What I would and wouldn't do again...

What I would do again...

 

1. Have a DW in Jamaica! And use a local wedding planner instead of the cruise ship planners.

2. Wear a formal wedding dress, even if it was a little toasty in the sun.

3. Fly in a a great photographer...thanks Bella Luce Photography!

4. Do a TTD shoot in my real wedding dress. I went back and forth on whether I would want to wear my wedding dress back on the cruise ship that night, and even brought another sundress to use. I ended up using my original wedding dress, and I am so glad I did.

5. Use cheap DIY invites....in the end it didn't matter, so I am glad we saved money on the invites.

6. Wear a veil. I literally decided 2 minutes before the ceremony to wear the veil I borrowed from my cousin and brought along only for a few pics originally.

7. Use silk bouquets. They looked great in pictures, and now I have them as a keepsake. My mother inlaw had my bouquet for 2 days after the wedding in her cabin, she never knew they were fake and kept them in water the whole time, ha! She told the customs guy they were real and he was shaking to make sure it didn't have any bugs.

8. Choose a 5-night cruise....I had fun, but was ready to get off and take a break from the fam. I thought originally that I wanted a longer one, but in hindsight I am glad we stuck with 5 nights.

9. No lunch reception decorations. I am glad we kept it simple and let the view speak for itself.

10. No programs. They weren't missed, and it saved time and $.

11. Sand ceremony.

 

 

What I wouldn't do again...

1. Use Celebrity's salon for my wedding day hair. I am sure this varies greatly, but the stylist was rude and did a crappy job. I had a hair trial with my own salon at home, and had many pictures.. but the final result on the ship wasn't so great. I should of done my own hair.

2. Spend so much $ on wedding day makeup. I bought a lot of pricey products and did my own makeup...it didn't look much different from the makeup I use on a daily basis. Waste of money.

3. Invite certain distant family members out of obligation, b/c a few of these family members actually came! They complained the entire trip and were antisocial...they added nothing to our day except cost us more $ and they didn't even give us a freaking card!

4. Entertain family back home following the cruise. We aren't going on a HM until May, but I wish we didn't have family return home with us and stay until we went back to work. I was sick of people by then and needed a break!

5. Have more than just our siblings as the wedding party. I won't go into to it b/c it is a long story, but the other couple in our bridal party really disappointed us as friends throughout our entire engagement. We originally were going to have just our siblings, but felt obligated to ask this particular couple b/c they introduced us.

 

What I am indifferent about, because it didn't matter either way...

1. Raffia fans with ribbon wrapped handles and logo tag.

2. OOT bags. I think our guests appreciated them, but weren't expecting them at all. They also added a great deal to our luggage.

3. Bands for ceremony and lunch reception. A cd or ipod would of worked just fine for either.

This is one of my favorite posts so I wanted to contribute.

 

What I Would Do Again

 

Have a DW at Paradisus Riviera Cancun!

Only invite immediate family and friends we couldn't live without (28 of us total)

Do my own make up

USE AN IPOD~ it was perfect! and saved so much money

Give out OOT bags

Skip the hair trial~ I had time to fix it if I needed to

Arrive in Mexico before our guests and stay after they left

Bring down our own candles for center pieces and other decorations

Make the resort change my hair appts to an earlier time. We would never have been on time if we had kept what they wanted us to.

Wear a veil! I decided the day I picked up my dress to buy one and I LOVE the pics with it on.

 

 

What I Wouldn't Do Again

Stress so much about whether or not everyone was having a good time

Greet all of my guests in the lobby as they arrived~ it really took away from my trip

Spend so much $ on a photographer~ I could have gotten someone less expensive and still gotten the pictures I wanted

Picked the BBQ buffet for dinner~ I didn't put much thought into what we would eat because it was an AI, my thought was if you don't like it eat something else later. The food was ok, but nothing special.

Bring down raffia fans~ it was windy and they weren't needed.

 

If I Could Do It Over

I would have communicated more with our photog before the big day so I knew what to expect.

I would have planned better for pics before the ceremony started.

I would have taken more time for formal, posed pictures between the ceremony and reception even if it meant the partying started a little later.

I would have paid for an extra hour of open bar so we could've stayed on the deck longer rather than moving to the disco.

 

Otherwise, I'd do just about everything the same. We had a great day.

Wouldn’t do:

• Let my WC choose a song for the signing of the marriage register. DH & I came loaded with music but when she asked if she could choose a special song for us we gave in. Suddenly during our ceremony Jessica Simpson was singing “Take My Breath Away†which is totally not our style. But it is hilarious in retrospect! And even funnier, the guy in charge of the CD player continued to replay it throughout our mini-reception. We did finally ask him to change the disc!

