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Allure Wedding May 12 2013


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Thank you ladies for posting through your planning process and including a recap of you event. I am getting married on the Quantum on 3.14.15 at sea. I have been looking for some real life feed back on the process and not just horror stories or complaints. I would be interested in seeing anyone else who is also getting married on RCCL to post and in particular those getting married while at sea. I know that this is new option and there seems to be little feedback on how well this is going for RCCL.

 

There were some weddings at sea during my honeymoon and although i did not speak with any of them, from a far they seemed to have gone well. I can not imagine anything but an awesome experience. The staff on board is sooo much better than the staff on land.

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Congrats, the Quantum certainly is an interesting ship! I agree with Fldogmassage the staff on board was awesome. So the captain will marry you when he has the time is what I have heard from another bride doing a ship at sea wedding with RCCL. That was not available to us when we signed our contracts Fldogmassage and I. There was a wedding party on board during my wedding cruise also, but did not hear when and did not see them either. There were a few special groups on my cruise. I was the only wedding the day of embarkation and the staff really made it a big deal for my guests and I. They gave us special seating at the Windjammer to keep us together for every meal we wanted to meet there. They also put the main dining tables together special to get all 17 of us together. RCCL is so VERY ACCOMMODATING!!!! Are you going to have a reception on board somewhere?

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  • 4 weeks later...

So, I know I am a little late in the thread, but I was hoping to keep this awesome thread alive.

 

FIRST: PLEASE EXCUSE IF MY POST DOESN'T FLOW WELL AND I JUMP AROUND A LITTLE... I am trying to throw some of my thoughts out there...(and i keep forgetting all my questions)

 

 

My future wife is extremely busy going through nursing school right now, I am the one who is pretty much responsible for researching and planning the logistics of our wedding. Our plan is to get married by the Captain while at sea on the Oasis of the Seas in July 2015 (once my FW is done with school).

 

The dates on RCI are not yet posted for July 2015, so I am eagerly waiting to make official announcements and send out STD's, based on the cruise schedule. Because we live in California (as well as most family and friends), I am not sure how many will be making the long journey to FLL and sailing with us, and how to get the best deals on airfare.

 

So, basically, I am asking for any additional information that anyone may have, including:

 

-can we choose anytime for our wedding? (we were hoping an hour or two prior to sunset while at sea, followed by a reception dinner somewhere on the ship (depending on our number of guests))

 

-has anyone had guests fly on an airline to the wedding? i.e. los angeles to fort lauderdale, etc (any experiences, advice, etc?)

 

-what is proper etiquette as far as the best man/maid of honor? (do we pay for their rooms?)

 

-for the remainder of the cruise, did you hang out with your party? i.e. excursions, dinner, specialty restaurants..

 

-if you choose the pinnacle chapel, can you have the chairs facing the windows? (iirc, i believe FLDOGMASSSAGE did this, but just asking again, in case someone was turned down at this request)

 

-i really enjoy booking my own cruise and having control over it...can I still do that and have my guests go through a RCCL specialist who will more or less take care of their reservations and link ours together (that way we get any eligible discounts, etc)

 

-if anyone has been married at sea, do they include the location of your marriage on the certificate (I thought I read somewhere that they document the latitude and longitude of the ship at the time of your marriage)

 

-I have about a million more questions, but its almost 5am and I need to get to bed already! Thanks in advance for any advice!!

 

 

and LEO, I noticed you mentioned having the reception after the ship set sail, and dealing with the cruise line directly (not Royal Romance)... I was wondering, did you get married at sea as well? Also, can you please elaborate on how you dealt directly with the cruise ship? thank you

 

ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING I WANTED TO SAY: Reading this thread was without a doubt the most informational I have found anywhere online; and I greatly appreciate FLDOGMASSAGE's review; and am looking forward to reading about CCSCI's wedding!!!! I want to thank everyone who participated in this thread prior to my jumping in!! Your efforts were worthwhile, thank you!

 

-Matt

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Hi Blue line, Its CCSCI, I sailed a few weeks after fldogmassage. We kept in touch much of the time since we both signed on for our weddings close in dates. We sailed the sister ship Allure.

