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2019 Brides!!


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Hello everyone,

 

This is my first post on the boards and I am SO EXCITED!! I learned so much from the 2016, 2017, and 2018 bride threads so I figure, why not start a 2019 wedding thread?

 

:D:D:D:D

I'm officially getting married on embarkation day the Allure of the Seas in June 2019! We're going to St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and Nassau! I know that it's over a year away but I can't wait to start planning! So far we sent out invitations to give our guests a "heads up" in case they want to join us for the cruise. What have you started planning and what are you most excited for?

 

I can't wait to start chatting with all of you about your wedding plans!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are looking at Carnival Esctasy for April 2019! Cruise was already booked then we got engaged! 2nd time for us both so we want nice but doesnt have to be over the top! Im a little nervous about doing it all thru email. I'd appreciate any help and ideas or comments from whos already done this!

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Hi! I’m also a 2019 bride! We also booked our cruise prior to engagement since we knew this was what we wanted to do. We embark from Barcelona Spain Aug 2019 on the Norwegian Epic. We are doing an at sea wedding on the second sea day, booked at 12pm in the Manhattan room! We have 48 guests booked, as I wanted to make sure they had at least one full year to pay off their cruise fare. So far working with Royal Ocean Events has been wonderful! We also have a cruise consultant who has been great in booking all my guests. I plan on sending save the dates in a few months with all cruise information and the cruise consultants number this way if our guests have any inquiries they can directly contact him. So far it’s been fun and easy planning!

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That all sounds so exciting!! So far we've been in contact with our coordinator Joanna who has been AMAZING and answers all of my questions within a day or two. We're set on having a DJ for our reception and will likely pay to keep the photographer for longer than the hour included in our package.

 

The waiting is the worst part! I feel like it's a lot of nothing to do for a long time :(:(:(

 

What are you all planning in the meantime?

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I'm officially getting married on embarkation day the Allure of the Seas in June 2019! We're going to St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and Nassau! I know that it's over a year away but I can't wait to start planning!

 

I'm pretty sure we will be getting married on the same cruise!! (The dates and itinerary seem to match up!) We were going to do embarkation day on Allure in June of 2019, but they told us it was already booked. So instead we are doing the second day of the cruise! (Sea Day) In Dazzles!!! SO EXCITED!!

 

Can't wait to follow along as you plan yours! (I might even get a few ideas!) ;p

 

Congrats on the big day!!

 

~Matt (Yes, I know I'm not a bride... But still!)

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I've been looking forward to the possibility of hosting our wedding on a RCCL ship for a while, but after reading all of the reviews I've started to have some uneasy feelings. We were really contemplating just doing our wedding through a 3rd party on a port day in Nassau, but we ended up decided on going with RCCL for May of 2019 as my fiancé and I are avid sailers and love the idea of getting a Maritime Marriage License and getting married by the captain. I've spoken with Royal Ocean Events a few times over the past couple of weeks- they never seem to really know what's going on. Called today to bite the bullet and get the ball rolling, I was even under the impression that I was FINALLY speaking to someone that actually knew what they were doing. And then they sent the contract, informing me they were holding the date of Sept 21, 2018 (not the date we discussed on the phone) for 72 hours while they wait to receive the contract and payment information. Should I be worried if they can even handle a wedding? I'm actually a wedding coordinator myself for a very large resort- I couldn't imagine making a mistake of booking the wrong date... now I'm worried what else they're going to mess up!!

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... Should I be worried if they can even handle a wedding?

 

Yikes!! :o:o:o

 

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. We have had nothing but a GREAT experience with them. I'm sure they can handle a wedding no problem. I mean, they wouldn't really still be in business if they couldn't. Hoping your experience improves for you!!!

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Oh my goodness I can't believe I'm posting this!! My boyfriend has yet to propose, but we have been talking about getting married on a cruise to Alaska in August/September 2019. But seeing all your posts, I'm kind of freaked out that we are not even booked on a cruise yet. Should I be worried, should we hurry up and book the cruise at least?

One of the reasons we want to get married on a cruise ship is because we don't want it to be too huge a deal.

Thank you to everyone who posts here, your experience (and your questions) are super helpful! <3 <3

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Oh my goodness I can't believe I'm posting this!! My boyfriend has yet to propose, but we have been talking about getting married on a cruise to Alaska in August/September 2019. But seeing all your posts, I'm kind of freaked out that we are not even booked on a cruise yet. Should I be worried, should we hurry up and book the cruise at least?

One of the reasons we want to get married on a cruise ship is because we don't want it to be too huge a deal.

Thank you to everyone who posts here, your experience (and your questions) are super helpful! <3 <3

 

I'd say he needs to propose, and you need to get the cruise booked! I wouldn't be so afraid of getting married on a cruise ship. I think it's like anything in life. You ask 100 people the same question you're going to get 400 different answers. You just got to do what's best for you all!! Best of luck, and let us know how it turns out! :)

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Thanks DisneyMatt10! I will absolutely share our progress -- I am SO grateful for the space to be able to do that!

