Advice: Announcment

[Nisha1210]

I plan on having a cruise wedding April 2013. I need ideas on how to give my select guest a heads up about this cruise even though I don't know the exact date yet in April and exact pride for the cabins. I have a general idea for how much it will.cost per each guest. What can I send out to get a general head count? Response cards? Save the date letter? Any help would be fine.

[6rugrats]

I think it's way too early to send anything out; you don't even have a date or cruise picked. People lose things that are send so far in advance. I am a planner, and even I don't plan 2.5 years ahead for a vacation. Response cards go with the invitations. You could ask people who would be interested in sailing with you, but it's hard for people to really know what they will be able to do in April 2013.

 

I wouldn't send anything out more than a year in advance. When that time comes, after you've picked your cruise and booked your wedding, you can send out STDs.

[acireta]

You definitely need to pick an itinerary and date before sending out a save-the-date. We did send ours 15 months in advance, but people really didn't have a clue about their plans to attend until recently (April 2012 wedding). We did a magnet for our STD, and we've seen them on every fridge in every house we've been to for the past year, which was pretty cool! :-)

 

My wedding isn't booked through Carnival, so some other members might be able to give you a better idea of how to book the wedding itself to nail down a date.

 

Good luck!

[Herbaltees]

I plan on having a cruise wedding April 2013. I need ideas on how to give my select guest a heads up about this cruise even though I don't know the exact date yet in April and exact pride for the cabins. I have a general idea for how much it will.cost per each guest. What can I send out to get a general head count? Response cards? Save the date letter? Any help would be fine.

 

I think you have to ask yourself what are you trying to accomplish with this communication.

 

Are you trying to gauge what itineraries ppl would be interested in attending?

Are you trying to get a feel for who would be receptive to the idea of attending your cruise wedding?

 

That would help us help you to figure out what to send to guests.

[JulieRose]

First off, it's about 1.5 years out, not 2.5. It's almost 2012 already :eek: that being said, I don't think it's to early to let people know IF you choose and book your cruise/wedding now. There's no sense in telling anyone anything if you don't have a plan.

 

Also, you are just going to have to live with the idea that you will have no clue how many to expect for at least a year. People are going to tell you they're coming and then back out, say they can't come and then change their minds, etc. Heck, you could even have people book and then never make their final payment. In that case, you wouldn't know until 90 days before sailing.

 

Cruise weddings aren't like weddings at home, you're probably not going to have 200 guests - in my experience thus far, most of your guest list will say no. If that's important to you then I would suggest an embarkation day wedding at the closest port to your home town.

 

Either way, you can't make an announcement until you have something to announce and you've got quite some months of waiting before you'll have a head count.

[lovepea]

I would say word of mouth is best to just let people know the general idea you have right now. Did you just recently get engaged? Maybe you can send out an engagement notice, at which point, I am sure that people will want details, and you can share that you are strongly thinking cruise wedding, some time April 2013.

 

Beyond that, you need to find which cruises have wedding availability (there is a limited number per each sailing) and then book your cruise and wedding. From that point, you can send out save the dates, which also will include the actual date and the cruise information, so that people can start to plan.

 

Although I have had very good timely responses from all my invited people, I know that this seems to be an exception. I sent out a save the date about 8 months before the wedding (1 week after we booked the wedding).

[Bostoncruiser35]

Our Cruise is in 2014. We are doing a renewal so we know the date and we know what cruise we are taking. We wanted to give our special guests a heads up as well. We just called them all to tell them of our plans. The heads up was very well recieved and was very much appreciated.They all understood the details on the price were not yet available, most have looked up ruises this coming year for the same time range to get an idea. I told them I would be sending something out to them with all of the info and the travel agent info once the cruise cabins were available to them. Planning this early is a very smart idea, in my oppinion. I have begun buying the necessary items for my welcome bags and becaue of this , my budget is more spread out and does not hurt as much. Also it gives you plenty of dress shopping time. You can wait for the Running of the Brides Fiene's Basement does closest to you.If you have not heard about this, def look it up. That is what I am doing. nd if you don't find your dress there, no pressure still. Here's to stress free no time crunch wedding planning!!!!!

