Our Paradise 04/05/2011 wedding review!!

[heatherkristin]

I was just married on Tuesday, April 5th aboard the Carnival Paradise April 4-8, 2011 and wanted to share my experiences with everyone. :D

 

Our wedding was completely perfect. Between Carnival’s coordinator, TWE’s, and our photographer, I could not have asked for anything more. We have absolutely no complaints.

 

Backstory

My husband and I were engaged aboard this ship in 2009. It was for this reason that we decided to get married on the very same ship. We chose the Deluxe Romance package, and booked it to be married aboard the ship while it was at Catalina Island. Our package was paid for February 2010, and we set to planning.

 

Our wedding day, Tuesday April 5th, also happened to be one of my bridesmaid’s birthdays. Not wanting her to feel like we had completely stolen her thunder for the day, we had requested a separate table with the chocolate ‘Happy Birthday’ cake from the Bon Voyage department is set up for her during our reception.

 

Honestly, I almost paid for another cabin to bring my photographer friends aboard the cruise with us. I was extremely worried about the photography. I have had some awkward pictures come out of the photographers on the ship and felt very wary about letting this up to chance. Alas, I did not have enough money to pay for my friends to come, so I had to hope for the best. =\

 

I had gotten notification from The Wedding Experience that my wedding would take place at the following locations on 04/05/11:

 

Ceremony: Leonardo Lounge, 1pm

Reception: Rex Dance Club, 1:30pm

 

The Cruise

 

On Monday afternoon, as soon as boarding the ship for the first time, and being allowed to our staterooms, we already had a letter waiting for us. It was from Keith Bunton, the hotel director for the ship:

 

On behalf of Carnival Cruise Lines, we thank you for choosing the Carnival Paradise as your destination for your Wedding and Honeymoon.

 

We know you have a lot of choices and we are honored with the opportunity to play an intricate part of your special day. Our team will do our best to make your “Fun Ship” experience a special and memorable one.

 

Our Wedding Hostess Sarka will be contacting you upon your arrival on board to confirm all arrangements. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sarka through the Guest Services Desk by dialing #7777.

 

In the mean time I would like to take this opportunity and welcome you on board and if I can be of any assistance during your cruise please, don’t hesitate to contact me through the Guest Services Desk by dialing #7777.

 

That evening, at our first dinner in the Elation dining room, Sarka found Christopher and I and introduced herself. She went over all the arrangements that had been planned, and advised me that the minister and the coordinator for TWE will be boarding tomorrow in Catalina Island specifically for the wedding. She also explained that they will come to my stateroom 10 minutes before 1pm to be ready, and will walk me, my parents and bridal party to the ceremony site.

 

Tuesday—Wedding Day

 

On Tuesday, we woke up and went to Catalina for a few hours. I had requested that my 2 bridesmaids meet in my stateroom at 11am, and the groomsdudes meet in the best man’s stateroom to begin the glamification process.

 

I started getting ready a little earlier than 11, as I didn’t want to stress being there is only one f*$#n outlet in the stateroom. My bridesmaids showed up and together we put the finishing touches on our look for the wedding. At around noon, I had a knock on my cabin door. It was Nicole, from TWE, and Mr. Nixon, our minister. We introduced ourselves, and went over everything. Nicole asked if I had any special requests, and explained I did not. I handed her one of my (three) copies of the CD which included the following songs:

 

“Bittersweet Symphony” Instrumental Version—Processional for my bridal party and me

“I Believe in a Thing Called Love”**The Darkness—The recessional

“Teenage Dream”**Katy Perry—Introduction of Mr. & Mrs. to the reception

“I Cross My Heart”**George Strait—First dance

“Twist and Shout”**The Beatles—Mother/Son and Father/Daughter dance

 

She also took my guestbook, which I had created with our engagement pictures through MyPublisher, and our pens to set up at the reception area. She explained that she will be back with Sarka and the photographer about 10 minutes before the ceremony, and would walk us up.

 

Mr. Nixon had me sign a couple legal marriage license things, and I also paid him to send in for a certified copy of our marriage license.

