mrsrrobinson

Hi Ladies- I've returned from our wedding and honeymoon and I've finally recovered enough to write this post! Our photographer, Michael Saab, posted some of our pics to his blog: http://blog.saabwedding.com/2012/03/29/half-moon-wedding-of-nicole-and-rob/ First let me say - everything was amazing, fantastic, beautiful, emotional...and everything was better than I imagined it! Well worth all of my planning, time, energy, etc. Scouting Trip: We took a scouting trip in March 2011 and fell in love with Half Moon after visiting Round Hill, Rock House (in Negril), and a private villa. We met with Linda and took a 2.5 hour tour of the property and loved the Royal Pavillion for its open air space, green banana trees on the wall, and croquet lawn for the ceremony that had a beautiful view of the ocean. I am not a barefoot on the beach kind of bride, so I preferred a ceremony that overlooked the ocean. We also loved the expansive property and the amazing royal villas. We viewed the various types of rooms including the suites - and everything was beautiful. Signing the contract: Soon after our visit, we booked our March 2012 wedding. We reserved 25 rooms (5 superior rooms & 20 royal villa rooms) for March 8-10, 2012. We ended up needing more rooms than that since we ended up with 75 guests total (65 from the states). We also arranged for our guests to receive complimentary breakfast daily. We did not do the all-inclusive plan because we were paying for dinner each night and their breakfast was included, so they only had to worry about lunch. My parents were upgraded to suites, and the suite we were in (Imperial Suite) was AMAZING. Everyone loved the villas...there is so much beach property everywhere you turn that you don't have to go "all the way" to the main beach. Which is like a 3 min drive on your golf cart...which is so fun by the way. Events: We had events each night from Thursday-Saturday and brunch on Sunday. Thursday - Welcome Reception @ Sugar Mill Restaurant. We didn't do it on the lawn outside because a) we didn't want to be in the grass and we didn't want to rent tables/chairs which you are required to do on the lawn. We held ours on the side patio which was perfect for our numbers (65 for this event). We had 3 courses (pumpkin soup, coconut crusted snapper & chicken breast w/ scallion mashed potatoes, & bread pudding for dessert). All the food was so delicious, especially the snapper. We also did the Sunset open bar which included red/white wines, rum punch, and sodas/juices. Friday - Beach BBQ. The hotel puts on this event on Fridays (at least during this time of year) and we paid for all of our guests to attend. We had a private section, and our own private bar. We did the Sunset open bar again. They had entertainment including a steel drum band, fire eaters, dancers, etc. The food was authentic (buffet style...massive amounts of shrimp, crab legs, curry, jerk, rice n peas, fruits, desserts, you name it) and everyone had an amazing time! Everyone said it was the best beach BBQ they'd been to. Saturday - Wedding Day! Everything looked amazing. We had a 5 hour premium open bar including cocktail hour and our 4 course dinner which included a delicious entree of filet mignon and lobster tail. Perfect temperature, very breezy so my veil was all over the place at times! But I'd rather that than to be sweating Shanoya is fantastic. My flowers at the reception and ceremony were supposed to have more dendrobium orchids than roses, but it seemed like they had more roses than I expected. But everything was amazing...I can't say enough. Band - we did a live reggae band (PACE). They were the biggest hit ever. They played everything live and were awesome. A mix of our favorite reggae artists (Bob Marley, Buju Banton, Tessane Chin), R&B, Pop, Hip Hop...they are excellent entertainers. Sunday - Farewell Brunch at Seagrape Terrace. They ended up giving us the entire Italian restaurant but we went to buffet at Seagrape for our food. Randoms: Save the date Magnets - We used weddingpaperdivas.com and sent them out a year in advance with our wedding website included. We used weddingwindow.com. It wasn't a good way to gauge who was attending; it was more so intended to give people the heads up that we are getting married and that it is a destination wedding (at a fairly expensive resort!) Lots of people claimed they were planning to come who ended up dropping off. We just didn't want people to complain that we didn't give them enough notice. And we were just so excited to start spreading the word, that we did it a year in advance. Invitations - We mailed them out in November for our March wedding. Used Bloomingdales (I live in NYC, not sure if every Bloomies has an invitation section). They were not cheap but I got so many compliments on them. It also set the stage for the type of wedding that we were having (black tie optional). I did not want people showing up wearing untucked linen shirts...it was not that kind of party! (Although I guess you always have at least 1 person who does not follow the rules) The RSVP date was December 10, since the room block closed on January 10. Looking back, I should have made the RSVP deadline the same deadline as the room block. Reason being, a few people RSVP'd yes and then later changed their mind when they went to make their room reservation (and saw the price, I suppose). But we were very upfront about the costs from a year out, so I'm annoyed at people who couldn't get themselves organized and dropped out at the last minute! LOL. Guest count: We ended up with 75 people which was the perfect number for us. When we starting planning a destination wedding, we budgeted for 70-80 people and for some reason we assumed this would be the number we'd end up with. Someone also told us to expect a 50% drop off rate from the amount of people we invited. We ended up inviting about 140 guests with 75 attending....so they were very right haha. Welcome bags: We used the knot to order customized welcome bags that included a bottle of rum, a bag of blue mountain coffee, reeses peanut butter cups, lollipops, and a CD of our fave reggae songs that were in a customized CD case. I can't say that I miss all of the planning at all! I thought I would, since I was planning my wedding for 1 full year. But I'm just happy to be married to my best friend at this point! I can't really stand the sight of wedding magazines right now (my subscriptions have not run out lol) and I haven't even watched Say yes to dress even though I have like 5 episodes recorded. Perhaps this feeling will pass soon...it's weird since i was wedding obsessed for years LOL. But I'm happy to answer any questions

