Riu Negril questions

[pearlygirl]

Hi everyone!

 

I'm new to this site, and we just moved our wedding up one year to this February 3, 2009 at the Riu Negril and just started the planning, so I'm freaking out a little. (Okay, a lot!) We're having 10-15 guests and going with the Royal Package.

 

I have a few questions I hope can be answered......(sorry if they've been answered in other posts, but I'm still navigating this forum)

 

1. How are the pictures provided in the package? Do you recommend upgrading the photo package to include the DVD with True Colors?

 

2. Do they have a variety of recorded cermony music? Is it traditional wedding stuff or do they have any Jamaican Reggae as well?

 

3. How much advance planning do I need for decorations, etc? Can all the planning be done once we arrive at the resort relatively easily/stress free?

 

4. How many weddings do they have in one day?

 

My list of questions goes on and on, but these are the basic ones I have right now.

 

Any information is appreciated!

[Sloan]

Congrats on moving your wedding up by a year! That's gotta be some fun planning!

 

There don't seem to be too many Riu Negril brides floating around the forum anymore, and Im gettting married at Tropical Bay next door. Pictures I am of no help with. FI and I are just doing the "Free Package" and upgrading pictures/DVD and decorations as necessary. We only have 9 people tagging along, so we dont need anything too dramatic. Pictures and a DVD are obviously important to us. A lot of brides do the free package and just upgrade where they see fit - seems to be more cost effective, unless you have a reception bigger than 50 people.

 

The resort will provide you with a CD of pre-recorded tunes for the ceremony, but most brides (including myself) bring a loaded iPod and/or CD for the ceremony and/or reception. Ive read a couple of posts from brides at ROR that used the pre-recorded music and they said it was mostly pretty cheesy... hehe. You can rent a reggae or steel drum band for the ceremony if that's what floats your boat.

 

As for decorations - you can be as simple or lavish as you want. A lot of brides choose to bring along a gammet of their own decorations. You can upgrade decorations and flowers with the WC at the resort. As for FI and I - we're not bringing anything with us. We're leaving it up the resort to decorate our ceremony. Were of the mindset that were getting married on a beach in the Caribbean - that alone is decoration enough for us.

 

I think most Riu resorts have multiple weddings/day. Like 3-4/day I think. I could be wrong though.

 

Try emailing your WC at Riu Negril. She should be able to email you price lists, options, and help you out with some of this stuff. Hope that helps a bit - good luck!!

 

http://www.weddingsbyriu.com/

[TMclean]

I am getting married next door also. I am getting married in April and have not really planned anything yet. The resort doesn't really like planning anything until a couple of months before.

 

I have booked a photographer outside of the resort and I am also bringing hand fans. other than that, I will use the resort resources. I was going to go with the Royal Pkg, but I am also going with the Free Pkg, I am having around 45 people attending. I have found from reviews on this forum that the Free Pkg is the way to go then just upgrade where necessary.

 

Good luck, don't be too stressed, everything will work out. read peoples reviews and you should find out a lot of information.

[pearlygirl]

Thanks for the replies! Best wishes to both of you on your wedding days!

 

I was under the impression that you can't have outside vendors come in for pictures and that you have to use True Colors Photography at Riu Negril......am I wrong?

 

Also, the Riu Negril doesn't offer the Free Pacakge like the Riu Tropical Bay does. I'd love to go w/ the free package, but I don't have that option. My 9-year old son is coming along, and the Riu Tropical Bay was about $300-$400 more per person than Riu Negril. We wanted to choose a nice AI at a reasonable price for our guests to be able to come along on such short notice.

[Soon2beWed09]

If u contact Micheal @ ROR or Mo Bay he wil come do ur pics..I emailed him and he said he will come and do them...with no traveling exp but he can't honor the royal package. It seems to me like the other 2 resorts are better to get married @ Oh well no where else had my date or anything after either.

 

Those prices @ True colors are little exp

[jw117]

Hello! I am getting married at RIU in Negril on Jan. 16 2009. I am new to the site as well. I only have 14 of us and we are doing the Royal Package as well. I have not heard a peep from the wedding coord. from the resort yet. We are using True Colors for our DVD and the included pictures in our package. I have also hired an outside photog. We have to pay a vendors fee to have him on site. He's awesome though..Micheal Saab..check out his website.Saab weddings. As far as anything else..I don't know. I assume the wc will sort it out with me when she calls..(if she calls!)..we are going to try to do a dinner on the beach..a long table for 14 if we can. We are working on getting our documents in order right now..trying to figure out if we need original bc or just a copy notorized..as well as a passport. As far as music..not sure yet..keep me posted on any info you may find out! Thanks! J.

[TMclean]

I have been told by Kenika that you are allowed to bring outside Photographer, however she was very vague at how much the guest pass will be. My photographers told me that they have taken photos at the RTB before and to tell the resort that they are guest for the wedding.

 

I am using Sungold Photographer, you should check out their site. they live in Jamaica and Texas.

[Soon2beWed09]

Do u think True Colors will be Ok if use them for all my pictures

[TMclean]

I think you should use what ever photographer you like. It depends on what style of photos you like and what your budget is. I was originally going to use the resort photographer, but then I came across SunGold and fell in love. so I changed our budget.

 

Good Luck.

[steph_held03]

Hi everyone-

 

I just got married at the RIU Negril on November 7th so I can probably answer any questions you have also. We had a fabulous time and I will try to write a review when I get a chance. As far as music I would definitly suggest bring your own music along and make sure you have everything labeled for when you want the songs to be played! I don't know what type of music they had available there but I would say it's better to be safe then sorry! We were the only wedding that day but our wedding was on a Friday so I don't know if that's why or not..... we also go married in the Hurricane!!! But the next day there were three weddings in a row. As far as pictures I would definitly suggest the people at the resort. The did a wonderful job on my pictures and kept asking what other poses I wanted. In all they took over 400 pictures, we had a large group of 62 people! I purchased the upgraded package to 50 prints but my husband actually made a deal with the guy, he gave him an extra hundred dollars and he put all 400 pictures on a cd for me so I didn't have to sit and chose which ones I wanted! I was in heaven! The wedding decorations are very basic so if you want something more I would definitly bring your own things along. We did and the WC set eveything up perfectly (I also wrote out detailed instructions on how I wanted everything placed!). We ate at the Steakhouse and it was fantastic. They really catered to us and our guests. This is an open air restaurant so be aware that it can be really really really hot! There was a 3 person band that was walking through who stopped and played some music for free during dinner as well so it made the whole thing awesome. We also rented out the disco so that was a lot of fun as well. Make sure to bring any music you want to hear here as well as all they have is the new pop stuff, my parents are major country lovers so they weren't really happy.

 

If you have any questions ask away! I wished there was someone here to help me so I will defintily try to help you as much as possible!