PhillyGal

I am so torn. I booked Iberostar Rose Hall for Dec 13th but love the beaches and vibe of Negril. I have a big party so would probably stay at the Riu Negril but also looked into a wedding there (we visited last December, stayed at the Riu and talked to the coordinator). The Riu was NOT the place for us to be married. We witnessed a wedding ceremony there and it was soooo not private (there was a sunbather like 3 ft away from the whole wedding party). I am looking into Charela Inn. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a beach reception. Does anyone know if Charela does this?? Wow, this is tougher than I thought it would be:)

We are strongly considering Iberostar Rose Hall for our Dec 2008 wedding. I just found out that they do not have Friday Dec 5 or Saturday Dec 6 available, so now we are thinking maybe Sunday, Dec 7th. Do you think it'll be a pain to get married on a Sunday? I guess people can come Friday and leave Monday... Or we're thinking about moving it back to January or February 09 to have our Fri or Saturday wedding... I know this is peak season, so I'm wondering if prices really jump up that much?? Also, does anyone know anything about the Iberostar Rose Hall for a wedding?? I stayed at the one in Mexico and loved every minute of it. I've read some mixed reviews because it's a new hotel but am hoping that by Dec 2008, they will have their issues resolved... Thanks! Toni

Thanks for all your responses. I decided to get some extra help with destinationweddings.com. Does anyone know anything about this company? I haven't started working with them yet, but I filled out my info and gave a deposit and a specialist called me the next day. With the holidays though, I've been busy and haven't been able to call her back, so I figured I'd just start this up after New Year's. Does anyone have any input - good or bad about destinationweddings.com?? Thanks!

I just got back from Negril and while we were there we ate at Kuyaba and I said that I definitely wanted to have my rehearsal dinner there. I don't know how many people they can accomodate. Hopefully a lot since I plan on having at least 40 people. You can look at their website to see pics. It's KUYABA: just a glimpse. The food, the service and the atmosphere were absolutely incredible. Can I ask how you decided on the Rockhouse? Are you getting married there also, or just staying there? I am in the beginning planning stage and think we've decided on the Riu Negril (we have kids coming) to stay but we're trying to locate a private beach for our reception...

Hi all. I am brand new to the forum and am already obsessed!! I posted a thread on the Newbies Page, but to make a long story short - My boyfriend and I just got back from an information gathering/mini vacation to Jamaica and have decided that we definitely want to get married there. The dilemma we were facing was the exact location for the hotel/wedding... We loved the beaches of Negril, but weren't overly thrilled with any of the resorts, and loved the resorts of Rose Hall, but thought the beaches were pretty crappy. But I think we made our decision this morning to go to Negril... Out of the 4 Negril resorts we toured (Beaches Negril, Beaches Sandy Bay, Riu Tropical Bay and Riu Negril), we liked Riu Negril the best (that's also where we stayed for 3 nights). We are expecting 60-75 guests, including 6 kids, and want a big enough all-inclusive so the divorced parents don't have to keep running into each other:) The only problem with the Riu (besides the fact you have to get in line at 10am to make reservations for dinner, which we thought was a pain) is that they won't give us a party on the beach for our reception (we want a big, private reggae dance party RIGHT on the beach). So we'll have to find another location for that. I also loved the restaurant at Kuyaba so I really want to have a rehearsal/welcome dinner there too. So, my question is, with all of these off site events, do you think I should hire a wedding coordinator in Jamaica? And how much will that cost do u think?? The beach at Beaches Negril was nice and they do weddings there so I wonder if they will let us have our wedding there, even if we're not staying there... Also, does anyone have any experience with having a beach reception in Negril? Or a rehearsal dinner at one of the local restaurants? I am starting to stress out (and I don't even have the ring yet) hopefully by Xmas:) I would appreciate any advice you can give. Thanks so much!! Toni (PhillyGal)

Hi all! I'm so excited to find this site. My name is Toni. I'm from outside Philadelphia. My boyfriend (yes, boyfriend, no ring yet!!) are planning a DW in Jamaica. I know that this is a pretty unconventional way to plan a wedding (plan first, ring later), but I'm an event planner by heart so we both agreed that this is pretty typical for us to do it this way. Anyway, we just got back a couple weeks ago from an information gathering/mini vacation to Jamaica and it absolutely 100% confirmed that it is definitely the location for our Dec 08 wedding. We loved the people, the music and the whole vibe of Jamaica. The only problem is, we didn't find the EXACT location that we definitely want to be married and/or have all of our guests stay. We looked at 4 resorts in Negril and 1 in Rose Hall. We fell in love with the beaches of Negril but weren't blown away by any of the resorts. We loved the hotel in Rose Hall but didn't like the beach!! Decisions decisions... So we are stuck. We are thinking of 2 scenarios: -Have the wedding at the Rose Hall Resort (if affordable) or somewhere similar and have everyone come into Rose Hall then my fiance and I will head up to Negril after the wedding and invite whoever wants to come to Negril for a couple days to party and relax (we think it'll be mostly just friends). Or even tell people they can come just for the Negril portion of the trip after the wedding. OR -Stay at the Riu Negril (our favorite out of the 4 we saw), go offsite for the rehearsal dinner (we loved Kuyaba!!), go offsite for the wedding (we want a beach reggae party and they won't do that at the Riu), and just have everyone just stay at the Riu and shuttle them over to our events... We want an all inclusive that allows kids and is big enough so the divorced parents won't have to run into each other every five seconds. Sorry this is so long, but I am in some major need of some advice...Thanks so much for reading my crazy introduction!!! Toni (PhillyGal)