BusyBee123

I bought cheap $1.00 vases at the dollar store and a bag of rocks that cost me I think $4.00. Then I just brought a ton of tea lights and little seashells to put out on the table! Wasn't heavy to pack and definitely did the trick! Donnalee also used some of my extra chair ties to drape on the cake table and table we had set up with the sky lanterns which was a nice touch.

I used the bouquets that I ordered for my bridesmaids in the centrepieces for our reception at the Dolce. I just got the girls to give them to Donnalee before the reception, and then they got them back afterwards. I don't have any of my pro pics, but here's one that a friend took. Unfortunately they didn't push the stem all the way down in the vase, but I definitely didn't notice that night.

I bought a cheap steamer that we used for my dresses and the groomsmen's outfits. I think I only paid about $12 for it and it was perfect! There was an iron and ironing board in the rooms, however if the guys prefer. In terms of the welcome dinners, we were told 2 weeks as well, however when I emailed a month in advance they said they would just take care of it. When we arrived, we found out that our reservation that we had been told was at 7pm, was actually at 8:45pm, but they were quick to correct it without any fuss! We also prebooked a rehearsal dinner and a dinner for the two of us on our last night without a problem. I think the problem with your booking is because it is such a large group. We only booked for 18, so they were able to seat us all at the grill without a problem. I'm guessing that with 33, it would take up too much of any of the restaurants to accommodate all at once. If you push for it, they might be able to close off part of the Dolce Vita for you, but the other restaurants are smaller and it might be more difficult.

Tables of 8 people are the standard at the Dolce. So it would depend on what you want for a head table - if you want all of your bridal party seated with you as traditional, or if you want a sweetheart table for yourself and your hubby and seat the rest at the guest tables.

I wore a veil and despite the wind (it was quite a windy day!) it sat quite nicely throughout the ceremony. When I really enjoyed it was afterwards, as we were able to get some cool pics with it blowing in the wind!

We asked about that as well more than once and were told it was mandatory. We ended up finding a place that did it for $20 and just did it. We didn't have to give her the physical copies we brought with us when we arrived, as they had already had the ones we faxed.

I ordered from http://www.weddinglinensdirect.com/index.html. I bought the organza ones and loved them!

One more thing about the dinner...I know its a tough decision. We went back and forth too, especially since we were wondering about Italian food, but in the end, the privacy factor won out. I just read JayKay's review and saw that she was able to have a little bit more privacy at the Grill which is great! I'm not sure that that is always the case, as 4 of my guests went to dinner there a few days before our wedding and were seated DIRECTLY beside the wedding table about 3 feet away. And they were not the only ones..they were surrounded! They found it really awkward to be so close to the wedding party, and kept asking me if that was going to happen to us. They had a lot of inside jokes and whatnot in their speeches that they didn't really want others to overhear. Also they were limited to only one large rectangular table. The advantage, in my personal opinion, of the Dolce is that it is totally private. There is no one else within about 75 yards. We were able to do speeches, tell inside jokes and not worry about anyone overhearing. We were also able to have several smaller tables, a sweetheart table for us, a separate cake table, a separate table for our photo frame matt that we asked people to sign and a separate table for our sky lanterns. Its a more traditional setting if that's what you're looking for. Its totally up to you, but that's just my personal experience. I just wanted to make sure it was known that the other two nights we saw at the Grill were not as private of a setting.

Thanks so much exquisite. I always wanted more details and was dying to know more, so I tried to be as thorough as possible. The Japanese restaurant was great, I would highly recommend it for a rehearsal dinner/group dinner/welcome dinner. They can comfortably seat about a max of 12 around the station. We were exactly 12 at the rehearsal and just fit, more would get crowded. I would suggest emailing to book in advance and specify that you want the teppanyaki at the Mikado. If you don't specify that you want the teppanyaki there are a number of other tables where you miss out on the show and just eat off the menu. No you do not have to pay extra for anything! Its all inclusive which is great! Hey...We got the 7 passenger van just for the space! The guy we used had the choice of a car, (which may have fit the 4 of us if we put 3 in the backseat), but we also had my two wedding dresses, our changes of clothes, extra shoes and our two photogs with all of their equipment. I just wanted us to be comfortable for the day. So only the 4 of us went out...with our driver. There was an alarm clock in the room, but the power went out so often that it didn't really work. Most of us just turned off the network on our cell phones and used them. My parents tried the wake up calls, but never got it on the last day. Thankfully they are early risers and didn't miss their flight. I bought the sky lanterns from: http://www.justartifacts.net/flskyla.html They were FABULOUS! In terms of diagrams, I made them in powerpoint and sent them to the planners about a month before I left. I drew out the seating plan, table arrangement, table decor, gazebo seating and decor and how to set up the centrepieces. The WCs really appreciated the extra guidance. Hope that helps.

I just put them in my checked luggage and didn't have any issues. The fuel cell is really just a piece of cardboard, although it does have a chemical on it to make it more flammable. I just wouldn't put them in your carry on.

