great ideas on this site!  My head has been spinning.  I'm just afraid I won't remember it all when it comes time to actually do some of the things.  We don't have much planned at this point....I have sent STD's and started a wedding website, but I feel like that is about it.  I'm happy to share any ideas or thoughts with you.  Feel free to private message me. 

Daniellie - great planning thread!  Your wedding looks amazing!  Congrats to you and your husband!

Do any Grand brides know if you can use Floral Fantasies at the Grand?  It looks like in this thread there was some confusion about using a florist other than Tai Floral.  Any insight is appreciated!  Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChelseaCat802 
 

DIY Table Runners:

 

I saw these AMAZING table runners on Etsy but they were $20 a piece - yeah false! I decided I was going to finally learn how to sew and take a wack at making my own. So that's what I did - I purchased all of the material at Joann's with coupons and made my own runners! I love how they turned out. I am going to alternate the turquoise and coral chevron on each table.

 

 

This is what I'm thinking for table settings. What do you all think?

 

 

DIY Post Card Guest Book:

I put these together last night. I put one post card in each glassine envelope I bought on Amazon and put an avery label I printed on it. I really like how they turned out, I'm going to have one per place setting so hopefully they will take the time to fill them out, or have the option of sending them back to us after the wedding ( I would prefer before we leave Jamaica though so they actually do it!).

Love the table runners!!!  Great job!  Awesome thread!  Thanks for all the info!

Thank you for posting all the reviews!!  Congrats on your wedding!!

Hi! I am getting married at the Grand in April. We aren't sure how many people will join us, but hoping for around 30. I would welcome any tips or advice from any brides! We haven't been to the resort but from all the reviews I'm sure it will be AMAZING!! I thinking about doing the bonfire after our welcome dinner. Any thoughts? Thanks!!

We are getting married April 2014 and my STD went out 2 weeks ago. I'm thinking about sending invites in January, after the holiday madness. 😄. We are also doing a AHR in May and I found some cheap STD on vistaprint for that as well!

Hello!  I am getting married in April 2014 at the Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Jamaica.  Any insight or suggestions are apprciated.  I haven't started much on the planning yet, we only have our date (4/27/14).  Thanks!! Jen

Hi! I am new to this site and forum but it seems like there is a lot of GREAT information on here! We are getting married in April 2014 at the Iberostar Grand Rose Hall in Jamaica. We haven't done much planning yet, but excited to get started!

Hi! I am getting married at the Grand in April 2014. I haven't started planning much as we aren't sure how many people will be coming. I would love any feedback, tips or ideas as we haven't been to the resort. We booked it based on all the rave reviews. We are thinking of a beach ceremony and then indoor dinner. One question I have: are most of you having a legal ceremony in Jamaica? I was thinking about getting legally married in the U.S. before we leave for Jamaica but some things I've been reading the legal ceremony seems pretty easy. Thanks!!