Newbie - getting married April 2014 at Iberostar Grand Rose Hall

[asu10]

Hello, I am a newbie bride gettingmarried at the Grand as well. The planning process for me had been stressful. I finally broke down and hired a planner in my home town. She immediately put me on punishment. LOL I have to admit, the break from planning was just what I needed. I've seen reviews about Tai Flora and Digipix and I'm not sure if these two vendors fit our needs and budget. I want to do a lot of DIY projects to cut costs and add personal touches. Any advice is greatly appreciated. CONGRATS! :-D

Hi TrooDIVA. Congrats or you as well! I haven't started planning much and I'm hoping it won't be too crazy but that might be wishful thinking! . We won't have a huge group with us, so I'm hoping that will elevate some of the planning stress. I am not using Digipix as I was not impressed with their pix on their website. And I've seen a few bad reviews on here and the Facebook group. So, I am bringing my own photographer with me. I have seen some reviews where brides used other Jamaica photographers and were very happy! I kinda feel the same about Tai Flora...most reviews have been about about their high prices. I have heard great reviews on Floral Fantasies but I'm not sure if we can use them at the Grand. When is your wedding? We are getting married April 27th!! I know it will be here before I know it! I am contemplating on a DIY project for my invitations but I'm afraid I will be overly critical and it will take me forever! Haha.

[Jennkn87]

I think I have finally made my decision to pick Iberostar Grand for our wedding. I feel like if I keep reading reviews and checking out other resorts I will NEVER get a decision made!! I have spoken to the TA from Wright Travel Agency on the phone once. Thus far, she has been pretty quick to get back with me. I have never booked anything through a travel agent before so I'm not sure exactly what to be asking, types of deals I may get. I'm hoping that I can continue to use her and that she does an awesome job! Makes the planning a WHOLE lot let stressful!! Now to pick a date!! How did everyone decide on their date? I was thinking October, however, while reading some other reviews on one of the Grands sister sites they said that due May being a less busy time for the resort, they shut down some of the restaurants. I don't want to run into this when we are there, but I also don't want to have to RUSH to get everything planned to have it in six months, as well as pay even more for high season rooms. I am trying to keep the costs as low as possible. Hopefully this happens!! Any of your thoughts and/or opinions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks so much everyone! 

[TrooDIVA]

Hi TrooDIVA. Congrats or you as well! I haven't started planning much and I'm hoping it won't be too crazy but that might be wishful thinking! . We won't have a huge group with us, so I'm hoping that will elevate some of the planning stress. I am not using Digipix as I was not impressed with their pix on their website. And I've seen a few bad reviews on here and the Facebook group. So, I am bringing my own photographer with me. I have seen some reviews where brides used other Jamaica photographers and were very happy! I kinda feel the same about Tai Flora...most reviews have been about about their high prices. I have heard great reviews on Floral Fantasies but I'm not sure if we can use them at the Grand. When is your wedding? We are getting married April 27th!! I know it will be here before I know it! I am contemplating on a DIY project for my invitations but I'm afraid I will be overly critical and it will take me forever! Haha.

Hi asu10:-) Our original wedding date was October 2014, but we moved it to October 2015 to give us more time to plan. After not being able to talk with a live person who could answer our questions, I panicked. My fiancé (God bless him) sat me down and told me to hire a planner in the States. BEST DECISION EVER! We've had our invitations designed and received our first draft last week. EXCITED. I'm concerned with the cost of getting our items to the resort. (Do we ship or do we pay extra for checked bags.) I don't like having our wedding charged to our room. I hope we can get everything finalized and paid in full before we arrive. I found a photographer in Montego Bay whose work is AMAZING. His pricing is way better than Digipix and we can get him for the entire day as well as do an off-site shoot. In the contract, I saw where we would have to book a room for one night for the photographer. I hope this is negotiable. Just didn't make sense to do that.

[asu10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jennkn87 
 

I think I have finally made my decision to pick Iberostar Grand for our wedding. I feel like if I keep reading reviews and checking out other resorts I will NEVER get a decision made!! I have spoken to the TA from Wright Travel Agency on the phone once. Thus far, she has been pretty quick to get back with me. I have never booked anything through a travel agent before so I'm not sure exactly what to be asking, types of deals I may get. I'm hoping that I can continue to use her and that she does an awesome job! Makes the planning a WHOLE lot let stressful!! Now to pick a date!! How did everyone decide on their date? I was thinking October, however, while reading some other reviews on one of the Grands sister sites they said that due May being a less busy time for the resort, they shut down some of the restaurants. I don't want to run into this when we are there, but I also don't want to have to RUSH to get everything planned to have it in six months, as well as pay even more for high season rooms. I am trying to keep the costs as low as possible. Hopefully this happens!! Any of your thoughts and/or opinions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks so much everyone!