 

I've cruised about 7-8 times at this point and my boyfriend has yet to cruise at all. He's always wanted to go to Alaska and I have, too -- so it's the perfect cruise for us to get married on. Not afraid at all!! Just new and only just beginning to talk wedding plans!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi!

 

I am also getting married in 2019. We decided to get married on the Carnival Victory traveling from Miami to The Bahamas over Thanksgiving week in November 2019. We really wanted it to be easier for everyone to get time off. Since Hanukkah falls around Christmas in 2019 we thought Thanksgiving would be the best choice. We have been spending Thanksgiving on the East Coast since we got engaged in 2016 anyway. We liked the inclusive package that Carnival had just released. I looked into their packages in 2016 when we first got engaged. We thought their new packages with open bar were well priced. We are still trying to figure out what the additional per person cost is as we blew through our first 20 people with our immediate family already. We are planning for about $40-$50/pp additional. Which still isn't bad for open bar.

 

We plan to get married the second day while at sea. We didn't want our families and friends to miss out on the port days, even for two hours. Plus I think we might extend our reception time even though it is ridiculously expensive to get another half an hour. We thought we would have less people interested in going because of the time of year but everyone seems super excited. We decided to send our save the dates in May because we noticed the cruise we had chosen was booking quickly. In retrospect we could have waited until November 2018. Of course with my future sister-in-law already telling all of our friends what the plan was it didn't make sense to wait.

 

We are booked for our cruise and our immediate family members who plan to attend are booked. I sent an email out in advance of sending save the dates to make sure our family was able to get the group rate. Our friends are starting to book now.

 

I am just going through the paperwork and all the do's and don'ts because we have plenty of time to plan. I am trying to stop myself from buying items for the out of town bags. It is really too early to know who all will be able to come in the end. It is over a year away. I don't want to find something really cool and buy a certain amount and then need more later. What if they aren't available later. I also don't want to buy one hundred pieces of an item just to make sure I will have it. I only have so much space at home. hahaha

 

It does suck that getting married at sea on Carnival you can't have the DJ. I did find some decent mash up list generators of the type of music we like. It's says for an hour reception you need 20 songs. We plan to do about 10-15 classics or songs that we absolutely love and leave space for 5-10 hits as i'm sure they will be different in 2019.

 

Other than that I have't planned anything else except our actual Invitations. Trying to find some pictures of the most likeliest place that our wedding and reception could be held so I can plan if I want to bring anything for the spaces. Also gathering all my questions as they come to ask our Coordinator. I was hoping to tour the boat when I took a different cruise in Sept 2018 but that trip just got cancelled. At this point our wedding cruise will be the first time I see anything in person so we shall see.

 

We are also thinking of extending our trip after the cruise wedding just for a couple of days just for us.

 

The things that I am worried about i'm trying to plan for now. Such as getting my hair done. I'll probably have to put it in braids. Getting my make up done. I did a trial run with my sister and niece for our engagement pictures and I know they can handle it for sure. Getting the guest to wear the color requested by telling everyone word of mouth. Getting people to look at the wedding website before texting me questions. Simple things...

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I would love to book a cruise wedding, but I am a wedding photographer. I cannot image using a photographer that I have not seen their work. I have seen good and bad cruise wedding photos. It's very important to me. Carnival has told me I cannot bring my own photographer, I've seen several reports of them shutting guests down from taking pictures. Royal Caribbean was my next hope, they told me I had to pay $1000 to not use their photographer. I ended the call, I was so discouraged. Can anyone share their experiences or galleries from past brides or a recommendation for a cruise that let's you bring your own photographer? Thank you!

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We are getting married 12/8/19 on the carnival pride. It’s going to be so much fun. I will be honest I have say the dates but haven’t addressed the labels I might be procrastinating. We also have started collecting for welcome bags. And as long as I don’t end up in beauty lounge (they said I shouldn't) everything will be great I hope .

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My fiancé and I chose the Carnival Horizon sailing on 12/8/19 and we are marrying on Grand Cayman. I am still figuring out if we will be doing one of the larger packages or the intimate package because we don’t know how many are coming yet. I have sent out save the dates and am now just waiting for people to reserve their rooms.

 

I am mostly excited about how much fun I know we’re all going to have (nearly half of our intended guests would be first time cruisers) We (FH and I) love cruising and I know people are going to have a ton of fun! We are also staying on for our honeymoon (my first b2b!![emoji924]) so I suppose that’s a bright spot as well!

 

I have started to look into welcome bags but of course I am realizing they are going to be 100% diy since I am particular [emoji854] I made my Save the Dates and all by hand because I wanted them to come out a certain way. I have yet to start dress shopping but I have time...

 

Anyways, congrats to you ladies! I can’t wait to see some of your inspirations!