 

 

at least it wasn't to original version of the song that opened with nick lackey saying, "baby, you take my breath away."

morgan no way! i dont remember hearing that story before

OMG that would have been painful if Nick Lachey was in there! Plus we didn't want to be rude and react to the song in a bad way because she tried so hard! We had put together The Beatles love songs for our entire wedding. Jessica Simpson and The Beatles don't really mesh well !

oops not my story. I just deleted a quote box


i was a big fan of the newlyweds. On one episode they recorded the song together & he did that cheesy opening. It was so boybandarific. He was cropped out of the song. something about their production companies. I think it was just so many years later someone wouldn't be too embarassed at their wedding when the song started to play.

but, hey now it's your special song & that's always fun. someone else had the tootsie roll playing at their wedding.

My turn!!

Would do again:

**Marry my soulmate of course! People say marriage won't change the relationship but my hubby has been opening car doors for me and big time effort around the house...wow! wonder how long it will last...LOL

**Have a destination cruise wedding in the Grand Caymans but thru a local hotel (Grand Cayman Beach Suites)and not thru the ship wedding coordinators. I believe this saved us a ton of money plus flexibility to do what we wanted and a prettier backdrop of the beach instead of the ship.

**Have a ceremony on the beach and cocktail reception on the pool deck...2 beautiful spots which allowed for tons of great pics.

**IPOD reception. Again saved us money and we had every song we wanted in the order we chose. It also kept us on time with cake cutting and 1st dance.

**Hired Summer Gibbs as my photographer instead of a local GC photog! She is awesome and fits right in with our entire party. Not only did she do the wedding and TTD as expected but she went to our Dunn Falls excursion with us and shot the entire climb! Also taking pics of events on the boat like us girls singing kareoke (sp?) and a private cocktail hour. She brought her assistant along so I got 2 for the price of 1! She showed me a few pics on her camera and I cant wait to see them all and have them to share!!

**Wear a veil for the ceremony and hair flower for the reception. I loved the 2 looks and am happy that I didn't choose one or the other.

**Make a welcome brochure with room numbers on it. Everyone used these throughout the trip. It was a lifesaver.

**Get custom coozies, tshirts, and hats. My DH said none of the guys would wear the shirts but he ate his words by the end of the trip when everyone had worn their atleast one time. Everyone loved them.

**Hire a car for our transport back to the ship while guests went in a bus. It gave my hubby and I a second to just savor the moment alone. Plus the guests in the bus got a mini tour of the island which they loved. Majestic Tours did a great job!

**All white for my groom. It made him stand out against the GM who wore khaki linen pants w white and blue pin stripe linen tops. The embroidery on my DH's shirt actually matched my dress! It looked great.

**Had the girls wear long chiffon BM dresses. I took me forever to settle on their dresses but the chiffon blew in the wind and looked light yet elegant...I was happy with my choice!

**Not pay extra for girls bouqets. I was the only one with flowers since that is what the package came with and nobody ever missed them! I'm glad I didn't spend the $$

**Would do everything again! Our day was as close to perfect as it gets!

 

Would not do again:

**I made our OOT bags with an iron on transfer. Numerous people used these daily at the pool to hold their items and by the end of the trip the transfer was peeling and looked like crap! I would have splurged on the bags to get them professionally done or embroidered.

**Found a kid friendly cruise ship. Carnival advertised their day camps for kids but my 18 mo old did not qualify most of the programs (only 2 hrs per day...during nap time!) and he hated 75% of the week we were away. If he would have had a chance to play with other kids and toys he would have felt more "normal" and had a better time.

**Had our wedding in Feb. The weather was beautiful until the last day at sea which was super windy and a little chilly. I wished it could have been 10 degrees warmer so everyone could enjoy the pool. If I did it again, I would make the wedding in April.

**Depended on our hotel wedding coordinator (came w the package) for anything. The only thing she coordinated was timing the wedding party at the ceremony. She was not even at my reception. I coordinated the transportation, mic, timing of the day, meeting with the Rev to sign paperwork, etc. She did the flowers and cake which looked nothing like the pics I sent her (still beautful though).

I just thought of one more!

 

Wouldn't do:

 

Get a manicure before leaving town. It was chipped and pealing off within a day or two of arriving for my wedding cruise. I had it redone on the ship and it turned out way better! If your wedding isn't for a few days after you arrive it maybe a good idea to wait until you get there.

My work morning just flew by. I have so many notes and tons of great advice. You girls are the best! I can't wait to add my thoughts and hopefully as time goes by, those I wouldn't do lists will keep getting shorter from all the great help.

 

YOU GIRLS ROCK!

WOW!! This thread is SO helpful! Thank you to everyone who posted their list. I got some great tips.