geology_rocks

2pm is the perfect time slot! You get a bit of a sleep in, time to eat and to get ready. We had our ceremony at 2 and it worked out perfectly! after the ceremony, we took some group pictures on the beach, some pictures of just the 2 of us, then met up with the majority of our guests by the pool bar. It was a free way to hang out and visit, totally casually. They play music at the pool bar too. Honestly, I felt like 6:30 came too quickly as we weren't able to take all of the pictures we wanted. Don't worry, things will work out great! With 70 people, you're bound to have some people who will need to take a mid-day break, have a snack, etc, I wouldn't try to overschedule.

I think a couple of my guests wore shorts and sandals (men). I don't think they're going to say anything to a wedding party. Well, unless they showed up in board shorts and a tank top!

I booked my appointment when I got confirmation of our wedding which was about 4 months in advance. As far as requesting a certain individual to do your hair and makeup, well, i'm not sure you can. The spa is pretty small and I'm not sure how many girls actually work there. I believe the name of the girl that did our hair and makeup was Nicole and Karine did our manicure/pedicure.

I picked a bouquet with pinkish/purple calla lilies at first. It was $250 I think, but that didn't matter because when Chandlyn phoned the florist, they didn't have the calla lillies in stock. If you want a specific color, i'd definitely try to arrange it beforehand.

I wouldn't spend the money. Lots of my guests were ready to call it a night after dinner (including me!) and the folks that wanted to stay up congregated around the show area for some drinks. I agree with the previous posters that hiring the steel drum band for an hour would be a better use of $350! We loved the steel drum band!

I had my hair and make up done at Renova Spa. The girls there were fantastic. Bring along a picture of how you would like your hair done and I would recommend bringing your own make up like foundation and mascara and have them apply it for you. They have a lot of make up there and use disposable brushes when possible. Oh, and if you plan on having flowers in your hair, don't forget to order them through Chandlyn in your planning session!

JUTA stands for Jamaican Union of Travellers Association. Their taxis are regulated and designated for tourism use. The vehicles which are JUTA regulated will have a red license place. Not all taxis in Jamaica are licensed, some are just random people looking to make some cash.

We got the free package. It included a bouquet and boutenier, tulle on the gazebo and birds of paradise. The table where we signed our papers had a table cloth and our sand ceremony stuff (which we brought from home). I'm honestly not sure that the more costly packages include anything extra. They are fairly cryptic in their decor description, perhaps someone who had the upgraded packages can weigh in on this. I'm really glad we didn't pa for a package to get the little extras that are included because we didn't receive the gifts that are advertised to come with the free package.

We booked directly through the resort and were able to change our reservations when a cheaper rate came out.

Don't spend too much time worrying about the cake. They are fairly limited in what they can do. If you have something specific or complicated in mind, look into hiring an outside baker to do your cake. We ordered a chocolate cake and got white cake with strawberry filling. It was still yummy either way. We actually heard of the same sort of mix-up happening to another couple a few days before our wedding. What we asked for... What we got... (We brought the shells from home)

One thing to keep in mind if you are considering using rose petals is that you're not going to want to clean them up after the ceremony. We saw a bunch of flower petals scattered around the wedding sites. Consider using real petals so they are at least bio-degradable and don't look like trash afterwards.

Just a heads up, I no longer have the catalogs, if someone else could take over and send some emails, that be great. THANKS!

We used Lee's. We had a bit of a mix up. Norma sent 2 vehicles for us, 1 bus for passengers and 1 van for luggage. The drivers ended up loading our luggage into the bus so 4 people had to ride in the van. The bus can accomodate 20 I believe but they will send more than one vehicle if necessary. The owners are really friendly, the drivers are just a bit scattered. We all made it to the resort just fine with a beer stop and a pee stop along the way. The cost was $18/person for 19 passengers. On the way back to the airport, it was just the 2 of us and the cost was $80. And on a side note, try to gather all of your guests in the luggage pick up area, go through customs together and have them coralled before you leave the airport. THere are a lot of shuttles and taxis outside. All of my guests knew where we were going and which shuttle company we were using but it was a complete gong show, like organizing a bunch of pre-school kids!