 

The Captain will marry you as the time becomes available for him. I am not sure how much time in advance you will get on the cruise to know. I am sure you can reserve time at one of the signature restaurants.

 

There was a couple that reserved Chops Grill and had a DJ too. Do not go through RCCL weddings for that. Go through the event planning on the Oasis. Since you will be cruising already you will need to go through the direct event line and get a much better deal on the DJ.

 

I was married in the Pinnacle as was Fldogmassage. It was awesome!!!! Quite lovely.

My chairs faced the windows as well. If you question whether it will be that way for your wedding, request it.

 

I live in FL, but most of my guests did not. Many flew from all over the US. FYI, here is how to do it for CHEAP! Get on Hotwire.com put in for your time and flight and have them email you when flights get good deals. You may only have a couple of hours to book those flights for the price, but can get awesome flights. Sometimes two one-way flights are much better than round trip, all depends on the rates. For example, my brother from Chicago was able to get two one way tickets to Ft. Lauderdale for $125 each. My sister in Cali gets similar deals doing it that way all the time also.

 

My suggestion for pre and post hotels is to call around after you decide what kind of accommodations you want for your guests. I wanted free shuttle for Airport and also to the cruise port. I also wanted free breakfast. It was also important to have easy access to last minute shopping since many of my family was coming a day to two early. Get bids from different hotels and then choose the one that is right for you. I loved mine.

 

If your fiancé will need hair and make-up let me know, I can suggest the http://www.thebloomingbeauty.com. This artist did my make-up and I loved it. Much cheaper than who RCCL suggests.

 

I had 37 come to my wedding. 22 stayed on the cruise with us. LOVED IT. We came and went as we pleased. We had a common area for dinner in both the Windjammer and the Main dining room. Of course we were married on embarkation day so we had some guests who just flew in for the wedding and reception. Hard to imagine that right? But Florida is a destination for vacations too.

 

We gave everyone an itinerary of where we would be and what shows we were going to as soon as shows could be pre-booked on the ship. For the most part, we went to all the shows together, HAD A BLAST! When we wanted to be honeymooners, family backed off and did their own thing. Not hard to do on that big ship! It was great.

I can help a bit.

 

I used a travel agent, she kept track of everyone and we had enough rooms to get one berth free. For every 8 you earn a free berth. I am sure if you have a booking agent with RCL and its a group wedding they must do something similar. My agent kept everyone together. Many of our rooms that booked close to the same timeframe were able to get close to each other. There were 5 rooms almost next to each other. We all had ocean balcony rooms so if they were next to each other the balconies could be opened and become much larger and the rooms became adjoining. My family loved that.

 

Ok. The time of year is getting you in a bit of trouble. I planned my wedding in the beginning of June since its the beginning of hurricane season. We had to actually travel in the eye of tropical storm Andrea to get to Ft. Lauderdale, and some of my guests had to travel through it and bypass it on airplanes. July gets you even closer into the hurricane season. Look at the farmers almanac and see what dates in July are most common to be clear of any storms in the gulf. Are you traveling eastern or western Caribbean??

 

Paying for rooms for your guests...its totally up to you. You may want to pay for their down payment. We asked for a very large down payment (it shows commitment).

 

I don't see why you can't set up your group with RCL and still be in control of your cruise reservation.

 

I hope I have touched base with your questions so far. I have neglected my website because I could not get my pictures to work and then got busy with a flooded art studio when we came home from our summer travels. Good luck in your planning.

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You do not get to select what time your wedding will be. Depending on the schedule of events for that day on the ship, your event will be placed a time that works for them. Generally they are somewhere from late morning to early afternoon. If the date you select also happens to be formal night (read most guests taking pictures) the event will need to end in time for the photographer to be able to work one of the stations for the earlier seating of dinner. Also the location of your event will be determined by both the size of your party and the spaces that are available on the ship. We are getting married on 3.14.15, and really wanted the ceremony at 9:26 am, but were told that would likely not be able to happen. We can still request the time once we are closer to the date (and actual ship being built), but it is not something that is at all guaranteed.

 

Our ship will be leaving out of NJ. We now live in TX but both grew up in NJ, and we selected our cruise with that in mind so that most people would not need to fly. I know that California is a large state, but you may want to see if there is a drivable port if most of your guests are in a similar area.

