Lua

i'm not sure how it works with an actual photographer (we didn't have one) but with our family and friends taking photos all around the resort, it took about 45 minutes or so

Yeah I would definitely go with 3pm over 5pm then you're not pressured to rush with photos

Thanks Laura!! As for the time, we definitely would have picked a later time if we could have. When we reserved our date, someone had already reserved the 4pm time slot and that's what we wanted. With the reception not until 6:00, we had a long stretch in between. Guests did like it though because they literally just relaxed and went for a swim during the break. It just sucked for me in my big dress!! LOL I would have loved to go for a swim during the break, but if I had taken that dress off, it wasn't going back on for the dinner. I was HOT as was my hubby. (I wouldn't let him change out of his suit until after supper hehe) Having the cake and champagne on the beach though did stretch out the ceremony time.. after that we walked around the resort taking pictures and then we all went to have a snack at one of the restaurants. We still had time to kill though so believe it or not, my hubby and I actually went back to our room and watched the majority of a movie before supper! we were so hot and just wanted the AC!! LOL Looking back though, it was still worth it. When everyone else thought we had gone back to our room to do a little you-know what it's hilarious to us to know we literally just sat there watching a movie and cooling down!

Thank you!! The ceremony was perfect!! although I can't remember it entirely lol that who afternoon went by in a flash!! Hubby and I need to watch the videos still! In all honesty though it was very well done. We had a meeting with Dionne (the WC) the day after we had arrived to go over details, but we still weren't 100% sure how things would play out. I'm glad I didn't worry because she knew how to do her thing. She dropped off the bouquet (which i didn't end up using because i made/brought my own real touch one) about half an hr before the ceremony then went to bring my hubby his bout. She then came back to get me and my dad (we didn't have a bridal party) about 5 minutes before our 2pm start time. She walked us through our building through a back way so no one could see me coming and we sort of hid until she gave a signal and the music started. My dad and I had a nice long walk (well dance hehe) to the ceremony site and down the aisle. It was awesome as it allowed for more of our song to play out. We had the ceremony and signed all the paperwork and then, as per our request, we had a champagne toast and our cake right there on the beach. I just LOVE the pics of us and the cake on the beach. here's our cake btw. nothing fancy but OMG SOOOOOOO moist and tasty. we got chocolate and the topper is one of my extra turquoise real-touch gerberas that i brought We did NOT have a private reception as we didn't want to spend the $$$ (i think it was $2000 for a private reception). Due to our budget, we stuck to our semi-private reception and wouldn't have done it any other way. As I mentioned in the post above, it felt private anyway so we were happy. If you guys want to see any more pics, you're more than welcome to browse through ours. there's only about 2000 of them!!!! We decided to forgo a photographer, again, to save $$$ due to our budget. So we just asked our guests to take shots and upload to our photobucket account. http://s1201.photobucket.com/home/chrisandlaurawedding/index

I posted this reply in another thread but thought i'd post it here too thanks!!!! we had the ceremony right on the beach at the arch. They have 2 beach ceremony sites. 1 - at the gazebo, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's literally right in the main area of the beach and you'll be guaranteed to have others surrounding your wedding. The other beach location is where they have the arch .. it's in front of the fish sanctuary (where you're not allowed to swim) way at the far end of the beach where it was QUIET and pretty private. We found people were very considerate and pretty much stayed away for our ceremony. We didn't opt to pay for any extras on top of the "FREE" package so this is how they decorated the arch for us. Our reception was at Shadows steakhouse. I believe they do all of the receptions there because that is where there is space (unless you opt to pay for the beach). Our dinner was deemed "semi-private" but it felt so private for us! It was held on the upper floor and before the sun went down we had a gorgeous view of the ocean. There was another wedding on the same day/night as us. Even though they had their supper at the same time, they were way on the opposite site of the resaturant and in all 100% honesty, we didn't even know they were there. For the meal, guests went down the stairs to the buffet for their salad and then the meal was served -- they had a choice between steak, chicken, shrip and i believe 2 or 3 other dishes. My hubby and I both had the steak and it was fantastic (all of our food was brought to us at the head table). We aren't the traditional wedding-type couple (hence why we went away for our wedding) and aren't really into the dj+dancing thing so we didn't bother with any of that. After supper we just made our way over to the nightly entertainment with our guests and everyone had a great time.

