RIU Ocho Rios... Rehearsal dinner? Activities?

I'm starting to go a little crazy here. I'm trying to figure out if I'm supposed to host a rehearsal and dinner for the bridal party. Also, if I'm supposed to plan group activities. My sister just bought me this book "The Knot Guide to Destination Weddings" and it seems like everything I thought would be so simple is really not. What are all of your plans for your time down there? Please give me input so I can get my mind back on track!

I will not be having a formal rehearsel dinner. We will all be together anyway so I will just tell them what I find out. Dont forget the whole thing only lasts about 15 mins so there is not much to know before hand. I will be writing up an itinarery(sp) and putting it in the welcome bag. I WOULD like to arrange for a the cool runnings tour for all of us. We went last time on that and LOVED it. I would like to share that with my guests but I cant afford to pay for everybody its about 50 bucks pp. Sooooo not sure what I will do about that. I think I will just write on the itinarery something along the lines... If you would like to join us the price is blah blah blah.... So then there will be NO question that we will not be treating for that. Even though I would realy like to. I will be taking my mom and wedding party along to the meeting with Chandlyn this way they will know what to expect also.

I was thinking of the Cool Runnings tour too, but wasn't sure when the days/times were, so didn't know how to put that in my itinerary. I would rather everyone just do their own thing, but I don't know if people are going to expect me to have things planned for them. I'm thinking of writing in the welcome note something along the lines of it's their vacation, so it's up to them to decide what activities they want to do. The only day I need everyone to come together is obviously my wedding day. If it was just my friends I would have no problem, but now all of my aunts/uncles/etc are coming, so they may have other ideas than just going to the pool bar!

Are you having a private dinner and reception?

No, We decided to just have the dinner at the steak house. I really enjoyed it last time and I like the location. I dont think I will be having more then 25 guests so no need to go somewhere else. I did book the disco, but I think I might cancel that so we could go to the beach party.

I don't really have any plans for when we get out there. The first night we will have a mixer with all the guests just so everyone can meet and mingle. Other than that most of the people coming out are thinking of it as a vacation as well as a wedding so I don't want to make too many plans. Just as long as they come to the wedding they can do whatever they like for the rest of the week. We will probably go to the falls and invite who ever wants to come along but I don't want anyone to feel pressured to come along if they don't want to.

We will have a rehersal dinner as normal but it is only about 15 minutes long. I think it will all fall into place once you get out there. No need to stress the book will just give you ideas. We are just doing a dinner at one of the specialialty restaurants after the rehersal with our wedding party and parents. It is easy then you can go for a few drinks after and relax.

All of that is still TBD for us! We'll probably all meet for dinner on Thurs night (Fri wedding), but I wouldn't call it a rehearsal dinner. Probably we'll do a week timeline with different options (I really want to do Dunns River Falls!) - not really sure yet though. Hey, we still have 9 months to plan!

Thanks for the reassurance. I'm trying to just let things be and figure it out when we get there, but my inner control freak is taking over! I'm sure it will be fine, I just need to relax. I think the more time I have to plan, the more stuff I start to worry about. Maybe I should get back to work

Do we all have Friday weddings? Guess thats a real popular day.

Hi Ladies,

My wedding happens to be on a Saturday and I opted to have a rehearsal/welcome dinner friday night. I confirmed with Chandlyn for the St. Ann's restaurant for up tp 40 people at 6:30 that way afterwards we can attend the beach party. It's included in your package..why not go all the way with it!!!!!!!!!!!