OMC

Quote: Originally Posted by kellymseven Hi, Can I tell you how much your review helped me...I'm getting married at SDR on 09/27/09 and everyone keeps saying there's going to be a Hurricane, but you renewed your vows in September didn't you...how was the weather? Kelly Hi Kelly. I'm glad to see another SDR bride on the boards. We actually renewed our vows in August, which is right in the midst of hurricane season (being from Florida, I know a thing or two about hurricanes!). While we were there the weather was absolutely gorgeous. The next week, however, a hurricane did hit the island. So we were just lucky. September is towards the end of hurricane season (it ends in November) so it is a little risky but not as risky as say July or August. I wouldn't worry too much about it. September is usually a wonderful time to be in South Florida and the island climate is very similar to ours. Good luck!

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Jennifer Sandals Dunn's River is one of my favorites- the staff, the food, the decor - it's amazing! I'm glad that you liked it as much as I do! You made a beautiful bride! Did you notice the frescos in the hallway down by the gift shop shore excursion desk ? Thanks ladies. Your comments are so nice! I'm glad I could share my day with you. TA Jennifer, I did notice the beautiful frescos. SDR is just breathtaking! I just love how you discover something new about the place every day. There seemed to be something special around every corner.

Thanks ladies! You all are so kind. SDR is right between the Riu and SGOR. I wonder why SDR doesn't get much coverage on the boards. It was such a great place and there were lots of weddings going on while we were there.

Thanks for all of the nice comments ladies! Sandals Dunn's River was truly a blast!

As a locale, I would definitely suggest Sandals Dunn's River in Ocho Rios. The place was absolutely great for our vow renewal. You can check out the review I just posted for more details.

Quote: Originally Posted by Agape Gems GORGEOUS!!! I love your dress, and the hanging orchids turned out perfect! My fav pic is the TTD pic of ya'll laying in the sand. Congrats- again : ) Thanks so much. You were such a big help. I really appreciate all of your advice. I think the TTD was the most fun of all! Thanks for your nice words MsShelley!

