maychild20

Here's my lengthy cruise wedding review, along w/ info and pics about my cake (and what my cake was SUPPOSED to look like...lol): http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1898251

Probably won't be much help, but again, as my review states, just be ready to accept whatever "comes out" as being your cake. LOL

I agree with most of what was said already. Keep the Carnival photographer b/c his services are part of the Carnival wedding package anyway. You can decide later if you like his photos enough to purchase.

I was nervous about what the quality of my assigned photographer's photos would be. Most brides get to select and interview their own photographers and look at their portfolio beforehand, Cruise brides are stuck with whoever they get assigned.

In lieu of Carnival's videography services, I opted to rent the standard 5-ipod cameras from WedIt and asked my guests to photograph and take video of different parts of the ceremony. I paid for 2 weeks of rental b/c of my unique situation and it came out to be less than half of what Carnival was charging for videography. I have yet to get the downloadable footage from all the Wedit cameras, but we were able to look at the pics/video on each ipod during the week. We also had so much extra space on each of them, that my guests were able to hold onto it and photograph their trip and essentially what was our honeymoon. :)

Back to the Carnival photography, I was genuinely surprised at the quality of the photos we had to choose from. I was disappointed that I didn't have many of those fun "bridal party" shots that "normal" brides get, but such is life. We ran behind on getting ready so he didn't get much of me with my bridesmaids, if any. My groom and his groomsmen had some really nice ones though.

We ended up electing to purchase the coffee table book that the photographer prepared for us. It was $1600. WAY TOO MUCH $$$$, but we figured: this wedding is a one-time-thing for both of us (we hope!! hah!) and we were gifted a lot of money to be used for something just like this, anyway. Since we also closed on our first house on the same day of our wedding (woohoo!!), we thought it would be nice to have in our living room to share with guests.

To sum up: don't discount Carnival's photography. But be prepared. Prices are outrageous and ridiculous. :(

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

Ditto on what everyone has said! You look stunning in that dress - the beading is absolutely beautiful, and your head wrap is gorgeous! Congratulations to the two of you!

Ohhhhh, I see what you mean. How awful. I'm so sorry that had to happen. Thanks for the warning!!!

I've heard that folks have had trouble with their post-wedding ceremony sand shifting around in the vase b/c it wasn't tightly sealed or it was unintentionally laid down, etc.

Even though it's not the same as from the ceremony, I would just buy the same sand again and re-fill it (together) at home to make it look just as nice.

NOPE! Not sure at all! Haha! They very well could have!

One of the things I am concerned about is relying too much on guest videos and pictures. I've read (and seen) that the lighting on these ships sometimes isn't the greatest, and photography can come out sort of orange-hued. Since the photographers and videographers are used to filming aboard the ship and have proper equipment, they don't come out strangely.

That being said - I didn't think to ask anyone to film via iPad just in case. Genius! I will have to take that idea and designate someone to catch what they can on camera!

Bought a kit with the decanter and they had enough colours of sand we could all pick one out that we liked and went together well. Just make sure you carry it on carry on if your flying,don't pack it in your checked luggage!! Just a word of advice.

Jaxie - why do you highly recommend that the sand ceremony kit is brought in your carry-on luggage? I am reserving that space for my wedding dress, shoes and accessories, and a change of clothes "just in case" the airlines loses our stuff! Or are you referring to embarkation-day weddings and keeping the sand ceremony kit with you while boarding the ship?

This looks like another video that Carnival might have put together - it's a little more elegant than the other one listed above, w/out any interviews.

This gives me a little hope that the video (at it's hefty price!) might not be so bad after all!

Thank you SO MUCH for posting this detailed review. I will be getting married on the Breeze on July 30th and only made the decision to do so just 4 months prior. We found out my fiance will be deploying to the Middle East in September, so we basically decided so quickly to do a cruise wedding with our nearest and dearest (i.e. the people who would be willing to spend the $$$ and time to join us - LOL)

This review has helped me understand the ship better and thus help me with my planning so much! :p