Its a catamaran cruise on the ocean, definitely not on a river. I'm not aware of any rivers nearby, especially rivers with coral reefs for snorkelling! Dunn's River Falls is directly on the ocean. The swells are pretty large, so if you tend to get sea sick, this may not be the excursion for you! Quote: Originally Posted by GBP2012 Hi BusyBee!! Congrats on your wedding! Thank you for the detailed write up on your experience. We are getting married in less than 55 days! I cannot believe how time is flying by! I have a question about the cruise. Is it on a catamaran or boat and is it on the river? I ask this because we went on a snorkeling/catamaran excursion in Cuba, and I was sick the entire time! Although we boat all the time in the lake, getting out on the open sea and in the catamaran was NOT the same and I was sea SICK! Your excursion sounded fabulous as we were planning a trip off the resort to Dunn's River and my dad really wants to snorkel! Would love to hear back from you as I may book for our group! Thanks!! Laura

He had super current music, it was more the older stuff that he was lacking sometimes. We asked for "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey and he looked at us puzzled! But he had TONS of current stuff. We brought a bunch of back up CDs just in case but only used them for the first dance. We only brought US with us and used it everywhere. I've only every used Jamaican on one of my trips there as I was staying close to the market in Ocho Rios and was spending more time in local shops. That being said, they still accepted US, I had only changed as I wasn't sure. Otherwise I've used US everywhere. All excursions we paid and tipped in US dollars. Also I would NOT exchange it at the hotel lobby as they charge a much higher exchange than you would be paying at your local bank. Change to USD before you go.

Hey.... The woman I worked with was named Casita and her email is as follows: [email protected]. She works for Caribbean World/Island Routes. She was absolutely fabulous to work with and helped us SO much! Plus she responds super fast to email. When we first booked we had 18 people....then ended up with only 14 going on the cruise and she allowed us to still use the group rate. She also refunded us the deposit we had already paid for the extra 4 people. We paid $70 per person. What we did was pay a 50% deposit at the time of booking, then paid the rest about a month and a bit before we went. We paid for all of our guests, so it went directly on one credit card. The cruise includes transportation to and from Ocho Rios in a bus. It also provides all snorkel equipement, Dunn's River admission, and the cruise, drinks, snacks. Hope that helps!

Thanks so much ACW! Hope you're doing well and enjoying married life! I still can't believe it is all over! It felt like a dream come true! I somehow missed jaykay completely! I had planned to go and congratulate her on her wedding day, but ended up with a horrible migraine! I watched a bit of her ceremony from our balcony before I headed to bed! It looked lovely from what I could see! Loved her bright aqua chair ties! Quote: Originally Posted by acw271011 Congrats on the wedding and being Mrs.! your review was terrific and I'm so glad everything turned out so well, and that you were happy with it all. isn't it great? even though our wedding is done I'm still enjoying seeing the reviews of the ladies that have been on this site at the same time as me. I can't wait to see pics! did you see jaykay and creep her wedding? did she creep yours lol I'm anxious to hear her review too. congrats again!!

Thanks so much! I appreciate it! I can understand where you're coming from. You have a number of options. The first is not to have a reception which is free. A lot of the brides that didn't have receptions just wandered around on the terrace or went to the nightly entertainment and waited for the disco to open at 11pm. That being said, dinner will be done by about 8:30pm so that's a long while to wait and most of their guests seemed to have gotten bored and dispersed. For our guests, after dinner, we were all ready to continue the evening and spend more time together, so for us, moving to the gazebo was perfect. I can't imagine the night ending there....I would have felt that it was incomplete and disappointed. Plus we really wanted to have a traditional first dance and have everyone come together and do the sky lanterns. For $250, you can rent the gazebo by itself, which really is the crucial part of the after reception should you choose to have one. The problem with that is that there is no sound system included in the rental. If you want the sound system, you have to pay for the DJ which is an additional $250. To be honest, we were really impressed with the DJ and $250 isn't a lot of money compared to what you would be paying for a DJ at home. What you could do is spend money on a sound system and bring it down with you, but to get a decent sound system that would project out there on a windy point might cost you the same. If you did get a sound system, I guess you could bring it home with you, however, if that's something you're interested in. You'd have to assign a guest to DJ or change CDs for the evening. With that many people, I can definitely understand why you would second guess the bar. Honestly, if I had that many people, I probably wouldn't have gotten the bartender either. With that number of people, perhaps you could assign two or three guys to be in charge of bringing down some of the beer that you collect from your rooms and getting the bartenders to mix you up some jugs of rum punch or something. With only 16 of us, to lose 3 people to get drinks would have really toned down the fun! The wedding planners will provide ice and cups along with a table if you want to do that, so that's definitely a possibility to save money. If you want my honest opinion, I would pay the $500 for the gazebo and DJ and figure out the drinks yourself. Then you get your full evening reception and can just get a few guys to get drinks. You only get to do this once, so make the most of it! Hope that helps!