Carnival Glory 11/11 Wedding Review :-)

[stevesgirl1111]

We just returned from our Carnival Glory wedding out of Port Canaveral on 11-11-06. We had the most amazing time and our wedding was perfect! I wouldn’t change a thing. I’ll try to make my review as detailed as possible because I didn’t know what to expect when I was planning my wedding and previous brides helped me so much.

Day Before

**We stayed at the Residence Inn in Cocoa Beach. The hotel was awesome and all of our guests commented on how much they enjoyed staying there. Several people/couples got 2 room suites so they could split the cost and this was more affordable. Residence Inn provides a complimentary breakfast in the morning and Cocoa Beach Shuttle goes to the port for $3 a person.

**We had dinner at Grill’s Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar the night before. It’s located close to the hotel (a very short taxi ride). We couldn’t afford to pay for dinner for everyone so we bought a few appetizers to share and our guests paid for the rest on their own. This worked out very well. The food was good (although I was too wound up to eat!) and the restaurant’s right on the water. It was fun and perfect for our group. It’s not the place for a quiet intimate dinner though as there’s a live band and a party style atmosphere.

Morning Before the Wedding

**This probably seems like common sense but make sure that you have an alarm back up or designated person to call you the morning of the wedding. My new SIL and I stayed up late the night before steaming our dresses (I brought a travel steamer from Target for $30 and it was a MUST HAVE—made my life sooo much easier) so we didn’t get to bed until 2 am. Anyway, my alarm didn’t go off and no one called me. Most of my wedding party was downstairs eating a leisurely breakfast while I was snoozing away and I woke up 20 minutes before I was supposed to leave. Everyone thought I wouldn’t want to be bothered because I’d be getting ready. NOT the way to start your wedding day!

**We got our hair done at the Brent Allan Day Spa and Salon. They opened early for us. They did an AMAZING job on our hair and got us done in plenty of time. They even had 2 cruise weddings that morning. We did our make up while we were waiting to get our hair done or when we were finished and waiting for everyone else. We arranged ahead of time to have a taxi take all of us to the port.

**We got to the port and everything went really smoothly getting onboard. Someone was there to meet us and walk us through everything. They really didn’t seem to care how much luggage we had and didn’t hold us to the one garment bag/one carry on rule. Make sure everyone in your group knows how important it is to be on time. We were told that anyone not there when we boarded wouldn’t make it to the wedding.

**Be sure to be completely ready except for your dress when you arrive at the port. We didn’t get on until 12 and our wedding was at 1:00 so I really only had time to put on my dress and touch up my make up.

**Find someone you trust to make sure everything is taken care of for you. You don’t have much time to talk to the coordinator before the ceremony so I had a trusted family member make sure everything was set up right for the reception. She set the cake table up nicely and put our favors out. She also made sure the CD player was set up and ready. It was so nice not to have to worry about it.

Ceremony and Reception

**Everyone had a quick rehearsal (without me or the bridesmaids) before the ceremony. The wedding coordinator came to get me a few minutes before 1 to take me downstairs. I meet the photographer as I was about to walk down the aisle so that was a little strange.

**We chose our own music for the ceremony and that was such a special touch. The officiant did a pretty good job. We added a short hand ceremony and she stumbled a lot on the words but other than that everything went well. After the ceremony we took a few pictures while our guests went to the reception.

**I made my own flower bouquets and boutonnieres and they turned out great. The carnival bouquet was 6 white roses and was pretty but not really my style. They put it on the cake table for decoration.

**We purchased the Deluxe Package and the piano player. The Cinn-a-bar looked really nice and the buffet was beautiful. The food was good and the drinks were plentiful. The piano player did a really good job and the whole thing was really classy.

**The cake was pretty and tasted decent. It wasn’t the best cake I’d ever had but a lot of people liked it. My DH really liked it. We had mixed layers of chocolate and vanilla cake and strawberry filling. The cake layers were beautiful and looked sort of like Neapolitan ice cream. We brought our own cake topper (the Carnival topper was plastic doves and pretty cheesy in my opinion)

**Our photographer was fantastic and we were really lucky. If you are on the Glory try to request Nicoleta ahead of time. She took artistic type pictures and they came out really beautiful. We were super happy with her.