I also feel your pain being so far out with your date and not knowing what some things may cost. When trying to get estimates for things such as flights, I am using the same weekday as my date will fall on in 2014. For example the ships leaves on the March 13th 2015, but I will look at March 12th 2014.

 

We sent out our save the dates a couple of weeks ago, and I have gotten a underwhelming response. We made our own website and have asked people to email us with what cabin category they would be interested in and who would be staying in the cabin. Out of 62 save the dates, I have officially heard from one person. We did ask to hear from people by the end of Sept, so now that the holiday is over it will be interesting to see what actually happens. With some of the unofficial feedback I have gotten is to expensive and wanting to wait until later to book. I am on the thread for my wedding cruise, and it seems to be a less popular sailing, which hopefully means my late bookers will actually still be able to get a cabin this time next year when we send out the actual invites.

 

You need to speak with someone from the group booking staff about getting any discounts, it works backwards from they way you might think it would.

 

The way it works

Tell Group Booking, how many of each cabin type you would like

(means you will need to find this out from your guests)

A hold is placed on those cabins for 30 days for your guests to call in and leave a deposit

The deposit is $500 for each cabin, not per person

 

If people book on their own, they can not be added to the group for the discount. It would make life easier to let people book when they want , how they want , and near the end say these people are in my group... but it does not work that way.

 

I was planning on doing one 30 day booking this Oct and another one in Fall of '14 when I send out the actual invites. Which RCCI will do, but the booking in '14 will be subject to the cost then, not what a cabin currently costs. As a general tip, most cruises are their lowest price on the one year mark out from the cruise leaving.

 

We personally decided against having a formal bridal party. We did not want to put any additional responsibilities or expenses on our close friends. I do not know if you have asked your BM/MOH yet, but I would be clear on explaining your plans for the wedding so they have a realistic idea of the costs they will likely be incurring before agreeing to be a part of the wedding party. If you have the financial ability to would be nice gesture to pay for some part of their expense (possible as the gift) the airfare, or the cabin deposit.

 

While I am on the subject of money. Getting married at sea will start at $4795.... but wait you say... the brochure says $3995 for the Romance at sea. That is true, but there are $800 in licensing fees. The total amount will also be due when your date and Royal Romance at Sea Agreement is approved, in full, and they will not hold your date until they are paid. They will hound you and call until you do pay them. Also you must have your cabin booked (deposit only) for the cruise before you can book your wedding on that sailing. They had to start a wedding list for the QoS for us, so it took a little longer for the wedding department to get back to us.

 

We will be getting married on the first full day of our sailing. We plan on letting people know where we will likely be on the ship for the remaining of the cruise if they want to join us. We may try and book something for the group to do depending on the size and mix of people. As with all things, money talks if there is something you really want for your group.

 

I had million questions too... here is a response to an email I sent my Wedding Rep with about 40 of them

 

Here is my list of questions regarding some of the things that have been running through my head. *I will understand if it takes you a little while to answer, a quality answer is worth more than a quick one at this point.

 

What are the items or issues that will we be choosing 45 days out?

 

You will choose any enhancements that you would like to add to your package. *These can include: reception options, additional florals, wedding cake, and entertainment. *You will also be providing basic information such as ceremony song selection and processional order.

 

How early can we get aboard the ship? *We have done back to back cruises before, and I know how nice, quiet and empty the ship can be before people start getting back on it.

 

General boarding usually begins at approximately 12:00PM, after the ship clears customs.

 

When would we be meeting with the on board coordinator? *What are the decisions that will need to made with that person?

 

When you board the ship, you will receive a welcome letter in your stateroom from the Cruise Program Administrator. *This will be your onboard liaison for communication and information regarding your wedding. *She will discuss the details once again with you and confirm the date, time and location of your ceremony.

 

What can be personalized? Items such as food, music, flowers, etc.

 

You may wish to provide your own music for the ceremony. *For now, the food menus for the reception remain as is in the brochure. *We are slightly limited to flowers since they are coming from the onboard floral cart, which is why ivory roses are part of the package. *You may choose to bring your own silk florals if you would like.

