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Carnival Miracle Wedding Review

hunniebee724

By hunniebee724,
in Honeymoon & Wedding Cruises

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hunniebee724

hunniebee724

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We're back! Everything was amazing and we're sooo happy we decided to do a cruise wedding!

 

We thought most of our guests would be late (they usually are) so we told everyone to get to the port at 10:30 instead of 11, the time we were told to be there. To our surprise, we got there around 10:25 and almost all of our guests were already there waiting! We all had to wait for Aisha, the day of WC from A Wedding For You (NYC does not use The Wedding Experience), to get there before we could start boarding, but she told us she would get there at 11 so we hung out with our guests until then. Well, at 11 am, she still hadn't arrived so Carnival brought us through to priority boarding. Aisha met us about 10 minutes later.

 

Day-Of WC from A Wedding for You - C

 

She did help things run smoothly, I guess, but I suspect it was more the Shipboard coordinator, Alexandra, than Aisha. I had several guests comment on her attitude after she left and she is standing with her arms crossed looking like it's torture for her to be there in our wedding video. I didn't realize this at the time or I wouldn't have given her a tip.

 

Shipboard Coordinator, Alexandra - A++++

 

Alexandra was fabulous! She really took care of us. She made sure we all had whatever food and drinks we wanted, took the time to talk to each one of my guests and really get to know all of us. One of my guests stepped on the back of my dress and my bustle broke and she was right there with a safety pin to fix it. She came to visit us at dinner every night and kept us informed on all the things going on around the ship. It was like she was part of our family by the end of the trip, and we miss her already!

 

Photographer, Albert - A+

 

Albert was awesome! Our pictures look like they came out of a magazine! He sent us a postcard invitation to come look at the rest of the pictures, and at the top of it was one of our pictures. It took us a few minutes to realize it was us...that's how good the pictures came out! We thought some of the positions he had us in were awkward and uncomfortable, but he knows exactly what he's doing!

 

Videographer, Vlad - A

 

At first we weren't going to do the video, but we are so glad we decided to get it. Everything goes by so quickly, so it's nice to have the memories on dvd.

 

Ceremony in the City Room, A+

 

We sent a ceremony script to A Wedding for You about 2 weeks before the wedding, so the officiant already knew what wanted. We did have a few minutes to meet with her individually before the ceremony to sign the marriage license and speak with her briefly. She was such a sweet woman, and she really gave us a beautiful ceremony. We chose 2 readings and did the unity candle ceremony. Everything was perfect. We stayed back a few minutes to take bridal party and family pictures, while the rest of our guests went to the reception.

 

Reception in Frankenstein's Lab, A+

 

Even though there's a huge Frankenstein in the room, it didn't take away from the atmosphere. The cake was on the opposite side of the room, and the food was on the back wall, so most of our pictures don't have the Frankenstein in it. We have a few with his feet, but it's all part of our unique wedding! The food was delicious, and the cake was the best cake we've ever had! As soon as we walked in to the reception, we were announced and went right into our first dance. We then did the father/daughter and mother/son dances. We did the cake cutting and champagne toast next. We had the DJ choose the music for the cake cutting, garter toss and bouquet toss. He did a great job with the choice of music, and even took requests. Our guests commented that it was the best wedding they had ever been to.

 

If you'd like to see pics, let me know your e-mail and I'll be happy to share!

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hunniebee724

hunniebee724

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It was like a dream! Everyone on the ship was congratulating us and saying "There's the bride and groom!" as we passed by. I had planned on staying in my dress until dinner, but we had the 8:15 dinner and I just couldn't do it. I was too hot and my hubby's feet were killing him so we both ended up changing before dinner. People still recognized us for a few days after and were saying "HEY! It's the newlyweds!" We had cake left over so our waiters brought it to us that night and sang Happy Honeymoon to us.

 

We tipped Aisha, Alexandra, Annie (the officiant) and the DJ $20 each. Alexandra was such a great hostess that some of my family members gave her additional tips at the end of the cruise...I'm not sure how much they gave her though. We gave Alexandra an envelope with $30 in it for the waitstaff. She said she would divide it up for them. I think there were 3 waiters/bartenders. We gave Albert $50 and Vlad $40.

 

I will e-mail you now. I bet you're soooo excited! The week leading up to the wedding was sooo hard for me...I just couldn't take it...I wanted it to be the day already lol!

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tricy99

tricy99

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It was like a dream! Everyone on the ship was congratulating us and saying "There's the bride and groom!" as we passed by. I had planned on staying in my dress until dinner, but we had the 8:15 dinner and I just couldn't do it. I was too hot and my hubby's feet were killing him so we both ended up changing before dinner. People still recognized us for a few days after and were saying "HEY! It's the newlyweds!" We had cake left over so our waiters brought it to us that night and sang Happy Honeymoon to us.

 

We tipped Aisha, Alexandra, Annie (the officiant) and the DJ $20 each. Alexandra was such a great hostess that some of my family members gave her additional tips at the end of the cruise...I'm not sure how much they gave her though. We gave Alexandra an envelope with $30 in it for the waitstaff. She said she would divide it up for them. I think there were 3 waiters/bartenders. We gave Albert $50 and Vlad $40.

 

I will e-mail you now. I bet you're soooo excited! The week leading up to the wedding was sooo hard for me...I just couldn't take it...I wanted it to be the day already lol!

 

Hey Hunnibee, I am so glad to hear things went great for you as well. Please email me tricy99@yahoo.com. Congrats

 

btw, the cake was amazing!

