Carnival Wedding Secrets?

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

It's not until July 13th.

[jusilva]

Omg! My wedding is July 13th at the legend!

 

 

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[ImaginationCruiseBride]

Oh wow! We are touring the Imagination in Long Beach. It would have been fun to have been touring your wedding!

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

Oh wow! We are touring the Imagination in Long Beach. It would have been fun to have been touring your wedding!

 

 

 

We are now 26 days out and I am starting to feel the stress. We are touring the ship next weekend and thankfully, there will be a wedding going on so we'll get to experience the whole thing. It seems like when the countdown hit 30 days the nerves kicked in...now I'm worrying over all of the little details to the point where I'm having wedding dreams....no worries about getting married, just the little details of the wedding!

[LoveSetsSail2015]

 

Ok first I wanna say THANK YOU for starting this wonderful thread!!! I emailed my coordinator Sajay regarding the alternate menu, which I needed to anyways especially with my mom being newly diagnosed with diabetes- to ask about a special meal for her, she gave me the menus for the other hordorves BUT I'm disappointed she said my mom can have a fruit cup vs the cake! WTH! Theres tons of sugar in fruit.. doesn't Carnival cater to sailing people with diabetes with providing sugar free desserts??? I want my mom to be able to enjoy herself & feel normal! Also got the list & pictures of the signature cocktails which my fiancé LOVED! So has anyone had any of those??? He is liking the Caribbean Romance the best he thinks.. do you pick one of two drinks?

 

Anyother secrets PLEASE share!! I wouldn't have known to ask if it weren't for this thread!!! Yall are awesome!!!

 

We're getting married June 13,2015 on Carnival Paradise!

[LoveSetsSail2015]

Ok so between the normal in contract hors deourves & the alternate ones.. What are the BEST & PICTURES would be AMAZING!!!

 

How are the spicey chicken drummettes & what the heck is chicken balls on fire?! Also how is the turkey mousse w cranberries... We wanna have a nice mix.. heres what we have so far possibly..

 

Hot hordorves

1. Spicey Chicken Drummettes

2. Chicken Brochette

3. Stuffed Mushrooms

4. Empanadas

5. Spanakopita

 

Cold

1. Assorted Sushi- what do they give??

2. Roast Beef w Brie Canape

3. Prosciutto w Melon

4. Smoked Salmon

5. Turkey Mousse w Cranberries

6. Shrimp Salad on cracker

 

 

PLEASE help & be honest if one is gross & should choose something different.

[Carnival_Brides]

The empanadas, spanakopita, and chicken nuggets were the highlights of our reception. I tried the melon and prosciutto canape and wished I hadn't. My SIL probably ate the sushi, so I'll make a point to ask her if she remembers what was in it. Until I looked at our pictures, I didn't know we had sushi.

 

These are guest pictures, so sorry for the blurriness.

Assorted sushi

I have no idea.

Melon and Proscuitto on the left

Salmon on the right

Edited July 16, 2014 by Carnival_Brides

[LoveSetsSail2015]

Yum.. thank you for those tips!!! Do you have anymore pictures of the food table & cake? So you didn't like the prucuttio & melon? the one pic with the stuff egg canope looks like the roastbeef & brie is that right?? what all were the food options you chose? I wish theyd let you do a tasting..my fiancé & myself are foodies & want the food to be amazing.. also... what cake flavors did u get?And what did u think of them?

[psbtrvlr]

 

Ok first I wanna say THANK YOU for starting this wonderful thread!!! I emailed my coordinator Sajay regarding the alternate menu, which I needed to anyways especially with my mom being newly diagnosed with diabetes- to ask about a special meal for her, she gave me the menus for the other hordorves BUT I'm disappointed she said my mom can have a fruit cup vs the cake! WTH! Theres tons of sugar in fruit.. doesn't Carnival cater to sailing people with diabetes with providing sugar free desserts??? I want my mom to be able to enjoy herself & feel normal! Also got the list & pictures of the signature cocktails which my fiancé LOVED! So has anyone had any of those??? He is liking the Caribbean Romance the best he thinks.. do you pick one of two drinks?