 

Can we provide our own prerecorded music? If so in what format would it need to be?

 

Yes, you may. *As of today, prerecorded music is in CD format.

 

We are frequent cruisers, so I know the general rules fairly well. Are there any wedding type guidelines on things we are allowed/not allowed to bring aboard?

 

Royal Romance follows the general guidelines of the ship in regards to what can or cannot be brought onboard.

 

What can be decorated in the space that will be used for the ceremony/reception? How can those things be decorated?

 

The venues onboard our ships are all decorated extremely beautifully. *The ship does not provide "wedding decorations" per say. *There are options like purchasing additional floral decorations, ice sculptures, etc. *

 

What is the typical seating and set up for the ceremony and reception?

 

It will be the seating provided in whichever venue onboard your ceremony and reception take place. *Of course, we will have more detailed information once the Quantum of the Seas sets sail.

 

Is it possible to arrange for private party with a DJ/music either the day of the wedding or some other time during the cruise? *

 

This would take place immediately following the ceremony. *You could do a two hour reception with food, beverages, and a DJ service. *

 

Can we coordinate events for our group later in the week? *If so what type of events?

 

Yes, of course you can. *That would not be planned through the Royal Romance department. *I would suggest dining in a specialty restaurant, going to the shows at night, and definitely taking a trip on the North Star!

 

Can we reserve private time for our group on thing like the sky diving or bumper cars?

 

I am unsure. *Again, we will have more information after the ship sets sail.

 

For our invitations is there a general guideline or way to phrase them that will indicate things like location and time? *

 

Unfortunately, we cannot provide you with a location and/or time at this point. *The exact location and time are dependent upon the size of your party and the itinerary of the ship. *We are still coordinating with the Quantum of the Seas as to which venues will be available and appropriate for wedding ceremonies and receptions.

 

Do guests need to link to our reservation? *What information will they need to be counted as part of our event?

 

Since all of your guests are sailing, all you will need to provide Royal Romance with is the total number of guests, including you and your fiance. *This will occur closer to the sail date.

 

Do we get any gratis or discounted items or events based on our guest amount?

 

Royal Romance does not have a discount program for large groups.

 

We are currently gold members but will be Emerald in November and maybe even Diamond with our planned cruises before the wedding. *One of the benefits of the program at those levels is Discounts on Balcony and Suite staterooms. *Can the amount for our reserved cabin be adjusted once the membership level has been reached?

 

I am unsure. *You will want to be in touch with reservations or the Crown & Anchor department in regards to your request.

 

Can you suggest a time line for us in sending out invitations and requesting back RSVP's?

 

That is to your discretion. *However, I can suggest to do the initial invitation early as planning an entire cruise may take longer for some of your guests.

 

Can you give me a general time line for the events of the ceremony to build a program?

 

It will be a standard non-denominational ceremony. *You may choose to say your own vows or do one of the special ceremonies. *You may also choose a reception. *This can all be taken in to account while creating your program.

 

Can I expect to have reception events like garter/bouquet toss, first dance, pie cutting?

 

Yes, you may choose to do these.

 

One of the things I would most like to get a grasp on it what can I expect? What is the normal set up, layout, time line of your wedding at sea? I would like to get a reasonable idea of what to expect.

 

The set up and layout may depend in which venue your ceremony will take place. *Also, generally speaking, our ceremonies and receptions are complete by 3:00PM. *Again, this will be determined in part by the itinerary of the ship. *We will have more detailed information closer to your sail date.

 

For the tables in the main dining room can I arrange who will be sitting together from our guests?

 

We do not use the main dining room as a reception venue. *For dinner seating in the dining room, please contact the groups department.

 

I would like to prepare welcome bags for my guests. Can the welcome bags something that can be placed inside of cabins? or is there are more appropriate/convenient time and place to distribute them?

 

Yes, at a fee of $2.00 per welcome bag, we can have them placed in to the rooms on embarkation day at turn-down.

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Hello Everyone!

 

I am getting married the day of sail on the Liberty of the Seas leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I will be having a reception after the ceremony. Any tips or advice?? I will be having about 125 guest and 50 of our guest will be joining us on the cruise after the celebration.