Hi Ladies- I've returned from our wedding and honeymoon and I've finally recovered enough to write this post! Our photographer, Michael Saab, posted some of our pics to his blog: http://blog.saabwedding.com/2012/03/29/half-moon-wedding-of-nicole-and-rob/ First let me say - everything was amazing, fantastic, beautiful, emotional...and everything was better than I imagined it! Well worth all of my planning, time, energy, etc. Scouting Trip: We took a scouting trip in March 2011 and fell in love with Half Moon after visiting Round Hill, Rock House (in Negril), and a private villa. We met with Linda and took a 2.5 hour tour of the property and loved the Royal Pavillion for its open air space, green banana trees on the wall, and croquet lawn for the ceremony that had a beautiful view of the ocean. I am not a barefoot on the beach kind of bride, so I preferred a ceremony that overlooked the ocean. We also loved the expansive property and the amazing royal villas. We viewed the various types of rooms including the suites - and everything was beautiful. Signing the contract: Soon after our visit, we booked our March 2012 wedding. We reserved 25 rooms (5 superior rooms & 20 royal villa rooms) for March 8-10, 2012. We ended up needing more rooms than that since we ended up with 75 guests total (65 from the states). We also arranged for our guests to receive complimentary breakfast daily. We did not do the all-inclusive plan because we were paying for dinner each night and their breakfast was included, so they only had to worry about lunch. My parents were upgraded to suites, and the suite we were in (Imperial Suite) was AMAZING. Everyone loved the villas...there is so much beach property everywhere you turn that you don't have to go "all the way" to the main beach. Which is like a 3 min drive on your golf cart...which is so fun by the way. Events: We had events each night from Thursday-Saturday and brunch on Sunday. Thursday - Welcome Reception @ Sugar Mill Restaurant. We didn't do it on the lawn outside because a) we didn't want to be in the grass and we didn't want to rent tables/chairs which you are required to do on the lawn. We held ours on the side patio which was perfect for our numbers (65 for this event). We had 3 courses (pumpkin soup, coconut crusted snapper & chicken breast w/ scallion mashed potatoes, & bread pudding for dessert). All the food was so delicious, especially the snapper. We also did the Sunset open bar which included red/white wines, rum punch, and sodas/juices. Friday - Beach BBQ. The hotel puts on this event on Fridays (at least during this time of year) and we paid for all of our guests to attend. We had a private section, and our own private bar. We did the Sunset open bar again. They had entertainment including a steel drum band, fire eaters, dancers, etc. The food was authentic (buffet style...massive amounts of shrimp, crab legs, curry, jerk, rice n peas, fruits, desserts, you name it) and everyone had an amazing time! Everyone said it was the best beach BBQ they'd been to. Saturday - Wedding Day! Everything looked amazing - you'll see the photos: http://blog.saabwedding.com/2012/03/29/half-moon-wedding-of-nicole-and-rob/. We had a 5 hour premium open bar including cocktail hour and our 4 course dinner which included a delicious entree of filet mignon and lobster tail. Perfect temperature, very breezy so my veil was all over the place at times! But I'd rather that than to be sweating Shanoya is fantastic. My flowers at the reception and ceremony were supposed to have more dendrobium orchids than roses, but it seemed like they had more roses than I expected. But everything was amazing...I can't say enough. Band - we did a live reggae band (PACE). They were the biggest hit ever. They played everything live and were awesome. A mix of our favorite reggae artists (Bob Marley, Buju Banton, Tessane Chin), R&B, Pop, Hip Hop...they are excellent entertainers. Sunday - Farewell Brunch at Seagrape Terrace. They ended up giving us the entire Italian restaurant but we went to buffet at Seagrape for our food. Randoms: Save the date Magnets - We used weddingpaperdivas.com and sent them out a year in advance with our wedding website included. We used weddingwindow.com. It wasn't a good way to gauge who was attending; it was more so intended to give people the heads up that we are getting married and that it is a destination wedding (at a fairly expensive resort!) Lots of people claimed they were planning to come who ended up dropping off. We just didn't want people to complain that we didn't give them enough notice. And we were just so excited to start spreading the word, that we did it a year in advance. Invitations - We mailed them out in November for our March wedding. Used Bloomingdales (I live in NYC, not sure if every Bloomies has an invitation section). They were not cheap but I got so many compliments on them. It also set the stage for the type of wedding that we were having (black tie optional). I did not want people showing up wearing untucked linen shirts...it was not that kind of party! (Although I guess you always have at least 1 person who does not follow the rules) The RSVP date was December 10, since the room block closed on January 10. Looking back, I should have made the RSVP deadline the same deadline as the room block. Reason being, a few people RSVP'd yes and then later changed their mind when they went to make their room reservation (and saw the price, I suppose). But we were very upfront about the costs from a year out, so I'm annoyed at people who couldn't get themselves organized and dropped out at the last minute! LOL. Guest count: We ended up with 75 people which was the perfect number for us. When we starting planning a destination wedding, we budgeted for 70-80 people and for some reason we assumed this would be the number we'd end up with. Someone also told us to expect a 50% drop off rate from the amount of people we invited. We ended up inviting about 140 guests with 75 attending....so they were very right haha. Welcome bags: We used the knot to order customized welcome bags that included a bottle of rum, a bag of blue mountain coffee, reeses peanut butter cups, lollipops, and a CD of our fave reggae songs that were in a customized CD case. I can't say that I miss all of the planning at all! I thought I would, since I was planning my wedding for 1 full year. But I'm just happy to be married to my best friend at this point! I can't really stand the sight of wedding magazines right now (my subscriptions have not run out lol) and I haven't even watched Say yes to dress even though I have like 5 episodes recorded. Perhaps this feeling will pass soon...it's weird since i was wedding obsessed for years LOL. But I'm happy to answer any questions

