LadyLove

Thank you ladies! I haven't been on the site in a while...lol...learning how to be a good wife @brookph23 Did you guys decide on the Oasis and whether you're going to get married on the ship or on the island? Hope all the planning is going well brides to be!

Hi Arch713 Great question as I'm sure most have had to deal with this. At first, hubby and I weren't sure and when we met our Travel agent she said that she had coordinated a February cruise wedding and the couple had a great turnout. For us, being based in the Toronto area that's the dead of winter and people want to get out of the snow, slush and winter doldrums and so it was a good decision for us to go with that suggestion. Happy planning!

@Jackie Appleby (Sorry for very delayed response.) Thank you and CONGRATS! No we didn't do open bar in the main dining room on our wedding day. We didn't plan to and it never came up that we should. However, for the reception I do think drinks are expected. When we were pricing it out for the oasis there were 3 options charged per person per hour, for example house liquor, brand name liquor and premium liquor. We were going to use one of these, but God was good and when we booked our cruise we used some of our GAP (points RC gives when you book a cruise, we had 6 points) and chose a cocktail party (the rest we gave each cabin a $50 on board credit), somehow our travel agent was able to book our cocktail party on our wedding day so we used those drinks included for the reception (this did take a lot of follow-up). Honestly, I can't tell you what the drinks were exactly because I'm not a big drinker and all I had was white wine because I didn't want to spill anything on my dress If you're using a travel agent see what they can do if you have GAP points. To get the details on drink options and costs I had called the cruise line itself, because my travel agent originally told us that to have the reception on the ship would be sooo expensive, but when I called RC there was no charge for the room itself, but you pay for things like drink, food (if you want but this I think isn't really worth the cost), music equipment, dj, etc. Good luck. Any clarifications needed pls ask @Arch713 CONGRATS! I completely understand how you feel. When we first stumbled across our travel agent we had asked her to price RC Freedom of the Seas and the Oasis. Of course, there was a good size price difference, but at the end of the day hubby and I decided to do what we wanted ...which was to go big! Our invitations were elaborate to convey the value of the trip. We sold the trip not only as our wedding, but like the ultimate vacation. Plus, we reserved interior, oceanview and balcony rooms so people could price point. As well, we gave lots of notice and even offered that people could do payment plans with the TA (which not one did, they just paid when things were due).I think for people who want to come they will come. And we are sooo happy we went with what we wanted cause looking back we know we would have regretted if we did what we thought others wanted...and there's no guarantee that 'others' would come. Then again, we were okay that some people would not come, butI think that comes with any destination wedding plan. After the ceremony we did the cake cutting and drank champagne at the site, which was coordinated with Janelle and then we took tons of pictures at the site, on the beach and then back at the dock. We did no other activities. For us it worked that we didn't have anything else planned. Our wedding began late, going back to the ship there was traffic, and by the time we went through immigration, got thru the ship to go to our room and freshened up and took more pics it was time for dinner! I think you have to decide what you want from the experience as a couple and go with what will make you both happy. However, saying that when our guests confirmed and were paid we thought of them in what they would expect from us (while still keeping it symbolic of us and within budget) as our invitations were elaborate and since they were paying a lot of money to join us. So the feel of our entire wedding was ..."modern elegance on the beach" as opposed to something like a "casual fun in the sun" feel where people would come in flip flops and shorts and then let's go in the water after the wedding -nothing at all wrong with this, but we didn't want this and we knew our guests wouldn't be down for that either. Good Luck and hope this helps! (Really talk with your partner and decide what's important to you and what you're both expecting from the experience and then just keep shaping that vision together. For every challenge, there is a solution and often time it's better than what you were originally thinking.)