**We also had some married friends of ours take pictures and do a video. She is a professional photographer and he is a professional videographer. No one gave us any trouble about it and our Carnival photographer definitely knew what was going on. Nicoleta actually asked to see our friend’s camera and was fine with the whole thing. We just didn’t tell anyone that we were doing it. Note: if you do something like this make sure to tell your friends and family not to say anything to Carnival staff about it. One of our wedding party made a comment to our coordinator about the “other photographer” not realizing that we weren’t supposed to have one. I played stupid when the coordinator mentioned it…”Hmmm I don’t know what she was talking about…J”

---If you have made it to the end of this you deserve a prize! I hope that it was helpful and not too much. I just tried to think of all of the things I wanted to know when I was planning. Let me know if you have any questions!

[stevesgirl1111]

I just added our ship photographer's pictures to our website. To view them just go to www.steveandbrooke.thebigday.net and click on "Photo Albums" Have a great day!

[fordbrat]

Your pics are so pretty I cant wait I am getting married on the glory in Oct 16 07 while in port st thomas. Did you bring you own flowers? :)

[stevesgirl1111]

Thanks! I did bring my own flowers. They were made from silk and latex flowers and came out beautifully. You should definately call carnival and see if you can request Nicoleta for your photographer. She was experimenting with some less traditional shots with us which I loved! Sometimes cruise wedding pictures look a little "prom" like so I was happy that ours didn't. She did an awesome job and was really sweet.

[Engaged on the Sea]

hi brooke....how did the actual "reception" part work....did they ask you in advance what you 'd like to do and what you'd like to skip that sort of thing?

[stevesgirl1111]

We had very little time to talk to the coordinator before the wedding--everything was really rushed. I strongly recommend choosing a person (close friend or family member not in the wedding party) to advocate for you. I spent some time the night before the wedding talking to my friend about how I wanted things to be and what was important to me. She was my "go between" with the wedding coordinator. She made sure the cake topper and cake table looked nice and she put out our favors. She also made sure my ceremony and reception CDs made it to the CD players. It was great knowing all of that was taken care of.

 

During the reception you are going to have to keep track of time (or have someone do it for you) and make sure you get in the things you want to do. Our reception was almost over and our guests were getting ready to leave and I realized we didn't do the father/daughter dance. The coordinator doesn't really help with those things because she/he has several weddings going on at once. Hope that helps:)

[STEPH&MIKE]

Congratulations Brooke!! Your pictures are beautiful. Your review was very interesting and similiar to my Carnival wedding experience. So happy for you that your day went well. Wishing you happiness in your marriage.

Steph

[stevesgirl1111]

Steph-

 

I thought the same thing when I read your review! It seems like we both had really good experiences! Your pictures are beautiful--congratulations and best wishes for a long married life. I loved the sand ceremony idea! Did you have each of your children add a layer? That is such a sweet thing to add to your ceremony. We had a hand ceremony added to our ceremony and it was very nice. Glad everything went well for you :)

[brianroberts2526]

Congrats, me and my wife were married on the Glory in May (were back on her in September too :))

 

Anyways the pics look great.

Heres ours:

http://community.webshots.com/user/brianroberts2526

 

Anyways we had the CinnABar too; couldn't have asked for a better wedding

[stevesgirl1111]

Thanks for your well wishes! I remember when you got married because I couldn't wait for your review! :) I hope you and your wife are doing well.

It's hard to believe that we have been married a month tomorrow. We are having an "at home" reception next Saturday for all of our family and friends who weren't able to come to the wedding.

[STEPH&MIKE]

We just returned from our at home celebration in Portland yesterday. It was a three hour drive to spend time showing the video and pics with DH family. It was really nice to be able to bring the wedding home to those who couldn't attend the cruise wedding. Good luck with your at home reception!

[stevesgirl1111]

Thanks! I'm glad that yours went well. I'm a little nervous about everyone fitting into our house! Hopefully it will go well.

