negrildreamer

I gasped when I read your reviews and saw your pics, in a good way! Absolutely breathtaking. What nice flowers!

Some popular photographers are Saab Weddings, Sungold, Heather Parker Photography (ours), and Marcia Roberts. If you want a US-based one with a more "US" understanding, that will probably cost more but if you are hiring a destination wedding photographer to come shoot your wedding, try working it into the price. A lot of brides are sharing the fees of their photographers they bring down.

The thing you have to realize is that most of the Jamaican resorts and their staff run on island time. When in the middle of planning sometimes you just have to take a deep breath. Moon Dance Cliffs an Moon Dance Villas are run by a US company so they are a bit more in tune with what Americans and Canadians want in terms of expectations. The same is true for Rock House. I am not sure about Tensing Pen.

dmob, yes there is a rainy season (and hurricane season) in the Caribbean. I would certainly ask Kerry what the policy is on acommodating your guests for the rain if it happens.

i have been following her blog and facebook fan site for a while. from what i understand, the prices vary seasonally. i think it makes sense that if you are having a wedding during hurricane season where it is less popular, the prices are lower. when we inquired a while back she had shot destination weddings all over. so while we probably think of destination wedding as just tropical weddings in jamaica, there are lots of destination brides that travel outside the caribbean. for those of you who read the blog, looks like she recently traveled to do a wedding in palm springs. a while back she posted one in england too which looked like a very "indie" style and there were pics on some cliffs or something.

Floral Fantasy is gorgeous. I have seen them in pictures online and just wonderful.

Yes she is a very popular US-based destination photographer who is familiar with Jamaica and does weddings there. She gives a lot more then the other photographers with her packages and that is probably why so many brides use her, aside from the fact that it is the photojournalism style.

That is a very good site for those not getting married at resorts or lookin' to spice things up a bit beyond the packages.

I highly recommend Lee's Tours. Norma is responsive and acomodating which is rare with Jamaican vendors. The prices are reasonable and she has other recommendations for excursions nearby including the shopping. Good luck!

moondance villas is several beautiful villas of varying sizes which seem more like nice luxury homes with private chefs/butlers. there are pools and a beach with super soft sand. moon dance cliffs is part of the same company and is brand new in negril. its in the west end right on the cliffs with a huge pool and views of the ocean. it has the feel of a boutique hotel but it also has four or five villas with butlers for them. the hotel has big rooms and i believe it has 2-room suites. i think they all have jacuzzis but i might be wrong. there is a sports bar that serves food as well as a restaurant literally right on the cliffs. it has open sides so it is like an outdoor restaurant but covered. the other option for indoors might be at the huge hotel lobby which is completely covered. unless you are getting married during the rainy season, why not have your wedding reception under the stars with the waves crashing up on the cliffs. its magical. i most certainly think 40 people would easily fit in the lobby if they were willing to do the setup there. its such a wonderful place you are going to love it.

Moon Dance Cliffs is really nice and they also have Moon Dance Vills wich is part of it, with a shuttle that goes in between them. They listed a lot of specials on the website and you can negotiate with them.

There are plenty of threads on here. You just have to think of a few things. Do you want a photographer based in Jamaica? This can be cheapest. Problem is, they are a pain to get in touch with before and after the wedding. I read about it on this forum, on weddingbee and on the knot dw board. Do you want a photographer based in the US? I don't think this is the cheapest option but the expectations that US people have are a lot higher. Most photographers that are used to the US clients shoot for 6-8 hours or more, and give you hundreds or thousands of images. And they all look much nicer. Its just that you have to fly someone down but then you will probably have an easier time dealing with them after the wedding. I think it is safer to have a contract with a US photographer anyways. Do you want one of the photographers that works for the resort? This is probably the easiest way to go with no fuss. From a lot of the packages they are very limiting. Like how many pictures you get and the resort handles it all so I don't know how it works if there is a problem.

Congrats! Glad to hear it went smoothly!

I think the video is very corny with all those effects. But, you have to think if you want to have someone at your wedding (family, friend) manning a camcorder or enjoying the day with you. For a couple hundred bucks, you get just that. Basic videos. I think if you want a really nice wedding video it is going to be more than that kind of money. For someone to be there all day and then put it together on a DVD I probably would not feel right paying only $200 or $300 anyways.

i am really excited to have found this thread. awesome!!!