MoKe0506

I love, love your bouquet. I love calla lilies and was planning on have an all orange bouquet. I would have never thought to mix the orange and white. Very creative and beautiful! How much did Lees Tours quote you to rent a tour bus for a few hours? I was planning on doing something like that myself. I'm jamaican but FI is american. I would love to show his family and our friends around. I'm sorry that not alot of people showed up. But all in all, it sounds like evrything went great for you. Thanks for the informative review!!!

Wow, everything looks great! You were a beautiful bride. I love your pics and the pic of Mammee is really pretty. It's gorgeous when it is lit up like that! I'm glad to hear that everything went so well for, Congratulations! What time was your wedding, and how did you find the privacy on the beach during the ceremony? Did Chandlyn stop by at anytime during your reception to make sure that everything was ok?

Love it!! It's fab and perfect for a DW.

Sounds like you had a great time. Just waiting on the pics now!!! Congratulations!!!

Thank you for the review! I did not realize that your review was posted. So weeks later I finally see it, lol! But it was very informative, i'm glad everything turned out alright. Congratulations!

I've been waiting for you to come back! Everything looks absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to see more. Congratulations!!

Hurry with the pics!! I think I'm going to Target tommorow...

Oh, Wow!! I love it!!!!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by FYB87 The first time I was married I didn't have any and I won't this time either. I dont' have any females that I would even consider to be MOH or BM's because I don't have anyone that I think of as a best friend or friends. I don't have sisters (only brothers) so I'm going to skip it. My mother does feel like I should have them and just pick family members. But, that is not something I am going to entertain. I hardly ever even talk to those people. Don't even live in the same state either. Don't think I answered your question. But, that's what I'm doing! I'm right with you. I do not have any sisters, just three brothers. And I have close girlfriends but we are not close, close. My best friend is my fiance, and since I'm marrying him I wouldn't know who to choose as my MOH, lol. So we're not having a bridal party and I am fine with that. My mother keeps pressuring me to have one, suggesting family members as well. But like you, I'm not close to any of them. I was in a friend's wedding in 2005 and I haven't spoken to her in over a year. If I chose someone to be my MOH I would make sure it is someone that would still be my friend 5, 10 years from now. I think it's up you. It's 2008, weddings have changed and you don't have to follow the rules. It's your day. I am enjoying the stress of not having a bridal party. I can just focus on me....

I love, love your BM dresses!! They are gorgeous!!

Thank you everyone for you honest responses!! You guys have made my decision a whole lot easier. I'm going to go with the Monique Luo dress since most people liked that one the best. I am so happy!!! Thanks guys! I can't believe finding my dress was so easy....

Aww, what a cute story!! I want to see your actual dress because that TTD is Fab!!

Hi Everyone, So I went dress shopping for the first time yesterday and I don't think I have to look any further. I went to David's Bridal and tried on the lace Monique Luo dress. I also went to Macy's Bridal Salon and tried on a Demetrios satin and lace dress. Both are around the same price, but the Macy's dress has a very long train so I would like to shorten the train which will cost extra. The Monique Luo dress was the dress I originally saw and fell in love with. It fits like a glove and I wouldn't need to do anything to it. I can't decide, I'm leaning more towards the Monique Luo dress, let me know what you think. Monique Luo dress: Demetrios dress: The Demetrios dress was taken with my camera phone because my battery died. So the pics are not that clear like the first pics. What do you guys think? My mom and friend who came with me like both dresses.

Have a wonderful time, I can't wait to hear all about it when you return. Enjoy your day! Congratulations!!!

Let's try again. Here's mine, I can't seem to post.

Hi, Welcome to the forum. I'm not getting married at ROR until next April but here's what I know: 1) Usually the reception dinner is around 6-6:30ish. But if you have an early wedding, you can have a lunch reception but they'll serve lunch food. I believe your guests will order from a menu like a regular restaurant. You can make your menus if you want, I'll be doing that. I've heard from past brides that the food was very good. 2) There are 3 restaurants you can choose from for your reception: Mammee Bay, St. Ann's and the Plantation. Mammee Bay and St. Ann's are semi-private at no extra cost. The Plantation is private and you can have a DJ and dancing there if you would like since it's private. But the Plantation is $500 for 2 hrs or $1000 for 4 hrs. St. Ann's is a buffet so most brides either choose Mammee Bay or the Plantation depending on their budget. Also, if you are having more the 50 guests then you have to have a private dinner at the Plantation. If you choose to have a semi-private dinner then you can rent the disco for 2 hrs for dancing. Or have dancing on the beach. I believe it's $250 for a DJ. 3) They will serve the cake during the dinner reception. You can bring your own cake toppers and serving set. You can basically bring any decorations you want. When you get down there you will sit with the wedding coordinator and discuss exactly what you want. You can provide her with pics or have everything written down and she'll take care of it. I plan on bringing a lot of my own decorations as well as using Tai Floral. 4) Yes, the spa can do your hair and makeup on your wedding day. They can even do it in your room if you choose. 5) Yes, they can set up a free rehearsal dinner before the wedding. 6) I believe Riu charges a fee to deliver welcome gifts to your guests' rooms. I think $3 but I am not sure. Most brides just met with their guests and gave them their bags in person. I don't think you can ship them ahead of time because the Riu doesn't want to be held responsible but I could be wrong. 7) I believe October is around hurricane season in JA so it may rain often. But I think Aug-Sept is the peak months for rain. Are you using a travel agent to book for the wedding? If so, most travel agents include transfer to and from the hotel in their packages. Not sure if that is offered if your guests book through the Riu website. There are a few Travel Agents on this board that can help you. I think 6-8 months prior to the wedding is the average time frame where brides send out Save the Date cards to their guests. I'm giving my guests a year in advance notice so my STD's have already been mailed out. I also created a free wedding website with all my Travel Agent's contact info. So my guests can start booking now if they like. A few of my guests are booking soon but I think most will probably wait until the last minute. It's their choice when they choose to book just make sure you give them enough notice so they can plan accordingly. I don't believe Riu block rooms but your travel agent should be able to. I didn't block any rooms for my guests. I just booked for my stay, my guests can book with anyone and whenever they want. The Riu is big and I don't think they'll have any trouble booking a room. I hope this helps!! Again, I'm in my planning stages as well but I got all my info from the brides here on this forum. If you just browse and read their reviews you will find all the info you need, including pics.

