Upcoming wedding at Beaches Turks & Caicos!

[JeanaBeena]

do you happen to have a photo of what this looked like? Interesting idea!

[JeanaBeena]

Originally Posted by bromadka 

 

Oh, I forgot to mention...the flowers there are VERY expensive. Reason for that is because they have to have all of their flowers shipped. No flowers on site. My bouquet is $400 and I tried in every way to get it cheaper. My bridesmaids bouquets were $180 a piece! I was having a really hard time spending that amount of money for flowers that the girls are only going to carry for 15 minutes!

 

My friend who was just married at Turks had her girls carry white fans. It was the neatest thing and totally beachy and islandy (if that's even a word). So I canceled the girls' bouquets and went with the fans! The fans are $5 a piece!!! You can order them yourself or on the Beaches site (we ordered them through Beaches). So $10 for both girls as opposed to $360! And it totally completes the beach theme and perfect for an island wedding!

 

Just an idea I wanted to throw at you.

do you happen to have a photo of what this looked like? Interesting idea!

[JeanaBeena]

Originally Posted by bromadka 

 

Hi Kelly!

 

Where is your wedidng?

 

Yeah, the flowers are a huge expense. When I saw the ideas with the fans I jumped on it! I have seen a lot of gorgeous bouquets on pinterest that are articifical. They don't look artificial at all. That was going to be the way I went if I didn't do a real bouquet.  

 

Because we have saved with other things for the wedding, we've also been able to have a calypso band for an hour. Just to give you an idea, here's how it will go as far as music at our reception: one hour steel band during dinner ($600). Dinner APPARENTLY runs two hours (I can't imagine that but we'll see). So after the steel band is finished, we are planning on doing an hour (or so) of music on our playlist. That way, we can do our cake cutting, first dances, etc to our own music. During the third hour of our reception we are having a calypso band play for an hour ($600). After that we will have one hour left of our own playlist music. Our reception is a total of four hours. So we will have two bands and we still won't be paying as much as we would have for a DJ ($1400). It's worked out really well. We figured it's an island wedding so why not take advantage of the island music. We saved by not having them play for longer than an hour. It will give us a taste of that music for an hour and then we can have our own music from our playlist. All we had to do was order speakers in order to have our playlist. Done and done.

 

Hope this helps!

 

If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to ask!!

 

~Brandy

The wedding packages don't look like they include cocktail party or the reception dinner. How much does that cost?

[JeanaBeena]

Originally Posted by bromadka 

 

You are awesome and thank you SO much for your message! I very recently canceled my wedding bouquet, the boutonnieres AND corsages. I just couldn't see spending that amount of money on flowers. After all, our ceremony will be less than 20 minutes! 

 

I found two websites that are really great who do synthetic flowers. I am getting my bouquet through www.littlebouquetshop.com and the boutonnieres through  www.afloral.com  for anyone else who reads this post. Very reasonable, excellent reviews and the flowers seem gorgeous.

 

Congrats on your April 2014 nuptials! How exciting! I am really counting down at this point.

 

Your jewel and broach bouquets will be amazing!!

 

Thank you again for the info!!!

 

~Brandy

Another idea I saw elsewhere is to get bouquets for the bridesmaids to hold for the ceremony, but then reuse them as centerpieces for the dinner! I thought this was a fantastic idea. Just pull sand in a tall cylinder vase with some sea shells and wrap a ribbon around the outside. Then just put in the bouquet and there are your centerpieces!

[bromadka]

I do have pictures of them but they're on my phone. Not sure how to get them on this site. However, if you do a google image you will see an enormous display of all kinds of beach weddings with bridesmaids carrying fans. A lot of really neat pictures on there.

 

:-)

[bromadka]

You are correct. A cocktail hour will be at an additional charge. However, if you have 10 or more rooms booked, you will receive a free cocktail hour that includes hot and cold Hors d' oeuvres and sparkling wine. If you don't then that would be an additional charge. We have more than 10 rooms booked so we get the free cocktail hour, BUT if we didn't then we were not going to provide a cocktail hour with hors d' oeuvres and wine. We didn't feel that was a necessary expense. There are numerous beach bars that guests could hang and mingle while the bride/groom were taking pictures. Furthermore, guests would have more drink options since the cocktail hour only provides sparkline wine. Otherwise, you'd have to provide an open bar which is an added expense (especially when guests can drink for free at the other bars). Since we're getting it for free I don't know how much one would be. Probably not too much if you don't have a lot of guests attending. We have 31.

 

Our reception dinner, for 29 guests, costs $1,305 ($45 per person). This includes an open bar. We have two kids meals (anyone under 16) that costs $22.50 per person. Our reception dinner includes a four course meal. According to other recommendations and reviews from previous brides, we have chosen: Appet: Caribbean rum shrimp, Salad: Tropical fruit salad, Entree: Beef tenderloin or grilled mahi-mahi (guests choose one), Dessert: Lovers Pineapple Baked Alaska. Our wedding cake is an additional charge.

 

:-)

[bromadka]

JeanaBeena:

 

I noticed your location says Redondo Beach! I lived there for a year back in 2011!!! I lived on Via Monte D'Oro, on the same street as the shops, restaurants and bars. I was out there for a traveling contract for my job. It was the most fabulous place and the neatest experience! Redondo has my heart forever!

 

I made friends while out there and we try to visit at least once a year.

 

~Brandy

[jburress21]

The wedding packages don't look like they include cocktail party or the reception dinner. How much does that cost?

I have also heard that they allow you to have dinner at one of the restaurants afterwards if you didnt want to pay the extra for a meal. But you can't make the reservation until you get there. Bromadka You are getting close to July! Are you ready?

[bromadka]

JeanaBeana:

 

We are getting close and are very ready! We're so excited!

 

Yes, if you don't want to do the whole "reception" thing, having dinner at one of the numerous restaurants is certainly an option. But it would have to be a smaller crowd. A friend of mine did that. They had their wedding on the beach and went off to a restaurant and had dinner. They loved it. It just depends on what you want. For them, they didn't do a DJ, party, or anything like that. Dinner after the ceremony was pretty much it and then they hung out at the beach bars into the evening. She had a lovely experience.

 

I guess also, there is the option to do a cocktail hour afterwards, gathering with all family and friends, and then retreat to a restaurant. You could have a steel band play for an hour during the cocktail hour or something like that.

 

The options are limitless!!

 

~Brandy

[g9genine]

[VIDEO]Hi I am planning on the same resort currently in booking process, really concerned about costs with all the extras and place settings etc. what are the realistic toals? I dont want to go over board but dont want to skimp! Also, costs for guest the most!! Can anyone offer detailed info or Insight with regards to guests booking process tips and incentives? Is it really less e xpensive to book w/ beaches on line with the sales they offer or separately w/ other online sites? What's the estimated real cost? Are you happy, any regrets? It's overwhelming! This is the only resort that meets most of my wish list but hate to burden guest and us financially! Any help would be great!