 

My bridal party, parents, and myself finished getting ready; and right on time, Sarka, Nicole and Patrick, the photographer showed up. Patrick immediately began shooting. As soon as we were ready, we began the walk from my stateroom to the Leonardo Lounge.

 

Once we were there, Patrick had us take some shots; me with my bridal party, parents, brothers, etc. All of a sudden, we heard our music playing and it was time to get the show on the road! I had a very specific time pattern of when I wanted everyone to walk. I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to hear it from outside, but we heard it great.

 

Once I got up there, the ceremony began. Mr. Nixon was absolutely fabulous. They had a microphone set up, and he ran the ceremony brilliantly. We had the “Nautical Reading” read in the ceremony, which is one of the options we received from TWE:

 

May you be each other’s navigator in the course of life’s voyages,

And each other’s anchor in the rough seas that may lie ahead,

So that through this journey, your love may have the strength of the powerful sun; which can break away any dark cloud that may come your way.

And as each other’s mate for life, may you be at the helm of your own and each other’s destiny.

We ask for your safety and to bless you as you complete your voyage on the seas and in the course of your marriage.

 

The ceremony was perfect. At one point, Mr. Nixon asked Christopher to kiss my hand. Christopher must have heard only kiss, cause he went in for a smooch. I stopped him though and gave him direction. J Our ceremony had many laughs and giggles, and silly faces. This may not work for everyone, but it is completely Chris and me. We are silly to our core.

 

After we were pronounced husband and wife, immediately, our recessional began playing. We danced down the aisle as planned. Then, Sarka advised me that I need to go back and take formal shots, lol.

 

We took many formal shots after the ceremony, including:

*Me, Chris, bridal party and groomsdudes

*Me, Chris, everyone in my extended family that was there

*Me Chris, everyone in my extended family and his family

*Me, Chris, his whole family (and best man and friend.. who announced that they ARE family..lol)

*And then a group shot with every single person that attended our wedding (28 including us)

 

Next, we went to the Rex Lounge which is practically next door (separated by the Carnival version of Starbucks counter) and waited for our introduction. It came just as we had expected, and we immediately went into the champagne toast and cake cutting. There was one employee handing us champagne, and another helping us cut the cake.

 

Next, straight into our first dance. It was so nice to have this time with Chris, as it was practically the only moments I had with him the whole time! Right after our first dance ended, we went to our mother/son, father/daughter dance. About halfway through, we invited everyone on the dance floor with us and that is when the party started!

 

The bar was in full swing the whole reception, and the food spread was awesome. Everything I tried was delicious. They really had everything taken care of. There was a whole bunch of monitors in the club, and they had put “Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Watson!” on the projectors (spelt incorrectly, but I don’t really care). The DJ kept the music coming, it was mainly top 40’s but I like that so I was happy.

 

Right by the entryway, Nicole had set up a guestbook table with our book, pens, note requesting people to sign it, and our memory flowers for the people that were watching from heaven (we also had this on a chair during the ceremony). It was set up beautifully. Next to the table with all the food, was a separate table with the birthday cake on it. Towards the end of the reception, we all sang happy birthday to my bridesmaid. She was so happy we recognized her birthday as well.

 

Our reception lasted an hour and a half, which honestly, was all I needed. I was exhausted by the end of it. Patrick advised that as soon as it was over, he would take us around the ship and do formal shots. As soon as everyone had left, we immediately went to work around the ship, taking pictures (just Chris and I) in the following locations:

*Destiny dining room

*Casino

*The Elevator waiting area

*Atrium

*US Bar

*Lido Deck

 

I felt like the poses were great ideas, but I wasn’t going to be excited until I actually saw them (I did not want to be let down). We planned on spending $2000 MAX on the pictures. We thanked Patrick for all of his work, and he explained that he was so excited to view these, as most of the time, people get married on embarkation day and everything is so rushed, there is hardly time for pictures. He said he has had all the poses we did today saved in his head and had just been waiting to use them.

 

We went back to our room, and someone had already dropped off Carnival flutes that say ‘our wedding’ as well as our cake topper, and souvenir marriage license.

