ccunningham

Hey ladies, My TTD at Dunn's with Michael at ROR was the first one he had ever done. We had "saved" an hour and a half from our wedding package to devote to the TTD, but since it was his first time shooting a TTD there, he kept us there for over three hours for no extra charge. He did not seemed concerned with time at all----he was much more concerned about getting great pics. I would say you need two hours, but it also depends on if you want pics from the bottom of the falls and the top. Almost every single Dunn's picture that I loved was from the very top of the falls (see the first two). The bottom picture was shot near the bottom of the falls, but could have been replicated higher up and saved us a lot of hiking. If you want to see more pics, check out my review. I also included an excerpt I had written in my post about Michael. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909 BIGGEST POSITIVE: Michael!! I had heard mixed reviews of Michael, the resort photog, and wasn’t expecting much to be honest, but he blew us away! He was so understanding with the rain that began at the end of the ceremony and even stopped the clock for us to see if it would clear (it didn’t). Luckily, the next day, we had arranged a TTD session at Dunn’s and it was BEAUTIFUL! We also got to take some beach pics first since our wedding day was so stormy. He did a fantastic job and was soooo nice. He said it was his first TTD at Dunn’s, as he had always thought it would be too crowded, but we went at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t see a soul until about 11 as we were finishing up (don’t pick a cruise ship day!). He said he was very happy with how it turned out and would perhaps start advertising.

Here's what I wrote about our transfer in my review--NIGHTMARE!! http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909 Our transfer was included with our package and was through Tourwise Limited. It was AWFUL!! They must contract out to local drivers, as the van they packed us in did not have their logo. My husband and I had to sit in the super hot van (it was 90 degrees and humid out) at the airport with one other couple for about ten minutes until other people came to fill the van. By the time they crammed nine of us in there, the luggage was so high, it was stacked to the ceiling and you couldn’t see out. My dress literally was scrunched into a corner. The tiny little A/C vent in the front did nothing to cool us in the back. I started to feel claustrophobic and began to feel very sick. We made two stops on the way which made me very mad. I was actually crying at the first stop when I got out due to the heat and closed quarters—I didn’t think I could pull myself together to get back in that awful thing. My clothes were soaked through with sweat. The couple that was in the front graciously gave us their seats so that I could sit by the vent. By the time the driver stopped the second time, we all just wanted to get to the hotel, and most of us just stayed in the van. The driver obviously gets a kickback for taking us to his friend’s chicken hut for a $4 bottle of Red Stripe. The return trip was a bigger van with the Tourwise logo and was much better, but still dirty.

I was really nervous about using Michael, as I had heard both good and bad things. The samples he sent me in his emails in the months prior to my wedding were not very encouraging. HOWEVER, I think he does much better work than the pics he sent me---perhaps they were from a long time ago? To see some pics he took at our wedding and read my thoughts on Michael, check out my review: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909. The pics from my TTD at Dunn's are my favorite part of the whole trip!

If it's for any service surrounding the wedding (hair, nails, etc.), I would DEFINITELY book before you go. They were very crowded when I was there, and I still got in a half hour late. The number of girls they have working is also dependent on how many reservations they have, I would guess. If it's for something like a massage that you're flexible about during your vacation, you could wait to book that, although I tried to do that on location and couldn't find a time that worked well.

We only saw Red Stripe and Red Stripe Light. As a fellow Wisconsinite, I know how important beer is, but our group seemed to adjust to and enjoy the Red Stripe :-)))

I wore the same dress, and I agree--it was MUCH cleaner afterwards. The waterfall basically power washed the dress! I just got my back from the cleaners and it looks great!

Mine was probably one of the reviews you read that talked about the rainy weather! ( http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909) In retrospect, I wish I had chosen 11 so that I could have had some nice sunny beach pictures with my groom and all of our guests, but hindsight is 20/20. Weather is so unpredictable. Here is a link which discusses the chances of rain at various times of the day during each month, but who is to say that what's "average" will actually happen. Rainfall in Jamaica We RAN from our ceremony to seek shelter. We were right inside Mammee Bay. Unfortunately, our "shelter" was soon flooding as you can see in the picture below, and we were all huddled in a corner. I did read one bride, however, that had her ceremony in Mammee Bay and loved it so much that she thought it should always be offered as a location. I'm guessing she didn't have as much rain as we did! Here's my two cents---if you think that you would be happy enough having your wedding in Mammee Bay at 4 if it does rain, then I'd say stick to your 4:00 with the knowledge that it might be inside. If however, you'd be extremely disappointed to not be on the beach or have sun, I would do the 11. That way, you have more time to delay and delay if necessary, whereas at 4:00, if it starts to storm, it doesn't always clear so quickly if at all.

