Jerzzygirl

We did the traditional wedding, then after we were pronouced husband and wife the minister brought us over to the side table where we did the sand cermony.

There was no fee...

I will try and see if this works.... My cake,

Just a quick note about the ocean waves in Ochi, there were none...lol 1 day we did have a stormy day and there were small, small waves. More of a ripple...lol

There were no receptions by the pool that I saw. I cant imagine where that would even be set-up. The 8.00pp for the cocktail hour was for the food. Do you have a copy of the available menu that you can choose from? The rum-punch served after the wedding is free. You can have the champane served with dinner, like we choose or right after the wedding. We paid Chandlyn cash at our meeting. We did go to the disco, but not for long. My oldest daughter and her friend went every night, Chris and I just went to spy dance on them for alittle while. They played standard club music, not many seats at all, just bar stools around the bar. They dont open until 11pm. Blue mointain bar terrace is very large. But I think the terrace is considered dunns river bar. Its all in the same area. I did get a chance to see the plantation and yes they have an ocean view also like mammee bay.

The cocktail hour was on the beach following the wedding. It cost 8.00pp. The rum punch served was included in the wedding package so no extra cost for that. The wedding was at 2pm so we had until about 3:30 to hang out there. We had 1 waiter/bartender and he was great!

We choose the Riu because 1. We were there before and we loved it. 2. Family friendly 3. BEAUTIFUL beach 4. COST, COST, COST affordable for everyone

Hi, The only thing I really had planned with Chandlyn before we arrived was our reception dinner, steel band and cocktail hour after the wedding. She sent me all the pictures of everything available, like flowers and cakes and arch's but we just picked it all out when we met with her 3 days before the wedding.

I did hear that 1 of the brides when I was there had her dinner reception in a conference room. I dont know why she would choose that location. Maybe because the plantation was booked? Otherwise each of the other restaurants would be to small. Can you change your date? Do you have 75 people booked allready? If its under 50 you could just have it at mammee bay. As I found out last friday, the beach party isnt always on a Friday. The weather was beautiful last friday night but it was on Sat. night instead. I asked why and they told me they change around the nights all the time.

About the headcount... At your meeting with Chandlyn you give her the final count.

No I didnt tell them how to make the drink I just said make something special for our group please lol... And they did. You can just ask the bartender to make you whatever you want and they will. Even by color. Say green or blue and even purple. We had our reception at the mammee bay steak house so the menu's were just the regular menus. Each guest just told the waiter what they wanted. Your guests only order the entree, salad and soup is up at the buffet. Desert was the wedding cake.

Thanks!! Everyone did have a great time!! We had our dinner at mammee bay steak house. We had 19 people at 1 long table with chris and I at the head of the table. There was another wedding going on and they had about 5 or 6 tables on a slant next to each other with about 6 people at each table. Even though there was 2 weddings at the same time we were not really in view of each other and the service was still perfect for us. You get your own server so your time is not compromised.

They put the Orchid flowers on my cake, and NO rum, It was very good everyone complimented it.

We had many different drinks over the week. A different 1 everyday with a special name for our group. What ever bar we were at when we got to talking to the bartender he always made a wedding drink for our group it was fun...lol

