ROR Brides (Riu Ocho Rios)

[hutchets]

Hello Ladies!

I'm back from Ochi and absolutely loved it.   We were married 4!6 at 4pm.

First of all, the weather was perfect.  Not too hot and it only rained one morning for about 15 minutes while we were waiting for a private excursion with our group which I had booked with Lee's tours prior to leaving (which was another great decision!) 

 

The RIU was probably the best choice I could have made as far as where to have our wedding and guests stay.  It was perfect and everyone loved it. 

We met with Keisha the day after we arrived and went over our decisions/ceremony but I had all of that pre-determined so it was very quick.  We kept with the free flowers and ceremony and did not upgrade a thing.  White chairs can be used and cost nothing extra.  We used our own music and script.

 

Please do not stress about making these decisions so early on in your planning!!!  It really is not a big deal and will get taken care of within 1-2 months of your date.  Part of the beauty of a DW is less stress so don't put it on yourself unnecessarily.  Your guests will not know any different if things are exact as you dreamed.  Honestly!  I never met the minister until I walked down the isle.  The ceremony was great and he used what we wrote plus a few of his own lines which didn't bother me at all.

 

There was only one other wedding the same day as ours and it was in the gardens an hour earlier than mine which was on the beach at 4pm.  Perfect temperature at that time of day also!  It starts cooling down around 4pm and is much hotter in the mornings so I'm glad we didn't do earlier.

 

We did the semi-private dinner at Mammee and were the only ones in there!  I was told by Keisha that it depends on how many weddings there are each day as to whether you might get moved to the Plantation or not.  Lucky us!  The beach party was that night so after dinner, all our guests hung out for the party and in the bar area right up the stairs from it.  I'm glad I didn't pay for anything private as it was plenty of fun without it and much cheaper!  You don't need much for decoration for the gazebo or the dinner.  It's pretty enough with what they use.  Make it easy on yourself is all I can say.

 

You will not be disappointed if you go here for your wedding.  Keisha and her helper are great to work with! 

 

 

[KelandJay81]

Thanks for sharing this Theresa and congrats!!! I can't wait to see pics!

[CdnBeatPrincess]

Congrats on your special day! Please post pictures as soon as possible, we all would love to see them!

[hutchets]

Here are a few pictures from our wedding for you all to see. 

If anyone has any questions at all I can answer, don't hesitate to ask or PM me.  I'm not on here quite as oftern as I used to be!  I will do a full review soon hopefully. The kids in the pics are mine and they stood up with us.  The picture of the cake is the free one.  It was plenty for 19 of us with a little left over and tasted good.

 

 

[CdnBeatPrincess]

Beautiful pictures! You look so happy! I love the picutre of the pink sky, soooooooo pretty.

 

May I ask who was your photographer was?

[meeshie77]

Gorgeous pics!  It looks like you had a blast and a beautiful wedding.  For your photos, did you use the hotel photographer or hire someone else?
 

Originally Posted by hutchets 

Here are a few pictures from our wedding for you all to see. 

If anyone has any questions at all I can answer, don't hesitate to ask or PM me.  I'm not on here quite as oftern as I used to be!  I will do a full review soon hopefully. The kids in the pics are mine and they stood up with us.  The picture of the cake is the free one.  It was plenty for 19 of us with a little left over and tasted good.

 

 

 

[bmadzia1]

beautiful pictures!!! Congrats!!!

[lesslie5]

There are a lot of people on here saying there ceremony was only like 10 minutes....so is the steeldrum band worth it $490.00???? 350 I would do it but 490.....I would love to see more semi private dining at Mamee.  Has anyone used the Planation opt

[hutchets]

I did not use the resort Photog.  I had planned on it and then decided against it.  Another bride on here was getting married two days before me and was flying down a photographer so I used him since he was there already and I'm sooo glad I did.  I felt like the resort photogs pics were too posed for me.  Erich Saide is who I used.  He was great and we hung out with him while he was there as well.  He's from British Columbia.  He's a band and fashion photographer and is now doing DWs as well.  I lucked out with him being there the same time as me.

 

My ceremony was exactly 20 minutes but we wrote our own script.  I did not want a 10 minute ceremony.  Guests arrived at 3:30 and the wedding started at 4pm.  I had recorder songs for the guys to play on thier CD player before the wedding actually started.  Some of our favorite songs were played and when we ran out of music, they had their own to fill in the gap.  It was nice and worked out well and we didn't have to pay anything for it.  Make a CD of some of your own steel drum music and such and it will work as well as save you money.

 

We did the semi-private at the Mammee.  They only use the Plantation if there are many weddings in one day to where they cannot fit them in Mammee comfortably. The Mammee is closer to the bar area where the Plantation is across the large pool and away from everything. 

 

[hutchets]

It was Erich Saide and when we had finished our pictures on the stairs, I looked up and saw the moon and the sky and so we had to get the sunset pictures.  It was luck that we were shooting at that time. 

 

Originally Posted by CdnBeatPrincess 

Beautiful pictures! You look so happy! I love the picutre of the pink sky, soooooooo pretty.

 

May I ask who was your photographer was?