I will be there Nov 2-7!

I am recently engaged and had a trip booked with my family to Nassau for this week. So now it is turning into a site visit/location scout. I will take lots of pictures of everything and try to psot them when I return. If anyone has questions about Nassau/Paradise Island and want me to look into it, I will do my best.

I have already set up appointments with 4 wedding co-ordinators (Atlantis never did return my emails so they won't be on my list). Breezes and Wyndham are on my hotel location list but I will also be meeting with Karen from Professional Bahamas Weddings and Phyllice of Personal Touch. I have already cancelled 2 other appointments I had set up with a company that wanted a $300 consultation fee and then someone else who wanted me to pay for thier car rental, which I just thought was weird.

Oh, if you get out there and have a chance there are a few things I wanted to check out and didn't have a chance. If you to to the dolphin encounters and have a chance to look around the island keep a lookout for pretty palm trees on the beach. I'm looking for some to do trash the dress photos with and that area seems more promising.

FYI, I've got a bunch of photos online from our site visit:

PhotoReflect - Captured Kiss

I really recommend taking a look at Old Fort Bay!

Any places you dine at let us know. We didn't really eat out much and I'd like a list of places to have guests eat.

Let us know if you get to any of the botanical gardens. We went to Adastra, which was interesting. There were big spiders all over! I asked one of the workers if they were supposed to be part of the exhibit and she said no. They have huge webs all over the zoo though. I think I have a bit of arachnephobia...

Oh, and if your planners have any recommendations for DJs and cake makers out there I'd love to hear them.

I am back! I will post pictures shortly - although I don't have that many great ones. Overall I wasn't wowed with the Bahamas. It was initially on our list because it has a Greek Orthodox church (a necessity) and it would be easy enough to travel to for all the members of our family. I met with 3 wedding coordinators who were all very nice, but I only felt really 'good' about one of them. I was extremely disappointed in any of the photographers sample photos I saw. They were all so cheesy - one even had the couples face super-imposed in the clouds circa 1980 (and I don't think it was taken that long ago!). I met with the coordinator at Breezes - she was very nice but I wasn't impressed with Breezes as a resort. I am rethinking Nassau as our location now - which has me kind of depressed.

I'm sorry you weren't impressed

Reading about the cloud faces made me laugh though...

You will find a wonderful place...I promise! It will all come together...

I did check out RIU but not on an official visit. I had initially ruled anywhere on Paradise Island out since I heard it was very expensive, but I did find I liked the beach much better there. The hotel was very nice too from what I saw. Maybe with tourism going down (it was very quiet the week I was there and the cab drivers didn't think it was going to be a busy winter) there will some good deals coming up in the next while.

I think part of my problem is that I would really prefer to be married in Cancun/Playa Del Carmen, but since there isn't a church there (which is the ONLY request his side of the family has) it isn't an option. I may remember it as being more beautiful than it really is, but to me Nassau wasn't very pretty, the beach was small and I always felt like I was going to be run over whenever we ventured out (no sidewalks and they drive very fast).

Oh well, it will all come together. :-) For someone who always said they wouldn't stress about wedding stuff, it is funny how much you change once that ring goes on your finger!

Hi Monkey,

I hate to hear that you were so disappointed. I think I ran across the "faces in the clouds" picture on one of the Nassau photographer's website. It was funny when I saw it the first time and it is again funny reading about you seeing it. I too am beginning to stress out over Nassau. With my schedule being so hectic, I am not able to fly down there any time soon to check out the venues and the island in general, and I am too scared to rely on pictures alone before booking the location, especially because it is not cheap. We are looking at getting married at the French Cloisters and staying at the Atlantis Resort, but for some reason I have not been able to fully commit.

Oh. Monkey, did you by chance meet with Karen at Professional Bahamas Weddings? I have been in contact with her about being my wedding consultant and she has been very helpful in answering my preliminary questions. I have not hired her yet because I have not 100% decided to go to the Bahamas. I have had mixed reviews about the Atlantis wedding coordinators, but I am not too worried about that since I will hire an outside coordinator if I go to the Bahamas.

I did meet with Karen - I liked her and I am sure she will be a great coordinator. I tried googling the 3 different companies I met with but there really isn't much info out there. It seems the other countries are more popular for weddings.

One thing I did notice is that they all recommend the same venues (mostly Poop Deck and Luciano's) but seem to only offer 1 photographer (but each company had their own recommendation) and don't really seem that great at thinking outside those parameters. I asked about bringing in my own photographer and was told it would be another $1000 for a work visa.

I may have unrealistic expectations of what a coordinator does but I was hoping for more input on what would make my wedding unique to me and give me a tropical, romantic feel. I don't know how to explain it, but I felt as if I would have to do all the research online, tell them which restaurant I want and they would just take care of the talking to the vendors. It wasn't until I went into town that I saw they have horse drawn carriages offering tourist rides. Not one of the coordinators mentioned that, which to me seemed odd (especially since the one I saw was white and perfect for a wedding). I had to ask about fire dancers and a junkanoo (which I only knew about from being online).

Maybe what I really want is a party planner?

I think you are looking for the same thing in a wedding planner I am looking for. It seems that some planners are really only coordinators that are only good at handling the logistics of a wedding, whiles others are actual planners & coordinators and good at being creative and unique. I am looking for someone who can do it all. I am having difficulty finding a nice reception venue after the wedding and was also recommended to check out Luciano's and Poop Deck.