 

I would love to see pictures of previous cruise weddings, centerpieces, cakes, dresses, etc... I need all the help I can get.

 

I know I am totally ahead of the game since my wedding day is November 8th, 2014, but I am not sure on what DIY decorations I can do since I will not know what venue we will get until 45 days before the wedding.

 

Thank you for all your help! and congrats to all brides!

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I would like to address all the new brides and the groom that recently posted.

 

Decorations: They do an absolutely beautiful job decorating the reception area with carved watermelon. They were beautiful. Ice sculptures can be added. But for a two hour reception they are around $150-$200 I think.

 

I brought in decor for my extra table (that is free) for guest book. Silks in arrangements and bags with my OOT stuff for guests. I put in a luggage back with instructions for how I wanted them placed on the table. The luggage bag later served as the one for all the stuff I bought on our honeymoon! However, I was also driving away from the ship.

 

Other brides have delegated some of their guests to bring on board the luggage and decorate the reception and then clean it before they disembark to take off ship with them. (I did not do that)

 

The flowers they provide are beautiful and an outstanding quality. I work for a florist and my rose bouquet lasted longer than the 7 day cruise. I did not use it for my bouquet, but for decoration at the wedding and cabin. I love flowers and wanted a tropical cascade which would have been very expensive in real flowers provided by RCCL. I had latex (like real) flowers and had a flora designer make a European cascade design. I was picky about the flowers....went to three states and 7 shops.

 

Receptions after the wedding provided by RCCL are nice, but the DJ is EXPENSIVE! I would shoot for the 2 hour wedding, then you are not rushed during pictures to get back to your guests. One of you has guests leaving the ship before embarkation. This is important to you. I had a two hour reception and very happy I did that. I had time to dance with my family and talk with them before they had to leave.

 

Those who are getting married while sailing....My suggestion is to have the wedding through Royal Romance but call the event planning at RCCL to plan a reception at one of the Signature Restaurants. Another bride and groom planned their reception at Chops and got a much better deal. I am not sure what message board they are on now, but when we were planning our wedding they had the wedding during the day and their reception later in the evening at Chops Grille with a DJ. They got a DJ for under $100 whereas the Royal Romance DJ is almost $700!

 

If you want to see pics of my wedding you can give me your email addresses and I will send you invites to FLICKR. I can't seem to get my pics on here. I set up a review and have tried two different formats and programs to get my pics on this forum and I simply can't get them to upload correctly. But I would be happy to send you my direct link to all of them so you can see the pinnacle and Zazzles where we had the reception.

 

For everyone, keep as light as possible, I had a cake topper that would not break, put everything in simple luggage that could be brought on board quickly and unencumbered.

 

I built a simple website 6-8 months in advance to make sure my family and friends could be updated on the cruise information.

 

Sent out Save the Date Invites with Itinerary of the cruise and who to contact to make reservations along with due dates of payments. Then sent out formal invites with reminders of the due dates, RSVP included the important information I needed for the non-cruising guest list RCCL needs for homeland security at check in.

 

Hope this helps. They do run a smooth operation at RCCL. I was very pleased. If anyone needs hair and make up before the wedding in Ft. Lauderdale the person I use will come to your hotel. She is very good. http://www.thebloomingbeauty.com

 

Good luck.

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WOW, thank you so much ccsci and vivalaparte!!! It is very kind of you to hang around and help us newbies!!

 

Ccsci- I was thinking of doing the western caribbean, because from what I have heard, it is a little calmer this time of year (correct me if I am wrong). Also, last year when I proposed, we were on the oasis doing a eastern itinerary...

 

Thanks again for all your help, and please keep the info coming! I truly appreciate it!!

 

-Matt

 

If you wouldn't mind sending pics or anything else worthwhile to:

 

Matt c Hilliard at aim dot com

 

(No spaces). Thanks again!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk... Please excuse punctuation, spelling, nonsensical thoughts and brevity.

