Newbie: Wants to do Sandals Jamaica & I don't know how?

[jackieandtido]

Wavin Hi

Congrats!

[Reya]

Welcome! That is a good count to have so early in the game!

 

Just remember when you are checking out the resorts and their wedding packages to see how many people it covers..... sometimes you have to pay extra for more than "x" amount of people.....that will help with your budget.

 

Also, unless you know the prices of things that you want (at the ceremony and reception) beforehand, try to bring along some stuff with you to save in your budget.

 

Once you find your place and date you can see if you cah "share" photographers with someone as the consensus of this site is that it's better to bring your own (Personally I asked a good friend of mine that loves taking pics to bring his professional camera and take the pics for me)

[chinkyi23]

Thanks Reya! That's great advice.

[Emmers]

Hi and welcome! Congrats! We just returned from Sandals in Jamaica (Ocho Rios, to be exact) for a little winter getaway before our wedding April and we hit the one week of January where it rained all day long. Hopefully you have much better luck with the weather. And for the record, it is supposed to be dry and sunny all through January, but we just had bad luck.

 

Anyway, about the wedding, you would have a great time choosing Sandals. However, just a couple things to know about them that may impact your decision (as it impacted ours when choosing the resort) is that (1) they do multiple locations per day, (2) at least at Ocho Rios, it was packed with very little beach property to host a wedding, and (3) the nicer ones were those that rented a private room but obviously those are more expensive.

 

Even though it rained, we had a great time, and it is nice knowing that it was all adults at Sandals.

 

One more thing - I see you are set to get married in September? You may be able to strike up some good deals and it may be less crowded since hurricanes notoriously hit the Caribbean at that time of year.

 

Best of luck and welcome to the forum!!

[JenniferSS]

You can easily do that budget- to do a two hr reception with dinner for 50 ppl it would be 2500- then adding in music and a photographer -depending on what you chose it can be about 5000 or less.

 

You can either use the island beauty or purchase the Martha Stewart decorations!

 

Then the only other cost you would have is the room!

 

as the last poster said the beach at Sandals Grande Ocho rios is definately the smallest out of all the Sandals resorts- so if you are looking for a beach wedding you may want to consider a different Sandals property! Plus each one has a different ambiance-some are very quiet -others more active!

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by chinkyi23 Thanks everyone. I think my count is about 50 people (not including myself & future hubby). We only wanted to spend 10000 total but would go up to 15000 if we really wanted to something special. I just don't know if that will work and it seems pricey for guests.

[hockeymom97]

If you are having an adults only wedding then I think Sandals is a great choice. At first glance it may appear to be more expensive, but when you consider all that you get for the price, in my opinion it's worth the cost. Their resorts are fabulous, and all your food, drinks - this is especially something to consider if your family tends to run up a large bar bill when on vacation and entertainment are included, as well as your transportation to and from their airport. Plus, it's just my opinion, but I like knowing all my costs up front and choosing an all inclusive makes that part easy.