***Trice's 3-07-09 RIU MoBay Review***

Delta-A
Everything went fine with Delta out of Atlanta. I left my dress in the garment bag it came in, rolled it like a towel, and put it in my carry-on. I was on the same flight as another BDW member. Her wedding was the same day and time as my wedding at RIU Tropical Bay.

Jamaica Tours- A
They picked us up and took us non-stop to RIU Montego Bay. The two representatives at the resort were great. My husband (weird) told the rep he wanted to golf as soon as possible. She had him picked up within an hour after we arrived at the resort to head to golf at the White Witch course. He loved that.

RIU Check-In- A
Went quickly and I felt welcomed. We were greeted with rum punch and a bell man took us immediately to our room.

RIU Room- B
Room was nice (Rm#6021). We had an oceanfront room which was on the ground floor and was right on the beach. My only complaints: the bed was hard and they give you an actual key with your room number on the key chain. Later the first day I received a call from the front desk. They wanted to know if everything was ok, how was my check-in, and told me to let them know if I needed anything. Later that night we received a fruit plate, bottle of rum, and hand written note welcoming us and wishing us well on our wedding. I thought this was a nice touch. The mini-bar & refrig was always full. The room was cleaned each morning after we left. My husbandâ€™s complaint: No wireless internet access for laptops. They do offer internet access in the Sports bar but its $9.00 for 30 minutes. This did not matter to me as I do not bring laptops on vacation.

Hotel Staff-A
I loved the hotel staff everyone was so friendly. They treated us all like family. The entertainment staff especially. We enjoyed them in the nightly shows and they worked during the day around the resort. They seem to all know my mom. I guess because she made a point to let them know when she saw them around that she enjoyed the show. Whenever I passed staff whether it was maids, maintenance, security, waiters/waitress, etcâ€¦ I was always greeted with a hello and a smile. My guest was amazed at this. They all said this just doesnâ€™t happen too much back at home.

Food-B
The food was good. The first night they had lobster tails on the buffet. That did it for me. I didnâ€™t make reservations at any of the specialty restaurants because I did not want to commit to a time to eat. Some of my guest did and they enjoyed them. I lost 26 lbs for the wedding and it was war so I have a strange relationship with food. I may not be the best to rate food. When I eat I link protein-carb. I enjoyed the reception dinner at the steakhouse. I had ribs and they were so tender. My overall favorite in this category was the Mango Daiquiri. I lost count on those 

Cake-F
Yes â€œFâ€. You have two choices vanilla or chocolate cake with various fillings. We went with vanilla cake with lemon filling. It was a lovely presentation. I brought my own cake flowers. The cake itself was dry and it was funny seeing the look on everyone faces when they took the first bite. We found this hilarious. This did not bother me again because of my thing with food. It served its purpose by providing us the cake cutting pictures. If the cake is important to you I suggest you use an outside vendor.

Wedding Coordinator-A++
Chantelle I love her. She greeted me with open arms. She sat with us and went over all I wanted. I arranged a time with her before arrival via email. When I told her I wanted the beach location she suggested the west beach and not the beach area next to the beach gazebo. I had no idea what the west beach location was so she took us to it right away. She was concerned about hotel guest on the beach during the wedding. The west beach location is more remote. I loved it. I brought my own rose petals but it was too windy to use them on the aisle so I chose to use an aisle runner. She told me she would decorate the aisle with some flowers from around the resort and not to worry it would be nice. When I came down the aisle I noticed she stuck little bunches of pink flowers along the edge.

I previously had a proposal from Tai Flora for the arch and upgraded bouquet. She called them to confirm and they seem to have no idea. I gave her the proposal they sent me and she got into them. She told me not to worry because she was going over there to Tai Flora and everything would be ok. Wedding day everything was as I requested for as the types of flowers. They were off on the shades of pink but she explained to me in Jamaica they call hot pink something else so this may have been the cause. This did not stress me because I love flowers of any kind.

I originally wanted chair covers with sashes but the price was $18 per chair because you have to get them from Tai Flora. She explained the resort had chair covers but RIU Ocho Rios borrowed them and have not brought them back. There was no way I was paying this much so I used the chair cover budget to get the DVD from Photoshop. We had the steel band 2 hours-One for the wedding and the other for the cocktail hour on the beach.

Chantelle asked me where my wedding stuff was and I told her in my room. I had fans, favors, sand ceremony etcâ€¦She was like bring it to me. I told her I had two event planners who were guest and I planned to put them to work. She said no, I want your guest to feel like guest. I brought her everything and it was setup as I wanted. She put the favors at each place setting at the steakhouse.
Everything nearly blew away out at the ceremony site it was so windy. I planned for my bridesmaids to carry the parasols open with the bouquets. I even had little parasols for the flower girls. It was too windy as they tried but almost lost them so she told them to close them. One of the parasols tore due to the wind. Oh well you canâ€™t control Mother Nature.

As Chantelle was walking me to the ceremony I told her I forgot to tell her the song I wanted the steel bank to play when I walked. She asked the name and I told her Canon in D. She told me she would tell them. Once we got there she had me stand where my guest could not see me while she found my dad at the ceremony site. She came back with him and told me my song would be played. She said once I hear it to start walking. Because of Chantelle I had a stress-free wedding day. On wedding day all I had to do was get myself ready and wait for her to come get me.

Photoshop
I loved working with Maxine. She was very patient and friendly. She already had my paperwork I sent to Michael months ago so this meeting went smoothly. I told her I wanted to add the DVD and she made a call to set it up. Michael had already made me aware that my pictures would not be ready because I was leaving Monday and Photoshop is closed on Sunday and normally they need at least 48 hours. I was pleasantly surprised Sunday night when my husband (still weird) told me he checked his email on his phone and the proofs were there. We were able to view them that night. We finished picking the proofs yesterday. I did not choose the head photographer package. So Michael did not take our pictures. I originally chose the Classic package which gives you 10 pictures and we purchased an additional 50. Well we picked 160 pictures last night. I emailed Michael to inquire about the additional cost and how to pay him. So I am waiting on a reply.

Overall-A
Iâ€™m glad I chose a destination wedding. It was stress free once I was in Jamaica. I followed fellow BDW brideâ€™s advice and did not have everyone get dressed in my room. I didnâ€™t want to be stressed. I chose to be alone. I turned off the TV and just opened the patio door so I could hear the ocean. I took my time and got ready. I did not use the spa as I didnâ€™t want to spend my entire day getting ready. I started getting ready about 2pm. I did my own makeup. Once I was ready I called my aunt to come to the room to do my hair. I told the bridesmaids and flower girls to come at 3:30pm and the photographer came at 3:45pm. Chantelle came to get us a little after 4pm. Thank you to all BDW members for helping me plan the perfect day.

Below is a link to non-pro photos a wedding guest took:
Snapfish: Share:Registration

Trice's 3-07-09 RIU MoBay Review

#1 Trice

#2 sunstarsmoon

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