sunnymylene

Hi Minley16, I assisted a wedding that was on a cruise in Hawaii. My advice is if you're doing your ceremony in an idyllic location off the boat, you should consider choosing a location where the boat stays overnight rather than only docking for the day. My friend chose a beautiful spot where they were docking only for the day, in Kona. OMG the pre-wedding race. To make matters more challenging, we weren't docked on a pier, we had to be ferried onshore ! She chose a hairdresser onshore, we left the boat at 7 am. Came back on the boat at 10. Put our gear on in a small room, her cabin. Take the ferry again. A shuttle was organised by the couple for the guests, and two Escalades were rented for the groom's party and the bride's party. We drove to the site, about 25 minutes. The groom and the bestman went to Costco to buy some appy and drinks for after the ceremony, it had to be dropped to the ceremony site. The master of ceremony guy was at the ceremony site early in am to coordinate the arrival of food, chairs and deco. In all this, the ceremony was supposed to be at 12, it ended being at 2 I think. We had about an hour of appy, drink and hawaiian dancing, and the couple left for photo duties. During this time the site had to be dismantle, by the guests, and the guests went back into the shuttle. And we had to be in the ferry line-up at 5 to get back to the cruise. It was a challenge for sure. Once back on the cruise, it was more relaxed. The dinner was in a restaurant, private. And the dancing was in the conference arena, with soundsystem and all. A friend did the music. I certainly don't want to put you off going on a cruise for your wedding, as a cruise allows you to see many places all in one week. But this experience might help into what to consider for the preparation and the coordination. Happy prep !

Hi Ladies, Have you decided on the the food ? The way we chose was quite simple. We had 2 guests who don't eat pork, and 1 who doesn't like cheese, and 1 who doesn't like seafood. We went with classics, that also where appealing to US. Remember, you can't please everyone. We chose everything from the Divine menu. I didn't know we could choose from the eternity menu to save a few $ per extra person (we had 6 extra). And really, we could have saved what...a big whole 24$ ?! And having more choice to choose from to make it more difficult ?! (I was studying full-time the semester before the wedding, I literally had to make a date with my fiance to choose all this !!) These are the cocktail hour appys we chose. To be honest, we didn't taste any as we were leaving on photo duties... I think I tasted the salmon and dill on the go ! A. Salmon and dill cream cheese B. Goat cheese mousse and sundried tomato C. Roast beef roll D. Prosciutto ham bruchetta This was our menu for the dinner. We love wine, cheeses, cold cuts and terrine, so this appy was obvious it was the one to be. As for the soup, we love lobster... As you can see, we knew what our guests liked and didn't, and we choose accordingly. If they don't like the soup, they could eat the appy and the dinner... For the main, we went for a classic. The only thing left to surprise was the level of cooking. We like a beef rare to med-rare. I know a few peops in our group like it done. I was very pleased with the med-rare cooking. And I think the well-doners might now convert to med-rare ! Everything was very delicious. As for the dessert, the creamy white chocolate was very small and tasty too. But could potentially just be replaced by a 5th appy in the cocktail hour. Simply because, people were getting full, and the piece the resistance, the wedding cake, was almost too much, and only really for the tradition... Appetizer or Salad: vegetable confit terrine, fresh lettuce and basil pesto, sundried tomato vinaigrette Soup: creamy Lobster soup, brandy scented Entrée: Surf & Turn Beef fillet and shrimp, wild mushroom sauce, mild sweet pepper sauce Desert: creamy white chocolate and mint Cake: Tres Leche I'm picky about my cakes, I simply just usually skip it, or take a finger-wide slice to taste. Tres Leche was very moist and delicious. For 31 adults, we had a 3-tiers cake. We could have gone for 2-tiers (plus a fake third at the base for the looks I guess), there was a lot of cake left, the whole bottom tiers. We had a romantic dinner on the beach the night before the wedding. We almost skipped it simply because it was taking time away from our guests. So we sat, we ate, and we left. We were done in under an hour ! But it was literally a surf and turf. A good dry run on tasting our wedding main. I think it was coming from the French Restaurant Par Amour, which we didn't have the chance to go to. We were very pleased with this meal. Before that romantic dinner, we had our included couples massage. It's one hour. It's So So So worth it. Do it. It's all I have to say. You can look at my pictures for the onsite photographer, ceremony set-up, and dinner set-up. Cheers !