We sent out save the dates in March 2011 for our March 2012 wedding. We wanted to give people enough time to make a decision and plan accordingly. For a lot of destination brides I've met, this is earlier than they've done it. I also sent out formal invitations during the 1st week in November with the RSVP deadline for December 10. Since our room block closed on January 10, we wanted to give people enough time to RSVP/make a decision to come, and then enough time to make their hotel reservation before the group rate was done. If I could go back, I probably would have pushed everything back by 1 month and mailed invites in Dec for an RSVP deadline of Jan. This way, people would have to commit to come to the wedding AND book their room all at the same time. What ended up happening was people RSVP'd yes (or no in some cases) and then changed their mind! We made a wedding website back in March too, and included the link on the save the date. I loved weddingwindow.com... Someone told me to expect a 50% drop off rate. We budgeted for 70-80 people and felt comfortable inviting 150. At one point we were nervous about getting more than 80 people since a lot of people were saying they wanted to come. But once they realized the expense, many of those people dropped off and ended up RSVPing "no". We ended up with exactly 76 people, so this 50% drop off rate was spot on.

Hi ladies! Glad to see this thread is still going strong I'm happy to report that with ~3 weeks to go, I am only ~7lbs shy of my wedding weight goal. I've lost a total of 60lbs thus far. I echo the comments on Jillian Michaels...she is a tough woman! But the workouts are amazing. Good luck everyone!