 

Anyother secrets PLEASE share!! I wouldn't have known to ask if it weren't for this thread!!! Yall are awesome!!!

 

We're getting married June 13,2015 on Carnival Paradise!

 

In the Carnival dining rooms and buffet there are sugar free desserts. Tell you coordinator to check again or ask to speak to a supervisor. You also can contact Carnival and tell them and ask if they can help.

[LoveSetsSail2015]

Nice! Enjoy the tour, have some lunch at the lido deck.

 

 

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Sajay, our coordinator said we couldn't do lunch on Lido Deck on day of our tour, said No time.. =/ Do they normally allow it????

[ImaginationCruiseBride]

She won't even be there. Somebody from guest services will do your tour. Ours took 15 minutes. Our tour guide specifically told us to go up to the Lido Deck and have lunch. She also told us to feel free to wander around the ship, find our staterooms, etc just as long as we were off the ship be 3.

[Carnival_Brides]

Sajay, our coordinator said we couldn't do lunch on Lido Deck on day of our tour, said No time.. =/ Do they normally allow it????

 

Sajay told us the same thing--there was plenty of time. Our tour was also very short.

[muah3iluvzu06]

Not sure if any of these things have been listed, but hopefully they can be helpful:

 

 

1) If you are not having an embarkation wedding your reception can be longer then 1-2 hours. We had a 3 hour reception.

2) If you call the carnival dining department, they will let you select your seating for your friends & family. They will also decorate the tables for you, as long as you provide the decorations.

3) You can bring a hand held steamer on the cruise (as long as it doesn't look like an iron).

4) You can have a signature drink for your reception, they have a list of drinks or you can even come up with your own.

5) On the Carnival Glory they had a make up artist in the salon who will do your make up as long as you bring the supplies.

6) BIGGEST SECRET, you can bring your own photographer on board. Simply sign the photography waiver and say you are having a friend or family member take your photos. We were never questioned & we brought a professional photographer on our cruise with us to capture our day (she & her husband cruised the full week on board with us). We were able to get pictures of the rehearsal, getting ready pics, ceremony on the beach in St. Thomas, reception and dining room dinner later that night. So worth it!

[NL2134]

Not sure if any of these things have been listed, but hopefully they can be helpful:

 

 

1) If you are not having an embarkation wedding your reception can be longer then 1-2 hours. We had a 3 hour reception.

2) If you call the carnival dining department, they will let you select your seating for your friends & family. They will also decorate the tables for you, as long as you provide the decorations.

3) You can bring a hand held steamer on the cruise (as long as it doesn't look like an iron).

4) You can have a signature drink for your reception, they have a list of drinks or you can even come up with your own.

5) On the Carnival Glory they had a make up artist in the salon who will do your make up as long as you bring the supplies.

6) BIGGEST SECRET, you can bring your own photographer on board. Simply sign the photography waiver and say you are having a friend or family member take your photos. We were never questioned & we brought a professional photographer on our cruise with us to capture our day (she & her husband cruised the full week on board with us). We were able to get pictures of the rehearsal, getting ready pics, ceremony on the beach in St. Thomas, reception and dining room dinner later that night. So worth it!

 

Even though you can bring your own photographer, I'd still suggest having their photographers take photos at ceremony & reception, since it's already included in the package cost and won't cost anything. You don't need to buy their photos, but they may take some that your photographer missed or vice versa. Or they may have a different style for posed photos that will still look good. If some of their photos turn out amazing and worth buying, you have that option and can probably spend a lot less money, or you could just look at them and decide that you are fine with just your photographers photos and not buy any.

