irishfrog

Hi ladies - I just returned from getting married at the Iberostart Rose Hall Beach Resort and I can say - I highly recommend it! Below is my very long review! PM with any questions and I'll try to answer as best I can! My Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Wedding Review Well ladies, DH and I just returned from our wedding at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. I will try to include every little detail for anyone who is interested. Planning Sandy was our wedding coordinator and she was very good at promptly responding to all e-mails. I asked her how many inquiries she gets via e-mail each day and she said at least 60! So she is a very busy lady! There wasn’t a whole lot to do prior to actually getting to Jamaica. I reserved the date and that was it! We had to send notarized copies of our birth certificates (short version was fine) and passports. About a month before the wedding, Sandy sent a form to be completed asking where we wanted the ceremony, type of cake etc. Dress We were originally planning on getting married here at home and then decided to “elope†instead. So, I had already bought my big poofy dress for a home wedding. I loved it so much that I lugged it all the way to Jamaica and I’m so glad I did! You only get married once and it is so important to love your dress. It was an Ella Rosa gown in ivory taffeta. I bought it from Sinders in Carleton Place. Nothing but good things to say about the girls there. They are so patient and sweet and very helpful. Alterations I live right around the corner from the seamstress from Bridal Affairs so she did my alterations. She was fantastic and very reasonably priced. She had my dress ready in a matter of days and it looked great! She even spent ½ an hour at pick up tweaking it so all the pinches in the dress fell symmetrically! Groom’s Outfit I was a pretty laid back bride and told the groom to go get whatever he felt comfortable in. He looked fantastic after a stop at Banana Republic. He bought a white linen shirt, sandals and brown dress pants. Very handsome! Travel We flew Air Transat. There were reps all along the way to help you out if you were confused or didn’t know where to go which I thought was great. Made the trip very stress free. I’ve never traveled before so I can’t really compare it to anything but I don’t have any major complaints. I did find the seats pretty close together and prefer Westjet but I guess charter flights are all the same. The plane was absolutely packed! We were supposed to catch an earlier flight (7am) but it got cancelled and we ended up leaving at 2pm which meant we had basically one less day in Jamaica which kinda sucked. Resort Holy Cow – we were all in heaven! This resort is absolutely stunning! The resort has lush gardens, a great pool, very clean rooms with comfy beds and the ocean front is at your door – what more could you want! We ended up arriving late Saturday night so they gave us our room and said they would upgrade us the next day. We went to check out the upgrade which was the same room but with a spectacular view. We actually decided just to remain in the room we already were in as we are never there anyway! The only complaint I have about the resort is that tipping is very much expected and it seems all we did all week was hand out money! However, the staff did deserve those tips as they were phenomenal! Beach The sand isn’t that great but once in the water it is fantastic! It is so warm and calm that I could have spent the entire week in the ocean. There are plenty of chairs and shade for those who don’t want to burn either. Activities They have all kinds of activities on and off the resort. We didn’t go off the resort as the options were just too expensive and we had our two year old with us so that limited what we could do anyway. DH and I did go parasailing at the resort though and it was amazing! The guys who took us up were very funny and they sure knew what they were doing! They even brought us down enough to tip our toes in the ocean. Food There was no bad food at the resort. Everyone had different meals each night and all mentioned how good the food was. We ate at the steakhouse for our wedding reception and the steaks were YUMMY! Wedding Day We decided to get married at 4:30 pm on the beach. Mom and I headed over to the salon for 1pm to get my hair done. They did a great job on my hair given I didn’t do a trial or anything. Afterwards we headed back to the resort and I did my own make-up. The photographer arrived as I was getting into my dress. He snapped a few photos in the room and then Sandy came up to escort us to the wedding set up on the beach where DH was waiting. If you are planning to get married on the beach, you may want to reconsider. You don’t have any privacy on the beach and many onlookers in bikinis and trunks show up in your wedding pictures! In hindsight, I should have chosen the terrace where we would still get the ocean in our pics, but not the people! I didn’t get any extras with my wedding package – just the bare minimum. We had a CD player playing the wedding march while dad walked me down to DH. I was so happy that I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face! We had a quick service by Rev. Reid who was very nice. We then signed our wedding certificate while sipping champagne and then headed off for photographs before dinner. The wedding itself was over so quickly!  I wish I could have held onto that moment forever. Flowers Flowers that were included with the package were very minimal. I got some petals for my hair and our daughter’s hair. A bouquet was included as was a boutonnière and a table centerpiece. I didn’t think the bouquet was very nice actually. It was quite small in my opinion. You have the option of choosing roses or tropical flowers. I choose tropical flowers. I wasn’t too concerned about the finer details of the wedding though so what we got was fine with me. Photography This was the best part of the entire wedding. Our package included 12 pictures from the resort photographer. He shot the ceremony only and then you picked the 12 pictures you wanted. I had a really hard time picking 12 pics – not because they were so good, but because they were so awful! The shots were very unflattering, included background onlookers or were very amateurish. I HIGHLY recommend brining your own photographer. You will have to pay $85 for a day pass but it is SOOO worth it. We hired Brian Designs and I would recommend him in a heartbeat! We got married on Wednesday and he had the CD to me by Friday! I got close to 400 pics and I love them ALL! He is an American who moved to Jamaica 8 years ago. He is extremely well priced for what he captures in my opinion. He lives in Ochos Rios but travels all over Jamaica to shoot. Hire him – hand down the best wedding decision I made! Cake You have the option of vanilla, chocolate cake or strawberry cheesecake for a wedding cake. We opted for the strawberry cheesecake and I could have eaten the whole thing myself – it was soooo good!

