~St.T Bride~

Quote: Originally Posted by shakeimap I'm getting married on Magen's Bay Beach and having a mini reception on the beach. After the reception, we are doing a mini tour of the island. We will then have dinner and dancing on the ship. Shakeimap... Who are you booking your mini tour with? That's exactly what I want to do!

Absolutely, and anyone else if it meant gaining something (flirting is harmless!) Would you get your new husbands name tattooed on your body?

Very nice pictures!

I too am interested in knowing if the salon is any good for hair a makeup....Past Carnival Brides...weigh in PLEASE!

Ok. My FI and I decided that since we haven't cruised before and it is for a group wedding, that we would use a travel agent and decided that Cruiseship Centers was probably a good choice. We ended up using the person that we first talked to, which I'm not sure if there is any other way to get around it. First impression of her was pretty good, but as we go along I'm liking her less and less. She's not good with communication. She doesn't let us know when there are new bookings, or cancellations. I have no idea if and what she's working on. She's supposedly working on flights for us (for the past month) and I really haven't heard anything. She didn't realize that the weekend we leave Miami is SUPERBOWL weekend...I found out through a friend that used her own TA to book the pre-cruise hotel (she doesn't like my TA) and this is just the tip of the ice berg with little rants that I can go on and on about. My one big dilemma is about my 'group incentive' being the group leader. If I had booked through Carnival myself I would have been able to choose how to disperse my credits. ---Oh, and I had to ask about this incentive...she NEVER told me about it ---- My TA is choosing how this will be given out. She's chosen a bottle of champagne and chocolates per stateroom which is nice, BUT she's going to put from "The Bride, Groom & Mary" on the card... I know that she wants repeat business, but this is MY group incentive for having people book. She didn't recruit anyone! And nobody even likes her/trusts her Is there a nice way to tell her I want the card to say "From the Bride & Groom" only?? Am I being a bridezilla? Do I just have to suck it up??

What a relief, and at the same time how sad is it to know that most of us DW brides are in the same boat. One of my 'good' friends cancelled. She had the guts to actually call me and tell me, but it was the excuse of 'lack of money' that really got me. Country club membership, leafs season tickets, 400,000 house (which mama in law put the deposit down for) and wedding paid for and you can't afford it...Riiiiighhht! True colours come out, and as far as I'm concerned we'll come out ahead in the long run knowing who we REALLY can trust and who will be there for us in the long run. There have been some pleasant surprises with people we never would have thought would come. So it all works out in the end.

For any of you brides out there that may want this dress...I had picked it out months ago and told the BM's to go out and get it. But of course none of them did. So I rounded them up and we all went together. I was told that this dress is discontinued! But the store owner called dessy and they had enough fabric for my 4 dresses...PHEW!!! Order fast if you want them!

Thanks girls! As time goes on it's becoming less of an issue...I don't think the bride will come to our wedding so I think you are right in that it doesn't matter. I just wish I would have known earlier and maybe we could have split on the dress!! =)

Crap! I was just at a wedding last night for my FI's friend, and his bride had my dress on!!! I didn't think it would bother me so much but it does. I don't know this girl well at all, but the fact that some of the same people will be at our wedding just kinda sucks. Part of me wants to go out and look for a new dress... Am I wrong to feel like that?

fascinator with crystals and feathers

I really want to use the Dessy dress 6556P (citrus ombre) colour. If anyone else has used that for their beach wedding, can you please post a pic so I can see what it will look like?? After Six Bridesmaid Style 6556P: The Dessy Group

Thanks Ayita, great idea. I think that I'll have to do more searching about incorporating her into the vows...

Sometimes it doesn't pay to do things too far in advance... So, I'm a cruisebride who has been booked for over a year now, and from my STD's which were sent about 6 months ago we have 33 booked. I know that there are still more to book, I would guess anywhere from 5-20 people?? I have also had my invites done for months now and seeing as the wedding is in Feb., I thought I would wait until the summer is over and send out my invites in Sept/Oct. to refresh the memory of those that are waiting to book. My invites are a boarding pass design (3 passes per invite), with formal invite wording on the first, accommodation pricing on the second, and contact/rsvp on the 3rd. Well Carnival has just said that they will be taking back the rooms set aside for my group by the middle of August if they don't have deposits and names. So if people book, it will be at whatever the going rate is, because the price fluctuates up and down... So....my dilemma is for the accommodation pass. Right now I have it broken down between inside, oceanview and balcony pricing. If I send out the invites in Sept/Oct., the pricing would then be at the going rate rather than the group rate I had secured because Carnival would have taken the rooms back. How do I word this?

Thanks Jennifer, not that I don't trust my TA...but it's nice to hear the same things from another TA...