[JulieRose]

Although I have had very good timely responses from all my invited people, I know that this seems to be an exception. I sent out a save the date about 8 months before the wedding (1 week after we booked the wedding).

 

 

That certainly is the exception. We've had 2 couples swear up and down they were going and then suddenly changed their minds, one couple booked and then canceled and one who didn't think they could go but decided to join us anyway. And we're 5 mos out! You would think most people would know if they were going or not by now but getting answers from people is like pulling teeth! You just want to say to them "I know you don't want to disappoint me, or whatever, but just give me an answer!"

 

I stick by what I said before, it will be quite some time before you have a head count.

[cruisingbride09]

Hi! We are getting married February 2012. We booked our wedding cruise a year in advance. Sent an email to our closest friends and also spoke to them in person just to let them know what our plans were for the wedding. Our families already knew what we wanted to do so it was just a matter of getting started on the plans!

About 8 months out we sent our formal save a dates (we used shutterfly- it was super easy!). We made a wedding website to help answer questions and we also had a travel agent who answered questions about booking cabins. I recommend having an agent- they can do a lot of work for you especially when it comes to payments and getting information from the cruise line rather than you having to do it. Its been a breeze so far! We have 22 people cruising (so far- a few more may add on) and will probably have about 50-60 total at the reception (on embarquement day).

 

Just think about what you and your fiance want and the rest will fall into place. Look at the different ports and places you can cruise to and pick one you both will enjoy and also something you think will be somewhat convenient for your guests. Have fun and Congrats! :)

[bridetobe52012]

If you know who you are going to invite just talk to them about it. It does not have to be anything formal. Word of mouth will get around and back to you so you will know what everyone is thinking.

 

Once you official decide and book, then you can send save the dates and invitations.

[Gina130284]

Hey, we're April 2013 too!! We got engaged in June this year and booked everything within 2 weeks!!!

Firstly we looked at different ships, dates, itinerarys, cabin prices etc and then picked one.

Once we'd chosen the itinerary and date we informed our immediate family who came with us to book.

Then we put together a booklet with the ship information, itinerary, ports of call and available trips and also the wedding information. Then anyone who enquired about it we emailed it to them. We also gave a final date of when people could book (we made this up so we'd know how many sailing guests we'd have).

 

I also think its a good idea to have a wedding website - loads of people will ask what you're doing, etc so its good to give this website to all friends and family so you can keep them up to date with all of the plans!

 

Good Luck with the planning!!

[jebuell]

I wouldn't do anything until you pick your cruise and book. Until then, things can change and people might get confused and book themselves on the wrong cruise. But once you pick the ship and get booked you can set up a website and send out Save the Dates. Although I do recommend you wait until April 2012 to send out STDs, any longer then that and it's almost *too* long.

 

Don't ask for response cards or have people reply to the STDs, though. A lot of things can change between now and your wedding that will affect whether people can or cannot go. Our wedding is in March 2012 and we only have 9 people confirmed and then another dozen who have to wait until January to get time off or find out if they will be able to be gone at that time. But I have a pretty good idea just through word of mouth who is and is not coming which is good enough for now.

[LarAndShar]

Nisha..

It's never to early to let others know what you're planning... especially if you think they will need the extra time to "save" to be able to join you.

 

You can simply tell "your select guests" You plan to have a ship wedding in April 2013 the itinerary and exact date TBD at later date. The estimated amount per person for the cruise.

 

 

We notified our family and friends we were finally getting married (been together 15 years) possible outside wedding in local park, maybe a local chapel, possibly a cruise wedding... I knew BEFORE we decided on a cruise wedding that we would have atleast 10 others cruising with us IF this is what we decided.. (It would have been more had we not chosen a 15 day cruise.) It was important for us to have a wedding on ship before cruise to allow those who couldn't cruise to still be able to join us.

[Nisha1210]

Thank you guys for the feedback! It helps a lot.