Shenmaat

Quote: Originally Posted by drbrainfreeze Thanks so much for sharing! 'm glad everything went well for you and you looked so radiant!!! Did Katie or Tammy go with you down to Jamaica? Katie went with me.

Quote: Originally Posted by msasfraz For the reception dinner, is the meal served to all guests or only me and my hubby? For previous RIU brides, were you able to pick menu for reception beforehand to created menu cards? The salad and soup are served only to you and your hubby but is buffet to everyone else. The main course is sit down and served to everyone. The menu is set at Mammee bay but you can move the reception to the Pool or Beach for a sit down for 50 dollars a head. They photocopy the menu and place it at all the place settings. Hope this helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by chicklet the music...you said you hooked your ipod up to speakers I am thinking I don't want the steel drum band..but was wondering if they had something to play music with. Can you get these speakers anywhere?? I bought mine on Ebay. I think they were about 70 bucks. Definitely go for the JBL mini sounddock. even if they dont hook it up to the speakers it can be turned up really loudly.

Quote: Originally Posted by chicklet Congratulations. You looked beautiful. Thanks for all the pictures..it does look beautiful there. You got me excited. You said in your review, Michael will not allow the guests to take pictures? did they give you a selection to look at for set up of the gazebo (aka for upgrades, examples you could do)? I dont know if he does it intentionally or not, but my guests complained they couldnt get a picture because him or the other photographer that was there would either step into the shot or always be in the way. They do give you examples of upgrades for the gazebo as well, but if I remember it is really expensive for the upgrades. I know there is a thread that has all the prices and photos of the upgrades on here as well. If I can find the thread I will give it a bump for you.

Quote: Originally Posted by DLyteful Wait! How the heck did you mom make the cake in her room? Its amazing! It looked perfect! Lol.. She baked the cakes here in the US (6 - fruit cakes), then carried them on the plane as carry ons (I had to make her two custom bags to carry them in) Once she got there she did all the fondant and stenciling in her room. She carried 15 pounds of fondant in her suitcase plus all her supplies! We thought they were going to take the fondant thinking it was bomb supplies! Here are some pics of her doing the cake in the room: Shutterfly Shutterfly Shutterfly Shutterfly

Quote: Originally Posted by Marnie&Peter everything looked amazing!!! did you have to pay extra to have the mic at the wedding ceremony? Nope, I think it is standard now to have it at the ceremony

Quote: Originally Posted by ginalynn Congratulations and great review! Where did you buy your own aisle runner from? Your cake is also beautiful, did you upgrade it or get it from somewhere else? I also loved your flowers, did you take them with you? I actually bought my aisle runner from oriental trading and did the monogram myself. The cake oddly enough was made by my mother in her hotel room! She brought all her cake decorating supplies and designed it in the room. The flowers were actually from the free package. they just added white orchids to the list of available bouquets.

I am back from Jamaica and OMG I am soooo tired! Below is the link to all the pictures thus far: Shutterfly Spirit Airlines - A- I have no real complaints about Spirit except that all the flights were overbooked and since everyone has to pay for their luggage people were carrying two of the largest carry on suitcases, which was painful when you are trying to carry a wedding dress on the plane. Riu Ocho Rios Resort - B The resort is absolutely gorgeous! The open air lobby is a welcome change to a stuffy bus when you get there and it has to be the coolest section of the entire resort. The problems arose when my air conditioning went out and almost spoiled all the fruits and cake I had in the room, or the maintenance response time for all the issues I was having in the room. They also tend to have electric outages often on the resort so dont be surprised if you come back and your alarm clock has been reset. Of course all of this could have been contributed to the fact that the entire resort was overbooked for Jamaican Independence day (8/6). Chandlyn – B- She was great during the interview and did a good job with the centerpieces (since I did bring all the equipment with me). However, she does not call to come and get you during the rehearsal or the wedding, so make sure you make your plans as firm with her as possible. For the rehearsal she didn’t bother to call and we couldn’t find her in the office but she then said she noticed people looking down from my room. My MOH (who has way more guts than I do ) said “Well why didn’t you call the room the only one who knows you I the bride and she wasn’t on the balcony” She is really hard to get in touch with and as a heads up does not work on Sundays. I had to on numerous occasions raise a stink with the front desk so that they could find her for me. She also does not carry a hotel walkie around with her so if she is not in her office or doing a wedding they will not be able to find or reach her. When you are telling her how things should be done, be as specific as possible. I think the centerpieces came out so well because I went to her the morning of the wedding took out all the supplies and laid it out in front of her so she could see. Then she drew her own diagram and helped the waitstaff set up. Beach Gazebo – A+ Forget all the people staring and the random beach goer crying. This beach gazebo was absolutely gorgeous! It doesn’t take much to make the gazebo look good. And all I did was bring extra birds of paradises that I bought from save-on-crafts to make the free ones that they put up for me look a little more full. Add some fans for the guests and a monogrammed aisle runner (which I highly recommend since they charge you to use theirs) and everything was perfect. I didn’t use the steel band and just bought a JBL sounddock for the ceremony with playlists on my ipod. Mammee Bay Steakhouse – B The food was great and the tables can be set up however you like, they do not have to be set up as one long table. Just make sure to ask chandlyn to set it up in a different way. I had to give it a B though because we wanted to do the speeches there and no one could here each other. I would recommend asking Chandlyn to setup the mike and speaker there too or springing for your only little amp and microphone set. I saw one in the Skymall catalog with an ipod doc on the way home and wanted to kick myself. The waiters are really nice and go above and beyond to make the bride and groom are happy and get everything they want. I realized late that I should have asked for champagne for the tables and when they couldn’t accommodate that they were nice enough to get the blue dream drinks that I asked for, for the guests. Michael – B Michael takes amazing pictures and way better than the ones I saw last year. But he does tend to block guests from taking photos and also will forget photos if you don’t remind him. I highly recommend having someone as the picture list holder andguest wrangler if you want to take photos with your guests. He also made sure I had the lo-res photos on cd the next morning after the wedding. Hows that for above and beyond! Jewelry – A+ I got my jewelry made from another BDW member Agape Gems and all I have to say is OMG THANK YOU! The BM’s loved the sandals and everyone thought my necklace was the best part of the dress (funny right, it wasn’t even a part of the dress! But someone really said that). I cant express how much I loved the jewelry. I wanted to take more closeup photos of the sandals but by the time Michael got there he did the jump photos first and I popped one! Overall I am happy to be home though, and waiting on getting my official marriage certificate in the mail. Keep your fingers crossed that I get it soon!

I would ask them if there are people who booked the date and havent confirmed. People tend to reserve numerous wedding days and the Riu forgets to release them. They can contact the people who have not confirmed (by booking a room) and ask if they will be using that date. But you have to call the main Riu wedding branch not ROR.

When I spoke with the woman who does the booking there she said if you were the only person you can book when you get there, however if it is you and the wedding party then you should probably book ahead. The bonus is that booking ahead I believe you get a percentage off the cost.

You looked beautiful! Great photos!

You looked beautiful! Congrats and thanks for the detailed review. You actually got me to stress less about my wedding!

Congrats and Welcome Back!

Welcome back and congrats! Cant wait to see pictures!

Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous! You look so beautiful!