Well speaking with my TA after hearing from some of you ladies, we are getting some Carnival fun points which is going towards a $75 credit and embarkation bottle of champagne/chocolates...pretty good I think! ( could my TA have just kept these points if I didn't ask?? ) Now, I need some more help. We have a block of 14 rooms with deposits on them which were to be held until the final deposits are due in Nov. Now, Carnival has called my TA and told her that they will be taking those rooms back as of July 17th since the ship is booking faster than expected. As a TA could she not advocate for more time for us? Or is she stuck? 3 weeks is a little quick to have our invitations (already designed) printed, sent and people booked... I'm a little disheartened with my whole travel agent / cruise experience. I've booked every international trip myself whether resort or backpacking and have had wonderful experiences. Smooth running experiences. Is it just the cruise industry that is so fickle? Or maybe a TA problem?? -They changed the entire sailing ship/dates last year this time... -Then they told me that any rooms that had deposits needed names in order to hold them at the price I had gotten (so a mass email was sent by me to my guests ...very tacky!) -Now they've changed the sailing itinerary -And SOMEHOW -this really doesn't make sense-.. we have 12 rooms (without names) set aside again and they are trying to pull the same thing they did last year requiring names by Jul 17th...it doesn't make sense. ARGHHH!

Just search the thread and if you can't find what you're looking for write whatever specific question you have?

Congrats, I'm a Feb. 2010!!

So excited a fellow Canuck is the next bachelorette! Now you American's just need to open up the Amazing Race to us!

It takes a strong woman to leave the man she loves and wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and it shows just how loving and good of a mother to your children are. You need to look out for them...I'm sorry that you are going through this though.

I'm looking for your help fellow brides. I'm sure someone has run across this problem before so I"m reaching out to you guys for a solution. So, after many painstaking hours I've created a masterpiece of a boarding pass invitation. I ordered the PERFECT paper from cutcardstock.com (which wasn't that cheap) and planned all along to have them professionally printed. The problem lies in the fact that I used a MAC laptop to create them, and used a couple MAC fonts as well as some free fonts from dafont.com. So now, when I send the saved files to other computers to test print they don't recognize the fonts and it doesn't print right. I planned on using staples and they said they won't be able to print them because I've used MAC fonts and other fonts. I did save them as PDF's, but it kinds shrinks them and the proportions don't work out the same. I'm so upset because I spent hours on them and love them EXACTLY how they are. It's throwing salt in my wounds since I had my STD's printed with my weddingannouncer website before it crashed and didn't have the technical issues resolved having to put stickers with a new site over top. I feel like I'm going to lose it, but don't want to have wasted my valuable time and money that I've spent to find the perfect paper! H E L P !

Hi Girls Just wanted you to know about a situation that I've run into. I initially decided to use Weddingannouncer.com to build a FREE website for RSVP's and in order to have up to date communication with my guests (since we're doing a cruise wedding and they've already changed things on us once!) Initially the site was adequate but last weekend for some reason I was locked out of my account and when I went to reset the password the email never came (and I have done it before and it worked.) In order to contact the admin.'s you need to sign in, which of course is the problem in the first place. I was able to find the email of a moderator (after much hunting) and she forwarded the email to the admin and I still haven't heard anything back. The downer is my STD's all had this website printed on them! And I wanted them to go out last Monday. I guess it's good the site went down before I sent them! So I had to print out the new site on sticky paper and overlap it, so I'm not the happiest about it. They ended up going out Thurs. instead but it was a real headache. So needless to say, you get what you pay for and beware of this site if you are relying on a website. I've switched to WedQuarters.com which looks much more professional and it's easy to use and only $35 for the year.

Thanks for your help! I've told my TA that I'm part of a destination wedding forum where brides talk about everything, and that this has been brought to my attention. I just wrote her today, so I'll keep you posted with what she says...good thing is Carnival's deposit is only $25 pp and 100% refundable up until Nov /09. I won't hesitate to change TA's if need be (although I wouldn't do that without giving my TA the benefit of the doubt).

Just curious for those brides who have cruised with Carnival for their wedding and/or any other group function, did Carnival throw in any extras for you? (ie. shipboard credits, free room upgrades or the like?) We are not doing our wedding with Carnival, but with an independent co-ordinator on the island, but we are getting them business by choosing them for our group vacation. And as of right now, they aren't doing us any favours. What are realistic expectations? Please let me know!

Thanks for the info, both of you! I've booked with Carnival, for Feb. 2010 and I haven't gotten ANYTHING extra. I'm definately going to be talking to my TA about this (onboard credits, TC, etc.) Not to sound bridezilla-ish, but if I'm rounding up business, and the fact that it's my wedding I want some extras!

I really want to do a TTD shoot too. But like prettyhazardous said, "who wants to walk around all day in a wet dress". Our wedding port is the second stop, so if we do it, I think I'll do it at our last port. (That's assuming we'll be bringing our own photog, which I really am hoping for). And, I'll just use my dress...I've heard from close friends, the dresses come out pretty clean