thanks!!!! we had the ceremony right on the beach at the arch. They have 2 beach ceremony sites. 1 - at the gazebo, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's literally right in the main area of the beach and you'll be guaranteed to have others surrounding your wedding. The other beach location is where they have the arch .. it's in front of the fish sanctuary (where you're not allowed to swim) way at the far end of the beach where it was QUIET and pretty private. We found people were very considerate and pretty much stayed away for our ceremony. We didn't opt to pay for any extras on top of the "FREE" package so this is how they decorated the arch for us. Our reception was at Shadows steakhouse. I believe they do all of the receptions there because that is where there is space (unless you opt to pay for the beach). Our dinner was deemed "semi-private" but it felt so private for us! It was held on the upper floor and before the sun went down we had a gorgeous view of the ocean. There was another wedding on the same day/night as us. Even though they had their supper at the same time, they were way on the opposite site of the resaturant and in all 100% honesty, we didn't even know they were there. For the meal, guests went down the stairs to the buffet for their salad and then the meal was served -- they had a choice between steak, chicken, shrip and i believe 2 or 3 other dishes. My hubby and I both had the steak and it was fantastic (all of our food was brought to us at the head table). We aren't the traditional wedding-type couple (hence why we went away for our wedding) and aren't really into the dj+dancing thing so we didn't bother with any of that. After supper we just made our way over to the nightly entertainment with our guests and everyone had a great time.

...forgot to add, i'm not sure if you're coming from Canada or not??? but we managed to get a very good group rate of $1400/ea taxes in. So all of our guests were very happy about that.

Having recently returned from my wedding at the Riu Negril you'll always find my suggesting that resort!!! I'm glad I didn't worry about the bad reviews because they honestly make me laugh now after being there. My hubby and I had THE MOST INCREDIBLE time there and the wedding was amazing!! It all depends what you want though. For us, we went into it with a tight budget and a very easy-going attitude. We went with the Riu's free wedding package so in the end it only cost us $500 which paid for the minister and cake/champagne/setup for our extra guests (the free package covers 10 guests, we had 25). We didn't bother wasting any more $$ on extras like chair covers and other decorations because in our opinions, the scenery was our decoration and that was enough for us. we love every single one of our photos! Our wedding was on the beach and at the Riu Negril, on the far end of the beach they have a fish sanctuary where you're not allowed to swim. The ceremony was at the end right by the fish sanctuary and thanks to additional courtesy of guests at the resort it felt completely PRIVATE. There are only a very few rare photos from our ceremony where you can see other guests on the beach. Oh and the "semi-private" dinner at the steakhouse was also more private IMO. There was another wedding on the same day as us but they were on one end of the restaurant and we were on the other and 100% honesty we didn't even realize they were around. It was amazing!!!

Wishing you a FANTASTIC trip and Wedding Francine!!!! you're going to LOVE every moment of it!

I won't be surprised if it ends up on a wall somewhere!!! LMAO .. we saw people taking pics at that statue all the time when we were there hey did you guys catch the vid I posted yesterday???? we had just booked a standard gardenview room with the rest of our guests to keep costs down. well the moment we got to the resort and they saw that we were the bride and groom, we were upgraded to what they said was one of the best suites on the resort! it was awesome!! anyway, i took a cheesy video tour of it one of the last days we wer there. http://www.youtube.com/user/LuaLizN?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/E_reRso7PH8

he actually hasn't seen all of these shots yet (they were just posted on our photobucket last night) so i sent him that pic today.. his response "we're totally framing that!!" LMAO!!

Thanks Erin!!! I'm so happy with how everything turned out.. we just stuck to our free package and kept everything simple.. it was us and it was perfect. I didn't even bother with my hair flower (my cousin ended up wearing it) in exchange for just staying flowy and beachy.

Hubby and I (so weird writing hubby!!!) still have photoshopping to do on our fav pics, but I can't wait and want to share a select few with you ladies!!! These were all taken by his uncle. "Dancing" down the aisle with my dad to "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" by Tavares Vows.... "You may now kiss the bride!!" Married!!! Cake!! We did our champagne toast and cake on the beach right after the ceremony. Our First Dance right on the beach ... "When You Love Someone" by Bryan Adams ...because it's FUNNY!!!! LMAO

i'm around! am actually just about to post some pics!

Hi deanna!! Airport was great in my opinion -- we landed early (9:20 JA time) and my husband and I were the first ones off and in line at immigration. The only wait was for our luggage -- which was expected since we were the first ones off!! (my brothers came mid day on a friday though and said it was much busier for them) Nothing too impressive in the airport on the arrival end, but that didn't matter as we were in and out. As for the departure area, it was actually pretty fantastic. Again, we made our way through security and such very quickly. TONS of duty free shops and lots of options for food. We were there early 7am and ate breakfast at this Margaritaville restaurant right by our gate - fantastic prices and great food. Weather was PHENOMENAL!!! in the 30s every day (celcius) ... seemed to get very cloudy and dark every day around 2pm, but we were fine with it because that was the one of the hottest parts in the day.. only rained once and that consisted of it spitting for about 15 minutes. No issues there! Travel between the airport and resort was fun! haha we had a private bus to the resort because we were such a big group. Many of us wanted a drink en route and in his words "no problem!" we made a stop half way there to stretch our legs and have a drink. They drive on the left side there which was interesting and they drive FAST!!!! lots of serving and such. but it was fun! As for tours and such, my husband and I didn't bother with any, but the majority of our group did go on a catamaran trip to Rick's Cafe one day which included 2 snorkling stops. Everyone RAVED about it and said it was the best part of the trip. We're a bit sad we didn't go, but we took advantage of that time to get our much needed ALONE time on the resort! It's hard getting honeymoon time in when all of your best friends are there too! We do plan on returning next year and that trip will be a must. My great aunt and uncle (in their 70's) also made a trip to Ocho Rios for zip lining and bobsledding at Magic Mountain and said it was incredible!!! You're going to LOVE it there!

