Carnival Inspiration Wedding Cruise, review, pics & video link

It was an amazing, fun, crazy weekend full of friends & family. I apologize that my photos are not organized etc... & the video is raw footage (not done by carnival). but I know at least one bride is waiting on them.

Our weekend began on July 4th at the Hilton Long Beach where we would be staying the night before the wedding. We had contracted a great room rate so we had almost all 60 of our guests staying at the hotel with us for the 4th. We had great service,a beautiful upgraded suite with large balcony & enjoyed spending some time with our guests. I highly recommend this hotel for groups sailing out of Long Beach. They even gave us discounted parking for the weekend cruise & volunteered to shuttle all of our guests to the port. They truly went above & beyond.

The morning of July 5th my bridesmaids & I began to get ready at the Hilton around 6:00am. By 9:30 we were all about 'halfway' put together & ready to head to the ship. By the time we gathered our families & luggage, boarded the shuttle & made it to the pier, it was about 10:15. We checked in, found our wedding coordinator & the day suddenly took on a whirlwind pace. One of my bridesmaids had forgotten her passport & would not be allowed to sail. The coordinator tried to help, but in the end she didn't have the authority to speak for Carnival. They did allow her to board for the wedding, but she then had to get off the ship with the non-sailing guests.

Things are a bit hazy & crazy as far as the boarding process... there were misplaced tuxes, unchecked bags, a coordinator who 'led' us onboard but did not look nor wait to ensure people were following her as she cut across the regular boarding lines. Whew. I was blessed to have a non-sailing guest grab & carry my dress onboard & into my room... she took off so fast that I had no idea where it was at this point because I was trying to ensure my family was back from dropping off bags. I honestly believe that had we been left to our own devices, we'd have been better off during this piece of the process.

Whew... Was I ever glad to be in my room. Now we just needed to find the family members who had agreed to watch the small children of two of my bridesmaids! Eventually we tracked them down... but now we had lost so much time between changing flights, changin children etc.. that we had just an hour to finish getting ready. Our ceremony was scheduled for 1:30; the wedding party (aside from me) was to be at the lounge at 1:15 for a rehearsal. No one had come to get my bridesmaids by 1:20 so they went ahead on their own while my hair/makeup was being finished. Evidently there was a wedding in the same lounge just prior to mine which ran late so no one was able to get into the lounge to set up or run through until 1:30. I believe at this point it was almost 2:00 before my wedding started - which really cut my reception time & photographers time close.

Once I got to the wedding, though - everything ran like clockwork. The coordinator had everything worked out exactly as I had it outlined. The music CD I brought was played almost perfectly, the entrances were spot on.

The reception was fun, but WAY too fast. I didn't have a chance to try any food. They whisked us right into our first dance, pictures with the cake, cake cutting & champagne toasts. I don't remember much else from the reception. I may have had 1-2 of the little drinks & said hello to half of our guests.

After the reception, the photographer immediately whisked us off to take photos around the ship. We were pretty over it at this point, but I didn't even realize until today that I didn't get a single photo with my mom. Make a list of what you want & be assertive about it!

Ok - that's all I can think of at the moment. Feel free to ask questions... and here are links to our photos & raw ceremony video.

https://drive.google.com/a/futuritycloud.com/?usp=folder#folders/0B1UQ2zVyuPRhOWMyQl82Q3VrNGc

Congratulations!! You looked absolutely stunning! Thanks for the review and sharing your beautiful day with us!!

Your photos are GORGEOUS!!!! YOU looked gorgeous! Thank you for sharing! Glad everything worked out in the end for you both!!!

Your photos are GORGEOUS!!!! YOU looked gorgeous! Thank you for sharing! Glad everything worked out in the end for you both!!!

Thanks so much! The day was amazing! We were very happy with our decision to get married on a ship even with the slight hiccups! The ceremony was everything I dreamed it would be & that's the most important part.

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Congrats on Your wedding! You looked beautiful! I love the colors you chose and the songs you chose for your ceremony. I considered dancing to that "A Thousand Years" song, it's so beautiful! I cried when I heard the "Grow Old With You" song, that is from my favorite movie, Wedding Singer. It was a cute touch! Okay on to my questions.....

That's awful about your bridesmaid who left her passport. Was she able to get her money back for the cruise?

What photography package did you choose? Were you happy with the photographer?