Quote: Originally Posted by ErikDaGenErik i am in love with your TTD pics at Dunn's River! My FI and i were in Ocho Rios past February and our highlight was Dunns River. you are sooo lucky to have amazing pics there in your fab wedding gown. is that a Rivini? it looks a lot similar to the Rivini gown i've seen. Nope, it's a David's Bridal. Thanks!!

Thank you! I keep asking myself if I'd do ROR if I had it to do all over again. You can have rain anywhere, but you don't have Dunn's River Falls anywhere. Our TTD pictures are my most treasured possessions right now. I blew a couple up and have them huge on my wall. Every time I look at them, I am so happy!

Michael just charged us his hourly rate, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts charging an excursion fee. I had booked him for 1.5 hours at Dunn's, but it being his first time there, he went for an additional hour for free. He really wanted to get some good shots to advertise with I guess. He took about 350 photos in 2.5 hours. Add that to the 400 he took of the wedding and we had over 750 photos to go through. It took us about 3.5 hours the day after in the photoshop. We narrowed it down to the 70 that we bought on a CD. You will also get ALL of the photos in low-res on a CD in case you ever want to order more, you can just email him the number and you can purchase them in high-res. divadivine25---Sorry to make you doubt your choice! I know all of the brides on here want a perfect day, or at least near perfect and mine was far from that. I keep trying to be positive, but even as time passes, I have many regrets. The weather really was the main culprit, however. I truly believe that if we had beautiful weather, then all of the other issues would seem minor. If you don't go during the rainy season, which I hear Oct/Nov is the worst, then you won't have many of the issues I did. CDC4207---Here are a few more pics at your request :-) I love this first one-- how it's seen through the eyes of my 7 year old niece!

I was married on 10/31/08 at ROR. I already posted my review (http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909), but thought some brides might find the following photos interesting, so I decided to do a separate post specifically addressing the beach gazebo. We had chosen the beach gazebo, as we had seen other brides' photos and thought it was beautiful. However, when we arrived, we were disappointed to see how tattered it looked. Perhaps the stormy weather during our stay has also negatively affected my view, but even on the sunny days, I thought it looked drab. The stairs are totally chipped and there are rusty spots. It looks very weathered, but nothing a good coat of paint couldn't fix. We decided that we'd rather use the lawn gazebo, as we were quite disappointed, but Chandlyn said that it was already booked for a rehearsal. That was OK, as we still liked the idea of the sand beneath our feet, so we said the beach gazebo was fine. If you notice in the photos, we had many uninvited guests, and I don't mean fellow RIU guests. These people sit at the edge of the resort and sell drugs or other wares. They approached us various times to buy ganja as we went to check out the gazebo and as we went to watch other weddings. In fact, our wedding guests told us that DURING our cermeony, they watched a deal go down. Not exactly what I had pictured for our wedding! It makes me sad that our guests had to be distracted by that during our vows. You may luck out and maybe only one or two will be standing around, but of the three other weddings we watched, there was always someone standing there. They don't come any closer, as that is the property line, but it's still disturbing. Yes, Michael can photoshop them out, but I can't erase them from my memories! I just thought some of you might like to know when choosing the beach or the lawn gazebo. Also, the earlier ceremonies didn't seem to have as many of them standing around.

