Leah22

Greetings! I have a few new and used items left over from my wedding. Please PM me if you need additional pictures or images. I have tons of photos of my dress and of the other items. Allure P784 Wedding Dress ($515, original price: $1200). Dress Size 6, Street size 2. Height: 5'-8" with no shoes. Color: pearl (similar to ivory). Dress was altered in the waist, hips, and hem. The dress can be taken back out the the original measurements. I can send additional pictures. Dress will be cleaned and pressed, receipt for the dry cleaning can be provided. Mother of Pearl Beaded Sash. ($60, original price $130) New, never worn. I bought this at the last minute and decided it did not match my dress. This was handmade. The belt can be removed. The belt is 1" wide in ivory. The beading is 5.25" wide and 2.25" tall Beaded Broach ($20). New, never worn 12 white paper lanterns, 18" wide ($2 each) 12 chartreuse/apple green paper lanterns, 14" wide ($2 each) 24 LED lights in rectangular casing with on/off switches ($1 each, these retail for $4) 68 NEW loose LED lights with fishing wire. Some of the lights are tied together with the fishing wire in 10 sets of 3. They all have on/off switches. ($40 for the whole bunch) 50 NEW Jute tote bags or gift bags ($4 each). 15" tall x 14" wide x 6" deep. I used them as my OOT/gift bags. All of my guests used them as beach bags and they are gorgeous! It's a natural material and they can be personalized with a screen print or paint-on or iron-on image. I used a chalk board tag attached to the strap and wrote each guests name. I originally bought 1 per person, but then realized it would not be feasible to transport them all, so I have 50 extra! 2 packs of 12 Tea light holders ($4 for each set of 12 or 50 cents each). They are 1 inch tall. clear glass 18 glass candle holders (50 cents each). They are 2.25 inches tall. clear glass 10 Green Crinkled Pin Wheels ($8 for all, original price was $34). They can be hung from the ceiling or placed on tables. They come in various sizes and various patterns.

Yes, my wedding was gorgeous and fun. But I chose a destination wedding because I did not want to obsess over all the details. And I didn't. I went with the flow. If Janielle told me I couldn't have something (like during my rehearsal ceremony she told me I couldn't have my cocktail party on the lobby terrace and 4 hours before my ceremony she told me I couldn't have the wicker chairs for my ceremony), then fine I accepted that and moved on. My reception decorations turned out beautifully and exactly like I anticipated (keep in mind that I brought ALL my decorations and gave Janielle a color plan of how I wanted the reception set up...I ordered a few centerpieces from Tai Floral, but I didn't trust them since I could never get a response). But the day of the wedding, several issues with our ceremony arose and the planning process was a nightmare from the beginning. I actually arrived at the hotel pissed off because of emails that I received from Janielle at midnight the night before I arrived. I enjoyed the Grand. I enjoyed my wedding because it was my wedding! My guests enjoyed the Grand and the Suites and they enjoyed the wedding. But the process was unpleasant and tarnished. And, like I said, I would have chosen a different hotel with a more experienced wedding planning process. Especially for the price you're paying at the Grand you can hire a private Jamaican wedding coordinator to organize something off property for cheaper. If you have the time to plan out and coordinate every detail, and then provide full detail instructions to the hotel wedding coordinator that you explain 20 times before you arrive and 20 times after you arrive, then you have nothing to worry about. But the hotel's wedding fees will probably go up and their policies will inevitably change at the last minute. From what I've read on this forum, the fees and policies have already changed for upcoming weddings.

As an alternative option, Janielle let me use the wicker chairs chairs that are available throughout the property (but they're mainly at Port Maria). I hated the look of the covered chairs, but I didn't want to pay $8 to rent a chair. It looked lovely at the reception, but at the last minute she said I couldn't use them for the beach ceremony (so I had to use the covered chairs). But if you rent the chairs, you only pay for 1 set and then they relocate them for your reception.

Allie, I almost booked the Half Moon. I worked with a wedding coordinator for about a month. She sent me several itemized bills and we went back and forth editing, changing, deleting until it was a price I was comfortable with. They will work with you if you give them a budget to stick to. We were planning on renting the villas (which come with a private pool and personal chef). It did get a little tricky deciding between the all-inclusive versus non (since all guests should be on the same plan). But when we were working with the wedding coordinator there was no additional fee if the guests were on the AI plan. So I'm not sure about the extra $180pp. In the end we decided against it because we were worried the room prices were too high and we weren't sure what our final numbers would be (I originally planned for 30, that jumped to 60, we ended up with 87). But at the time we were assuming all of our guests would stay at the Suites or even the Beach resort. In the end the majority of our guests chose to stay at the Grand, which is comparable in price to renting a villa at the Half Moon.