Edited by Blue Line
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Hi Matt,
Sent you an email. I was not sure if I interpreted your email address. Before I sent you to my picture account, I thought I would send you and email first. Send me a confirmation back so I know that it works. Glad to help any newbies. There was very few people that could help and those that could were really a big help, but had very little to offer. Fldogmassage and I were really in the dark and thought we would do our best to make it different for anyone coming after us. She is a little busy right now.
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Matt aka Blue Line,
I think the western Caribbean would be calmer only because its inside the Gulf as oppose to the perimeter leading into the Atlantic. If you look at the weather patterns right now in the gulf and Atlantic, you can see that storms develop everywhere in the gulf from the Yucatan Peninsula to the western edge of Africa. Really, look at a Farmer's Almanac and look at the July patterns in the Gulf to see what is the best time to go on the cruise. Early July is not as active, but Hurricane Dennis developed in early in July and I can't remember where it began either. H. Ivan started off the western Caribbean in Sept. so when do the storms develop and make it bad for a cruise ship is questionable. I love the Oasis class would go again on the Allure in a heartbeat!
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Matt,

Not a problem, we are all on the same boat (figuratively anyway). You are trying to get married on a sailing that does not exist yet, I am on a boat that has not even been built. I know for myself there was a lot of worry and questions in the beginning, hence that long email to the Romance Dept. I have been engaged for 4 months and still have another year and half to go. I have let the daily "have to get something done", "must look at wedding crap" out of my system. With getting married on the ship there is really only so much to be done so early, and you have to give into that a bit. Once you select your sailing and are able to book your date you will be much better about everything. I have had interactions with both Desirae and Keana from the Romance Dept. Desirae is the one that I had my initial contact with and the long email exchange, she was on top of things and always took care of me when I needed something. Desirae was the one I signed my paperwork with as well. When Royal wanted to be paid I was contacted by Keana. Keana and I spoke several times (I was waiting on a particular credit card to be delivered) while she was seeking payment. When I finally did pay I asked for a copy of the information I found in this thread, the selection sheet. Keana said she would send it, but she did not. I emailed Keana about it a couple weeks later and again ignored. As much as Keana said she was now my rep and that it did not matter who I spoke to, I will not be working with her any further. When she wanted something she called every other day, I want something and get ignored. I have let it go for now since I am so far out, in a few months I will back to it all I am sure. BTW, Group booking is a separate dept you need to contact before hand, through the regular 800 number, getting the cabins set up is the first big step. They do not want to know anything else until they know a firm and deposit paid for amount of people.
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There are other girls at Royal Romance as well. Fldogmassage had a girl named Maria, she was not so impressed, and I had a girl named Vivian (I loved her). So, it is all who gets assigned to you at their end. It may be by ship, or by rotation. Who knows. Fldogmassage and I were on the Allure and only a month apart.

I started with a girl named Amy and she quit working there and I was not notified at all! If I had not called and asked why I was not being serviced after waiting 6 weeks with no communication I would have never known.

I will say, besides that little glitch, and what sometimes seems like no correspondence for a long time, my wedding was awesome. Its gets better nearer to the wedding date. Vivalaparte is right, you just have to give up on the "need to handle everything NOW" when its a year out, 6 months out....they will notify you. However, I will tell you I notified them that my schedule was going to be too hectic when they were going to need my info. SO, I requested they send me the finalization papers early, so my husband and I can leisurely decide on things and then when they call for the details I have them ready. I was afraid of needing to make hasty decisions because they were like "johnny come lately" with me.

I am a teacher and planned my wedding shortly after school was out because that happens to be right at the beginning of hurricane season. Living in Florida and going through about 9 hurricanes myself, I did not want to be on...around...near....in a hurricane during my wedding/honeymoon. That meant that when RCCL needed my wedding finalization, my students my full attention, not my wedding planner.

FYI....did my anti-hurricane plans work???? NO! My husband (who has never had to drive through a tropical storm or hurricane) had to drive through the eye of tropical storm Andrea to get us to Ft. Lauderdale from the panhandle of Florida!! Murphy's LAW wouldn't you know! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! I have driven through tropical storm near hurricane strength before! It's an interesting ride. Really, its just a long thunderstorm that ebbs and flows. Was not too bad, just a pain.
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FYI, that finalization notification came around at the two week before the wedding mark! We were very nervous that RCCL claimed they will finalize at the 45 day prior to wedding. I think they may notify you (maybe) and give you the very long list. I believe earlier in this thread is an example of the list we were given. Then you decided.....give it back to RCCL....they will tally up the $ and get back with you on how much it costs and you will then prepay for the rest of the wedding planned events of the reception, cake, extra flowers, sound technician or DJ, etc. You need a sound technician if you chose to use your Ipod. it costs $150 more. I just used a CD that I prerecorded with all the music I wanted. No upcharge, they use a boom box, but its not very loud. It was disappointing.

