RiuBride2b

I was married at the Riu Ocho Rios in 2008 and the experience was awesome..... Loved every minute of it. We had about 100 guests and everyone could not stop talking about it. Not only the wedding.... but the resort as well! We are renewing our vows in 2013 and I was hoping for Iberostar Suites but the date that we want has already been taken so we are now looking into the Grand Palladium. Let us know what you decide!!

I'm really hoping that all goes well with the planning process.... I am going to be very optimistic about this. We are getting our vows renewed here for 2013 (hopefully) and just hearing all of the negavitivity is a little scary. The only thing I can say is that I have been through this process 5 years ago dealing with the ROR and although it was a little stressful everything turned out BEAUTIFUL even though my photographer that I flew in left a day early before getting my all girl photoshoot.... and that was not the venues fault at all. This time around I'm not going for all the dramatics. I'm keeping it simple and beautiful. We lugged 13 suitcases to JA the first time... I am not doing that again!! All in all, I am still excited about planning my vow renewal on this beautiful island and hopefully at this resort.

Hi Ladies I was married at the Riu in Ocho Rios in 2008. We plan on renewing our vows at Iberostar on July 26, 2013. I just sent the email requesting the date. As you can see I have come back to the resource that helped me plan my first wedding. I am super excited to start the planning process all over again. Instead of just being justthe planner I am also my own travel agent as well. I have learned so much from this experience that I have turned it into a passion of mine and started my own business. I'm pretty sure most of you ladies will do the same!!!

I don't know if this is much help but I am planning a vow renewal ceremony and I haven't quite decided between CCL or RCI. If you go to the cruise critic message boards under honeymoons and weddings you can get a little more insight. Carnival does allow for you to have your wedding on the island but will also allow you to rent out the disco with a dj for a couple of hours as well. I would think that RC would have to have something similar........ If I find more details I will definitely post it!

That sounds beautiful.... I will be renewing vows July of 2013 (5th anniversary). I'm still deciding on what ship but so far it sounds like its going to be Carnival. But that sounds awesome as well.

Also, I read quite a few reviews on cruisecritic.com. Have you tried that resource?

Hi, I am planning my vow renewal for 2013 (5th Anniversary) and I am cruising the Sensation in December to get a feel for it. It's affordable for my guests especially since most are coming from the north. I can't wait to see some responses as well.

Hi Ladies, We are having a boy and can't decide on a nice but unique "A" name. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Quote: Originally Posted by Linzibella This has got me worried for my wedding in January when I'm planning on bringing down a photographer. He hasn't been there before so I'm hoping that will help things, and he and his wife are staying the whole week, have booked with our package etc, so I'm going to claim that he's a friend that has offered to take pictures if questioned. Wondering if I should send an e-mail to the Riu Wedding office and get the "permission" e-mail that I've seen from others. I'll give him a copy to carry with him at all times! Glad to hear that your wedding went well otherwise and I hope that Robin's not too upset about the whole thing. The Riu really needs to sort out this issue. Keep us updated. Don't worry about having an outside photographer. At my wedding I also had a outside videographer and there was another photographer (family friend) there as well and there were no problems. It is still unfortunate what happened to Robin during her stay for my wedding but I guess it was because she was a familiar face. I really can't explain what happened. The resort gave me absolutely no problems with my other professionals that were there. No worries!!!

We are going back to Jamaica at the end of August and I believe we will be staying at the Grand Pallidium for our honeymoon. We are going to stay at the adult only side of the resort in the honeymoon villa. I will be sure to update you on some of the requests you have about the resort. We passed it on our way from Ochi to Negril and it is BEAUTIFUL. That is why we decided to go back because the rates are good right now. It is going to be $1600 for 6 nights in the best room they have. After the resort gains popularity the prices will be sure to skyrocket just like Riu.

I know this photography situation is getting a little bit hectic at Riu. I spoke to Michael today who was a complete gentlemen and questioned him about this incident that occurred with Robin. He was completely unaware and had no idea what I was speaking of. He also informed me that it could not have been anyone from the photoshop that approached Robin because the Photoshop was closed and they are not there on Sundays. I don't want Riu Ocho Rios to lose business because of an incident that may have occurred. The resort is a beautiful location for any occassion and the wedding coordinator is a wonderful person to work with. Michael went on to further state that although he does not like other photographers on the resort because it takes business away from him, he has no control over other photographers being there. He also stated that he has to pay rent to be there and he is nothing but a vendor at the resort. Like I said he was a complete gentleman about the whole conversation. He told me that I should speak with management at Riu and he gave me the hotel number to contact. I will keep everyone updated on this situation (if anyone cares to know).

I also had an email from the head office at Riu and they assured me this wouldn't be a problem. I feel as long as you have documentation you should be fine. Unfortunately, when Robin was escorted off the the property I was nowhere around.

Hey Ladies, It is so unfortunate to finally find out what happened to Robin Depaula on the evening after our wedding. We had a photoshoot scheduled at 7pm and when we showed up, she wasn't there. I called her room numerous times and even went to check up on her thinking she might have overslept. When I got to her room there was no answer. Some of my guests along with my new husband branched out to look all over the resort for her and we couldn't find her anywhere, so we started to get worried. When we didn't hear from her by 9pm we figured we would speak to her in the morning being that the resort still had her checked in as a guest. By the morning we called her room again and still no answer. I called the front desk again and they said she had checked out. Because of so much limited communication I was unable to find out what happened to Robin until we got back to the states. I just got home and it pisses me off find out that one of my guests was treated so horribly (photographer or not). I am promptly going to follow-up with Riu management to find out exactly what happened that night and why I was not notified of any of this information. I was surprised to come home and check my email and then read the forum to see exactly what happened (I hate to be the last to know). I will post my review shortly. Other than the photography issue our wedding was beautiful. -Taheerah

Nice to see everything went according to plan. I am still a bit nervous about how everything is going to turn out. Your pictures were beautiful and your colors were really nice. Congrats!!

That was really funny and clever!!! It started my day off with a great laugh. Thanks for that!!