Hello Everyone! I was just married on June 10th at the Grand (I also got to see the other two brides married on the Friday and Saturday before me). We had just under 90 guests! Maybe 2/3 stayed at the Grand, around 30 were at the Suites (we had a few people with kids), 3 guests stayed at the Beach resort, and the rest were staying off property. All in all everything worked out. But I think it was truly a nightmare dealing with the hotel and the wedding coordinator before arrival and once I got there. Besides the fact that their prices increased a few months before the wedding, and they changed their policies so that I couldn't choose my own outside vendors, Janielle was still difficult to talk to once I was on property. About 2 weeks before arrival I started receiving several emails from Janielle attempting to finalize details. Which is great, but it was a lot at the last minute considering both me and my travel agent have been emailing her since September. I met with her the day after my arrival. but only because I checked my email from my room and she had sent me a request for a full guest list with entree choices for each guest for my pre-wedding/rehearsal group dinner that had been planned and organized for 4 months (for 80 people split with 1 dinner at the Suites and 1 dinner at the Grand -- this was a perk through my travel agent, normally they don't allow groups of this size unless you pay to rent the restaurant). She said it was a new policy and they need to know what each guest will eat. Considering I was already on the property, there was no way I could track down my 90 guests at home and ask them to pick a menu. I told her "no way" in an email and left my hotel room number. she called my hotel room within 10 minutes and we organized a meeting. I met with Janielle and Angellie (the PR manager). It was quick. We discussed my detail sheet and filled out a new/different detail sheet and we took a look at Port Maria to discuss how I wanted my tables set up. She insisted on charging us an extra $200 vendor fee because we wanted to use one of our guests as the DJ. The Grand wouldn't allow him to rent or use their DJ equipment, so we had to rent equipment from a private company. Then the day of the wedding they started to set up the wedding ceremony in the wrong location, they used the wrong chairs (I requested wicker chairs for the ceremony and reception, which she told me would be fine), and they didn't put up an arch at first because they said they had no record of my requesting one (even though they had sent me an itemized bill 5 days before the wedding and the arch was on the bill -- by the way, this is when I learned that an arch is NOT included in the free wedding package. all along Janielle had told me that an arch is included in my package). My mom fought with them while I was getting ready, so I didn't know any of this happened until later. My flowers turned out really well (even though I was reluctant to use Tai Floral because I could never get a response from them). All my guests had fun. The food was great. The hotel is stunning. There is a HUGE difference between the Grand, the Suites, and the Beach. The Grand is just so much better. I never saw the guests staying at the Beach until the wedding. but we wandered over to the Suites a few times to visit those guests (but only because my fiance's brother and baby nephew were there). The Grand is VERY strict about not allowing other guests on the property. We even had guests try to visit us from off property and security wouldn't let them in without a fight. A few times the beach guests came over to the Suites and didn't have any issues (they're not as strict at the Suites). I enjoyed the hotel, but if I could re-do it I would NOT choose to get married at the Grand. I would rent a villa or I would go to Half Moon (which would have actually been cheaper than the Grand). Or I would choose a resort that had better, more organized wedding packages so I wouldn't have to deal with price adjustments and policy changes at the last minute. I will write a full review this weekend and I'll post some pics when I get them back. Good luck! I don't want to discourage everyone planning their Iberostar weddings. I just want to share my experience, which was less than ideal.

since you've actually been there, one last question about the food! how was the italian, asian, etc. in comparison to the jamaican cuisine. i love jamaican food,and i'm sure the hotel's jamaican food is great. but i want to know if they produce other cuisines just as well. was their take on italian or asian food any good? thanks!

kfarkas26, did you get to try any of the sushi while you were there? They have it listed on one of the buffet menus and I know it's available at the Grand at the Japanese restaurant and through room service. I'm not sure if they have it at the Suites, but the Japanese restaurant at the Beach resort must have sushi as well. Just curious if it's actually good or really crappy! The hotel confirmed that no lobster will be served. It will substituted with shrimp until the end of June. I wish I had known that before I chose a June wedding date! Thanks.