Hi Ladies!!! I've just returned from my INCREDIBLE wedding at the Riu Negril (Club Hotel) and would love to pay it forward. If anyone has any questions about the resort or my wedding in general, I'd be happy to help out in any way I can!!! I hope to get my official review up in the review section by the end of the week and will post here once I get that done My week at the Riu Negril was the best week of my life!!! My husband and I loved it so much that we're already planning on returning for our 1 year anniversary!

2 business days we arrived on a wed, and got married sat

Just thought I'd let you ladies know that I had my wedding at the Riu Negril April 9 and it was INCREDIBLE!!! (we did the FREE wedding package with semi-private reception dinner that was essentially private!) everything about our entire week was AMAZING!!!!! I hope to post a review with pics this week sometime if you have ANY questions, ask away!

Hi ladies!!! I'm not sure how active i'll be on here today but just wanted to say hi! (BRANDY you're pics are amazing!!) Today is my first day back at work and while I was gone, they set up my new email address (with married name!!) yet had issues with transferring emails .. i have over 200 that i need to manually forward from my old account so i'll be pretty busy today!!! Anyway to make it short and sweet, we LOVED every moment of our time at the RIU NEGRIL!!!! Trip advisor had scared me a bit prior to leaving with all the bad reviews but 10000% in all honesty, we have no clue what people are talking about. THe food was INCREDIBLE, no issues getting towels or a chair on the beach... NO ISSUES whatsoever!!! We loved it so much that we've already started saving to return for our 1 year anniversary!!! Upon our arrival to the resort, we as the bride and groom were upgraded for FREE to the best suite on the resort!!!! I did a cheesy video of it on one our last days which you can see here! http://www.youtube.com/user/LuaLizN#p/a/u/0/E_reRso7PH8 And as I think you all know, in order to stay true to our budget, we decided not to hire a photographer. Instead we just asked everyone to take whatever they could and then post on our photobucket account. People have started to post their shots so if you're curious, here's the link to our account http://s1201.photobucket.com/home/chrisandlaurawedding/index (it should work) Chris' uncle really stepped up and took a TON of shots on his parents camera but unfortunately Chris' mom is VERY computer/internet illiterate LOL so we haven't gotten to see ANY of those yet. we're anxiously awaiting them and will probably just grab the memory card on the weekend and to the uploading ourselves.

HI LADIES!!!! i'm HOME!!!! ...it's definitely bittersweet. we SO did NOT want to leave Jamaica! i'm going to make this short and sweet (still need to eat supper but wanted to come say hi!) we had an absolutely INCREDIBLE, MAGICAL time!! .. and we're already planning on going back to the Riu Negril for our 1 year anniversary. it was amazing!!!!! here's a teaser pic!!! (it's the only good one taken on my camera ... going to have to wait for the rest from everyone else!)

Not to worry Sheri! my cousin is being given the job of taking a video of the whole thing

tip for you ladies when packing clothes --- lay everything FLAT and pack like that. you'll be amazed how much you can fit in! I talked to my dad and we're just going to improvise coming down the aisle. Perhaps a little disco dancing along the way!! We're just going to have fun with it. FI and I figure it will be good to have everyone laughing and enjoying the moment rather than getting all emotional and crying while sitting in 30+deg temps!

we're going the non-traditional route for walking down the aisle! "Heaven Must By Missing An Angel" by Tavares we're going the more traditional route for our first dance with "When You Love Someone" by Bryan Adams

I'm happy to report that I'm ALL PACKED!!!!!! I'm so proud of myself! Managed to get everything in 1 suitcase, 1 duffle bag and 1 carry-on knapsack and then my dress is my carry on SO..... FI and I are sitting down right now putting together music for the ceremony and toast and such... Call us CRAZY, but this is what I'm walking down the aisle to! ahahahaha we'll bring the sappiness in for our first dance --- "When You Love Someone" by Bryan Adams

THanks ladies!!! I got the flip flops from Spring at the end of summer last year. I just checked and they actually do still have some available on clearance! http://www.myspringshoes.com/ca-eng/clearance/women/sandals/78836203-uvalle/71