Thank you ladies so much! @emilyj Our reception was back on the ship. Our wedding ceremony was scheduled for 2pm (ship time), but began 2:30ish. We made it back to the Oasis dock around 4pm or possibly a little later. Took tons of pics on the dock with my hubby, bridesmaids and wedding guests...and strangers lol. Went back to our stateroom to freshen up (took a few pics in our room and on our balcony), went to dinner in the main dining room (took pics in Central Park on the way there). Our group of 41 sailing guests had tables close together in a section of the dining room but for the wedding day my bridesmaids had arranged with the dining room staff for us to have a 'head table' so our bridal party, parents and hubby and I could all sit together - so it was 1 big table with about 16 of us sitting together and then the rest close by. We then had the lounge 'Jazz on 4' booked where we hooked up our iPad and my husband played music he had pre-arranged and everyone had the cocktails we provided and boogied down. We were only to have the space for an hour, but ended up being there for an hour and a half. The cruise ship was very gracious. The staff was very accommodating because when the music stopped after the hour, our guests began giving toasts so that's what took the next half hour. After that we went all over the ship and took a ton more pics! It definitely took a lot of imagination and compromising to get to that itinerary, but it all ended up working out wonderfully. Initially, in our planning stage we had wanted dinner in one of the specialty restaurants, but for many reasons it wasn't going to work for us; yet, one of the sweetest memories I have is walking into the main dining room for dinner and EVERYONE gave us applause. The whole floor was clapping and telling us congrats as we walked by to get to our table...It was amazing!

Thank you Erika!

Hi there HK! I believe the Embassy Suites also has a cocktail hour in the evening (I think before dinner) where their provide drinks for their guests. Maybe you could utilize this time and have a meet and mingle for your guests. I don't think it's cheap to have giant subs or pizza as everyone should be considerate that your wedding will be the main expense. I think evening is ideal time to plan something. Afternoon is too early, but with the wedding the next day you don't want this event to be too late either. Also, it is hard to plan something like this. We had the thought to do something pre-cruise at our hotel the night before for all our guests too and eventually scrapped the idea because it would be adding another thing to plan. As well, guests were coming in at various times (we had a bunch who's planes came in at midnight) and those who were there early planned to explore the city rather than spend the day at the hotel. However, I definitely think that given the amount of rooms you would have to book for the amount of guests you anticipate talk to the hotel group coordinator to see what they can offer you. When we had our wedding cruise 35 of our 41 guests stayed at the Hyatt Place in Fort Lauderdale. I arranged a group rate and was able to get free transportation from the hotel to the dock ...and it was great because they provided us with a coach bus. I'm sure this would help ease the fear of some people being late. You may also want to tell people the wedding time is earlier than it actually is, maybe an hour or half hour earlier to give them leeway if they are late. Another idea is you could inform your guests where you'll be the night before the wedding at the hotel. For example: you and hubby to be will be having poolside snacks from 8-10pm and your bridal party can remind and encourage guests to join you. That way people can come in and get settled, be responsible for their own dinners and then relax with you guys. However, since this is more informal, you may want to assign someone to then give the OOT stuff and favors out after the wedding ceremony. I think it's nicer for your guests to have something to takeaway after your wedding than getting it the night before IMHO. I hope something I've mentioned helps you! Good luck!

Thank you ladies! @goodtoglow I love ur profile picture. I see you're a Canadian girl who got married in St. Thomas too - we rock eh! :cool: @kks2012 Yay welcome to the "wife club" I hope we get to see some of your amazing pics. @shanandcal Have you decided on a cruise yet? It is such an exciting time! Congrats

I liked the idea of an OOT bag, but really wasn't sure about it considering we had a lot to travel with already. My hubby and I decided to give everyone a welcome aboard package in a letter sized envelope (8x10 inches I think). We made it like real mail with stamps we made with our wedding logo and put everyone's room info as the mailing address. Inside we put a welcome letter explaining that each room had a $50 on board credit, a door sign that they were "sail-a-brating" our wedding, a fridge magnet that they cruised with us for our wedding and a pack of gravol. It was really well received. As wedding favors we gave small picture frames with a picture my hubby put together of St. Thomas and the Oasis and of course wording of our names, wedding date and location.