great thanks! in that case, i'm leaning towards the non-jamaican buffet. You can send me your email address through PM and i'll forward them to you. You won't be able to download them from this site (unless you have lots of posts, but i still can't download files with 100+ posts). Quote: Originally Posted by kfarkas26 While I haven't gotten married there yet I can tell you from just getting back that the buffet has Jamaican nights 4 day a week (other days are italian and asian) and when we were there 5/12-5/19 lobster was not available (this was all at the suites) also there was alot of Jamaican food being served at the lunch buffets too! hopefully that was a little helpful at least! PS do you mind posting the menu options on here? I'm curious even though i have 13 months to go!

Any past Grand brides? I can't decide on the menu for our reception dinner. I'm really tempted to go with the Jamaican buffet, because honestly we love Jamaican food and I can't tell if any other Jamaican food is actually served at this hotel (the restaurants are Japanese, Italian, Meditteranean, Mexican, Surf and Turf, etc.). But I also like buffet #1 with the lobster and fillet (even though lobster may not be served since my wedding is during the off season). Any there any past brides who have tried either of these menus?

We stayed at Secrets St. James when they first opened. We had a really great time and saw 2 small weddings (bride and groom plus a hand full of guests). We really enjoyed the hotel, I can't speak for their wedding process. But the weddings we saw were in gazebos overlooking the water. Only bad side to these locations is that they're right next to some hot tubs...which is why we saw them (because we were in the hot tub after an afternoon rain). We would have considered it for our wedding, but we had to choose a place that would allow kids at the ceremony.

Perfect! I was planning to host a bonfire party that night...but if the Suites is already having one then I can send my guests there.

Can anyone confirm what day the beach party is at the Suites and Beach resorts? (the late night parties, not the lunch event). I have heard that the Beach resort is typically on Thursday and the Suites is on Saturday night (and the Grand does not have a beach party). Is this correct?

Mthackeray, I'm going to send you an email as well. I have my bags (which are nice jute beach bags), but I have nothing to put in them!

Kristen, You will enjoy Secrets St James! My fiance and I stayed there when they first opened and saw a few small weddings (just the couple and maybe a couple of guests). We would have considered it for our wedding as well, but we wanted an adults-only place that would allow kids at the ceremony/reception. Good luck!

The private beach is one of their standard ceremony locations. It's further down the beach (and not directly in front of the pool and beach loungers). You can request it when you return your detail sheet or you can request it when you get there.

You two are very organized! Kendra, you can have a beach side reception dinner. I believe it's an extra $50-70 per person on TOP of the Port Maria rental (pretty pricey). It's in the 2012 wedding prices or detail sheet that Janielle should have sent you initially. KPalamo, It's odd that Janielle gave you a list of photographers to use. She only told me about the hotel photographer (which is not on your list) and I ended up hiring someone on my own, Brian Nejedley. I almost hired Merrick Cousley, whose work also looks awesome. But yes, their new rules indicate that this is the only outside vendor that you can choose. I don't think they'll let you hire an outside DJ either (at least I know another bride had to cancel DJ Kevan because the Grand wouldn't allow him). For your cocktail hour, are you going to have you guests hang out on the beach for 2 hours before the reception opens? I'm still trying to decide what to do with my guests. My wedding is at 5:30, also on the "private" beach. We're not organizing a cocktail hour (besides the champagne toast that comes iwth the package). But I think I'm going to direct them to one of the hotel bars for an hour.

Janielle said I was "required" to have it at the Grand (even though technically it would be on the beach between the Grand and Suites so all my guests could attend). But I don't understand why the Grand charges more for the exact same bonfire and the same stretch of beach! I would prefer to have it at the Suites, but I don't know how to arrange it without going through Janielle. I'm freaked out about all my guests! I originally wanted 30-40 people max. But my fiance's parents just invited everyone they've ever met! Now there will be several people there that neither my fiance nor I know (it actually upsets me!).

Does anyone know if they allow you to do the bonfire WITHOUT the open bar? The bonfire prices Janielle originally gave me included an open bar for 30 people. We're over 80 people now, so it would be over $1,000 per hour! I still want to have a bonfire party, but I figure guests can just run up to a bar and grab their drinks. I've asked Janielle, but still no response yet.