You order your flowers through Tai Floral. I asked Chandlyn and she just gave me their email and told me to contact them. Then, when you sit down with Chandlyn the day or two before your wedding, she has the receipt from Tai Floral and you pay her one total payment for all wedding expenses (steel drum, judge, flowers). The only person you pay separately is Michael. You won't even see your bouquet until about 10 minutes prior to the ceremony, by the way. Nekeisha came to my room with it about 10 minutes prior to our start time while Chandlyn went down to pin the flowers on the groom and parents.

bpayne---I noticed you're getting married at the RIU Negril. I was married at ROR, but did get the hair trial done. For me, it was totally worth it, as I didn't really know what I wanted and it put my mind at ease. It is sooo expensive there by the time you get everything done (trial, hair, nails and I had my hair done for my TTD session). I discuss it at length on my review: http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t31909 One word of advice, allow enough time! I got in almost a half hour late--Jamaican time! Needless to say, my nerves were going crazy sitting in the waiting room that whole time. Luckily, I had allowed enough time and it turned out well. There are lots of reviews on here about ROR's Renova Spa. I remember a few girls saying the makeup brushes and makeup looked old and used...

Also, just a word of caution to brides who are not preparing their own vows/ceremony----My husband and I actually used a stopwatch to time three different weddings before ours. They were FOUR minutes. It seemed very anti-climactic to us to prepare for your wedding for months and have all of your guests travel that far for a four minute ceremony. I would definitely recommend adding a sand ceremony or something to make it longer. Ours was 15-20 minutes. We wrote it start to finish and included a hand ceremony and a sand ceremony. We had Erril Grant perform our ceremony. We had asked for a civil ceremony. He did OK, but he stumbled a few times and goofed up our order which made me mad since all he had to do was read it. It was the only time we saw this judge/minister at the resort. All other ceremonies were performed by a different man---I think Mr. Sheldon. We had the option of meeting with the judge first, but it would have cost another $50.

Thanks ladies!! Regarding pricing---it's the first time Michael has ever done a TTD at Dunn's. He said he always thought it would be too crowded, but after going with us early in the morning on a non-cruise day, he said it has changed his mind. We booked him for 1.5 hours on that day through his standard pricing guide (which was I think $80 for every hour). However, as his first TTd at Dunn's, he went way over our time limit and didn't charge us. We were there for about 2.25 hours (that includes drive time). He said he might even start to advertise it a little bit, so I'm thinking he wanted to make sure he got some good shots to advertise with. He really seemed like he was having a good time. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets so popular that he would start charging an excursion fee or something. It'd be great business for him. I talk more about Michael in my 10/31/08 ROR review in the Jamaica thread if you're interested.

We had so much fun doing our TTD at Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica! It was so much easier to hike the falls than I thought it would be. Ironically, the dress was not trashed at all. It was so dirty from the dance the night before that the power of the rushing falls actually power washed it! Michael, the head photographer at the Riu Ocho Rios took all the photos.

Oops, I forgot---yes, we did pay for the blue/white tulle. It was $50, as was the aisle runner. I inquired about it to Chandlyn, but she said Tai Floral handles that stuff, so that's who you'll have to contact.

Thanks for all the kind words, ladies! Yes, I did pay for my bouquet. I didn't care for the free bouquets of carnations and daisies, so I chose the bouquet of 18 orange roses for $98. I tried attaching the Tai Floral book of options, but it just failed. It's on the forum somewhere, though, as I have posted it before. There are no prices---you have to email them for those, but they always get back to you within a day. I had inquired about a few bouquets before choosing the orange roses--here are a few prices: # 44 $175 # 54 $129 # 9 $117 We bought a matching orange rose boutonnière for my hubby which was $10. Then we used the free orchid boutonnière that comes with the free wedding package and gave it to his father. As for Dunn's, we went there by ourselves which I think is a must! You don't want to feel like you're entertaining your guests and you definitely don't want to keep pausing for them to climb around you and worry about them being in photos. I would HIGHLY suggest you go when it opens at 8:30 and have the whole place to yourselves. We got there at 9:30 and didn't have anyone else there until 11. You could tell it was a little annoying for Michael and us once people started climbing towards us and we'd have to wait for them to get out of the photo. We basically ended it at that time, which was fine, as we'd gotten all the photos we wanted. A word of advice---when you pay to go in, they put a big, smudgy purple stamp on your hand. Michael was brilliant and told them, no, no, they're taking photos, so they let us pass. Then when we left, we went back to get stamps, as we were planning on coming back that afternoon with the group. They let us in the second time later that day without having to pay since we had the stamp, so it worked out great! Also, water shoes are an absolute must!!!! It's pretty funny to look back at our photos with barefeet and remember how we had to balance on the rocks to take them off and sit on them so they weren't in the pics!