Quote: Originally Posted by Carina Hello Ladies, I'm getting married at Iberostar Rose Hall Beach on May 20, 2009. I noticed Jenn's date is in May also - what week will you be there Jenn? There are some previous posts from others, but really, there is not much info available about weddings at this resort. As everyone seems to say, don't worry it will all work out. Looking forward to sharing any info I find! Carina I'm leaving May 2nd (exactly 1 month from today!!!) and our wedding date is May 6th. I don't have much information yet from Sandy. We are basically eloping as only our parents and daughter are coming with us so planning is pretty minimal. I'm getting super excited though! We hired Brian Designs to photograph our wedding as the Iberostar photographer is way too expensive and Brian comes highly recommended. Other than that, we are just using the basic wedding package offered by the resort. I am getting my first alterations on my dress this Saturday so it is all coming together. I will be sure to post when I come back every little details so all you future Iberostar brides can get a sneek peek at what you are in for! I really appreciated having PhillyGal as a sounding board!

Philly Gal! Thanks so much for sending me the pics. Your wedding was beautiful and I'm so excited to be going there now! Do you have a list of things you would vs wouldn't do again specific to the Iberostar? Just curious as I find these really helpful in the planning! Contrats to all the other Iberostar brides to be! Can't wait to keep in touch and update each other on all the planning!

What does that mean? Does that mean I just take a photocopy of my birth cerficate on a piece of paper and have a notary sign it or is it more complicated than that? Is the original birth certificate supposed to be notarized? Mine is laminated so I don't know how I'd have that done? Perhaps this is a late at night and I'm too tired to think question but PLEASE tell me how to do this paperwork requirement!

We are getting married at the Iberostar Rose Hall Beach Resort in May 2009. I'll let you know how it is once I get back! So far the planning has been a breeze. Sandy has been very quick to respond and always answers everything I ask! You will find this website so helpful - the girls on here offer so much advice! Congrats on your engagement!

I'm getting married there May 2009! We just decided after 10 years together to FINALLY tie the knot so I'm not wasting any time! I just notified the resort today that I wanted to have my wedding there so I'm sure I will be relying on you ladies for lots of information in the coming months! Jenn

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you fabulous ladies! I've been lurking on here trying to plan our destination wedding and have gotten lots of great ideas! My name is Jenn. We are getting married in May (no final date yet) and planning to book someplace in Montego Bay. Looking foward to getting to know each of you! Jenn