J2K

Everything went great with the wedding and Keisha and her staff were very helpful when needed. We had our wedding in the beach chapel, which was very nice. Our "reception" was in the garden gazebo. The reception consisted of a champagne toast and cake cutting/eating. From there we went on to take pictures and then had dinner with all of our guests (total group of 25 people) at the main terrace. If you're planning to have a group larger than 6-8 people, don't expect to be able to eat your wedding dinner anywhere except for the main terrace buffet. The will section an area off for you, so it's not as bad as it sounds. We thought we'd be able to get reservations at one of the "reservations required" restaurants, but they're really not setup to take a reservation for groups. I'm sure if we would've tried harder, we could have gotten them to do it, but it didn't matter much to us... the food at the buffet was great anyways. The one thing that was a little bit disappointing was the way they handled the photography. We had flown in Misti Abner to handle the photography for us. The resort has a policy to charge $1000 for the use of an outside photographer for your wedding. We had contacted SuperClubs headquarters to verify this and were told that as long as the photographer was a registered guest of the hotel, that the fee couldn't be enforced. We though, great!... until we got there. In our pre-wedding meeting, we were asked if we wanted a photo package, at which point we answered no. We were then asked if we had hired an outside photographer, to which we responded that we were just going to use our guests photographs. Well... then they say "no high tech cameras from your guests, or you'll be charged $1000". This created an awkward tension and was left unsettled at the time. They also said that a resort photographer would be assigned to take pictures of the wedding anyways, so that if wanted to order a package later that we could. When it was time to meet everyone for the wedding, Misti was taking pictures and such and Keisha told us to have her "take it easy" during the ceremony, but after that she could take as many pictures as she wanted. So it ended up that Misti didn't take any pictures during the actual wedding ceremony. The resort photographer took plenty of pictures though, so we did end up purchasing a package from them (which is really all they wanted in the first place). So everything was great, other than the little bit of stress created by the photo stuff. I would suggest to anyone getting married there, that if you want to bring in an outside photographer, budget in the extra $1000 so that the resort photographers will stay out of the way. I will also add that the resort photographers were actually better than we expected, so using them for your pictures wouldn't be the worst thing either.

We're just back from our wedding at BRB, so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

We gave out CD favors a few weeks before our wedding (which is a week from today!). We figured it would help to get everyone in the mood for Jamaica. It was just a CD full of Reggae tunes that we put into a slimline case and then made some quick cover art for them. Here's a copy of the cover art and track list. We just printed it on some leftover cardstock from our invites and then cut/folded/inserted into the slimline cases. Jamaica CD Cover.doc

Hers = $1200, custom white gold with .6 carats of channel set rounds from whiteflash.com (GREAT place for beautiful certified diamonds) His = $55, pretty simple tungsten band from titaniumkay.com (great to work with and excellent return/exchange policy)

We bought some 4" starfish cookie cutters and are giving out cookies as favors

That is great information, and I agree, very strange way to price things. I would guess though, that you should be able to get all of the images on CD for a couple hundred dollars. I did get some more sample pictures too, just let me know if you'd like to see them. As for flowers, we're just going to go with whatever the choices are at the resort. We're only having about 25 people, so we're not having a private reception either. We'll have a fairly large reception when we get home, so that's where a lot of our budget is going towards.

Yes, the pricing is VERY odd. On their sheet, it says "48 pictures with no negatives (5x7) - $700.00" and then another $100 for the negatives on CD (so just the digital images). I'm trying to find out right now if the photographer takes 150 pictures, do we get all 150 on CD? or do we only get the 48 we chose to have printed on CD? I think in reality, we'd prefer to just have all pictures taken on CD and 0 printed... we'll get them printed after we're home. I just feel like there's a good chance of them getting damaged in our luggage on the way home. If we have to pay $800 to get only 48 pictures... we will have to seriously consider other options. I've seen resort photographer pictures from 2 other DW's we've been at... and our pictures with a $200 digital camera were just as good and FREE! Did you see any weddings while you were there? and/or get a chance to talk to any couples who got married there?

The groom is not going to wear a suit, just pants, shirt, and sandals. Same goes for the groomsmen. We've been to other weddings and linen seems to be very wrinkly so we're exploring other options. We're also trying to decide how to differentiate between the groom and groomsmen without being too matchy matchy. The bride will be in white, with the bridesmaids in David's clover green. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Most of what is being said here is what we've heard also. We just ordered 3 rings from titaniumkay.com and all are nice quality and MUCH less expensive than any local jewelry store for the same product. We ordered 3, are picking one and sending the other 2 back. They don't charge a restock fee if you keep at least one of the rings The sizing issues stated above are good advice too... order a half to one size smaller than normal.

Thanks for the pictures... I think we're going to opt for the beach chapel for our wedding, since there will only be about 25 guests Did you get to speak with anyone about photography? On their wedding info sheet, they say there is a $1000 fee to bring in an outside photographer, but I'm wondering if that applies to a photographer who is a registered guest at the hotel? That's currently are biggest hang up, as we can't seem to get the resort to send us sample pictures of weddings either.