You looked absolutely beautiful!! I love your dress, it was perfect on you. Christopher did a good job, looks like I will be requesting Christopher instead of Michael to do my pics, lol! Thank you for posting!! Was that the free cake, looks bigger than the others I've seen?

Quote: Originally Posted by crawford2B I am pretty sure you do not have to make a final decision until you get there. I was very set on the beach. The gazebo was nice on the beach but i really wanted to be on the beach near the water so we went with the bamboo arch. It was worth it to us. Also they schedule the weddings far enough apart that there is time in between. ALso someone said the white rooms behind it. In the pictures it looks white but its not. It is purple!!! just a note. ALso for our wedding on the beach they had two security guard type people standing near the site and made sure no one went behind us on the beach. Right next to us was a private beach do that helped a lot. Also when we got our pictures they took out the people, boats, and even the bouies (sp?). But we cant do that on the pictures we took on our own. But if you buy pictures don't worry there will not be anyone or anything in the pictres. I posted my pictures of the beach if you want to look. The pond gazebo was very pretty but I felt I am in Jamaica I can get married on a pond gazebo at home. Whatever you choose you will look amazing and everything will be perfect!!!!!! If you get an arch instead of the beach gazebo, do they put you far far away? Your ceremony seemed secluded, or was it just because Michael edited the people out? Did you find your spot better than the beach gazebo spot? I think if I do the beach, I will get an arch instead of the gazebo so I can be a little further. But then again I remember seeing a pic where Riu was setting up an arch right by the gazebo so it was kind of pointless.

Quote: Originally Posted by Carolena7 We didn't have a bridal party either and it worked out just fine....we wanted it that way... or else I would have had more BM than he would have had GM...so it worked out better this way About the witness....they told us that they could have two people from the resort but then we ended up having a legal ceremony here prior to going and just a symbolic ceremony in Mexico so it wasn't an issue...but just a suggestion that you could ask your WC if your resort could supply the witness And then the rings, we gave them to our WC prior to our ceremony and we had them in ....well it's just easier to show you....so here's a pic what we had the rings in....there was a little bit of sand in it with the rings sitting on top of the sand and the box was sitting on the ceremony table already when we got up there. Great Idea!!!! Thank you!

Quote: Originally Posted by crawford2B I didn't see that on the price list but I maybe just didn't pay attention. We were only going to get the 30 pictures on the CD but when we were looking at them it was so hard to choose 30 out of 275. We did narrow it down to 50 and ended up getting the 50 on the CD. Also we had to pay for him to be at the wedding for the initial package and this included 10 pictures on the CD and 10 prints. So in all we got 60 pictures. He told us that he keeps all (275) pictures on file and he will email them to us for our family to look at and they can purchase them online. When we were looking at the pictures it had writing on it, so i don't know if when he sends them to us it will have that on it or not. Also the pictures that we bought, they took out everything that we didn't want in the pictures. For example the boats and people in the ocean. I don't think they would do that for all of them. This may be a good question for him. He was very nice and did a great job! I hope this helps you out. Pictures were a big deal to me and we were on a tight budget. It all worked out really well. So how much did this all cost?

I'm not sure either. These pics are very beautiful, makes my decision a lot harder. I love the fact that the pond gazebo is secluded but I like the ocean in the background on the beach. I think we'll decide when we get there. I also want to wear heels. I'm a heels person and can't imagine not being able to wear heals on my most important day, lol! Another thing is I think most brides will use the beach gazebo so I don't think there will be a big rush to clear out if there's another wedding right after yours if you use the pond? What do you guys think?

Thank you so much everyone for responding. I feel a lot better. I think I'm going to stick with my plan. We'll either give the rings to the officiant or I like the idea to wear it on my thumb. i never thought of that, lol. Thanks guys.

Your pics are beautiful!! Did Michael's take these pics, if he did he is definitely getting better. Just beautiful!! I also love your colors, those are my colors as well!!! Except I want my sash to be orange on my dress. I'm glad to see someone has the same colors, now I have an idea of how it's going to look. Congratulations!!!

Hi fellow Jamaica brides. I am planning a April 2009 wedding at Riu but was not planning on having a bridal party. My mother is throwing a fit and everyone is telling me that I should have atleast a Maid of Honor. Is there anyone else here that is not having a bridal party or Maid of Honor. My FI and I just don't want to do it, we are just going for a simple ceremony. I was thinking of just caving in and having a maid of honor. I mentioned it to my FI last night and he said absolutely not. He has three best friends and just does not want to choose between them. One thing I'm not sure about is the rings? Who would carry the rings, I won't have any pockets, obviously, lol. Any suggestions from past brides that did not have a maid of honor? Also who would sign the certificate??

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