In response to the first question---yes, those will be our thank you's. Ellipse---We did not rent the disco. You can rent it from 9-11, but with only 23 guests, we didn't feel that ten people or whatever dancing on the floor at a time would be much fun. Regardless of whether someone has booked it or not from 9-11, it doesn't open to the public until 11, so we were just waiting and waiting to get the show on the road. As for Dunn's---we emailed Michael four months prior and asked. He said he had done TTD at the RIU, but never at Dunn's. He was enthusiastic and said it would be a great challenge. However, after the actual shoot he said that he had never done one there before because he thought it would be too crowded. Since we didn't see anyone until 11 a.m., he said that our experience changed his mind and that maybe he'd start to advertise a bit. He was very happy with the pics and thanked us for the idea/opportunity. We wanted to arrive at 8:30 a.m. when it opened to avoid the crowds, but since we didn't have any beach photos from our wedding day due to the weather, we did some beach photos first. Since Michael was already there shooting, he offered to give us a ride to Dunn's which was above and beyond---a taxi would have been $20 (originally the person in the lobby said $30, so we left. They called our room later and said they'd take us for $20). We paid Michael's entry fee which was only maybe $7 since he has a residents card (it's normally $15). We felt very bad, as Michael got both of his cameras wet and they shut off. Luckily, we were just about done anyway. He said that the insurance for his camera is hundreds of dollars and he had never thought it necessary to buy it, but now he knows why he should. Luckily, he wiped them off and they were working by the time we left.