 

My SIL is a semi-pro photographer so I had her also taking photos of ceremony & reception, then we did a beach photo shoot with her at one of the ports. It sounds like usually the ship photographers don't mind as long as your photographer isn't in their way. Our ship's photographer was great about it and didn't mind having my SIL there and even gave her some tips on taking better pictures or getting better angles. And often my SIL was standing right next to ships photographer taking the exact same photos. But, we are so glad that we had both of them. There is some overlap but, they each got photos that the other one didn't think about getting. Only SIL got pics of all the food, but only the ships photographer got pics of guest book & favor table. And it's nice having various angles for some of it, like we have photos of both me walking into the ceremony and of grooms first reaction of seeing me, because they were able to get both shots at same time. And we have one picture where my 6-year old niece tried photobombing it... ships photographer missed the timing on it, but SIL got it perfect. And for the posed photo shoots, they both had very different styles, so we have a great variety of wedding photos to choose from.

 

So, if bringing your own, you may want to at least consider keeping ship's photographer also and having both. At least you have more options to look at and decide which ones you like best.

[muah3iluvzu06]

We did not like the style of the ship photography at all. So we knew we didn't want ANY of those pictures. We also only booked a reception through Carnival & the ceremony was through Island Bliss, so its really a personal preference. We had our engagement photos done with our photographer and then practice shots on the cruise in different lighting the day before the wedding too. If you aren't a fan of the ships photography style don't feel obligated to use them, bring your own if you'd like! :)

Edited August 1, 2014 by muah3iluvzu06

[madzmom05]

It makes me overjoyed to know I can bring my own photographer. I had already booked him thinking we would do a wedding closer to home, but are now planning a cruise wedding. We've agreed to pay for his services as well as the cruise for he and his wife who is also doing my makeup. They've actually become really great friends of ours. But I do love the idea of having our photographer as well as the carnival one. Thanks for info ladies!!!

 

 

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[beachnsnowbunny]

Thank you for starting this board! I never knew about the signature drink idea. It's just weird you would think Carnival would try to offer what they can to make it the best day.:confused:

[dbrown13]

Adding to this... I have seen it mentioned in another thread but I think it's fitting to go on the secret wedding secrets thread.

 

There is an option to pay for your Non-Sailing wedding guests to have lunch up on the lido deck before the ceremony begins. If you have picky eaters or people who are starving its a good option to include. You must pre-pay $9.20 plus tax for ALL of the guests.

 

We are doing the Time to Celebrate so we will have Hors D'Oeuvres at the reception but I think it will be a nice touch for our guests who have traveled to be there for the short wedding.

 

There is some mixed consensus about whether or not you really have to pay for this... some people say as long as your non-sailing guests remove the "guest" badge they will be able to eat with no problems. That being said... I can't imagine it would bring good Karma on your wedding day. I think it is worth the small amount on money :)

[hbicfrd]

 

 

 

There is some mixed consensus about whether or not you really have to pay for this... some people say as long as your non-sailing guests remove the "guest" badge they will be able to eat with no problems. That being said... I can't imagine it would bring good Karma on your wedding day. I think it is worth the small amount on money :)

 

 

When we did the ship your, we had our badges on and it was not an issue. The people serving the food are paying way more attention to what they are doing then what anyone is wearing. The badge is a clip on card that has a guest number on it.

As far as paying for guests, there is no telling what time everyone will board the ship. Even if you get on by 11-1130, everyone has to be shown where to go and that leaves little time after to get food, especially if people want to see the different decks.

We are letting our guests do what they want when they board. Some have shown interest in food while others just want to see everything that the ship has on board.

Just a thought...

[dbrown13]

When we did the ship your, we had our badges on and it was not an issue. The people serving the food are paying way more attention to what they are doing then what anyone is wearing. The badge is a clip on card that has a guest number on it.

As far as paying for guests, there is no telling what time everyone will board the ship. Even if you get on by 11-1130, everyone has to be shown where to go and that leaves little time after to get food, especially if people want to see the different decks.

We are letting our guests do what they want when they board. Some have shown interest in food while others just want to see everything that the ship has on board.

Just a thought...

 

 

That is a good point! There won't be a lot of time for eating anyway so maybe I just leave it to them. It would be disappointing If the ship wasn't cleared early and there was no time for lunch after I paid for it.