Thanks everyone for the welcome back!! I just got my pics on photobucket, there are 2 albums make sure you check them both out. They only let you put 100 pics in each album... we have over 300 lol. By the way Mo, there are no longer ANY pictures included in the royal package, you have to buy at least 24 to get 10 free with the royal, thats why Chandlyn changed us to the "free" package. She told us the only thing we would lose by going to the free package was our spa package, and for 475.00 I was HAPPY to give that up for some pics. I am going to upload the photgraphers pics to photobucket now. So then there will be 3 albums....lol Here is the link....Jerzzygirl/Jamaica wedding - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Hi Everyone were back and Everything was great!! I couldn’t wait to share with you all our experience. It was perfect, and I couldn’t have asked for more!! We arrived around 3pm and I told them at the front desk we booked the Royal package and I was looking forward to our upgrade. Suzzane, I believe she is 1 of the managers, put us in room 1261 and my children were across the hall in a Jr. suite 1260. Our Full suite was PERFECT in everyway. It had the most wonderful balcony over looking the ocean and the pool. It had a huge bed, a walk in closet, a Jacuzzi right next to the bed, a sitting area, and a huge bathroom. I could not get over this room. It was really nice. I will work on getting our pictures up tomorrow. Our guests were all in Jr. suites 1229, 1230, 1231, 1243, 1245. My travel agent emailed the hotel for me to request rooms close together. They all had great rooms, and fantastic views. Everyone loved there rooms and were happy to be in the JR suites. They LOVED hanging out on our balcony though, since it had the BEST view of all. Wait till you see the pics You will know what I mean. I emailed Chandlyn before we left to make an appointment with her and she told me 9am. She was ready right on time and she was WONDERFUL to work with. She is so nice and anything we wanted she arranged. She went step by step and asked us what we wanted and our total package , Royal, steel drums, extra flowers for our girls, cocktail hour with hor dourves, 2 guest day passes came to 1209.00 US. After our meeting she told us to go to the photo shop to talk to them and this is where I got a little upset. The photo shop is no longer offering ANY free pictures with the Royal package. They changed to 10 free pics with the purchase of 24. Well I was upset that I wasn’t going to receive my 6 or 8 free pics with my package. The cheapest picture package was 240.00 and I wasn’t happy with that. My aunt took me back to speak to Chandlyn who then went with us to the photo shop, because she had NO idea that they changed the royal package offer. Well Chandlyn made everything better. She changed my package to the free package, told me I would still get everything in the royal package except the spa offer and she would give me back 475.00!!!!!! This way I could buy the photo shop package I wanted. The “free†wedding now was 200.00 for fees, 250.00 steel drums, 48.00 for flowers for my 2 daughters and 2 groomsmen, 136.00 for the cocktail hour, and 100.00 for the 2 guest passes. For a total price of 734.00!!!! I gave her 1209.00 cash earlier that day so she just gave me back the difference and I bought that “free†picture package for 150.00 that includes 10 pictures. I bought 2 more @ 8.00 each and they gave me the 198 pictures on a cd to look at, at home and I could order them online. They told me that the 198 proof pictures just cant be printed. I have not looked at the cd yet to see the quality, but I will let you know. I could not thank Chandlyn enough because she saved us a nice amount of money for offering us that. Onto the wedding day. In the morning we spent time in the pool and on the beach and at 11am I had an appointment to get an Up-do. She did my hair just how I wanted, put in my vail, and Tiara. It cost 75.00 with tip. For being a bride I got 10% off. They were all so nice. At noon I went to the pool bar for a drink, then off to my room to get dressed with my daughters. The wedding was supposed to be at 2pm. Chandlyns assistant did not get me until about 2:10. I just walked down the steps of my room and out onto the beach. We had reverend Anderson and he was so nice, and did such a nice ceremony. He pronounced us man and wife in “ this no problem, island of Jamaica†everyone laughed and it was great! We then had him read our sand ceremony vows at the table set up right next to the gazebo. That was beautiful, and the look on my childrens faces say it all. We are a family, and we are 1. It was perfect!! Then we started to get annoyed, After the traditional greeting our guests. The band is still playing we are having cocktails served, food served the photgrapher wanted to take us away from this, Ok I will give them a few mins but we just wanted to party with our guests and enjoy our party. So we rushed him away. 198 pics in the end though and that’s damn plenty!! LOL After the hour that the band played was over we had the food brought up to our room to party alittle more on the balcony, and rest for a few . Then we were all off to the Blue mountain lobby bar. It was fine for us and we stayed about an hour and 15 mins then off to dinner. The table was set very pretty with flowers and candles. They had provided some I provided the rest. White table clothes and white napkins. Very, very pretty and secluded from another wedding dinner and other dining guests. The dinner was delicious and guess what… so was the cake!! I did NOT get the rum cake I got the plain. Everyone loved it!! Our plan was to go to the beach party for our after dinner party but for some reason it was switched to sat night and here it was Friday. So we just went back to the outdoor lobby bar and drank and danced and had an awesome time. My day was perfect just as I had envisioned and I was in 7th heaven…lol The next morning we received breakfast in bed. It was alittle of everything off the buffet. Way to much food for just the 2 of us we called the kids to see if they wanted to join us but they were down at the beach all ready. Everything else….. For the most part our week at the Riu was better this time then our 1st time last year. The food has improved lots and lots. There was always something on the buffet or menu that we found to enjoy. We ate and ate…and drank and drank…lol The bars are so much fun, the people are so much fun, and the workers are fantastic. Not 1 employee mis treated me or my family and we did not throw lots of money around. We tipped here and there. But regardless we were treated with respect! They were so friendly. The smell of the rooms are funny, so the air fresheners came in handy, they were in our welcomebags that we handed out. There were some ants in the rooms. We asked the maid for bug spray and she left it in the room. Not a big problem at all!! I only asked for the spray because my youngest daughter was getting worried and I didn’t want her to have any reason to say she didn’t want to stay in her own room and try to get me to let her stay in my room….lol But it’s the tropics, there are ants all over OUTSIDE, some are bound to get into the rooms. I am happy that I only saw ants…lol Oh and lots and lots of mosquitoes outside at night. They bothered my daughter not me, guess cause she is so sweet. I also put those “OFF†wipes in the welcome bags so again they were useful. The dollar tree store by me had a box so I split them between all the bags. If you get a chance get a group of your family and friends together to go to margaritaville in island village. It was a blast!! My guests LOVED it. It was 8.00 per person for the shuttle ride. Make sure you specify Island village or they will drop you off at the flee market down the street,Not a very nice place. But Island village is a must for anyone that wants to shop and go to margaritaville. Fun Fun Fun!!! And VERY safe!! Sorry this is so long, any questions just ask. And I will post the link for my pictures as soon as I get them up!! 1 Word sum up. PERFECT!!!

