m_willis22

we had a welcome dinner at st. ann's restaurant. this was free and chandlyn just had some tables pushed together for us. we had a group of 48. as for the bars, i don't remember what time they open, but we had a cocktail hour at the dunn's river bar from 3-5pm and it was just us, so i am not sure what time it opens, but it is after 5pm. it is available to have a private cocktail hour though.

@ justustwo - i wish i would have known you were there. i did have raffia fans. my wedding was at 2pm and then we had the poolside reception at the pool behind mammee bay and some of our guests went to the beach party for a while. there were only 2 weddings that day, so i don't know. @ everyone - i will try to post some pics soon.

i finally posted my wedding review in that section. i know some of you have missed ROR reviews. so here is one.

i saw other weddings while we were there and there was one other wedding on the same day as mine. i never felt like i wasn't the only wedding they had. chandlyn was great and made me feel special. it was great and i would do it again in a heartbeat.

i used the chuppah for my wedding. i did not use any flowers just the tulle. i did not want to take away from the beach and the water. here is a pic:

@kari- for the poolside reception we did have to pay for the bartenders. i do not know the exact price b/c it was included in the price we had to have the bartender for the cocktail hour. i think it is like $10 p/p.

AIR JAMAICA= A- they were very nice. got us there on time and did not lose anyone's luggage. most of our guests flew air jamaica b/c the price was so good when we bought, $265 p/p round trip. you can't beat that. in may they did stop serving a meal on flight, but i did not care. LEES TOURS= A we used them for travel for a group of 8 from the airport to the resort and we also used them for private transportation from Riu to Couples Swept Away. We stopped at the Blue Diamond Plaza where i got postcards for my postcard guest book. they have everything there and they will bargain with you. RIU= A the Riu is a very nice resort. the staff is very friendly. we were greeted with rum punch. our room was not ready when we arrived so we walked around the resort and checked in later. we had a junior suite (most of our guests did). our room had a beautiful view. the resort was booked to capacity because many people switched from Riu's in Mexico to Jamaica because of the swine flu. so we could not get an upgrade to the suite, but i did not care. the only thing that drove me crazy was the key situation. our keys never worked. they really need to do something with their system. we had to get new keys everyday and it still took about 10 swipes to get the door opened. it was very frustrating. overall though the resort is amazing. all of our guests had a great time. FOOD= B- the food was ok. i don't know if it is because i am a vegetarian, but that is all i can say about it. the way you have to make reservations is annoying, but there are nonreservation restaurants for every meal. we did go to the chinese restaurant one night and i cannot remember the name, but they had the best food. for those that did eat meat they loved the jerk hut on the beach. i was glad that we did not stay there the entire 10 days b/c i was getting tired of the food. WELCOME DINNER - A chandlyn had tables put together at st.ann restaurant for the entire group. we just wanted to thank everyone for coming and we had a great time. this cost us nothing. WEDDING WC- Chandlyn and Nikki - A++ i will admit i was a little concerned about how everything would turn out b/c in jamaica everyone says no problem, but they were great. they are used to doing weddings and for future brides you have nothing to worry about. they are amazing. we (me, DH, and mom) met with chandlyn on thursday morning at 9. she was not in the lobby, but our meeting started about 5 minutes late. we went through everything. i had the free package. i had a 2pm ceremony time. i chose the beach ceremony location, which is right below the pool near mammee bay restaurant. i got the huppah with just the tulle, chair covers and sashes, we had a 2 hour cocktail hour at the dunn's river bar (fabulous), hors d'eouvres(sp?), and we had bartenders at the cocktail hour and the poolside reception. we had 48 guests and all the upgrades were less than 2K. CEREMONY - A+++++++++++++ our ceremony was at 2pm on the beach. 