Thank you kks2012 The cruise photographer should do a great job. They are doing it everyday and should be pros. ...And (if you like) give your camera to someone you trust to get some additional shots of your own. Wow your wedding is just around the corner. By the way your wedding website looks great and the proposal story was soooo sweet. Congrats!

Thanks Ladies @ kimbrrlee Our wedding time was set for 2pm island time (which was 1pm ship time). We did not know there would be a time difference until the night before our wedding. :eek: :eek:This meant that my bridesmaids 9:45am hair appointments on the island definitely would be behind schedule since we wouldn't be docking until 10am island time (9am ship time). Because of this by the time I got to the salon after a very quick visit to the courthouse (they were great and we were the only one's there getting marriage paperwork done and they even let us take pics of us signing our marriage license) we didn't end up getting to the ceremony site and startng the wedding until around 2:30pm. The weather was perfect. At times a bit overcast which worked since I was worried about everyone being too hot since our wedding was formal. Since you're also getting married in Feb you may have the same time difference so clarify with your wedding planner or with whoever you book something with on the island. If you are hiring an island photographer then they should be able to deal with the lighting and elements of the Caribbean to make sure you have beautiful pictures, so try not to worry. Even all our guests who took pics had lovely photos. Also, since we knew we'd have to wait a long time to get our wedding pics (they actually arrived Friday) we took tons of pics at the professional stations all over the Oasis and bought the whole package. It was a splurge, but well worth it. Don't worry you are going to have an amazing, beautiful wedding!

Thank you tkuzma! We are still anxiously waiting to receive our pictures However, Elisha posted some on her blog which makes us even more anxious to see the rest. I hope you can see them from this link, you may have to copy and paste it: http://thatstalk.elishaorin.com/?p=6102

Hi BDW fam! We did it!!!! My husband (oh I love saying that) and I did a cruise wedding via Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. We got married in St. Thomas on Valentine's Day, 2012 on Lime Tree Beach. We used Island Bliss Weddings and my 5 bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done at Sugar and Spice Artistry on the island. We also hired Elisha Orin to do our photography. It was amazing and we all looked amazing I learned soooo much during our 1 year and 4 months engagement, had many emotional roller coaster rides, severed some friendships and also grew others. At the end of it all, it was worth it and our wedding day was THE happiest day of my life thus far. Brides, don't let sh*t get to you. I know it's easier said than done. People might disappoint, frustrate, and surprise you and there are those that are just wonderful and love you. Grow from this experience, enjoy it, and most important don't take things out on your fiancé. Now that it all done I'm here if anyone has questions on what we did, needs to vent, needs to splurge about something really good that happened. Don't hesitate to message me... I love being in the wedding world! One thing I will share that we were unaware of despite lots of research and hiring a wedding planner is: if you book things on the island your having your wedding check that the cruise ship time is the same or different from the island time. For example, our wedding was scheduled for 2pm on the island, however St. Thomas was 1hr ahead of the ship time so our cruising guests had to be to told that the wedding was at 1pm ship time so that they'd be on schedule. Best of luck with all your planning and congratulations!

@Kimbrrlee, I look forward to hearing what others thought. It sounds like you should be fine for your group to do 150 Central Park and you do have plenty of time for that. We didn't really make serious movements on group space until everyone made their final payments so we knew our exact numbers, but like you we were inquiring and getting ideas of the possibilities. I really hope Dazzles is good tho.

Thanks CruiseWedding13. We are going with the steel pan!

