Splendor Wedding Review-10/25/09

[holstang]

My review of my Splendor Wedding.

I had the hair and makeup girl come over to my house at 6:30am. Due to the airbrushing, it takes a while, and she also did my hair in pin curls, which was pretty time consuming. I can’t say enough about her, she was amazing. Definitely have your hair and makeup done before you get to the port. You don’t want to be rushing around trying to get everything done on the ship, because you definitely won’t have enough time. I am so happy I splurged on hair and makeup.

We barely get to the port at the specified time (10:30am). For some reason the cab I called never showed up, so it was a mad scramble to the port. Luckily I only live 5 minutes away, but it was very stressful. The photographer I hired who was a “guest” did me no favors. He was late getting to my house, then he forgot his ID, which by this point I was hoping they wouldn’t let him on the ship, so I could just get my money back because he was such a flake. I was looking for a more photojournalistic style, which is why I hired him.

Our original plan was to not see each other at the port before the wedding, but it was impossible. And I needed to see him, since I was so nervous. We weren’t let on the ship until probably more like noon, due to customs. This was kind of a downer, but I did get to spend some extra time with my non-sailing guests while waiting for the ship to clear. Check in was a breeze, although they got our credit cards mixed up somehow, which wasn’t a big deal.

My two coordinators, Nicole & Laurie were great. They were with me every step of the way. I never did see the ship reception coordinator, not even through the entire cruise. I gave them the favors, guest book, cake topper, toasting flutes, programs, cake cutter and everything was handled for me. I also managed to sneak on my bouquet. A family friend did the bridesmaid bouquets in artificial flowers, while she did mine and the groom’s bout with real orchids. And thank the lord I was able to get them on. Somehow in the mad scramble to board, the coordinator ended up with my bouquet, which I was trying to sneak on due to them being real, and there was no problem. I think they just scare you into thinking you have to have artificial, so they can jack you for the upgraded flowers. My coordinators were more surprised that I was able to get on the cake cutter, since these aren’t allowed either, but I still wanted mine.

Our officiant Eric was wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better officiant. He was caring, and immediately put us both at ease. I felt like he really knew us.

The reception immediately followed the ceremony, right after a group picture in the El Morocco. We had it in the Disco, which worked out great. The service was great, no guest ever had an empty glass. Upon our entrance, we did the cake cutting right away, followed by our first dance, then the father daughter dance. While we had our first dance, and father daughter dance, the guests mingled, ate and drank. The food looked great, and I received so many compliments on the food and cake. I was too nervous to eat, so I can’t comment on the food personally. The cake was amazing though! I recommend bringing your own cake topper. The one they give you is a little cheesy.

Things I would have changed:

Looking back, I would have nixed the extra photographer, and just bought more from the ship’s photographer. But live and learn. Also, another thing that I didn’t like- my bridesmaid told me that they did the complete dress rehearsal with ALL THE GUESTS in the room. This kind of made me mad. Also, the lighting was really weird in the room we had the ceremony in, which made for horrendous pictures. I had specifically requested a group shot right after the wedding of all the guests, but due to a couple of guests using wheelchairs, we decided to just take it in the El Morocco, which was the room we had the ceremony in, to save time. I’m happy I requested the shot.

Things I’m Happy I did:

I would say try to add as many personal touches as you can. These little things really made a big difference to us. I made my own programs, which turned out fantastic. And our cake topper was awesome.

The wine ceremony. We wanted something that was more our personalities, so instead of the sand or candle lighting ceremony, we incorporated a wine blending ceremony. So glad we did this.

Sneaking on my real bouquet- I would do it again in a heartbeat. The one they give you is so 80’s. My florist/family friend was so horrified by the one that came with the package, she exclaimed, “Who uses baby’s breath anymore?!” She also snuck into the reception and stuck on a bunch of real flowers to decorate the cake. It made it a thousand times prettier!

Making packages for all the vendors. I made up a booklet for each of the following people- the coordinators, the officiant, the DJ, the photographer and the videographer. For the DJ, I made a playlist and included the original CD’s, in order of play. I also made up a list of do not play songs. For the officiant, and gave him the wording for the wine ceremony. And for the photographer, I included a list of must have shots, along with some examples of pictures I was looking for. The less you leave to chance, the better. I figure you meet these people the day of, so better get your point across as far as what expectations you have. And everyone I gave these packets to appreciated them. The coordinators also told me that I had set the bar as far as being organized. Woo Hoo!

Buying the video. They wedding went by so fast; it was nice to able to see things that I missed. Definitely worth the extra money, although we didn’t do the post-interview that went along with it. I didn’t feel it was necessary. He showed us the final product on the day before we got off the ship. It turned out perfect, and we didn’t need any changes to it.


Good Luck to all the Splendor brides!! I hope this helps, since there was hardly any information about the Splendor when I was planning. Let me know if you have any questions!

[shortnsweet7676]

Congrats on your marriage and thanks for posting this review! Which port did sail out of? Will you be posting some pictures?

[SweetDara]

Congratulations, many blessings to you and hubby!

[merocket59]

Congrats!! It really flies by does it?!

[jerseygirl79]

Congratulations! Sounds like it was beautiful? How was the cruise?

[attorneybride2010]

Congrats! I'm happy to hear everything went smoothly and NOW YOU'RE MARRIED!! I love your comment about the bouquet provided by Carnival, I was toying with the idea of making my own (bc I'm making my bridesmaids) and now I definitely will!! I can't wait to see pics!

[scottsdalebride09]

Thank you so much for posting this - I am getting married on the Splendor on the 22nd, so it really helps calm my nerves to hear you report good things...because at this point, there wouldn't be a lot of time for me to change anything!

I had a feeling the standard flowers would be cheesy, so we went ahead and did the floral upgrades...too bad we didn't know one would be able to sneak real florals onboard!! I figure I'll toss the bouquet they give me...

I'm glad to hear the coordinators were on their toes and handled everything well. We're not doing a DJ, and will be in the Piano lounge...what room did your ceremony take place in?

Thanks for posting! Can't wait to see photos.

[holstang]

AttorneyBride-

We had our ceremony in the El Morocco Lounge, then the reception in the Disco. Have they scheduled where you will be yet? It depends on how many guests you have.

The cruise was wonderful! It was a little crazy at times though, since I had planned a couple of group activities. We rented a yacht in Cabo for our group that was amazing, however trying to wrangle up 18 people for it was like wrangling wild kittens. But it was worth it. In Mazatlan we planned a group city tour with lunch that was awesome as well. I recommend doing this if you have a small group, otherwise, it would just be too stressful!

PS- we were married in the Port of Long Beach.