We're back from SGOR & we're married! (non-pro pics included)

[bridget917]

We got back from our 8/16 wedding at SGOR on the 20th--what an experience! I was waiting to post until I had some pictures to share...these aren't the greatest, but they're what I was able to scrounge up for now! I'll do a follow up when I get the "real" pics! Here's my mini-review:

 

SGOR--the resort itself

I was blown away by how beautiful the resort was! We stayed in a Plantation Villa Suite on the Manor side of the resort and it was so beautiful! (I have pics if anyone needs them). I'm really glad we chose to stay on that side of the resort. Neither John or I are big beach people so that's why we chose the Manor. It was nice because we felt somewhat secluded and we hardly ever saw our neighbors. I never used our private pool, but John did one time. They kept it in good shape.

 

The staff at the resort was so friendly and always greeted us with a smile. They really treated us like royalty and we had some great laughs with them. Even when John ordered multiple entrees because he just couldn't decide on what he wanted, they'd laugh and say "you're on vacation, it's all included". We'd go back in a heartbeat just because the people were so wonderful.

 

I don't know how they do it, but for such a large resort it really has an intimate feel to it. One thing we noticed was how things don't kick up until around 10 or 11 am, but most of the action has died down by around 9:30pm. We weren't used to the heat and the humidity so that was fine with us!

 

We rented a cabana by the pool one day...I believe it was $75 to rent it from 8-5 and we had a butler. I'd highly recommend doing this if you can...it worked great for us because we had friends and family arriving on three different flights that day and we had some that had arrived the day before. This gave everyone a place to "check in" with everyone else.

 

Can't forget to mention, the food was great too! I saw some people take dessert back to their rooms, so if you're too full just get it to go--I wish I would have!

 

The Wedding Center, Wedding & Reception

Arlene was my wedding coordinator at the resort. She did a great job! We met with her for about half an hour the Thursday before the wedding and then didn't see her again until the wedding. She was great and took care of everything just how we wanted it. Everything went smoothly and she did a really good job keeping things moving along. When I got out of the van at the wedding site I was expecting everyone to be seated and waiting for me. Oh no, they were all standing there waiting with their cameras lol (all except the groom and best man of course). She finally got them to move along so we could get started.

 

Reverend John did our ceremony and we both really liked him a lot. He was very friendly and even paused for John to wipe the sweat off his face now and then.

 

The ceremony was different than what I'm used to...I was very surprised with how they'd stop to pose us for pictures throughout the ceremony! We never really knew when it was done! But it was a great ceremony and we were very happy with it! Like most girls on this board, we chose to get married at the Reef Terrace Gazebo.

 

We upgraded to the 1 hour hot and cold hor d'ouvre recpetion. My only complaint is the food--I hate seafood, and everything hot was seafood. I wish we would have had a choice in what was served. I ate some fruit and cheese and that was pretty much it. I was starving when it was over (we were married at noon).

 

The cake was really good and I was sad that we didn't get to finish it all before we headed home. I took two more bites before we had to leave our room to go check out. We went with the vanilla cake (his choice, I would have probably picked chocolate!).

 

The Spa/Salon

I ended up having both my hair and makeup done at the salon. I kept debating about the makeup, but I ended up having them do it because I figured they'd be experts at what would hold up in the humidity.

 

I LOVE how they did my hair. I had two pictures I liked and they were able to combine the styles for me. I could not have been happier with my hair--and everything stayed put for the whole day!

 

My makeup was another story. I do like how it looked initially. But they put so much on that it was caking throughout the ceremony and reception. They must not have used waterproof mascara because I had a large smudge under my eye during the ceremony from sweating. I was so disappointed about that--when I did my makeup while at the resort I was able to go in the ocean, pool, etc and I never looked like a raccoon! I honestly don't know that I'd have them do my makeup if I was to do it all over again. I think I managed better myself!

 

The Photo Shop

We had a really bad experience at the photo shop. I'm not sure if it was because we took a photographer with us (it was a family member so they let it go) and didn't spend a lot of money or what the deal was. We had planned to purchase a few from the PS if we saw some that we liked. I was shocked to see that they don't do any editing--some of the pictures would have been so much nicer had they done a little editing. And the lady that went over our pictures with us the next day was so incredibly rude! We got out of there as fast as we could. When I asked about buying a few photos on cd she was very short with me and said "we don't do that"...now I KNOW they do that because other girls here have done that, and some family that went with us had some photos taken and they were able to buy them on cd. We actually considered going back another day to hopefully have someone else to work with.

 

I will say that the photographer who was at our wedding was very kind and considerate...no complaints about him.

 

Excursions

We only did two excursions--Dunns River Falls and the Dune Buggy Chuka Tour. We enjoyed both--John liked the Dune Buggies more than me. I wasn't expecting to get completely covered in mud but he had a blast driving through it and splattering us. We debated between the DB and the ATV tour, but we talked to some other people and they told us that the ATV tour wasn't anything exciting if it's something you've done before. We live in an area where we're able to ride often, so we decided to pass on that one. We went with 4 other people and were able to work out a deal on the cd of photos--it should have been $120 for 50 pictures, but she gave us 56 for $60..so we split the cost and ended up buying the cd. We didn't purchase anything from our trip to DR Falls.

 

 

 

That's all I've got...if anyone has any questions feel free to send them my way!

 

Bridget

[bridget917]

Here are some wedding pictures!

[bridget917]

A few more...

[KEE LAC]

Very Nice! Congrats on your wedding! How many people did you take with you?

[Jenn3878]

Congrats MRS & Welcome home!! Thanks for the review and pictures!!

[Melissa G]

Thanks for sharing your experience Bridget!!! Your pictures look great and I love your hair. It sounds like you had a great time. I can't believe I leave on Thursday for SGOR. Thanks for the heads up on the make up. I will definitely not have it done there.

 

Anything else I should know before I go?

 

How did your guests like it?

[Jenn]

Congrats! The pictures are beautiful and it sounds like you had a great time!

[Amarillis]

Fantastic review!!! You looked absolutely stunning!

 

CongratulationS!

[bridget917]

Quote:

How many people did you take with you?

We had 12 people come down for our wedding--they all had an amazing time and loved the resort.

Quote:

Anything else I should know before I go?

I can't really think of too much that hasn't be covered here before. John's advice would be if you plan on scuba diving make sure to take some decongestants along just in case! His ears wouldn't pop so he couldn't go down more than 20 feet. They told him to take decongestants daily and that maybe it would help. The price for any kind of medication in the gift shop was outrageous...I'd take anything and everything with you.

I know a lot of people on this forum mentioned taking the insulated cups with you. We took them down with us, but not once did we see anyone using them so ours stayed in our suitcases the whole week. The stainless steel ones were a little heavy and weren't worth packing. Other than that, I can't think of anything! Just have a wonderful trip!!!! Oh, and outside of the Market STreet restaurant they post the weddings everyday--you might want to check there the day of your wedding and take a picture of the sign. Ours never made it up there which was disappointing!

[DanielleNDerek]

congratulations, great review.