Need your help! Turks & Caicos Venue Decision: Seven Stars vs. Gansevoort

[jenaya]

Thank you so much! Your advice is really helpful.  Eyespice also has the most reasonable prices and his work is really good! It helps to have a good reference. Did you have the four hour package? 

[lm3682]

I had five hours on the day of the wedding and one hour at the rehearsal dinner. The five hours got me through putting my dress on/last minute getting ready pics, family pics on both sides before the ceremony, the ceremony, pictures after the ceremony (was so glad we did a group shot with all guests - was totally woth the few minutes of organizing!), a one hour cocktail hour and through our dinner, which included a few speeches and cake cutting, then our first dance and parent dances. He left at that point, so we did not really do any 'reception' pictures. While I'm sure more reception pics would have been great, we didn't want to spend the extra money.

 

Niki had me meet with him and the videographer (from Tropical Imaging) a couple days before the wedding and they walked through the property to see where the wedding would take place. This helped make sure everyone was on the same page for the event. From everything I could tell, both the photographer and videographer worked fine together, didn't get in each other's way and knew where to be at what time.

[jenaya]

Did your guests stay at seven stars? Which resorts are close by that are less expensive?

[lm3682]

We and our guests all stayed at the Sands hotel, which was an excellent property for our needs. Great location, reasonable prices, excellent casual restaurant right on the property, great stretch of beach, complimentary water toys, walking distance to other restaurants, etc.  I'm sure you can read the reviews on TripAdvisor about the actual hotel - there are nicer hotels and this is a moderate level hotel but that's what I needed for my group of guests. It turned out to be perfect for us.

 

 Then my husband and I moved to the Seven Stars for our wedding night and a few nights afterwards. It's a gorgeous property and the we're planning to go back for our anniversary.

[gc2010]

hi lm3682 -- was your ceremony at the Seven Stars on the beach?  where did you do your cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing?

[gc2010]

hi lm3682 -- was your ceremony at the Seven Stars on the beach?  where did you do your cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing??

[lm3682]

Yes, the ceremony was on the beach, in front of the hotel. Our cocktail hour and reception were on the deck area parallel to the beach. The dinner was on a small patio area between the pool the hotel. I had been concerned about having to move the guests to so many different areas but it worked out really well because it kind of signaled the start and end of each part of the night. Nobody lingered over coffee while we were trying to the reception going, etc. I tried to attach some pictures so hopefully you'll be able to see the areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scurtin4]

Hi lm3682,    I am getting married at Seven Stars in August.   We are looking for a good DJ,  Niki had recommended a few,  who did you end up going with or did you use a band? 

[lm3682]

For our reception, we got a band, Press Gang. On set breaks, we used our Ipod and their speakers.

 

The band was a little more 'funk' than I expected (think Stevie Wonder Superstitious) but still a pretty good band that got people out dancing. They were willing to take requests and were pretty flexible with letting us use their equipment. Then on the set breaks we did some 80's/Michael Jackson and some current music like Rihanna.

 

We had a steel drum player for the ceremony and happy hour, than an acoustic guitar guy (Correy Forbes) for the dinner. Music was a big deal for my husband...

 

 

 

 

[sconn1]

I just booked Seven Stars for December 2012!! Thank you to everyone for your great suggestions! I love these forums!

 

I haven't made any final decisions about a photographer, flowers, hair/makeup, etc. I'm just happy to have picked a venue. However, I have a question about bougainvillea, T & C's native flower. At Seven Stars, a bougainvillea bridal bouquet and boutonniere is included in their wedding package. I'm not sure what flowers I'm going to select. I haven't priced any upgrades yet, but I'm wondering about the durability of the flowers. I've been looking at some florist websites and seen some negative comments about bougainvillea. Apparently, they die very quickly unless kept in water. Who wants a wilted bridal bouquet?!

 

Anyone who has already had their wedding have any feedback about bougainvillea?