[cruisingcop]

its neat, because ive been on this post like you waiting on my wedding, so im very excited for you & glad everything went well - you had a beautiful & classy wedding & i can not get over how pretty your flowers are, ive been stressin bout my boquet- so did you just put them together yourself- did you get them at michaels or a craft store?

any hints would be appreciated - thanks!!

[stevesgirl1111]

cruisincop-

 

Thanks for the compliments. The whole thing did end up being very classy. I was worried that it would have a "boxed wedding" feel but it felt very personal. All of the touches we brought with us like the cake topper, flowers, and favors really helped with that.

 

We did make the bouquets. I got the flowers from Hobby Lobby and they were perfect. I loved the colors and they ended up matching the cinn-a-bar on the Glory really well. We just arrange the bouquets using velcro floral tape to hold them together and cut the stems. Then we hot glued them together on the inside of the stem bunch and I wrapped them with ribbon. I looked at the pre-made bouquets at Michaels to learn how to wrap the ribbon. I hope all of that makes sense--it's hard to describe in words! Let me know if you have any other questions. BTW- the Carnival bouquet was pretty if you end up going with that.

[cruisingcop]

awesome, thanks- yes i definately plan on going to the craft store & attempting to make one- i know i'll need at least one extra boquet for my throw boquet & i would love to make one now for my bridal setting photos that i am taking here at home in dallas- thanks for your guidance & congrats!

[luckyduck61]

Hey everyone! I am getting married in 18 days!!! on the Glory. I'm thrilled to hear that everyone had a good experience. I have a few questions if someone could help me. First, what did you all do with your dress. My airline says they would let me bring it aboard IF they have room. Which of course they don't know til that day. I'm just worried about timing, with having to steam it and all. Did anyone have any guests come that did not go on the cruise. If so, was there any problems with getting them on and off the boat? As the days go on and on...I'm getting more and more paranoid about everthing, but i'm glad i found this site! Thank all!

[stevesgirl1111]

Hi Luckyduck!

 

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! I carried my dress onboard the plane with me and had no problems. Everyone was more than happy to accomodate me and helped me find a place. I put my dress in a David's Bridal bag so everyone knew it was a wedding dress and folded it in the overhead bin. I wouldn't worry too much--people are happy to help a bride--just smile a lot!

 

I brought a travel steamer with me that I got for $30 at Target. The night before the wedding my sister in law helped me steam my dress.

 

I had 14 non-sailing guests and they got on and off easily. They just boarded with everyone else and had a guest pass. Then they got off around 3:30. One hint for your non-sailing guests--some of mine were hungry when they got on board so they put their guest pass in their pockets and hit the buffet!

 

You might call Carnival and see if you can request Nicoleta as your photographer. She was so wonderful. You can see some of her pictures on our website if you're interested under "photo albums." Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

[Meeko32198]

This is a great review and very helpful! Did they have your wedding and reception in the same room or does the Glory have a chapel?

[stevesgirl1111]

Thanks and I'm so glad to be helpful. The wedding was in the Green Room which was set up to look like a chapel. It looked very pretty. The reception was in the Cinn-a-bar and it also looked great!

[Narina]

Your wedding was beautiful! I wish you all the luck and happiness in the world.

 

 

Thank you very much for posting such a great review of the Glory wedding. I am getting married in 104 days on the Glory and your review has helped my nerves some. As it gets closer I am just turning into a big worry wart lol.

 

Anyways

 

Good Luck!

[stevesgirl1111]

Thank you so much and Good luck to you too! You will have a wonderful time--try not to worry too much! I know it's hard because I felt the same way. I'm glad that I could put your mind at ease some. Let me know if you have any questions as your big day approaches!

[Meeko32198]

Did you add the hand ceremony in place of the unity candle or in a certain part? I'm looking at doing a sand ceremony instead of the candle and was looking over the ceremony information Carnival sent me and I don't see any place to add stuff. Maybe I'm blind, but where I remember reading you added to your ceremony I figured I would ask. :)

[stevesgirl1111]

We added the hand ceremony in addition to the unity candle. You can actually customize your ceremony as much as you want to as long as it doesn't go over 15-20 minutes. You should be able to add the sand ceremony with no problem. Just type it up and include it when you send in your ceremony paperwork. Make sure to highlight for them where you want it.