It sounds like things are going to sort themselves out, which is great. Our travel agent told us about the wedding coordinator being on maternity leave, so we haven't tried to contact her in a while. When she was there, before going on leave, she was pretty quick (for Jamaica at least) about returning emails and such. I think it's fairly common (not saying that it's right) for the coordinator to not act in urgency for a wedding that is several months away. Hopefully your site visit irons everything out. I would suggest that you take pictures of any area you plan to discuss further via phone/email with the resort. Doing so will allow you to email a picture and actually draw onto it what you're thinking. An example would be drawing your decorations onto the beach chapel, etc. Hopefully there will be a wedding during your stay as well, so you can see one and then possibly talk to the bride about her experiences, good or bad. We're only going to have between 24-30 guests, so we're just planning to get married, have dinner at one of the restaurants together, and go to the disco as a "reception". We'll be having a large reception back home when we return, so the expense isn't worth it for us in Jamaica. While you're there, can see if you can get any information about their onsite photographers? That's the one area where we have only received a few sample photos, but it would be nice to see some more.

According to our travel agent, nightlife won't be an issue. The house band at the resort is supposed to be one of the best on the island. I believe there is also a disco/club onsite, or you could get a pass to go over to Hedonism for the night... I'm sure there's nightlife there.

We did something similar with ours. For the wedding in Jamaica, we only sent the information to close family and friends via email. We didn't send invitations to everyone in the mail because we knew that most people wouldn't make the trip since we're having an AHR when we return. We will send out AHR invites to everyone on our list, which may spark a few last minute travellers... but that's highly doubtful.

If you have the date for the AHR, maybe add that to the STD. Something along the lines of... Mary and Paul will be getting married 11.28.09 in Puerto Vallarta, upon our return from Mexico, we will be hosting a Reception at home on 12.12.09. Then go on to explain more about Mexico plans.

I believe you can go to an OfficeMax (if there's on in the area) and print on a color laser for 8 or 9 cents per page.

We're going back and forth right now between just having a BM and MOH, or 3 groomsman and 2 bridesmaids. With the 3 and 2, we figure the BM and MOH can walk together, and the 2 other groomsman can walk with the other bridesmaid.

We're considering handing them out 1-2 weeks before we leave. Most of our guests are local to us, and there aren't that many going to begin with (right now 24, but a few more could book). We're thinking about having a pre-trip dinner for our guests, similar to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding at home. This would allow everyone to do some pre-planning and get in the mood

Yes, they will definitely have mamajuana at the resort. They have it EVERYWHERE!

Quote: Originally Posted by happygilmore What is everyone doing for invites for the AHR, we're having trouble trying to figure out what to use Any ideas?? We're actually going to do Boarding Pass invites for the AHR, since we're doing a beach/reggae theme for it anyways. It will hopefully make things feel less formal, as we're going for a beach casual atmosphere anyways

We're having a beach themed reception a few week after we return from Jamaica. We are having it in a typical wedding reception hall, with a cocktail hour/welcome party at 5pm, dinner at 6pm, and then dancing until midnight (or later). We will decorate the room with palm trees, etc. The only thing we're unsure of right now, is if we'll hire a Reggae band... or just have the DJ play a lot of Reggae music throughout the night. We'll probably just go with the DJ though, for cost reasons. We may do a first dance at the AHR, but no garter toss, etc. We are only taking a small group (20-30 people, 22 confirmed so far) to Jamaica, so the reception will be nice to celebrate with the rest of our family and friends.

Names: Jill and Jeff Location: Breezes Runaway Bay - Runaway Bay, JA Wedding: 3/11/2009 in JA: 3/8/2009 - 3/15/2009

We chose the resort due to several TA's suggesting it as a great place for us. We wanted someplace fun and budget friendly for our guests. We had been to 2 different DW's in Cancun and Punta Cana, and both of those were very similar... we wanted something a little bit different.

The Moon Palace was nice when we were there several years ago. The wedding couple we were there for were happy with how they were treated. The wedding was nice, and they have many places where weddings can be performed. The food was typical for an all inclusive. The resort is HUGE though, so if you want something intimate for your guests, maybe checkout a smaller place. The resort didn't seem to try and keep wedding guests close to one another, so there were people scattered all over the place in their rooms.

Nitrean... from atlargenutrition.com. It tastes good with just water even. Throw a scoop of Nitrean in the blender along with some ice cubes, water, and a banana = delicious!

Have you looked online at all for a ring? You can often save a LOT of money that way, and even get something better than in a B&M jewelry store. I know that it seems strange to order something like an e-ring without actually seeing it, but it's not that bad. Well... not bad at all if you use a good vendor (with a good return/upgrade policy) who sells AGS and/or GIA certified stones.