I’m back and wish I could say Jamaica and the RIU Ocho Rios were the island paradise I had imagined, but unfortunately, the weather and a few other issues took the wind out of my sails a bit. However, I’m a married woman now and couldn’t be happier to be home and moving on with life! BIGGEST NEGATIVE: If there’s one piece of advice I’d give brides considering a destination wedding here, it’s that I wouldn’t go during the rainy season!!! You might luck out and not have bad rain, so if you’re a gambler and it won’t bother you if it does storm, then go ahead and plan your wedding this time of year. We gambled and lost---the rain, storms, and howling winds that we had really put a damper on everything. I was optimistic before going, thinking that it’d be no big deal if we had the daily showers that I had read about that lasted an hour or so. The cloudy skies and driving rain daily from 2 pm through the night, however, dampened EVERYONE’S moods. My husband and I felt especially guilty since our guests had spent so much money to come to our wedding and we chose to go during the rainy season since it was the only vacation time we had together. Yes, yes, it was still fun to be with the group and they all tried to keep their spirits up, but as the bride and groom, we still felt guilty. Had we gone after the rainy season, I believe the whole experience would have been entirely different and positive for everyone. Keep this in mind as you read the rest of my review, as I truly feel that the stress of the weather really made everyone see everything else more negatively. BIGGEST POSITIVE: Michael!! I had heard mixed reviews of Michael, the resort photog, and wasn’t expecting much to be honest, but he blew us away! He was so understanding with the rain that began at the end of the ceremony and even stopped the clock for us to see if it would clear (it didn’t). Luckily, the next day, we had arranged a TTD session at Dunn’s and it was BEAUTIFUL! We also got to take some beach pics first since our wedding day was so stormy. He did a fantastic job and was soooo nice. He said it was his first TTD at Dunn’s, as he had always thought it would be too crowded, but we went at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t see a soul until about 11 as we were finishing up (don’t pick a cruise ship day!). He said he was very happy with how it turned out and would perhaps start advertising. I’d think he could easily charge an excursion rate and make it quite a business. However, he’s now doing photography at the RIU Montego Bay and travels back and forth. He has 72 weddings in November alone! FLIGHTS My husband and I flew Northwest. We carried the dress on and folded it in half to store it in the overhead. This was pointless, as we had to roll it into a scrunched up ball for our transfer (see below). Miraculously, the dress barely needed any touching up at all. The dry iron in our room took out the one little crease that it did have. Snacks/beverages were available for purchase. All of our guests flew Air Jamaica and were treated to a champagne breakfast. However, on the way home some of our guests had a two hour delay on one day and the others returning the following day had a four hour delay! Apparently, there was a problem with the plane and they had to take it somewhere to be fixed both times. TRANSFERS Our transfer was included with our package and was through Tourwise Limited. It was AWFUL!! They must contract out to local drivers, as the van they packed us in did not have their logo. My husband and I had to sit in the super hot van (it was 90 degrees and humid out) at the airport with one other couple for about ten minutes until other people came to fill the van. By the time they crammed nine of us in there, the luggage was so high, it was stacked to the ceiling and you couldn’t see out. My dress literally was scrunched into a corner. The tiny little A/C vent in the front did nothing to cool us in the back. I started to feel claustrophobic and began to feel very sick. We made two stops on the way which made me very mad. I was actually crying at the first stop when I got out due to the heat and closed quarters—I didn’t think I could pull myself together to get back in that awful thing. My clothes were soaked through with sweat. The couple that was in the front graciously gave us their seats so that I could sit by the vent. By the time the driver stopped the second time, we all just wanted to get to the hotel, and most of us just stayed in the van. The driver obviously gets a kickback for taking us to his friend’s chicken hut for a $4 bottle of Red Stripe. The return trip was a bigger van with the Tourwise logo and was much better, but still dirty. HOTEL/ROOMS We were greeted with rum punch at check-in and given the key to a standard room. The open-air lobby was gorgeous! However, when all of our guests arrived two days later, as all 23 were standing there waiting to check in, a huge storm came up. The wind and rain was awful! It actually flooded the lobby all the way down to the check in desk. We had nowhere to put their luggage so that it wasn’t sitting in water. I’m not talking about a wet floor---I mean about a half inch of water flooding the entire lobby. It was the only time I saw the lobby flood that badly, but it was so upsetting to see the looks on our guests’ faces as we stood there welcoming them to “sunny†Jamaica after their long journey. You can see the sun has come back out, but the lobby was still flooded. While the open-air concept is very nice, because there was heavy rain from about 2 pm for the rest of the day on most of the days, the stairways and lobby were often wet. Two of our guests fell down at some point during their stay due to the always-wet main areas. This was one of the worst things about the hotel for me, as I felt I was always walking gingerly so as not to fall. The staff was all ready with mops to start cleaning it up, but they were no match for the rain. However, for anyone visiting when it’s not the rainy season, it wouldn’t be a problem. Our first room, 2209 was a disappointment. Yes, it smelled very moldy, but we had bought a plug-in for that. However, we had paid $114 to upgrade to an oceanfront instead of an oceanview. It was only oceanfront if you went out on the balcony and hung your head around the side. I inquired at the front desk and they said that the room was classified as oceanfront. The front desk told us as the bride/groom, we’d get an upgrade before the wedding. Luckily, we spoke to Chandlyn the next day and she said that she’d see if she could get us an upgrade a day earlier. She said “shhh, don’t tell them when you’re getting married. The upgrade is supposed to be the day before the wedding, so don’t say anything.