@kks2012 Great suggestion. And FI and I called RCI to verify what we were entitled to...and from what they lady I spoke with told me we were doing alright (minus the whole private room mess). We got some of the fare money covered for our guest count too and did as you and your beau did although we had to add a good amount cause we went for a balcony. We are also giving everyone a $50 onboard credit and having cocktail party (detailed below) as perks. So we made progress...Thank God! @CruiseWedding13 TAs are supposed to be really helpful and know a lot. And at first mine seemed that way. Since speaking to her about the private room and that all she had to do was send a message and that it doesnt cost just to have the space, we see more effort from her. She followed our instructions to communicate with the ship and after a bit of back and forth got confirmation that we could use a room privately for our reception (be it only til 8:30pm cause then the rooms with music become public space). She was able to have the ship use our group points to pay for it too so no out of pocket expense except for the music set-up. Just do your research and maybe get referrals to a TA who's done a great job for someone else. I definitely learned this the hard way. @kimbrrlee. Congratulations! Your plans sound great. Owww I feel like I had so many questions about the Oasis before and now you offer insight and I can't think! Oh, how is Dazzles, in terms of the music played? After our private reception since its only going to be about an hour we were thinking about continuing the party in a club on the ship, but weren't sure. - One thing I can say, we were looking into Chops Grille for reception dinner as well and one thing they told our TA is that they don't accommodate children, I don't know if that affects you. Also, the don't accommodate (very) large groups, I can't remember the limit tho.

Congrats on choosing your dress and purchasing your shoes. I think your dress is so lovely and bold that the "hats" here may detract from the dress...but if I were to choose based on these pics it would be #11. Good luck!

Hey Coquine, With RC it was pretty easy to book a room. If you went with a TA they contact the cruise line, if you booked direct then you call the cruiseline, and make a formal request that you would like a cocktail party and tell when you want it and for how many people. To book the space is free, but alcohol, bartenders, music set-up, food, basically anything you add comes at a cost. So not too bad. My challenge initially was my TA discouraged us from doing it saying a private reception was gonna cost us thousands and thousands of dollars, we asked her how much exactly? and then her answer changed to its not possible. For some reason I didn't believe her, posted on BDW and called RC myself where they told me its free for a room I just have to request it and if they have availability then we can have it. However, I couldn't do the request myself but through my TA, so I had to go back to her to instruct her what to do

Hi Coquine, We are also not doing our wedding through the cruise line, but are using Janelle with Island Bliss. We did have some trouble with our TA to book a private room, and with advice from other brides here on BDW I called the cruise line to verify what was possible and to book a private reception space is very possible and then I had to instruct my TA how to do it. It was frustrating because it was so simple and all she had to do was call Royal Caribbean, plus she's supposed to be very experienced and I can't believe some of the headaches I've had with her thus far. Anyway, we really want the private reception for dancing to good music, bouquet and garter toss and to just party for a bit exclusively with our guests - about 45 people including 3 kids. Our challenge now is timing so we are still working out kinks. I am very interested in the referral on board credits you were talking about. We are with Royal Caribbean, do you know if they are one of the cruise lines that do that? Do you have any links I could check out? You are absolutely right, every little bit does add up and I'm sure my guests would love that to buy more alcohol I also do not think we are gonna do OOT bags. Just another thing I don't need to stress about. I do like the water bottle/mug idea. I've have seen someone else mention that they got personalized water bottles for their guests and it was well received because they came in very handy. You seem like you are progressing nicely! I still have to decide on wedding cake flavor and style as well as my bouquet and my bridesmaids bouquet. There's just so many pretty choices. I also need to find wedding shoes, hair accessories and flower girl dress. I was lucky that for my birthday this year my fiancé bought me a beautiful earrings, necklace and bracelet set that I love and will use for the wedding. Plus, we need to get attendants gifts. I'm hoping to find an earrings and bracelet set (their dress doesn't need a necklace) that's reasonably priced and nice for my 5 bridesmaids. I know it's hard, but try not to stress too much. You will have an amazing wedding!!! I take comfort in this thought when I start feeling overwhelmed or pissed or like why didn't we just elope?!