Hi ladies. I know there aren’t many brides out there who choose Sandals Dunn’s River as their wedding locale but after this review, maybe some of you will change your minds. SDR and their entire staff were completely amazing! Hopefully, this review will do the place some justice. Here’s our story… My husband and I are high school sweethearts. We have been together for 15 years and celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on August 15th. We have two little boys, 8 and 5 years old. When we were married the first time around, I wanted to do the Sandals destination wedding but my husband wanted the more traditional family wedding at home. I went along with it but I told him that for our 10th anniversary, we would renew our vows at Sandals. A year and a half before our 10th anniversary, I started looking at the different Sandals resorts to decide which one would fit us perfectly. After months of looking at the Sandals brochure and website along with reading TripAdvisor reviews (and driving my husband and friends crazy with my obsession), I finally decided upon SDR. It seemed like the perfect fit. The things high on my priority list were nice beach, nice pool, Jacuzzi tub and room service and SDR had all of these things at a more reasonable price than the other Sandals resorts. Whitehouse was a close 2nd but it cost a lot more money. The Resort – A The resort was absolutely beautiful. It looked just like it did on Sandals website. We were completely blown away. We’re from Florida so we expected things to be similar to the beaches and scenery back home but it was definitely a lot more beautiful and the ocean just seemed bluer. There was so much to do but you could do nothing if you wanted to. There were also hammocks in cozy little areas in case the two of you want to get away from it all. For more details on the resort itself including pictures, please click this link to my review on TripAdvisor.com - Sandals Dunns River - Traveler Reviews - Absolutely amazing... - TripAdvisor. The Wedding – A As most of you know, before you arrive at the resort, you make all of your plans through a wedding consultant in Miami. She was very helpful. She sent me photos of all of the wedding locations as well as the free and upgraded bouquets to help me make my decisions. Through her, I booked the photographer and my hair and makeup. I brought my own bouquet from home. I also made some of hanging orchids that Agape Gems used for her gazebo decorations and asked if the hotel would hang them for us. She said yes but they would charge a set-up fee. I was OK with that since I didn’t want to pay a lot of money for décor. Overall, I didn’t have any issues with the wedding consultant. After months of anticipation, the time had finally arrived. We arrived at SDR two days before the ceremony. As all of you know, there is a little anxiety that comes along with planning a wedding at a location you’ve never seen but shortly after we arrived at this hotel, I knew things would be just fine. A few hours after we arrived, someone placed an album in our room from the on-site wedding coordinators. The album contained a letter welcoming us to the property and giving us the time and date we would meet with the on-site coordinators. The album also had pictures of the different ceremony locations along with the various upgrades that were available. The next day we met with the coordinators Sharleen and Tia-Marsha and within two hours, the entire wedding was planned. Since it was just the two of us, we didn’t want to get very elaborate with the décor. We purchased four floral arrangements and some tulle to decorate the gazebo. We were charged a very reasonable price and she didn’t even charge us to hang the orchids I’d made. Sharleen walked us over the entire property pointing out the different ceremony and reception locations. I told her that I loved the pier and asked if we could have our ceremony there. Even though it wasn’t one of their usual locations, she didn’t have any issues. She and Tia-Marsha even took us to the pier for at least 20 minutes discussing how we wanted it decorated. They seemed as excited about the wedding as we did. It was the first time they’d used the pier for a ceremony so they improvised with the décor the best they could. The location didn’t need much anyway since the ocean backdrop was just spectacular. Our wedding day was absolutely perfect! Our ceremony was set to start at 10am. My husband left the room at about 9:45am and another coordinator, Sheron, came to the room to get me around 10:05. The weather was perfect, although a little windy, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. (One note about those hanging orchids: they do get tangled on a day as windy as ours was so you should make a lot more than you think you may need.) The ceremony went off without a hitch. The minister was great. He introduced himself to me when I arrived at the altar. He was funny and uplifting. He even mentioned our children’s names during the ceremony. All and all, the ceremony was truly a dream come true. After taking some pictures in various locations on the property, we headed over to the reception site. I was blown away by how beautifully it was decorated. We were not charged for any of these decorations by the way. They gave us champagne, light hors d’oeuvres and a two-tiered wedding cake. We invited a couple that we’d met earlier in the week and they even made room for them. Lots of the staff came out and witnessed our first dance and wished us good luck. Then they left us alone with a private waiter for us to enjoy our reception with our guests. After returning to our room after dinner, we were greeted by balloons outside our door and the ceremony décor had been used to decorate our room. They had also placed the bottom tier of our cake in a box and left that in our room. The service at this place is really outstanding! Photography - A Before arriving, we booked a photography package of just 12 photos. Once we met with the wedding coordinator on-site, I decided to add the video. She assured us that you do not have to book everything ahead of time as the coordinators in Miami try to get you to do so adding the video at this time wasn’t a problem. The photographer (a female but I’m sorry I can’t remember her name) and videographer (Sheldon) were already at the ceremony site when I arrived and they stayed with us through the champagne toast and first dance at our reception. We even stopped by the Photo Shop after the reception and asked the photographer if she would take a couple of TTD shots in the ocean and she happily agreed. Although we only paid for 12 pictures, the photographer ended up taking 155! The next day, we met Kerri-Ann at the Photo Shop. She took us through all of the photos that were taken. The photos ranged from good to amazing. In a few of them, we were a little sweaty since it did get a little hot outside but what can you do? We’re in Jamaica. We picked out the 12 photos for our album and we purchased 18 more on a CD. They had also taken random pictures of us at other times during the vacation and we bought a few of those pictures as well. When we booked the video, we told them that we wanted to play it at our AHR. It was a week after we returned but we were told the video takes 4 to 8 days to edit. They assured us that if it wasn’t done by the time we left, they would ship it to our home. Sharleen said she would do what she could to rush it and we didn’t think any more about it. Well, three days later while we were literally sitting on the plane waiting to take off for home, the stewardess handed us a package from Sandals. It was our wedding video, edited and ready to go. The entire vacation was over the top but that just blew us away. Sandals is completely awesome! Salon – B- I had planned to have my hair and makeup done at the hotel but due to time constraints at home, I ended up having my nails and pedicure done there as well. My hair and makeup came out beautifully and I loved the job they did. However, I was not so pleased with the job they did on my nails. I had them to add acrylic tips, which you could tell was not something they do often. It took over an hour for them to do my nails and within a week, two of the tips fell off. I also had to pay three times what I would have paid at home. So I would not worry about the hair and makeup at all. The service was great and the price was very reasonable. However, make time to get your nails done at home. All and all, Sandals Dunn’s River gave me the best vacation and the most perfect wedding I could have dreamed of. I’d looked at hundreds of reviews and pictures of this hotel but none of them actually prepared me for how great the place truly was. Sandals definitely has the destination wedding down to a science but nothing seemed manufactured. The wedding and reception were so personal and intimate. Sandals has definitely won customers for life after the wonderful service we received on this trip. Feel free to ask me any questions. Here is the link to our pictures. Most of them are the Sandals professional pictures. Kodakgallery.com Sign in to Kodakgallery.com

