Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas Wedding

I hope that I can do an awesome job like past brides have done because the information they provided was so beneficial to my planning. So here I go with my review.

We decided to do a cruise wedding in April, 2013. After researching cruises, we decided on Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas for June 1, 2014. Our families had a lot of reservations about Carnival because of all the bad press they were getting in the news. There were a lot of cruising newbies so the media really played into those fears. Also, I wanted to do an embarkation day wedding. We had people who wanted to attend but could not cruise, and I had no desire to have the wedding looming over my head during the cruise. I wanted the wedding finished so I could enjoy my honeymoon. We had 21 people cruising with us, and 41 people total attended the wedding. We chose the Paradise Shipboard package, and we did the 1 hour buffet luncheon for a reception.

Friday, May 30, 2014 - We left home to travel by car to Port Canaveral, FL. We drove two cars because I had to drive my mother and brother, and we needed two cars because of all the stuff we were bringing. We had the following boxes and bags of stuff:

1. Out of Town Bags

2. Welcome Dinner Table Centerpieces / Decorations

3. Wedding Clothes

4. 3 Suitcases, Overnight Bag, and Hanging Garment Bag

We brought everything but the kitchen sink. It took us about 9 hours to do the drive so by the time we arrived at the hotel, we were ready to relax! We stayed at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Port Canaveral, FL. These people were so pleasant and accommodating. When we arrived, they told us they had upgraded our room to a suite. That was a blessing because of all the stuff we had to do and put together. They also upgraded my man of honor's room to a suite, and we ended up doing hair and make up in his room. It was a great place to relax. The Radisson was also a great choice because the Orlando airport is about a 45 minute drive from the hotel. We had to pick people up from the airport so it was a straight shot from the hotel to the airport. VERY EASY DRIVE!

Attached are pictures of the OOT bags we gave to our cruising guests. Included was a bag that we got embroidered with our wedding date/date of cruise. We did not want to throw our name on everything because I don't like having a whole bunch of stuff with other people's names on it. In the bag, we put the following items:

1. Embroidered blankets. We saw people using them during movies on the big screen by the pool. Our colors were gray and pink. I ordered gray fleece from a fabric company, and his mother and sister made the blankets. We took the blankets to a friend who did a fabulous job with embroidering them.

2. Clorox Wipes

3. Lanyards to hold sea passes

4. First Aid Kit

5. Motrin

6. Emergen-C (for hangovers)

7. Walmart Brand Motion Sickness Pills (8 pills to a box for about $2 per box)

8. Airborne

9. Pocket pack of Tissues

10. Hand Sanitizer

11. Sunscreen

12. Tums

13. Clothes Pins (was very handy when I needed to hang bathing suit off the chair on my balcony and clip my towel to my chair by the pool)

14. Shout Wipes

15. Highlighter for planning with the compass each night

16. Information packet which included - Letter from my husband and I, picture page of each person attending the cruise with their name and how we know them, and a wedding day timeline.

I will continue later. Hope this information helps because I stole so many ideas from previous brides!

Lovely bags and fillers :)

Thank you! I forgot to add that we got each one of our sailing guests a t-shirt. I'll try to find a picture of them if I can.

So after the craziness of traveling to Port Canaveral, I was looking to a semi calm Saturday of spending time with friends around the pool and just relaxing. It kind of happened.

My Man of Honor and I went to get pedicures. Not knowing the area and just wanting to stay close, we went to Image Nails and Spa. The people were nice, but my nails were not good. I decided on a pink nail polish for my toes and a french for my hands. The white in the french had bubbles, and the pink was not applied well. I'd find somewhere else to go.

After nails were finished, we went back to the hotel. We worked on the small centerpieces for the welcome dinner that night. We made CDs of some of our wedding music to give to all our guests. Also, we thought they might enjoy the music on their way home after the wedding on Sunday. In addition to the CDs, my husband's aunt made some very cute mint favors. Originally intended for a wedding, we used them at the Welcome Dinner because we couldn't bring food on the boat. Besides the small table centerpieces, we also brought a good bit of chocolate after Valentines Day. We scattered the candy to help decorate the table. They turned out nice.

We used the hotel's catering to do the Welcome Dinner. We planned a "cookout" next to the pool. They did a wonderful job with the food. BBQ chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, fixings, and different salads for sides...it was really good. They also had watermelon and an apple crumble dessert. We were very pleased with the welcome dinner. After the dinner, we delivered the bags to our sailing guests so they could pack it in their suitcases for the next day. Finally, we got to spend time by the pool with our guests. It was a great way to relax for a few moments with the people we care most about.

That evening, I spent time steaming my dress with close friends. It was a special time. My husband did a wonderful job of making sure that we had the car packed with stuff that we would not need for the cruise and finalizing the packing for the next day. It was a late evening, and I knew that 6 am was going to come early when the hairdresser would show up. I'll get more into the check in fiasco of the next day.

I've attached a picture of the mint favors and the small table centerpieces. Looking forward to talking about our wedding day!

How exciting!!! your Bags look wonderful and your center pieces are lovely! cant wait to hear more. Thank you for sharing!!!

Thanks for sharing so far! My fiance and I are getting married aboard the Freedom this December as well. Would you happen to have any tips or advice? How was the lunch reception?

:)Thank you!

Looks fantastic

Love the bags

Can't wait for the rest of your review

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