Hi Coquine! Congrats to you too and sorry for the delayed response. After the wedding we plan for the guests to have rum punch and wedding cake and take pictures on the beach. We will go back to the ship and have dinner in the dining room and want to have a private cocktail reception. We are still trying to coordinate this via my travel agent talking to the ship which is a bit frustrating. How is your planning going? What are you planning on doing with your guests after? Yay! For another Feb 2012 Bride

Hi Rlbride2b! That is a lot to think about. I feel that for those who you know want to come and who you really want there, but you know don't have the funds I think in addition to the invitation you and your Fiancé should visit with them (if possible) and tell them that they are really important to you and you want them there to celebrate with you on your big day and that you will be paying for blah, blah, blah for them to ensure their presence cause it means so much to you both. In this way, I would expect they realize they can't pass on the trip to someone else they choose because you're personally requesting them to be there and being generous enough to pay. Also, perhaps if they've never cruised before you could say you want to give them that experience because it's so incredible and they deserve it. I also think its fair to help those who need help and not all your guests if it's not financially possible for you, but I understand people are sensitive and you wanna be careful with this. Last year, one of my friends and her family was invited to a wedding for a close cousin. She didnt know that her mom paid for her older brother to go, but my friend paid for herself. When she found out she was bothered by it and was like her mom should have paid for her too then. However, my other girlfriend pointed out to her it's not always necessary to be treated equally, but equitably. My friend could afford the trip, but her brother really couldn't have gone without the help, which she then realized and got over it because she also wanted her brother to be there and for her cousin to be happy they Madame made the trip. That said its your money and your wedding and you can pay for who you want, especially considering that it's not really required of you. Moreover, you and your fiance want to be happy to have important people there with you and that's what all your guests should want for you too. Plus, you might still be generous to all guests if you decide to give on-board credit dollars which should really be at no extra cost to you through booking with a group. I hope that helps. I'll keep thinking.

Hey Ecofrugal! Thanks for the reply. Even though we got engaged in October and announced it to our family and friends then with the invitation, we had been planning since August. We wanted to help our guests as much as possible by giving them enough time to take vacations from work and save up since we are cruising the Oasis which is pricey and all our guests have to pay to fly to Florida. Also, we knew the ship we chose was rather financially ambitious for our guests, so for our wedding invitations we made an amazing PowerPoint presentation put on a customized CD in a personalized case that sold the hell out of the Oasis, its 3 ports of call and our wedding as well as really promoted why our guests wouldn't want to miss the trip. Lastly, my FI and I are kinda controlling and wanted to control how the idea of a destination wedding was presented to our family and friends since we are the first to do this in our family, hence the elaborate CD presentation invitation. How has the response been so far with your invitations? I think you still gave a good amount of time, but did most guests know the plan before they received the invitation?

Hi Brides! Lady Love here and wanting to connect with other Feb 2012 brides. We are taking the Oasis of the Seas and getting married in St Thomas on Feb 14. We sent out invitations for our wedding in Oct-Nov 2010 and I can't believe how fast time has flown. 2012 is just around the corner :eek:

Wow! Really impressive. Congratulations on your engagement. Thanks for sharing. I am a little nutty too and glad to see I'm not the only one I love the bridesmaids dresses. The save the dates look amazing. Your DIY kids activity book looks awesome. And thanks for sharing about vista print!

Hi Ecofrugal. Thanks for your suggestion on my Help with Reception thread. So from that you probably now know we are getting married via the Oasis in St. Thomas. I'm glad everything is working out for the better and that your sis can do ceremony. None of my many siblings are making the trip and that's working out for the best...lol

@Ecofrugal You were a lot of help. Thanks for your suggestion. I called RCI groups and was able to get a lot of info when I didn't mention wedding or already having a travel agent. Apparently, I can book a room and have a bar cost per person per hour. We have to make a submission to the cruise to find a room. The only prob is my TA has to do that I think. At least I am feeling excited again and just need to have a serious chat with TA. Congrats on your wedding!