Quote: Originally Posted by chicklet I like the pink you had for your arch. Pink is one of my colours. Anyone know where you would go to get something like that? Geology - did you go with the free package for flowers as well? The pink fabric was honestly just fabric straight of the bolt. The ends weren't finished or anything. Go to any fabric store and they should have plenty to choose from! I've heard of other brides bringing stuff down and asking Chandlyn to set it up with no problems. Our flowers were upgraded. The carnations and daisies weren't doing anything for me and I had my heart set on pink (the only free pink flowers were carnations) so I splurged. For my bouquet, a bridesmaid bouquet and 2 bouteniers, we paid $200. Hair orchids were $2/flower.

There isn't really any color selection for fabric. The standard that they show you is white tulle. I think they only reason they'd have anything else is because someone else left it behind. If you want something specific, I'd bring it yourself.

Quote: Originally Posted by Danniellou So I guess if you get the free decorations, you can't request any colors? Is that how that works? What colors are you talking about? If you're talking about flowers then no, you don't get a choice with the free decorations.

I didn't pay to upgrade the gazebo decorations. We had a bunch of birds of paradise on either side of the gazebo with the pink fabric wrapped around. I didn't ask for pink fabric, I thought the white tulle was the standard (that's what Nikisha showed me) and actually, I would have prefered white, but the white tulle was needed for the arch next to us apparently, so I got a frayed old piece of pink fabric (thank goodness no one but me could see the unfinished edges!) Whoever was getting married after us at the arch must have spent a lot more money than we did because they got the VIP treatment and we got maintenance men in our pictures!! The free set-up can include the palm leaf arch inside of the gazebo but I didn't see a single wedding use it the whole week I was there.

I think the basic bamboo arch was like $800 or something stupid, that's why we picked the (free) gazeebo. I was pretty choked when there were maintenance men running around during my wedding setting up the arch beside the gazebo. They're in all of our pictures. Grrrrr...

Congratulations... but you can't just tease us with the promise of a review then leave us hanging!

Quote: Originally Posted by quiche Hopefully this won't be an issue for me as my FI and I have the same last name....sucks that I don't get to change it..! Lucky girl! I'm in the middle of an identity crisis!

Only 2 of our friends came. My feelings were a bit hurt at first because the rest came up with stupid excuses for not coming. In the end I'm glad we only had 26 people, anymore than that and I may have gone insane with the organizing!

I'll second that the french manicure didn't last long! It had all peeled off 2 days later. The polish on my toes, well, that lasted a month! Oh and a french manicure is like $6 extra. My MOH and I went to the spa the morning of the wedding for mani/pedis, hair and makeup. It was really fun and the girls were great!

ROR is a great resort for a destination wedding. It's big enough so your guests (and you!) don't feel cramped. No resort is perfect of course, but all of my guests that came loved it! The people who really want to be there will find a way to make it happen no matter which resort/country you choose.

You can ask for whatever you want, whether or not you get it is another question. There are supposed to be different ministers for the different types of ceremonies. We asked for a civil, non-religous ceremony and ended up with a minister who didn't know how to prefrom a civil ceremony. If you have your heart set on the religious wording, I would email Chandlyn at least a couple of times (phone if you can!) and be very clear and tell her what you want and that an alternative is not acceptable. I know it sounds harsh, but we really got f'ed over for not being assertive enough.

Congratulations! We had more than a few issues with Chandlyn too, seems to be a theme lately! Let me know if you call the Riu to complain or at least mention the crappy service. I fully intended to but could not actually find the phone number of someone who might care. I am glad that you still had a great time despite all the things that were not quite as expected. We had a great time too and it wasnt until the day after that we realized how badly they had screwed up. (My biggest pet peeve was a minister vs. civil officiant, did they at least get that right for you?)