My husband and I were married at the Suites on Thursday, June 30, 2011.  We had an amazing wedding and an amazing time overall. 

Check-in:  A+

Check in was standard.  I had no problems.  We were greeted with a drink.  We arrived at 10:30AM and our room was ready.  We were upgraded from Ocean View to Ocean Front (room 3335).  Our view was awesome however I guess that does come with a price to pay because these rooms were the furthest from the Lobby elevators but rather close to the Beach elevators.  Because of this I requested to have my father in laws room changed to be closer to the Lobby elevators and they accommodated that with no problem (room 3206)

All my guests were booked with Ocean View Rooms and they were equally as nice.  My MOH’s room had a perfect view of the Beach Ceremony Site which was cool (room 3241).  The staff also placed all of the welcome letters for my guests in their check-in packets as requested as possible.

Rooms:  A

The rooms were awesome however the air system is a little tricky.  Be sure to work on that as soon as you get there.  The bathrooms were nice and the mini bar was stocked and it was very clean.  Fruit and Wine and a note from Nicole welcoming us and confirming our meeting time were delivered to our room almost immediately after we arrived.

They keep the rooms clean with a morning cleaning and turn down service is about 8-10 PM every night.  Hubby and I learned that the hard way.  We were exhausted from packing and traveling our first night there and were in bed asleep when they knocked on the door at 10PM.  We were awoken to their persistent knocks LOL. Guess they assume that everyone is at the Star Friends show that time of night….

Food:  A

Making reservations for specialty restaurants was not that bad, however they do not book at maximum capacity which sucks, but they are a bit slow so I understand why they don’t

(Please note that I am a very picky eater so my reviews of restaurants might be harsh)

Breakfast:  Suites Buffet and Beach Buffet- A++++ (AWESOME!!! I got fresh eggs made every day and Jamaica apparently has the BEST Bacon I have ever tasted!)

Lunch:   Aunt Ruby’s- C (I’m not an adventurous eater and rarely found anything to eat other than shrimp, roasted chicken and hamburgers.  I couldn’t even eat a salad because the dressings sucked…) LOL.

Dinner:                 In preference order

Calabash/Gourmet = A (located at the Suites where we had our wedding dinner) will provide more details in wedding section

Samurai= A (Hibachi Restaurant located at the Beach Hotel) - Welcome/Rehearsal Dinner, The group had a ball, entertainer/cook was awesome and engaging. Very glad I picked this restaurant for the group welcome dinner

Mexican = A (food was pretty good, hubby and I were tired so we didn’t stay for much

Aunt Ruby’s= B I had Salmon and hubby had Steak, portions were small and just did not stand out… We have definitely had better

Mediterranean= C We ate with a group of people and majority of us were unhappy.  The appetizers bar SUCKED, foods were cold and bland.  The people who order steak, fettuccine alfredo and salmon liked theirs.  The people who ordered the seafood were highly disappointed.  The Rum Raisin ice cream was by far the BEST thing on the menu.  Our reservations were for 9 so I’m not sure if that played a part.

Drinks: A++

There is not really much I can say about the drinks other than delicious!!!  With Rum or without Rum or substituted with whatever you want.  They were awesome

Service: A++

The service at the Iberostar is FANTABULOUS!!!  They are so willing to accommodate your every request.  Just about everyone is super friendly.  My husband loved them so much that now he wants to know hire only people who have worked in Jamaica LOL

Beach/pool: A

Im not a big water person, but I can say I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  The covered pool chairs book up early so get your towels and grab a seat early if you want one.  You aren’t supposed to but after being there for 1 day most people grab a seat between 7-8 am then go to breakfast so you eventually just kind of go with the flow.  Towels are readily available and there are always chairs by the pool or beach you just have to be early to get the shaded ones.

Spa: A-

The only service I used was for my wedding day hair which LaMoura did a fabulous job.  I showed her pictures and she went with it.  The only problem I had with the spa is their pricing.  I bet they would get more business if they came down some.  The Wellness Pool is magnificent.  Some people said they were charge $9 a day to use it but we didn’t incur that cost

Wedding: A+++++++++++

MY WEDDING DAY was the ABSOLUTE BEST that I have been to by far!!! And I am not being biased.  Everyone that was there agreed and they have all been married before

• Planning:  so as you know communication beforehand with Nicole is sketchy and concerning.  However I must echo my fellow past brides… YOU HAVE NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!!!

