Carnival Imagination Wedding Review

We went down to Long Beach several days early because my husband's daughter and her husband were flying in from Illinois a few days early and because they live in Illinois we don't get to see them nearly as much as we like. Anyway, we had the chance to relax and hang out until Saturday night, August 2 when we hosted a dinner for all of our guests who were in town that night. I had made canvas bags with our names in rhinestones on them and filled with everything they could possibly need during their stay in Long Beach and for the few who cruised with us, things they might need on the cruise. I also included a 9 page welcome letter with all the information they might possibly need and included a personalized word search, a wedding cake maze and deck plans with arrows pointing to the venues, Lido deck and our staterooms.

On the day of we arrived at 10. I had my hair done but not my makeup. Almost all of our guests had beat us there, the four who cruised with us checked in quickly and easily since we were the first people there. The others weren't able to check in because the person who gave out visitor passes was very late coming out. She finally came out close to 11 and everybody got checked in without issue.

The officient showed up about 10:30 (we brought our own officient but since he was part of the package he came anyway). Anyway, he was very calming and since we had met him a few weeks ago when we did our tour, he knew what we wanted and expected and was there to help.

By 10:45 I was starting to panic because Anita (the coordinator we had requested) hadn't shown up, she finally called Eric (the officient) about 11:00 and said she had an emergency and would try to make it. She never did. Eric informed us that his job was actually to train the coordinators so he would just fulfill that role.

For some reason things were delayed and we finally started boarding about 11:50. As we got on the ship and they checked our ID's we hit the second snag....for some reason Eric's ID was flagged to be "retrieved" because "he was no longer an employee of Carnival". I thought he was going to cry. By that time we were getting on the ship and I wasn't too worried about it....we had our officient and I have a Type A daughter who isn't afraid to demand what she wants and she usually gets it, so she went to Eric, got my bouquet from him and told him not to worry about it, she had it covered....he called out to me that our host was on board and she would handle everything while he got things straightened out. I knew where my stateroom was from the tour, so I showed myself to my room and my husband went to the second room we had prepared while everybody else went up to the Lido deck for lunch. I had requested our wedding party and officient not wear their wedding clothes before lunch in case of accidental spillage. I was too nervous to eat so I just started getting ready. It seemed like just a few minutes when the girls showed up to get dressed (both of our matrons of honor and our officient, who also did my make up) as well as our friend who had done my hair for touch ups. Eric finally made it on board and handled everything from that point on. Also, my daughter is a floral designer so she took my bouquet and added to it, so my bouquet was gorgeous.

The photographer showed up about the time the wedding party was called for rehearsal, our friend who did my hair hung out with me in the room until they called us to go the venue for the ceremony.

The ceremony was beautiful and everything we wanted it to be.

The reception was great and a lot of fun, although maybe it was the lack of coordinator, but there were things that we requested that didn't happen. The first was that they didn't announce the wedding party, just my husband and me. The second was that we had asked that our guests join us part way through the first dance and that didn't happen. The third thing was that we had asked for Something Blue as our signature drink but we got the Cruiser...which was absolutely delicious.

After the reception I requested that the rest of the wedding cake be served with our dinner (the cake lasted 2 dinners!).

After talking with Eric and seeing how things work I have a few suggestions:

I made 2 copies each of 3 CD's, Eric said he wished all brides would do that (I put them in sleeves with labels). The first CD was the wedding music in order...1. The processional 2. Brides entry 3. Recessional. The second CD was the reception music in order 1. Bridal party entrance (even though they didn't announce them) 2. First dance. 3. Cake cutting 4 - 20 something reception music. The third CD was just one song, our last song.

Take all of your contracts and price lists with you because when we looked at the photos the price list he pulled was very different than the one I received, again, my daughter, the bulldog (she's 28, I doubt she'll mellow) very matter-of-factly told the photographer that the price list I received when I signed the contract would be the price list we were using (nobody argues with that kid.. so he said ok).

Whatever you budget for pictures....double it. Not that they are so expensive but because they are that good. I'm 52 years old and was so sure that this was our second marriage each and I wasn't wearing the long white gown and wouldn't be swayed to buy all the pictures....I was wrong!

If there is anything I left out, please feel free to ask! We did buy the DVD slide show, but I have no clue how or even if I can post it.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204722980463998&set=a.1584262096073.80810.1521378497&type=1&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204723698681953&set=a.3636383557827.160748.1521378497&type=1&theater&notif_t=like

I have no idea if the photo will show up, but I tried.