Hi ladies! I'm leaving next week for my Sandals DR vow renewal. I have some last minute jitters. Did any of you visit Sandals DR while you were there? Did you scout out the wedding locations? Any suggestions on the best one? I'm also considering getting the video. How did your videos turn out? Is it worth the money? Also, did anyone do the sand ceremony or write their own vows? How does Sandals feel about these types of add-ons? I made the hanging orchids that many brides on this site have used. I was told that the hotel will hang them for us for a fee. Did anyone else do the same? Thanks for your help.

Quote: Originally Posted by Agape Gems Usually about a week. What do you have in mind? I was thinking rhinestone because the dress has some at the bust area but now I'm thinking something pearl or rhinestone. The dress is champagne-colored. Most of the things I've found don't look right because the stones on the dress are round and larger than average but most of the things I've found have small square stones. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Courtney, How long does it take to get your stuff? I am having a terrible time finding something. Perhaps you can help me.

That's what I think I'll do. I'm just wondering if I should have it done in Jamaica or at home. I'm thinking it may be hard to keep the look fresh for two days if I get it done at home.

I went through this same issue myself. I originally booked at Sandals Dunns River but changed to Whitehouse. Now that I have a new job, I was looking for ways to save money when I found the Riu. The Riu is a lot less expensive and I do see a lot of brides on the forum that get married there. However, my dream has always been to be married at Sandals and a friend of mine asked me if I would still have that urge to go to Sandals if I go somewhere else and the answer is yes for me. So to save myself the heartache later and some money now, I switched back to Dunns River. I'm going on August 5th and I'm hoping for the best. Good luck with your decision.

I'm also having a reception in Ft. Lauderdale when we return. Even though this is our vow renewal, it seems like I'm recreating our wedding day. I must admit that it's fun to get to do some of the things I didn't do the first time around. I'm so excited to meet someone who'll be at the resort at the same time as the two of us. We'll definitely have to meet up. What are you doing for favors? My aunt suggested that I bring something back from the islands but that's taking a risk since I don't know what I'll find.

Quote: Originally Posted by ButlerGirl08 OMC, as far as your hair goes... I would also do a sew in. I don't have a weave or wear them, but the one of the times I did wear a weave a while back, I had the sew in and it did okay when water hit it. Of course it won't look as fresh as when you first get it, but like Karahmia says...don't get it wet til after the wedding. That wouldn't have worked for me though because we all did activities like the Dunn's River Falls before the wedding since everyone was leaving the morning after the wedding. I just got a fresh relaxer before I went and wore my hair. After I straightened it for the wedding, I wore it in a ponytail or in my wavy afro for the remainder of the trip... After the wedding, it doesn't matter how your hair looks...lol. I hope this helps... If at all, I would suggest wearing your real hair...if that is an option...? ButlerGirl08, looks like you had a great time. Congrats! I cut my hair a couple years back and it's still in that transition stage where it's too short and too long to do much with it. My stylist put in a ponytail this past weekend. She told me to play around with it so I can learn how to handle it before the big day. If this trial run doesn't work out, I'm just going to get braids and put them up for the ceremony. This whole process has me wishing I had never cut my hair but what can I do?

Quote: Originally Posted by jenniferroberson I am getting married at Dunn's River in October 2008. I probably can't offer much help to you but I have made lots of contact with my wedding planner and so I might have some info!!! Hope you are feeling relaxed!!! Your event is sooo close!!! Love to hear from you soon! Jennifer I'm feeling a little nervous plus I still have so much to do. We're leaving in exactly 4 weeks from today. I have decided to bring my own gazebo decorations. I "borrowed" the idea from Agape Gems. The wedding coordinator seems to be OK with it. I just need to pay a set-up fee. Hopefully the fee won't be too outrageous. Anyone decided on whether to take the free bouquet or to upgrade? I'm not too impressed with the pictures of the free bouquets but the upgrades are pretty pricey.