One thing I did like, if you have a wedding on embarkation day, I added the welcome drink. Its only $2.50 each person. It was nice for my family who had been waiting since 9:00 for the wedding. Why you ask?? Remember, they have to get themselves ready, then from their hotel (wherever that is) shuttle to the port, which can take time depending on how many of you are traveling on that shuttle, wait at the terminal maybe even until 11:45-12:00 in some cases, and then wait on bride and groom. Then not get a drink until after the ceremony! That is around 12:30. That is a long time without something to drink. Fldog. had water and snacks for her guests at the port for them. I had snacks and asked them to bring their own water, however they still were thankful for the punch.

Ok, I think I have exhausted my ideas again. If I think of anything else, I will post. I am trying to post on my own review site for my wedding. I am still trying to get pics up there for you all.

Oh, one more thing. The one tier cake is not bad. I used a nice size topper so it did not look disproportional. It will cost you more for the two tier cake only because you will have to buy both cakes. It costs must more to do it that way. We opted not for that, some do because they have that many guests anyway.
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Hi lightskingal, its been a while. Your wedding is right around the corner!!! Getting nervous? How are the plans coming? With Fldogmassage's review, did you feel less stressed? I wish we had this kind of review to help us.

The on board crew is even better than Vivian, so you are in great hands and smooth sailing. The next person will give you her cell phone number for personal attention to ensure that your shipboard part of the wedding planning goes smoothly. So you have the preplanning section with RCCL, then the ship planners that supply your wedding cooridinators. They were EXCELLENT at my wedding. I had two of them because I had over 25 guests and I was thankful they were in place. One to help us newby cruisers, and one to get the non-cruising guests in place. With 20 newby cruisers, we needed all the help we could get and my poor husband lost his $400 camera in the hustle of check-in at the terminal and the minister took him everywhere to find it! THEY DID! Everyone with RCCL worked hard to make sure our waiting (which was too long for some reason), our entry on board (everyone to their proper place) went off on time.

I think the key was that I had a two hour wedding reception. It kind of forces them to get their timing right. I am not sure how things go if there are multiple weddings on the same day. Fldogmassage had three weddings going on her day. Although she only had one hour reception and her wedding actually was later than mine. They did not make sure her guests had her full hour. That was wrong in my opinion and I made sure the WC at RCCL knew about it and I was not going to stand for that at my wedding and would ask for reimbursement of any time they shortened the reception. Of course I said it in a nice way. After all we prepay for it!
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Hello CCSI!


I am almost ready we got the forms already so trying to get the last minute people info for he non cruisers. I know I wish we could afford the two hour reception! We have 65 guest now so I'm sure they won't let us do the hot de..... Reception which would've been allot cheaper! O we'll most of our guest are cruising so we will have lots of fun with them. So excited!

We just bought our rings today so we are good to go now lol

Megan


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[quote name='ccsci']FYI,
Silk flowers can be purchased from Hobby Lobby, they are always having 1/2 off sales and their latex flowers are so realistic. When you see my bouquet, most of it is from Hobby Lobby.[/QUOTE]

Thank you; I looked them up, and they have 3 stores within 10 miles of us!! Your flowers looked great in the pics!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk... Please excuse punctuation, spelling, nonsensical thoughts and brevity.
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Here are your emailed questions and my answers are in Red! For anyone reading this...I sent my Flickr pics of my wedding to Blue Line so he and his fiance' could see them. I can't seem to get them to load on this forum. He asked to have the questions answered here for everyone's benefit. I agree. That's a good idea.