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AmyD102

AmyD102

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I am soo excited i have all my clothes and everything set aside and organized i just need to put it all in the suitcase! I'm going to make my envelopes for the tipping so i don't forget, i feel like i've made a ton of lists!!

 

It makes me feel so much better that you had an awesome day and your pictures were BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait :)

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heatherandfred

heatherandfred

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We're back! Everything was amazing and we're sooo happy we decided to do a cruise wedding!

 

We thought most of our guests would be late (they usually are) so we told everyone to get to the port at 10:30 instead of 11, the time we were told to be there. To our surprise, we got there around 10:25 and almost all of our guests were already there waiting! We all had to wait for Aisha, the day of WC from A Wedding For You (NYC does not use The Wedding Experience), to get there before we could start boarding, but she told us she would get there at 11 so we hung out with our guests until then. Well, at 11 am, she still hadn't arrived so Carnival brought us through to priority boarding. Aisha met us about 10 minutes later.

 

Day-Of WC from A Wedding for You - C

 

She did help things run smoothly, I guess, but I suspect it was more the Shipboard coordinator, Alexandra, than Aisha. I had several guests comment on her attitude after she left and she is standing with her arms crossed looking like it's torture for her to be there in our wedding video. I didn't realize this at the time or I wouldn't have given her a tip.

 

Shipboard Coordinator, Alexandra - A++++

 

Alexandra was fabulous! She really took care of us. She made sure we all had whatever food and drinks we wanted, took the time to talk to each one of my guests and really get to know all of us. One of my guests stepped on the back of my dress and my bustle broke and she was right there with a safety pin to fix it. She came to visit us at dinner every night and kept us informed on all the things going on around the ship. It was like she was part of our family by the end of the trip, and we miss her already!

 

Photographer, Albert - A+

 

Albert was awesome! Our pictures look like they came out of a magazine! He sent us a postcard invitation to come look at the rest of the pictures, and at the top of it was one of our pictures. It took us a few minutes to realize it was us...that's how good the pictures came out! We thought some of the positions he had us in were awkward and uncomfortable, but he knows exactly what he's doing!

 

Videographer, Vlad - A

 

At first we weren't going to do the video, but we are so glad we decided to get it. Everything goes by so quickly, so it's nice to have the memories on dvd.

 

Ceremony in the City Room, A+

 

We sent a ceremony script to A Wedding for You about 2 weeks before the wedding, so the officiant already knew what wanted. We did have a few minutes to meet with her individually before the ceremony to sign the marriage license and speak with her briefly. She was such a sweet woman, and she really gave us a beautiful ceremony. We chose 2 readings and did the unity candle ceremony. Everything was perfect. We stayed back a few minutes to take bridal party and family pictures, while the rest of our guests went to the reception.

 

Reception in Frankenstein's Lab, A+

 

Even though there's a huge Frankenstein in the room, it didn't take away from the atmosphere. The cake was on the opposite side of the room, and the food was on the back wall, so most of our pictures don't have the Frankenstein in it. We have a few with his feet, but it's all part of our unique wedding! The food was delicious, and the cake was the best cake we've ever had! As soon as we walked in to the reception, we were announced and went right into our first dance. We then did the father/daughter and mother/son dances. We did the cake cutting and champagne toast next. We had the DJ choose the music for the cake cutting, garter toss and bouquet toss. He did a great job with the choice of music, and even took requests. Our guests commented that it was the best wedding they had ever been to.

 

If you'd like to see pics, let me know your e-mail and I'll be happy to share!

 

I'm glad you had a good time. I remember seeing Albert around, he was nice. I love Alexandra, she is so bubbly and nice.

 

BTW, Aisha, was late for us too :rolleyes:

 

I hope that the ports were great for you guys. Let's see some pics, post post post! I hope you were able to get pics in Gatsby's Garden!

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hunniebee724

hunniebee724

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I am soo excited i have all my clothes and everything set aside and organized i just need to put it all in the suitcase! I'm going to make my envelopes for the tipping so i don't forget, i feel like i've made a ton of lists!!

 

It makes me feel so much better that you had an awesome day and your pictures were BEAUTIFUL! Can't wait :)

 

Have a wonderful dream wedding tomorrow! Tell Alexandra hello from Melissa, Robby and our families!

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hunniebee724

hunniebee724

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Congrats! I am courious on how much the photos were to purchase? My package only came with video pricing. What did you get and would you have changed anything?

Also Did you upgrade your flowers??

 

We paid $999...we got a cd with all the images we purchased, a dvd slideshow, 30 8x10's and I think 40 5x7's. You should have a paper with photography pricing...if you didn't get it, ask your WC. We negotiated the package because the one we chose included more 8x10's and less 5x7's but we wanted more 5x7's and less 8x10's so the photographer worked with us. I think the packages start around $500 and go up to 4 or 5 thousand....they don't give you the most expensive options in the package they send you. Our photographer showed us them on the ship and they included an album. It wasn't in our budget to spend more than $1,000 though.

 

I didn't upgrade my flowers. I used silk bouquets from ebay so I could keep my bouquet. This is the seller I used: http://stores.ebay.com/Yesss-i-do-weddings

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hunniebee724

hunniebee724

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Wow the flowers are so nice on that Ebay site? Did they look real and did you like what you got? I just cant justify buying real when you cant take them with.

 

I got the red and white daisy bouquet, and they came out really nice. They weren't real touch bouquets so they didn't look real, but they were pretty. They gave me the bouquet that came with the package even though I didn't need it. They put it in a nice vase and had it in our cabin for us. I paid around $170 for all of these including the shipping.

 

DSC00871-1.jpg

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