Help! Nassau Wedding 2013!!

[Tia Maria]

I spoke with my dj and he sad he has worked with Mario Nixon quite a bit and has great reviews for him..
 

[Tia Maria]

For Rehearsal dinner i am planning on going to Lucianos of Chicago, located on Nassau with a harbor view of Atlantis.. I have eaten there a few times and just love the atmosphere, I am in talks with the manager Sue Lawrence and she is so helpful.

 

I love powerboat Adventures, my fiance and i have done it before and we are looking into organizing a trip for the bridal party the week of my wedding.

[BahamaMama2013]

We finally nailed down the bridesmaid dresses.  Going with J Crew dresses.  Scored witht their memorial week sale.  Just need to make sure they're all the right sizes when they arrive!

 

Hair haven't looked into yet.  I have one cousin already doing my make-up, and am sitll hoping a friend of mine comes so she can do my hair!  I definitely want an up-do, but still need to find some ideas.  I hear of a lot of brides going with the salon at the Atlantis.  That will likelly be my backup.

 

What are you doing for centrepieces? and what are these ivory flower balls you speak of? ;-)  Are you using a florist from there for your bouquet or any other flowers?  We're still trying to decide on flowers and centerpieces and pieces for the Cloisters ceremony.  I've gotten a few quotes from wildflowersbahamas.com, but haven't decided if i'll go with them for everything... pretty pricey. (Esp. compared to the RIU package prices)

 

As for room... haven't inquired yet about the bridal suite or upgrades, but i'm thinking we'll likely do it.  Do you know what the pricing is for the upgrade?  i think it's complimentary if you go with the highest tiered wedding package at the RIU.

 

Just 2 more months to go for you!!  (and yes, our place too has been quickly filling with soo many random wedding things!!...my FI has now called it "the corner of love" in a very sarcastic way that is! lol)

[j3jparadise14]

Regarding large group reservations, i hope that 930pm isn't the only option.  I'm hoping that since i'm not using my semi-privatee option to have our wedding reception, that we can then apply it to a welcome/rehearsal dinner on the second night we are there.  Let me know what she gets back to you on with regards to the reservations. Are you still waiting on guests to RSVP?

Hi bahama mama - my fi and I booked the riu for 50 guests for our May 2014 Wedding which it turns out may be more like 60 ppl and I just wanted to know if you'd be willing to share how much you are paying for Cloisters? The WC at riu told me they cannot accommodate any more than 50 guests for the semi private dinner so just was curious if you were able to get them to agree to your rehearsal dinner there? Any other suggestions for an affordable yet nice wedding venue from others would be appreciated!

[BahamaMama2013]

HI J3J - we're paying the standard $3500 for the Cloisters for a Wednesday wedding ceremony.. which includes chair set up, lemonade and champagne.  As for the welcome/rehearsal dinner on the Monday, i asked for whatever was available (a la carte or buffet restaurant) at a reasonable time for our # of guests.  The RIU WC offered 7pm at one of the buffet restaurants.  I'm fine with that, i just wanted to ensure a reasonable time slot and an area set aside for all my guests. 

[JSLM]

I have no clue what I am going to do with my hair. I'm comfortable with it down but everyone is telling me its going to be sooo hot and that it will fall out fast. I'm planning on doing a trial for my hair and make up when i get down there.

 

the flower balls (as i call them) are just like ivory artificial flowers in a shape of a ball with a ribbon attached. I think the other name of them is pomanders? or kissing balls? The centerpieces that I am doing are actually white birdcages. I plan on filling them with some white shells that i found at target and then going to stick a candle inside. I'll bring 5-6 down and between our family they will be distributed in a few carry ons.

 

What are you thinking in terms of centerpieces? And have you guys decided on DJ or photographer yet?

 

Yeah i got quoted from Wildflowers and i was shocked how expensive flowers are. I have no idea who my WC deals with but it seems just as pricy. I asked about rose petals for down the aisle and they quoted me over $300... I was like yeah right no thanks! I've read on the internet and on this website about freeze dried rose petals. Pretty much are real flowers just with the moisture taken out??? i dunno really but they apparently last weeks and are way cheaper to buy. I'm just not sure if they would allow this.

 

I had booked the steakhouse for dinner for 40people for 9pm but I really like the idea you are doing with the buffet at a way better time. I'm going to email RIU this week and get this switched.

 

Are most of your guests staying the week?
 

[Tia Maria]

We are going ahead with Jose The Party Maker.. i read so much about him, and the Venues all in Nassau have used him and rave about him, so we contacted him and booked him.. he is a one stop shop for weddings on the islands
 

[JSLM]

Hey Tia Maria...

 

Yeah Jose is suppose to be really good! Our wedding planner is finding us someone, we'll see if its him. We had contacted him a few months ago but we felt that he was really pricey for a Tuesday wedding.

We have so many friends that are Dj's that we contemplated paying for their stay for 4nights and get them to DJ it would have worked out cheaper and we would know the music is exactly what we wanted. But he didn't know with transporting or renting equipment how that would work.

 

I have my fingers crossed that the DJ we get is just as good. The good thing is we provided a list of what we like and what we don't like. Plus since we are from 2 different backgrounds we are pretty much bringing down a lot of music that we'll just tell him to play.

 

here's hoping it all works out.

[BahamaMama2013]

Hey JSLM! Love your idea for the centrepieces and flower balls.  I heard too about those dried rose pedals and would think that the Cloisters wouldn't have a problem in using them.  Which reminds me, i mean to inquire with wildflowers the cost of pedals... $300 sounds pretty outrageous!

 

As for my cenrepieces.. still trying to decide on whether or not to just leave it up to someone there, or bring stuff ourselves.  We will likely have up to 8 tables... so it may be a huge task to bring down that many!  And as for DJ, still haven't really looked into anything yet... but you'll definitely have to let me know how yours goes!

 

And yes, majority of my guests are staying a full week... with about a dozen or so staying for the 4 nights.  How are things going with your guestlist?  did you end up with a lot of stragglers?  you must be so excited, the countdown is definitely on! 

 

Oh and if you remember, please also let us know how the hairstylist turns out! 

[BahamaMama2013]

BTW, please tell me that waiting over 6 weeks for a reply from WC at Riu is okay??  There are still a few details i need to finalize with the private reception and even with our ceremony officiant!  shoudl i be worried??