†We were SO HAPPY to get moved that day to 2205 which was a huge wrap around suite with three balcony doors and didn't hardly smell at all! We were in heaven when we saw it. After unpacking, we set up all of our OOT bags and soon learned to our dismay that our room was infested with sand fleas or something tiny and crawling. They are attracted to food, so an empty drink we had left out for about 20 minutes was soon crawling with seventeen (I counted) sand fleas. Much to my horror, they were also now crawling all over and in our OOT bags. It was all I could do not to start bawling. We were so frazzled from our guests arriving in the flooded lobby, trying to change rooms and now the sand fleas, that we didn’t even ask to be moved, as the room was still very gorgeous. The hard bed didn’t bother us one bit, but the damp sheets and damp floors were annoying. We did use the jacuzzi tub, but it must have a timer where the jets shut off after 5-10 minutes, rest a bit, then turn on again. Odd. CHANDLYN I had emailed Chandlyn twice within three days of our departure and we had arranged to meet at 9:30 in the lobby. SHE is the one who told me to meet her at the front desk. At 9:40 and with no Chandlyn, we asked at the front desk. They didn’t know where she was. At 10:00 we asked again. They told us just to go up to her office. There she was just sitting there. GRRR!! Even though it was just the two of us (no attendants), Chandlyn and Nekeisha both had us meet them on the beach for a quick run through the night before the wedding. It was about 2 minutes and was more like me asking questions rather than them telling us anything, but it put our minds at ease. Despite my frustrations with her lack of communication prior to the wedding, she is very nice in person and always saying “no problem, no problem.†We had very few requests, but did ask that our cake be plain, as we had talked to a bride from the day before who said her cake was awful (which I had also read on here). She said it had strawberry filling, so we asked for plain. Somehow, we ended up with a lemon filling and yes, it was awful. Our wedding gift from Chandlyn was a cute Jamaica mug with a bottle of rum cream (which is $3 in the gift store by the way). She was very competent on site and we were happy with her once at ROR. She stopped in at the reception to see how everything was going. RENOVA SPA I did the hair trial with Nicole. Nice girl, not very conversational, which is cool, as I just needed to decompress. I didn’t like it the first time, so she really worked with me to get what I wanted. On the wedding day, it turned out FABULOUS! I had it done again the next day for our TTD and did it down and didn’t really like it. It was actually pretty ugly, but once I got back to my room, I decided to wear my veil again and it pretty much covered it up. I was really worried the day of the wedding, as they got me in 25 minutes late, but it all worked out. The two or three girls working in the salon at the same time are usually speaking Patois, so you won't understand a word. WEDDING—4 pm ceremony at the gazebo Aside from the weather, one of the bigger disappointments was the appearance of the gazebo. I had seen pictures previously and thought it was gorgeous. However, now that the resort is three years old, it is quite tattered—so much so that we asked to move the wedding to the closed in gazebo in the grassy area. Chandlyn said we could not, however, as there was a rehearsal there at 4. This seemed very odd since both Nekeisha and Chandlyn were at our wedding. I’m wondering if they just didn’t want us to move it? The paint is chipping from the steps and the screws are all rusty. I didn’t realize just how close the drug dealers sat to the gazebo, either. IMG]http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/cbehrens31/DSC_0112.jpg[/img] ***BE HAPPY if you are getting married at 11 or even 1. By 4 every single day, there was a storm brewing or already in progress. Most mornings at 11 were beautiful! The day before we had switched our ceremony time to 3:30 which Chandlyn said was “no problemâ€. Then we reconsidered, thinking it might throw off our guests. We decided to stick with four. We really regretted this. If we had gone with 3:30, we wouldn’t have had to gone running from our ceremony (read more on that later). We had watched two weddings on the days leading up to ours, both with the same minister. He had a great, powerful voice. However, we used a stopwatch t o time the weddings and from the time the bride got to the end of the aisle to the time they said I DO, it was FOUR MINUTES. We were so thankful that we had written our own ceremony and vows!! Michael did photos for about 10 minutes prior to the wedding. Nekeisha arrived at about 3:55 with my bouquet which was a little too close for me, since I really wanted to start the wedding on time at 4. PLUS, the sky was starting to darken and I knew the storm was coming. We had a different minister than everyone else, and he was OK. He goofed up a few times with the order which made me mad since we had written the entire thing the way we wanted it. We were so glad we asked for a microphone!! If you are having it videotaped, the groom and minister will wear a mic, but we were not videotaping, so we asked for a microphone. It was wonderful, as the guests could still hear us despite the wind. During the ceremony, the wind kept blowing my veil across my face. Michael came up and whispered for me to switch places with my groom. This was brilliant, as