really stupid questions

I just have so many questions and thought this was the perfect place to ask. My TA keeps telling me not to worry about planning anything that everything reception/flower etc wise will be taken care of by the wc at the resort but I don't like that.

 

What should I be doing/planning?

 

Hiring a photographer or use the resort's?

Hire a band or use resort's?

Wait to choose flowers until we get there?

What songs to choose? Walking down the isle/first dances/wedding party...

 

I just want to know how it all works even though the whole idea of a DW for me is the minimal planning.

Great questions! Can't wait to hear the answers.

welcome to my world. i wanted a DW s i wouldn't have to plan anything...but i have the same ??s as you. i did hire a photographer and am in the process of finding a dj...i sent pics of flowers to the WC and haven't figured out songs yet...right now i'm only panicking b/c of the amt of time it takes for the WC to email me back.....

good luck!

No question is a stupid question . . . I'd definetely want to have input on the important parts of my ceremony - I definetely wouldn't leave it up to the WC.

 

Hiring a photographer or using the resorts: This is going to be your personal preference. Make sure you are happy with the photographer that you will be using. After all, this will be the way that you remember your day.

 

Hiring a band or use resorts: Again - personal preference. If you like the type of music that they play & have at least heard some type of audio this one should be pretty easy.

 

Flowers: If you're using the resort for the flowers, I'd say you can probably give them an idea of what you want & then make final decisions when you arrive. If going with an outside florist, you may want to go ahead & start making decisions now.

 

Songs: I'd definetely want to be in charge of choosing which songs are played & for what.

 

Hope this helps!

Robin

 

Wow! I have more to do than I thought. I haven't been in contact with the WC at our resort, but will do that. My thought on the photographer is that the scenery is enough and most people I talk to (non DWers) say that most of their best pics came from their guests. Did you get audio from the band at the resort you were at if you were at a resort? I never though of that!

Thanks for the info!!!

We chose a DW thinking that we wouldn't have to do anything. But now that I'm on this forum, I'm finding out that you should definitely try to research before you go. For example, I found out the prices of the flowers at the resort and they are very expensive and not very nice. So, I emailed the WC and she said I can use an outside florist. I'm in the process now of finding another florist in Jamaica and getting a quote for what I want. It seems like I will save a lot of money! As for the photographer, I am stuck with the one at the resort b/c they don't allow outside photographers, which I'm not happy about and didn't know til this forum. My advice would be to get in touch with the WC at the resort and find out as much as you can about what they offer. Then talk to some brides that are getting married or have been married there and see what they did. Good luck!!!

some people opt to just plan everything when they get their and use the hotels standard decortaions etc...

 

others choose to be a little more hands on so it depends on what you are happy with...alot of us gals also did a site visit to meet with the WC and nail down some of our wedding details.

 

let me see if i can answer below:

 

What should I be doing/planning?

 

Hiring a photographer or use the resort's? i would most likely hire my own photographer...rarely (never) have i seen a hotel's photog anywhere near the quality i would want for my pics....but photos were important to me...may not be to you

 

Hire a band or use resort's? i think it would be fine to use the resorts BUT they may be charging more than what you can hire on your own...i know i hired a mariachi that was differnt thatn the hotels and it saved me a few hudnred dollars

 

Wait to choose flowers until we get there? for me, i asked the hotel to send me samples of what flowers they provided and honestly the bouquets were not what i wanted for my wedding...so i sent a pic of what i wanted...good thing i did because the resort did give me a price for the flowers that i wanted but i ended up getting them for 1/2 the price someshere else

 

What songs to choose? Walking down the isle/first dances/wedding party...this i planned way before my wedding and i made a CD of the songs i wanted for first dance, etc...and coordinated with the DJ if he did not have the song i wanted, so this is not something i would have waited until i got to the resort to work on/decide

 

i guess most of my planning (95%) was done before i even got to the resort...i just finalized small details once i got there...most gals on this forum did it this way...we just wanted our weddings a little differnt than what the hotel offered....

gosh, that is setting your standards low..no, none of my good pics came from my guests...i got some cute pics but nothing i would put in a photo album from my guests...i wanted them to enjoy the experience as well...

and yes, the scenery is beautiful BUT if you do not have an experienced photographer to capture that beauty you are not going to get nice pics....look at some pics by sol, leigh, or juan and compare them to the hotel's photographer...there really is no comparison.

I think Tammy's answers say it all.. in my case, the only thing I let the resort do was serve the food.. everything else I found it outside.. why? because I wanted to be in control of everything, the resort most of the time doesn't let you choose or doesn't give you options..

Mine was a lot like Anny's. The resort did the food and that was about it. I had an outside coordinator and I picked everything but the truth is that you don't have to do it this way.

The only thing I would make sure to do if you plan on getting everything through the hotel is to get a price list now for all the possible flowers/cakes/musicians/whatever because you don;t want to be shocked byt he price tag when you get there and then have no other options.