As long as you have clearly communicated to Nicole what you want and what you don’t want you will thoroughly enjoy your day

• Wedding Meeting: We met with Nicole our first night there.  I had all of our emails and the Last Minute Details sheet that I sent to her.  I also prepared a set-up sheet for Nicole/Tiffany/ The pastry chef and Tai Flora.  The sheet had pictures and specific instructions on how I wanted everything.  Nicole was awesome in making sure that she understood everything and letting us know what we needed to do.  She gave us a tour showed us where everything would be and how guests would get from place to place.
• Rehearsal: We did a quick 10 minute run-through.  My MOH and I watched a wedding that was happening that night and I took notes of things that I needed to run past Nicole.

• Wedding day:   The morning of the wedding I gave the notes to Nicole from what I saw at the wedding the day before.  It had things like please tell the sound guy not to turn off the music abruptly but to fade it out since I had someone video-taping the ceremony and requests of security to keep people out of my pictures (LOL.. they made sure security was there J)

Ceremony @ 5PM The ceremony was fantastic. The DJ played our music exactly as I requested, fade outs and all. Nicole and Tiffany communicated effectively.  I had an interlude that I wanted to be played in between my MOH and me walking out and it was executed perfectly.  It was windy so as Tiffany laid out my petals they all blew away! LOL… Glad I didn’t spend a whole gang of money on them.  Hope someone got pictures or video of them flying, it was probably pretty funny but pretty!

Rev Conrad was great! We actually met him the night before in Aunt Ruby’s before the other couples wedding.   We did a hand washing ceremony and he did a fabulous job!

Cocktail Reception@ 5:30-6:30 was on the beach right after the ceremony next to the ceremony location.  We had the champagne punch and water and I added fruit and veggies, beef patties and jerk chicken.  I’m glad I added food after reading reviews about the Calabash service being slow, which it was but everyone was okay because they had snacked on the beach.

Dinner at Calabash @6:30-8:30 was set up in a semi-private setting.  Nicole had the DJ set up the music system in the corner so that we could do our first dance and I could wear my fabulous shoe’s J.  The music was turned off right after our first dance and the restaurant music played throughout the rest of the night.  Our photographers wanted more photos so we cut our cake, placed our food orders and went to take photos on the lobby steps.   When we came back from photos the food was still not there but arrived shortly after- glad we had those appetizers on the beach for the guests.  The food was DELICIOUS!  I had Shrimp others had Steak, Lamb Chops, Duck, Salmon and Chicken.  Everyone loved their food…

Bonfire on the beach near the Sunset Bay Pool @ 8:30-10:30 (ended at 11) this was money well spent ($250 bonfire and drinks $300 DJ).  My guests were surprised and really appreciated this event.  We had such a good time.  Everyone was full from dinner so they brought the cake out to the bar and after an hour of dancing the cake was just what everyone needed.

        Wedding Vendors

        Ceremony-                 Chair Sashes and Chuppah material- Efavormart.com

                                Program/Fans- I did myself but ordered the template from americanbridal.com

                                Flowers- Tai Flora

        Reception-  Centerpieces and Cake Flowers- Tai Flora

                                Favors- Chairs from americanbridal.com and umbrellas Etsy.com

Photos-        Digipix 12 free photos with package- nice to take home some pics but glad I didn’t use them as my sole photographer

                        Marcia Roberts-AWESOME!!! I’m so glad we used her.   She and her assistant Christopher did a magnificent job.  I cannot wait to get the pictures back… She gave me an awesome rate and did not slight her services to me at all.

All I can say is what an awesome way to start our new life together.  Our guests are still talking about it and wondering how we will top our anniversaries and the rest of our lives.  Either way they say they want to be included.  I say if you’re going to do it, this was the way!!!

More pics to come…..

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