Hmm I didn't work with a travel agent although it sounds like it's more common to do so. So I'm not sure about that one. I'm sure your room rate is going to be much better than mine since we are traveling during peak season! I will try to find a way to post some pics from my scouting trip. Have you visited?

Hey! If you're looking for Half Moon wedding pics, Michael Saab has several blog posts on his site. Go to blog.saabwedding.com and type in "Half Moon" into the search. Have you visited?

Ladies - my wedding at Half Moon is in 19 DAYS! Holy crap....time truly does fly! All major details are set, although we need to send our photo shot list to the photographer, pick readings/write vows for the ceremony, and finalize our bridal party gifts. (I ordered these cute "Team Bride" tank tops and some jewelry for the bridesmaids, but for the groomsmen we keep going back and forth.) We arrive to the resort in 15 days and plan to assemble our welcome bags right away so that we can (hopefully) relax and enjoy all of our wedding weekend events. We're doing a welcome dinner at Sugar Mill, we have a private section at the Friday Beach BBQ with an open bar, Saturday is the wedding day, and we have a farewell brunch on Sunday. The countdown is on!! Wedding in 19 days but we leave for JA in 15 days!! After a year of planning, it's finally here

Sorry to hear about your loss!! December is a tough month in general with all these holiday gatherings which include lots of food & drinks. I went to one last night and had a lot to drink but I also made sure to work out extra hard in the morning and I had saved up all of my weekly points. I'm beginning to learn that 1 "bad" meal or day does not ruin you...it's all about moderation and realizing that we do not have to be perfect. I want to lose another 17lbs before the wedding and then reassess what my final goal will be! 14-15lbs should totally be doable in 4 months....about a lb a week...but would require you to be focused...similar to my goal....ahhhh GOOD LUCK!!

Hi - I love this!! Everything looks so good. I've been looking for those Jamaica Travel Guides. Would you mind letting me know where you found them?? I've been searching high and low! I also was wondering if you could share how you created those newsletters and the luggage tags because I'm completely inept! You can either PM me or send me an email at [email protected] ) Thanks soooo much!

Hi Ladies, it's been awhile since I've checked in. I truly feel like WW is the way to go. We all know that these quick-fix diets work temporarily and then before you know it, the weight is back! Stick to it ladies. I'm down about 50lbs now. We can do this!

this thread is way too quiet for 3 months to go! here is what i'm up to...would love to hear from you all: - collecting RSVPs....deadline was 12/10 and i'm still waiting to hear from about 40% of my guest list. we are expecting 70-80 guests total. - about to pick out menu cards, ceremony programs, and place cards. will order at the end of the month. - at the end of the month, will purchase personalized luggage tags which we plan to send along with a letter via mail about a month before the wedding what are you guys up to?? excited!

I love seeing Half Moon pop up on these forums! It took me forever to find other Half Moon brides ) Winegirl...how is it going? Have you made any decisions?

Ladies, I am inspired & think I want to try this. I've been working out on my own at the gym for the past 7 months and I've lost 42lbs! Want to lose another 25lbs before my March wedding, but I know I need to be a bit more drastic in order to accomplish this. I've been doing about 45 minutes of cardio (running, Eliptical, cycling) and 15 min of weight training 5-6X per week. A few tactical questions - how much are the DVDs? And for those of you who live in apartment buildings.....is the jumping really out of control? I don't want to piss off the neighbors! Getting excited to try something new and get some more results!

and WineGirl, we are not doing all-inclusive because we are hosting dinner/evening events on Thurs/Fri leading up to my Saturday wedding. And all of our guests receive complimentary breakfast, which is something we worked out back in March - not sure if this still applies. So for us it doesnt make sense to do all-inclusive. But I've read other reviews where people love the all-inclusive option because dinners are pricey and then you can eat and not worry about it. For example, they have killer lobster tail which is not cheap but if you're on the all-inclusive then....lobster every night haha.

I visited Round Hill on my scouting trip. It's a beautiful resort. But for me, picking my wedding venue was like picking colleges...there are a lot of good ones out there, but you just have to get "that feeling" about it while you're walking around the property to know it's "the one". I loved Half Moon. It's been around since the 50s, yes, but you wouldnt know it. It has a classic luxury feel to it, but I didn't get a "stuffy" vibe. We loved it and are so excited to get married there! That Jewel resort that the wedding planner on this thread mentioned is another level....definitely not luxury....