Did you make your own bouquet?

What song did you dance your first dance to?

Who added the ribbon & rhinestones to your cake? I plan on doing the exact same thing to my wedding cake. Where did you get your ribbon & rhinestones from?

Did you bring any other added decorations on board?

You said you gave your guideline, do you still have that? I'm curious to know how to put mine together. That's all I have lol Thanks for your review!! Congrats again!!

COngrates!!! Lovely wedding good advice on the small children i will have someone take them right from secruity LOL

Congratulations!!! So glad it seemed that people picked up the things that needed to be taken care of for you, thats awesome!

Not sure if ive clicked something wrong but the link doesnt open for me for pics....wants me to login to an email account?

Congrats on Your wedding! You looked beautiful! I love the colors you chose and the songs you chose for your ceremony. I considered dancing to that "A Thousand Years" song, it's so beautiful! I cried when I heard the "Grow Old With You" song, that is from my favorite movie, Wedding Singer. It was a cute touch! Okay on to my questions.....

 

That's awful about your bridesmaid who left her passport. Was she able to get her money back for the cruise?

What photography package did you choose? Were you happy with the photographer?

Did you make your own bouquet?

What song did you dance your first dance to?

Who added the ribbon & rhinestones to your cake? I plan on doing the exact same thing to my wedding cake. Where did you get your ribbon & rhinestones from?

Did you bring any other added decorations on board?

You said you gave your guideline, do you still have that? I'm curious to know how to put mine together. That's all I have lol Thanks for your review!! Congrats again!!

The funniest part about the song from Wedding SInger was that everyone actually thought it was the ships captain on the PA system!

My bridesmaid did have insurance but I have no idea if she will get her money back. I'm guessing she will have to plead illness or something.

We chose the $750 package so we could get the CD with images. I was as happy as one can be with a Carnival photographer. He really tried & did a good job with what he had to work with... though I honestly would have preferred to have backgrounds other than the gold curtain etc... but that was the venue. Do I think he was worth $750? Probably not, but we didn't have an option & I'm generally happy with the pics themselves.

Yes, I made my own bouquet - as well as my bridesmaids purse bouquets, the boutonnieres & corsages, the pomanders in the ceremony, my shoes - lol we DIYed almost everything.

Our first dance was Kenny Chesney Me & You. He had made a photo/video to it for me a few years ago so it was really special to us.

I made & brought the ribbon/rhinestone banding & cake topper (we made that too with the airplane, he's a private pilot & flew out to meet me on our first date). I think the chef put everything on the cake. I ordered rhinestone banding from etsy & used e6000 to attach it to the 2" ribbon. Warning - the layers were bigger than they told me they would be, leave extra ribbon.

We had pomanders, an ipad guest book with a sign, rose petals, a full candy buffet with sign, paper airplanes. Everything for the ceremony & reception decor fit into 3 bins which we carried onboard.

I have the outline I'd be happy to share. It's actually our entire ceremony text. Send me an email cassandra _ cole @ hotmail dot com

Congratulations!!! So glad it seemed that people picked up the things that needed to be taken care of for you, thats awesome!

Not sure if ive clicked something wrong but the link doesnt open for me for pics....wants me to login to an email account?

Strange... I double checked it & you shouldn't have to log in... let me try posting the link again:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1UQ2zVyuPRhOWMyQl82Q3VrNGc&usp=sharing

The funniest part about the song from Wedding SInger was that everyone actually thought it was the ships captain on the PA system!

 

My bridesmaid did have insurance but I have no idea if she will get her money back. I'm guessing she will have to plead illness or something.

 

We chose the $750 package so we could get the CD with images. I was as happy as one can be with a Carnival photographer. He really tried & did a good job with what he had to work with... though I honestly would have preferred to have backgrounds other than the gold curtain etc... but that was the venue. Do I think he was worth $750? Probably not, but we didn't have an option & I'm generally happy with the pics themselves.

 

Yes, I made my own bouquet - as well as my bridesmaids purse bouquets, the boutonnieres & corsages, the pomanders in the ceremony, my shoes - lol we DIYed almost everything.

 

Our first dance was Kenny Chesney Me & You. He had made a photo/video to it for me a few years ago so it was really special to us.