15 minutes before nikki came to get us and we were still waiting on my mom. nikki got a call saying that they thought it was going to rain and we needed to hurry, but the rain never came and the day was absolutely beautiful. i wanted DH's parents to walk down the aisle and told them several times to come to our room, but they didn't and were sitting down when we got there. chandlyn went and got them and everything was perfect. i could not have asked for a more perfect day. the minister was great. i had done our own ceremony, but told him he did not have to read it verbatim, but he liked it and stuck to it. i could tell he had read it a couple of times before because he had parts underlined and circled so that he could emphasize those points. the bestman read a bible verse and MOH read a poem. we did a sand ceremony, but with the mothers of bride and groom, that was very special. we had a champagne toast on the beach. COCKTAIL HOUR - A+ after the ceremony we had a 2 hour cocktail hour (3-5pm) at dunn's river bar. it is closed at that time so it was just us. we also got hors d'eouvres and mammee bay was open at that time and right there so if people wanted a full meal they could get it and them bring it back to the bar. there were tables and chairs. it was perfect. during the cocktail hour we did our special dances, cake cutting and bouquet toss. i know it was not at the traditional time, but i wanted to have professional pics and i wanted to change my clothes for dinner and the poolside reception since it was not until 6:30pm. the cake - F we got the vanilla cake, white icing, i thought it was gross and did not look good. we really didn't care b/c we figured no one would eat it anyway and it was not important enough to us to go off resort for one. DINNER - A+ we were supposed to have a semi-private reception at mammee bay, but since there were 2 weddings that day and our total combined was more than 60 people they moved us to the plantation restaurant. fine with me. we had the same menu as mammee bay. soup and salad was buffet and the meal was served. the food was good. POOLSIDE RECEPTION -A+ 8:30-11pm after dinner we went back to the other side of the resort for a poolside reception. we decided to use our ipod and bose docking station for this and it was the best decision we ever made. it would have been a waste to pay for a dj. we had the table and chairs that were there. we did not pay to have the chairs from the ceremony and it was fine. everyone ended up in the pool anyway so it would have been a waste of money. we had 2 bartenders until 11pm and when they left they made us 2 huge bottles of whatever drinks they were making us all night and we partied until after 1am. we had so much fun. the whole day was perfect. Photography- WPA Jamaica - A++++++ our pics were the most important thing to me. i am so glad we went with an outside photographer. our photographer was anastasia and she was amazing. she also surprised us and brought another photographer, owen, so we got 2 for the price of one. i have only seem some of the pics and they were still on her camera, but i know they will be amazing. we also did a TTD photo shoot the next day at dunn's river falls and the market there. i cannot say enough about her and owen. the were FANTASTIC. if you want more info on her PM me. EXCURSIONS - all of our excursions were done through the resort. we did not want to preplan group activities b/c we did not want our guests to feel it was something they had to do. we ended up going to dunn's river and atving. for the most part we hung around the pool. THE HONEYMOON COUPLES SWEPT AWAY - A+++ i loved everything there. going to couples after made the Riu seem worse. the food was fantastic. the pool, the beach. i loved it there. the entertainment was not as good as the Riu but that is not what i was there for. i would go back to Couples in a heartbeat.

thanks for the review. sorry you did not like the photographers pics, but the pics you had are beautiful.

i second lee's tours

i am using anastasia. i am very excited. i can give details when i get back. from the photos i have seen, her style is what i wanted. i would not hesitate using anyone paula and damien recommend.

i have been meaning to post. i got mine they are great. thanks jacilynda for putting everything together.

oriental trading is great for oot bags. i got mine for 9.99 per dozen. you can also get things for the bags as well. check out target or walmart travel size section as well for oot items. you can also get your memorial candles and bowls there and decorate them yourself. as for the guestbook, you can get postcards once you get to jamaica and let people write notes on those and then put them in a book when you get back. that will reduce your list before you leave. most important...just breath...you will get it all done. i have 2 weeks and 6 days left so i can feel your pain.

wow you look amazing. sorry about the rain.

i can't figure out how to post the pics, but if you email me at thorntonwedding09 @ yahoo.com i will send them to you. i will say drbrainfreeze's pics look a lot better than anything she sent me.

congrats on your wedding and the baby. your pics are absolutely beautiful.