 

Hi Jennkn87 - my only advice I can offer is make sure the TA is getting you the best incentives for what you are booking.  This is my lesson learned....I've seen multiple posts where brides are receiving a free room/nights for so many rooms booked.  Unfortunately, we did not look into this very much and I think I could have done better.  But we have booked with our travel agent and it is what it is.  Just make sure they are working for you.    I pretty much picked my date based on what was available at the resort. We had booked our trip so I reached out to the wedding coordinators asking about the available dates and we picked from those available.  I wasn't very picky, just wanted it to be around a weekend for those coming in for the wedding.  I would just confirm with the wedding coordinators about any potential shutdowns, but I wouldn't think they would shutdown in October...seems to be a pretty popoualr month for the Carribean. 

 

I think you will find things you can DIY to keep costs down.  It really just depends on how many people you think will come to the DW and what you want to do.  We aren't expecting a ton of family/friends to I'm hoping to keep it under 30 people so we can do the semi-private dinner at one of the restaurants.  I don't necessarily want to have a full blown reception as I don't want the added expense.  We are also doing an AHR, so I'm trying to budget costs for both.

 

I hope this helps! 

Jen

[asu10]

I think I have finally made my decision to pick Iberostar Grand for our wedding. I feel like if I keep reading reviews and checking out other resorts I will NEVER get a decision made!! I have spoken to the TA from Wright Travel Agency on the phone once. Thus far, she has been pretty quick to get back with me. I have never booked anything through a travel agent before so I'm not sure exactly what to be asking, types of deals I may get. I'm hoping that I can continue to use her and that she does an awesome job! Makes the planning a WHOLE lot let stressful!! Now to pick a date!! How did everyone decide on their date? I was thinking October, however, while reading some other reviews on one of the Grands sister sites they said that due May being a less busy time for the resort, they shut down some of the restaurants. I don't want to run into this when we are there, but I also don't want to have to RUSH to get everything planned to have it in six months, as well as pay even more for high season rooms. I am trying to keep the costs as low as possible. Hopefully this happens!! Any of your thoughts and/or opinions are GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks so much everyone! 

Hi Jennkn87. We picked our date after we had booked our trip. It was just based on the availability for our resort. I wasn't too concerned with a specific date just trying to get a date as close to the weekend as possible. I hope this helps!

[asu10]

Hi asu10:-) Our original wedding date was October 2014, but we moved it to October 2015 to give us more time to plan. After not being able to talk with a live person who could answer our questions, I panicked. My fiancé (God bless him) sat me down and told me to hire a planner in the States. BEST DECISION EVER! We've had our invitations designed and received our first draft last week. EXCITED. I'm concerned with the cost of getting our items to the resort. (Do we ship or do we pay extra for checked bags.) I don't like having our wedding charged to our room. I hope we can get everything finalized and paid in full before we arrive. I found a photographer in Montego Bay whose work is AMAZING. His pricing is way better than Digipix and we can get him for the entire day as well as do an off-site shoot. In the contract, I saw where we would have to book a room for one night for the photographer. I hope this is negotiable. Just didn't make sense to do that.

We are just going to check bags on the plane. If needed I will have my mom bring an extra bag with her. I'm guessing it is cheaper to pay the bag fees than ship stuff to Jamaica.

[TrooDIVA]

I think we are going to check bags too. I can get our bridal party to bring a bag if necessary.

[scolen]

Sound so much fun with the DIY because so much you can save money on doing it DIY... Have fun!

[Jennkn87]

I'm holding myself back on thinking about the extra baggage, I HATE worrying about whether my bags with the decor will make it there or not! I've had my luggage hop the wrong plane once, luckily on the way home, but it SUCKS! I can't imagine if i went to the trouble of making alot of DIY things and spent the money on them, only to have them not make it in time! EEK! Just me being a worry wart again!! 

[scolen]

just think about what you will really use towards your wedding