 

I made & brought the ribbon/rhinestone banding & cake topper (we made that too with the airplane, he's a private pilot & flew out to meet me on our first date). I think the chef put everything on the cake. I ordered rhinestone banding from etsy & used e6000 to attach it to the 2" ribbon. Warning - the layers were bigger than they told me they would be, leave extra ribbon.

 

We had pomanders, an ipad guest book with a sign, rose petals, a full candy buffet with sign, paper airplanes. Everything for the ceremony & reception decor fit into 3 bins which we carried onboard.

 

I have the outline I'd be happy to share. It's actually our entire ceremony text. Send me an email cassandra _ cole @ hotmail dot com

 

 

 

Strange... I double checked it & you shouldn't have to log in... let me try posting the link again:

 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B1UQ2zVyuPRhOWMyQl82Q3VrNGc&usp=sharing

Okay I have more questions lol

Candy buffet?? Please say you have a picture of this?? I asked could I have a candy buffet and I was told no. :( What kind of candy did you have and how much candy did you have?

I noticed you had a 3 tier cake. Did you buy the extra tier or did you have over 50 guest?

I'm making my own bouquets also, how did you get the rhinestones inside the flowers?

Yeah!! Thank you thank you...the second link works!! Gorgeous pics, very pretty, love the colours!! Congratulations again and best wishes for many many happy years!!

Okay I have more questions lol

 

Candy buffet?? Please say you have a picture of this?? I asked could I have a candy buffet and I was told no. :( What kind of candy did you have and how much candy did you have?

 

I noticed you had a 3 tier cake. Did you buy the extra tier or did you have over 50 guest?

 

I'm making my own bouquets also, how did you get the rhinestones inside the flowers?

I made my own bouquets too. Hobby Lobby or I'm sure you can find them online has gems with wires that you can secure in your bouquet.

Okay I have more questions lol

 

Candy buffet?? Please say you have a picture of this?? I asked could I have a candy buffet and I was told no. :( What kind of candy did you have and how much candy did you have?

 

I noticed you had a 3 tier cake. Did you buy the extra tier or did you have over 50 guest?

 

I'm making my own bouquets also, how did you get the rhinestones inside the flowers?

My dad got pics of the candy buffet I hope he will send to me today. As soon as I get them I'll share. As for permission - I didn't ask, I just did. :p I told them I needed one table for my guest book & another for my favors. I had all the containers, candy bags for guests, decorations & unopened bulk candies in bins we carried onboard & I had my crew set it all up. I probably had 40+ lbs of candy for 60 guests... which was way too much. I ended up giving the leftovers to our cabin steward to share with the crew so I didn't have to carry it home. I also used plastic containers so they wouldn't break in transit & that I could leave behind onboard. Some I wrapped ribbon around, some I blinged out with rhinestones so they all tied together.

We had a 3 tier cake because we had 60 guests.

For my bouquet I wired rhinestone buttons that I got from an etsy supplier & wrapped the wires with floral tape to the same length as my stems, then wrapped the bouquet with those & flowers using more floral tape as if they were flowers. I also used some crystal boutonniere pins in the center of some of the roses for extra sparkle (just stuck em in) & then wrapped the handle with rhinestone band that was secured with velcro. I actually got the wrap from another bride on a 'bee' wedding forum.

Hope that helps!

I just noticed there is one photo in the link where you can see the candy buffet in the background. It's pic 10p203.jpg where my parents joined our first dance.

Thanks......I'm gonna just bring my candy on board and pray for the best lol

I'll be waiting on your pics of your candy station the image above didn't work.

My dad sent the pic he took so I resized & think I have it posted correctly here... if you cant see it well enough, I can email it to you.

Congratulations! Everything was beautiful. I hope you have a very blessed union!

Thank you so much for the review and all of the hints! Very helpful.

Can you tell me what kind of flowers you used and where you got them?

Everything was beautiful!:)

Beautiful pictures! Congratulations!!!

Thanks all!

The flowers I used were roses from michaels. If I remember correctly they were from the fall or winter collection because they started disappearing in spring. I would buy them every time a 40% coupon came out. I think stems were around $12 ea with 4 or 5 roses on each stem.

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Omgossssh I read this and looked at the pix and just KNEW i told you Thank You.. But I dont see it SOOOO Thank you for taking your time to give us all this info, pix, and Video.. VERY nice:D

Your wedding was absolutely fabulous!!!

ABsolutely beautiful