We leave tomorrow so just wanted to say bye and a BIG THANK YOU to all of you that helped me these past few months!! This forum is great and I am so happy that I was able to find it. I will post a detailed review when I get back I promise. I am so excited, Pray for sunny skys for me.

No Not really ready...lol I PLANNED on being packed by now but 1 thing after another and I havent started yet but thats what tomorrows for. I am not leaving my house until I am all packed...lol

We are going to split everything up between 4 suitcases. I just hope it all fits in, since spirit now charges for EACH checked bag.

Yep 9 days before... Thanks for the support I am trying to just relax.. On the other hand I am very happy that they decided to go. It means a lot to us.

I was told by Chandlyn that Sir Richards/Johns can only be booked for less then 6 people. That any party over 6 to 50 at mammee bay or rent the plantation out.

So we leave in a few days and I told you girls all along that my future inlaws have been against us getting married outside of a church all this time. They have made things hard and we never gave in on "our" dream wedding. Well after all these months of them really not talking to us, blowing us off and making us feel bad they called today to find out what hotel we are staying at. Chris thought that was weird and a little while later his dad called to say, we decided to go to your wedding but your hotel is sold out so we are staying at the sunset grande..... Sooooo now they are going... they "talked" to their priests and decided to go. Well guess I need to add them to the guest list at the front desk so they can get on property but I did read a review awhile back that said some of there guests were not allowed on property and they missed the wedding. Could you imagine?? OMG Maybe I will go in my wedding dress up to the gate on the road to make sure they have there names and wait for them to get in...lol And I thought I was stressed a few weeks ago, this just about puts me over the edge...lol

There is seating with tables there. Its just a across from that bar in the picture you just cant see the tables. When I go next week I will take a better picture that hopefully shows the table area too.....

I just found this pic of the blue mountain lobby bar on trip advisor.... here is a link, Beautiful Resort - Riu Ocho Rios Photos - TripAdvisor

Yep its outside and the name of it is Blue mountain lobby bar.