now the veil blew backwards, away from my face. The photo below is before we switched places, but there wasn't much wind at this time. We were performing our sand ceremony and signing our license while the steel drum played and all we had left to do was to go back to the gazebo and have him pronounce us husband and wife and kiss the bride. Well, Michael and Chandlyn came up and said we had two minutes to “wrap it up†before the skies opened up and the storm rolled in. Half of our guests had already gone to stand under the nearby tree for fear the rain was coming. We rushed, rushed, rushed through the pronouncement which should have been so joyous, gave a quick kiss and RAN to shelter. Just as we arrived, the skies opened up and rained for most of the rest of the night. We tried taking pictures by Tushima, but the lobby of course, was flooding and guests were trying to run to find a dry spot. Not exactly the paradise I had pictured. We had hired the steel drum band. I loved them, but we essentially paid $350 for 15 minutes. They played for 15 minutes prior and one song during the ceremony and one after. They even brought a drum to the area by Tushima where we were trying to take photos which I thought was nice, but it just wasn’t the same. Had we all been hanging out on a sunny beach, it would have been perfect to hear the drums, but the way it turned out was not worth the $350. RECEPTION/DISCO Mammee Bay was fine, but service took forever, as we had been warned about on this forum. We started at 6:30 and ended about 8:30. The next 2.5 hours before the disco opened was pretty boring. The rain had stopped, but all of the chairs at all of the bars were soaking wet. All of the bars are basically in the same area with common seating, so the few seats that are under cover were all taken. We went to the front desk to ask for towels to dry off some chairs. They sent housekeeping instead with little washcloths to dry them off. We said we needed 25 chairs. Of course, all of the other hotel guests were like vultures and swooped up each chair as the hotel workers dried them off. It was frustrating and again, we felt bad for our guests. Once the disco started, we had a blast. We wish it opened before 11! The music was great. Popular hip-hop stuff, although our guests who went back the next few nights said it was bad music and nothing they’d ever heard. PHOTOS I already talked about Michael above in my “biggest positiveâ€, but I wanted to mention him again. If I had gone home without the experience of Michael, I’d be even more negative than I am now! We have beautiful pictures to hang on our walls thanks to him. It helps to remind us that despite all of the negatives, we still had some beautiful moments with family and friends. RESTAURANTS CAUTION!!! The info posted on this forum about dining from past brides was not accurate during our stay!!! I think since it is off-season, they do not have all of the restaurants open. St. Ann’s was the ONLY thing open for breakfast. We didn’t usually like their dinners, but Thursday night is Mexican night and it’s great! Luckily, that was our welcome dinner night, so we were very happy about that. For lunch, you can only choose from Piccola, Plantation and the jerk chix hut. Mammee Bay was NOT open. The reservation process was annoying, but not as annoying as the slow service at the sit down restaurants. We got in line at 4:40 to make a reservation. The line opens at 5. We had made reservations for four by 5:05. It was slick! We ate at Mandalay which was very good and a buffet, so quick. Other times, by the time our guests got to the front of the line, the only thing open were spots at 8:45 or 9. One night, they didn’t get done eating until 11, so they never made reservations again. We felt bad about this, as the food at St. Ann’s night after night was not great. So that’s my summary. Again, I know it sounds negative, but I just wasn’t prepared for so much stormy weather. I really am happy just to be married, be home and have some beautiful photos. We feel guilty that our guests paid so much money to come to Jamaica during the rainy season. If you ask them, they’d tell you it was still fun, but for us, we all know how much better it would have been to wake up to sunshine, sip rum punch on the beach and hear the steel drum band during photos, go to the beach party (which was cancelled each night), have dry chairs, dry floors, etc. A big THANK YOU to all of you who post on this site!!! Hearing others experiences, knowing what to expect and having a forum to chat with others in the same boat was a lifesaver.

I would avoid the falls on Wed., Thurs., and Friday, as these are the cruise ship days when it is packed. I had a friend who was married at ROR and the day following the wedding, everyone hiked the falls. Unfortunately, the groom's mother fell at the top step and broke her collarbone. I personally wouldn't take any chances before the wedding!

Ellipse---here is the link to the gossamer I was talking about. It's from jhmein's wedding review. I hope that's how you post it. I tried to upload a photo, but haven't mastered that yet. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t16213

This might be an odd question, but for all of the brides who have the photo where they are standing behind the "Thank You" written in the sand, who actually wrote that? We don't have any groomsmen, and I wouldn't want to ask a guest...and what do you write it with to make it look so nice?

I'm renting the aisle runner for $45 and the white/blue gossamer for $50. Someone else on here used the gossamer, and I thought it looked very pretty. I asked Chandlyn about it, and she told me it was $50, but to contact Tai Floral for additional colors, etc.

Ellipse, this might sound like a dumb question, but how do travellers cheques work exactly? I've gotten them before at the bank where you have to sign them in front of them and then I've taken them abroad where you take them to a bank and sign on the second line and they cash them. Are you actually cashing them out down there or just signing them the second time and they accept them that way? Thanks!