 

Our wedding day was also formal night, and you better believe I rocked my wedding dress to dinner too. J

 

After dinner, in our room, we had chocolate covered strawberries, a gigantor bottle of champagne and a thank you note from Carnival Weddings. Those strawberries were delicious!

 

Patrick saw us later in the evening, and told us to meet him in the photo gallery Thursday at 5pm to go over the pictures he had taken.

 

Thursday

 

All day Thursday we were excited to see our pictures. Finally 5pm rolled around and our parents met with us. Patrick was excited to see us, and brought over a back with TONS of pictures in it. He also had a black box. He explained that he made a coffee table book using our images, and we could purchase that as well if we wanted.

 

Christopher and I looked at the coffee table book first. Ladies, I did not cry at all during our ceremony or reception. I didn’t even come close. I teared up on the very first page of this book. The images are absolutely amazingly beautiful. Every page we turned, we were more and more excited with the images.

 

We went through all of the other shots that were equally amazing. Patrick had subtly edited the pictures to bring out the colors, and they were phenomenal. In that moment, all of the worry that I had been feeling over our 18 month engagement went away. As I said above, I had a very strict budget of what I wanted to spend. I ended up just buying everything and completely blowing my budget. We still do not regret this decision. We had to have them all.

 

We selected the three pictures we wanted put into canvases, and they were ready 5 hours later. Amazing.

 

I can’t recommend a wedding on the Paradise enough. The experience we had was everything we could have ever hoped for, and completely exceeded any expectations we had. I did not provide the coordinator a letter with directions of what I wanted done. I figured, this is their job, they are the pros, I trust them completely. They did not disappoint. Our wedding was our dream, and it was amazing seeing it all come together in front of me. I am so glad we went with what we really wanted to do, from the other side, all the worry, emails; stress was completely worth the end result. If I could offer any advice, it would be:

 

*Don’t get married on embarkation day. Everyone kept making comments that things are so much more stressed and rushed on embarkation day trying to deal with everything going on with the ship.

*Don’t be a control freak. I tried to be as easy peasy as possible, with my only requests being a birthday cake and the music selections. I left everything else up to Nicole and Sarka. I figured since this is their job, and they have done this many time before, versus this being my first experience, they probably know a lot better than me what works and what doesn’t work.

* Do remember to be present in the moment. It goes by fast. I had to keep reminding myself all day to “look around and remember this moment”.

* Do have fun. I danced by myself for over half of our reception, as my husband’s friends were more into standing at the bar getting drink after drink. I paid for this, you better believe I was going to be dancing and doing what I wanted to do, regardless of the guests.

* Per my husband Pay attention to specifically what the minister was saying. He feels embarrassed about his flub during the ceremony, trying to kiss me instead of my hand. It just goes to show you have to live in those moments and truly enjoy the words and love surrounding you on that day.

 

If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to email me at heatherweaver06@hotmail.com. I’m not on here very often, but I am happy to help in any way that I can!

 

You can view all my professional pictures at http://photobucket.com/watsonwedding0405

[mountainbreeze]

HeatherKristen ~ Thanks for the review! Looks like you had a wonderful time!

I really enjoyed your pictures, and I love love loved all of the bright colors you used for your bridal party. groomsmen and flowers! You did a great job with the colors!

Your pics turned out great! Thanks again for the review!:)

[Artemis908]

love the pictures and love the colors like your shoes lol as someone who doesn't know you, I can tell your personality really comes out in these photos and all of the little touches you did!

[Lipz]

CONGRATS!!

...to another happy cruise bride.

By the way I loved your flowers!

[heatherkristin]

Thank you all so much! I love colors and whenever someone asked

about what colors they should wear, we told them BRIGHT! Lol. Thank you for all the comments on our flowers, my husband’s mom made them (they are all fake flowers from Michaels/JoAnns) and I couldn’t be any happier with how they turned out, especially when put next to the white roses Carnival delivered to me the day of.

My dress was made by my mom just for me, it ended up having 26 layers on the bottom! We had such a great time, I’m glad you all enjoyed the pictures!!

[Denise2000]

Congrats and great pictures!