And finally, even though were small things that went wrong, everything went like clockwork and was absolutely everything we had hoped it would be, afterall, I got to marry my best friend.

Welcome Back!!!! Hope you still had the wedding of your dreams:) Cant wait to see any pics you post

Red, can you try to click on the links and let me know if they work?

Welcome back and congratulations! Glad it worked out. You had one of the nightmare scenarios that everyone kind of dreads, so yay for working through it! Have you mentioned any of this to the CCL Weddings Dept? I only ask because they definitely need to know about the problems you had to prevent them from happening to another couple.

We just arrived home today, so I haven't had time to do anything. Honestly, it all worked out and I never even stressed over it so I almost hate to complain because it was an absolutely beautiful wedding and reception.

Welcome home! Glad the little things worked out! As long as your happy with the wedding and reception, that's all that matters! Best wishes!

Red, can you try to click on the links and let me know if they work?

They worked for me, you look so happy!!!

Congratulations on marrying your best friend and you were a gorgeous bride!

My husband (I love typing that) just told me today that things didn't quite go as smoothly as I thought....apparently with the lack of coordinator nobody let the bridal know where and when the rehearsal was supposed to be, so the rehearsal didn't happen until a little after 1 (the wedding was supposed to be at 1) Eric finally asked where everybody was and they called the room for them to come down, but again, without a coordinator the girls got lost trying to get to the venue, so the wedding didn't take place until about 1:30. I was up in our room with no clue as to what time it was or where everybody was, so I had no idea this delay occurred, since we had the 1 hour reception there was still plenty of time for everything.

The other issue with not having a coordinator is that we had to find our room on our own (which wasn't really an issue because we had checked all of that out a few weeks ago on our tour). Anyway, as I said, the wedding was beautiful, the reception great and I married my best friend, so it was all good.

Sorry to hear about the mishaps! You wouldn't know it by seeing your pics. You look so happy and everything is beautiful!

As far as I'm concerned everything was perfect!

While I hope I don't have the same experience, if I do I hope to handle it with your grace. After all, the wedding is one day, the marriage is the rest of your lives. That being said, starting it with grace and allowing whatever will be to be for one day makes it easier to enjoy the rest of your wedding cruise!

Maybe it was easier for me because I had a bulldog in my corner (the blonde standing next to me in the picture). My daughter knows what she wants and she expects to get it. She is so cute and has a million watt smile so people generally give her whatever she wants...so if anything was wrong and there was a solution, I knew she had it covered.

love it! My needs for that day are this:

1. I want to end the day married to my best friend

2. I want to wear a pretty dress

3. I want cake

4. I want somebody to cry happy tears or everybody...

If I get those things, I am a happy girl :)

I just wanted to post a quick follow up. I took Carnival Bride's suggestion and wrote to Carnival Weddings and The Wedding Experience both. I made it very clear that I wasn't in anyway complaining or asking for compensation but that I just wanted to give them a heads up so perhaps if something similar happened to a future bride they would have a back up plan in place. Anyway, I haven't heard anything from Carnival Weddings, but The Wedding Experience have sent a very nice apology and is refunding the wedding coordinator portion of the package price. I was actually pleasantly surprised, as I had made it clear I wasn't asking for anything...anyway....just wanted to give credit where credit is due, because my goals were the same as Mrstriceasnice and every one of the goals were fulfilled tenfold!

Thanks for the report!

love it! My needs for that day are this:

1. I want to end the day married to my best friend

2. I want to wear a pretty dress

3. I want cake

4. I want somebody to cry happy tears or everybody...

 

If I get those things, I am a happy girl :)

Nice simple to the point to make a wonderful wedding

Good luck

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I just wanted to post a quick follow up. I took Carnival Bride's suggestion and wrote to Carnival Weddings and The Wedding Experience both. I made it very clear that I wasn't in anyway complaining or asking for compensation but that I just wanted to give them a heads up so perhaps if something similar happened to a future bride they would have a back up plan in place. Anyway, I haven't heard anything from Carnival Weddings, but The Wedding Experience have sent a very nice apology and is refunding the wedding coordinator portion of the package price. I was actually pleasantly surprised, as I had made it clear I wasn't asking for anything...anyway....just wanted to give credit where credit is due, because my goals were the same as Mrstriceasnice and every one of the goals were fulfilled tenfold!

That was a good outcome indeed writing notifying in a nice way like that often gets things done

Glad they refunded the coordinator

Congratulations

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