If you get a chance, I was just wondering a few things:
Was that the standard cake, or did you upgrade it?
[COLOR=Blue[COLOR="Red"]]Cake is standard for 50 guests. It is only one tier. It is very beautiful, they make it look like it is ornate. Nice detail, I thought. I brought the double heart accents and the topper was made by the same florist that did my bouquet.[/COLOR] [[COLOR="Red"]COLOR=Blue]We had the yellow cake with raspberry filling. LOVED IT. It has about 4 layers to it.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[COLOR=Blue][COLOR="Red"]The extra cake can be sent to your room and you can eat it, but it is not taken to the kitchen so you can throw it out, or save it. I saved it for a bit only because it was that good and my mother loves wedding cake! I also let my stateroom attendant take some and share it with the staff that evening.[/COLOR]
[/COLOR][/COLOR]

What time was your wedding, and when did your reception start and end?
[COLOR="Red"][COLOR=Bl[COLOR="Red"]ue]Since my reception was a two hour reception, and the ship leaves at 5:00pm, guests need to be off by 3:00. They actually get escorted off then but begin to get escorted off at 2:45 and are then walked around the ship. Some brides and grooms have walked around the ship with their guests. THe hour of your wedding works backwards from when they need to disembark. So, I needed to be at the alter by 12:30 to make sure the reception was going on by 1:00. I had the Buffet Luncheon with bar service. I also had a the extra hour bar service. In actuality, we are not a drinking crowd, but I wanted the extra hour of time with my family that was traveling across the country to the wedding. The paperwork says that the lunch is taken away after the hour, ours was not. I will tell you the food was fantastic! In fact, the roast beef was much better than that in the main dining room that night! I cut some and took it back to my room for later (sounds tacky, but I wanted to enjoy what I paid for and I brought extra ziplock bags with me). [/COLOR]
[/COLOR][/COLOR]


Did the onboard photographer take the photos you have on Flickr? And if so, what package did you get? And did you wish you would have got a different one? (I regretted not buying the disk last year on our cruise with all the pics, that's why I ask)

[COLOR=Blue][COLOR="Red"]All the pictures you saw were from the photographer. After Fldogmassage had her wedding, she told me the smallest package was 499.99 and they go up from there. You only get 15 photos for that price! There are other price points too, $799 for 25 photos I think. But the best deal is buy the entire CD. I was set on only getting 15 photos for $500 price, but for the hour he took 228 pictures. They do not keep the photos so you must decide then and there. I pleaded with him to call the company and let me have some time to buy the Cd within a year of the wedding but I would have to pay the whole CD price which is $1200 after spending $500 on the cruise. That is lots of money. They bring you to the studio, show you all the photos, and of course you love them all. Those candid shots of my family hiding the fart machine...priceless! My husband and I decided that we would just bite the bullet and buy the whole CD while we were there, that allows you the entire copyright to your wedding photos. Look, this is how I see it, you have to decide what you are willing to spend your money on. My entire family except my beautiful daughter's family was there at my wedding. That will NEVER happen again. Those pictures were priceless to me, I recognized that and I can pay that credit card off relatively quickly. If I had known that was what I was going to do in the first place, I would have paid for the extra photographer's hour (its only $95) and had a list of family photos I would have had him do. I would love family photos of all the families that were there. That is my only regret. I could have gotten wonderful family photos of each family, gotten one for us, and send one to each of them for a post thank you gift for coming to our wedding.[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Hope this helps any of you who are deciding on what do to with your photography. I know it becomes costly when you start adding up everything leading up to the cruise, wedding, gratis, port events, and for some of you getting to the wedding and the hotel stay the day before. Its all in how you budget it all. Figure out where your money is going and what is important to you. Another way to look at it is this....15 photos for $500 o in my case, 228 for $1200. Seems like the better deal! Maybe prepare on spending a dollar amount and then go from there. Edited by ccsci
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Most of your guests are cruising?? So this means you will get some funds returned when you get back from your trip right?? We ended up giving our group $50 per cabin, can I ask what your giving your group? My travel agent said we could have a bottle of wine for each cabin, a private cocktail party or the money. With you having such a large group, I wonder what your group benefit was? You don't have to say, just curious.

Did you say you live near the port or do you have your hotel picked out for the night before? How about your hair and make up?
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