 

694733991a385aa438b59981a462f70d.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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We got our contract back and are all official as of last week :D Going to try and sneak in one more cruise this year to check out Miami and what the port is like and all :)

 

SO EXCITE. :) Our Save The Dates go out this week and invites in July. :)

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That all sounds so exciting!! So far we've been in contact with our coordinator Joanna who has been AMAZING and answers all of my questions within a day or two. We're set on having a DJ for our reception and will likely pay to keep the photographer for longer than the hour included in our package.

 

The waiting is the worst part! I feel like it's a lot of nothing to do for a long time :(:(:(

 

What are you all planning in the meantime?

 

 

I feel ya on the waiting part! We're getting married in February 2019 on Norwegian Bliss. I've been taking my time planing and doing little things.

 

Coming up with a hashtag

 

Finding a wedding gown

 

Finding dresses for the rest of the week.

 

Research on how to safely transport my gown

 

Booking excursions

 

Finding shoes

 

Bridesmaid's dress shopping

 

Groom/best man suit shopping

 

Picking music

 

Made a Facebook page and post something weekly. From random ship information to a cruising video on YouTube.

 

Learning how to apply makeup because they do not do it on my ship.

 

Taking dance lessons

 

The list goes on! :*

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Question and I haven't had a chance to search through the threads for what other brides have said/done...

 

Does anyone plan on setting aside a tip for their servers, bartender or wedding coordinator for their cruise wedding? I know with cruising you pay a flat fee for tips but that is just for the room steward right? I just had a thought that I need to be adding in that extra cost as well. What are your thoughts?

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Question and I haven't had a chance to search through the threads for what other brides have said/done...

 

Does anyone plan on setting aside a tip for their servers, bartender or wedding coordinator for their cruise wedding? I know with cruising you pay a flat fee for tips but that is just for the room steward right? I just had a thought that I need to be adding in that extra cost as well. What are your thoughts?

 

 

I plan on setting aside a tip but I'm not sure how much is appropriate yet! I feel like tips are something that is super subjective and is whatever you feel comfortable giving for the service you received. I looked it up on google and got that you "should" tip approximately 10-15% of your final bill to your bartenders to split between them, $10-20 per person for waitstaff, and around $200 for a wedding coordinator. This the site I found the information from: https://www.brides.com/story/complete-list-wedding-vendors-gratuity-tip-how-much

I hope that helps!

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I plan on setting aside a tip but I'm not sure how much is appropriate yet! I feel like tips are something that is super subjective and is whatever you feel comfortable giving for the service you received. I looked it up on google and got that you "should" tip approximately 10-15% of your final bill to your bartenders to split between them, $10-20 per person for waitstaff, and around $200 for a wedding coordinator. This the site I found the information from: https://www.brides.com/story/complete-list-wedding-vendors-gratuity-tip-how-much

I hope that helps!

 

Thanks it does help. That was my next question. If I do decide to tip everyone what should be my starting amount to gather the percentage of tip I want to give. It makes sense to tip based on the final bill. I will also have to wait to see if anyone deserves less or even more based on their performance. I always tip 20% in restaurants. The service has to be seriously lacking for me to give less than 20%. I just hope the day doesn't go so fast that I have to track people down later to tip them after the wedding.

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Hey beautiful brides!

 

My honey and I are getting married on the Harmony of the Seas, May 26th 2019!!! It is embarkation day. So far everything with ROE, has been good and I hope it stays that way.

 

I am so excited, my family has cruised about two- three times a year since I was six. Now, I never imagined getting married on a cruise, In fact swore up and down I never would!

 

Well....Two years ago I was on our annual Christmas cruise on the Oasis and I happened to spot a hot guy on the flow-rider....I later meet him along with what would later become a good group of friends at the bar. Turned out he lived an hour away from my home town, that I was just moving back too. We got off the ship and since we met, we haven't really been apart .

 

We first went toward a traditional wedding in our state. But, real traditional wedding planning stressed me out and we wanted a couple of things we felt the traditional way we were going was not for us. 1. no barn wedding 2. Our close friends 3. party all nigh 4. Not go over budget. So we went the cruise route and the more I think of it, it is great! Plus it is on memorial weekend many of our family already plan to take a vacation and we have many friends and family already booked. So, it worked out.

 

So instead of getting married in a barn, its on similar ship that we met on! Our close friends are staying all week and we can party all week with our friends and family. Oh, and the cost did not even touch my intended budget. So, I saved some money! :D

 

I love seeing everyones replies it makes me so excited for everyone!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Fellow Cruise Brides :)

 

We just confirmed Sept. 29th, 2019 on the Royal Princess. We're doing a Harborside wedding in LA on embarkation day so we can have some family & friends who aren't sailing come on board for the ceremony (we live about 30 minutes from the pier).

 

My fiance proposed on the Coral Princess on our May cruise, so I love that he agreed to do our ceremony on a ship!

 

@Sightseer22 I LOVE your Save the Dates :hearteyes:. They are so cute!

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