Hi KelsDavidson62 My understanding about the eternity set up is that the decor is not included, and that is why I went with the divine package.

Hi Dina, I did the divine package. it included 1hour of photography. In that time they take a million pictures and you choose 24 out of them. You also get them printed in an album, like photobook. Now, 1 hour is only good for the couple who does a tiny private ceremony, "bing-bang-get-it-done, sign-sign, pose-pose" and I respect that. But it's not enough for a bigger party. So we bought an additional block of photography as describe in the booklet http://www.amresorts.com/wedding_guides/nosrc-wedding-guide.pdf on p.11. We added 3 hours and 60 images. Of the 377 pictures taken, we picked 135, we were entitled to 84. They gave us the reminder, 51. They put the 135 pics on a CD. We chose 24 pics in our selection to be printed in the photobook. We are expecting the book soon. And we have a weblink of a montage they made, and we have a weblink of all the pictures if we want to buy more, or if our guests want a specific one Our ceremony was at 2pm, followed by the cocktail hour and dinner at 6 til 9. So the total 4 hours photography covered the end of getting ready for the groom and the bride, the ceremony, group pictures. From 3h:30 till 5 we went around the resort for more private pictures. And at 5 we came back to the beach area/cocktail area, for the candle ceremony shot for sunset. And that was it. I didn't need hair prep or make up prep photography. And we didn't want professional photography during dinner, because it was night/dark, and not a lot of pictures are good while chewing food or doing a speech with mouth half open. We were content with taking the chance of having candid shots from our guests. And they turned just fine. Arturo did our photography, he has many colleagues, they are working for Adventure Photos. I hope that helps !

Hi Megan, In my divine package for 31 people, we had 6 extra chairs. We paid for 31 bows. They used two set of chairs, and only transfers the bows from the ceremony to reception. I didn't even noticed when they did it. Maybe during group pictures. They charge to set up their own bows (or it's included in the price). The chairs and white covers are included, for both the ceremony and the reception, up to 25. I had the centerpiece with Calla lili, the tall white flowers. They used it on the ceremony table, and then moved it to the reception table. I asked for round glass bowls for sand and shells in it, they told me 5$ per bowl. I was going to have 3. They did not charged me for them. And my bridesmaids bouquets were sitting on the table, and added a touch of color. It looks like the gazebo decor is not included in the eternity package but the reception table is. I chose the divine package because the ceremony decor was included.

Congrats ! on the Now !

No, I don't think it was offered by our supplier Westjet.

Hi meganator22 You can't go wrong with the Dreams and Now Family resorts. I haven't looked at the wedding packages of the other two but you might want to compare what's offered for how much and what's included in each level of package. Maybe the looks of each resorts by looking at pics and comments on Trip Advisor. And finally the size of the resort. I had really good comments from my guests for the size of Now Sapphire, the common areas/restaurants are fairly close to each other. The common areas at Now Sapphire are close to the beach, look at the resort map and the layout. The beach has really really fine sand, finer than Tullum area and Playa Del Carmen. I thought choosing the resort was the most difficult. After that, it's up to you how you want to complicate yourself or not ie go with what the resort offers or choose and shop outside vendors... Hope that helps, and happy prep !

Hi TauruSmith, Interesting... I didn't come across that, and the small prints after the description of each make it pretty clear. You can look at my wedding bill from the resort in my pictures, they accounted for the 500$ deposit. My card was charged 500$ the same day I booked the date. Hope that helps... Happy Prep !

Hi ! I also think it's doable ! You just want to settle quickly on a resort. My travel agent was able to request 4 to 6 quotes to suppliers per day. So keep asking quotes every day without waiting for a price back. Look up travel agent's magasines along with Trip Advisor. I thought choosing the resort was the most difficult. We were settled on Jamaica, but it was too expensive to ask our guests the quoted price. So we had to choose somewhere else. Mexico turned out to be a great option for us to travel afterwards. Choosing the resort took us 2 months and half. If I would have known to request quotes everyday, it would have been way shorter... 10-15K seems realistic for the time of year you're looking at. All up, mine was closer to 15K but 4.7K were dedicated to getting there (over Christmas/New Year Season), the all-inclusive part, and separate flights to return (we forfeited our included return flights to stay longer and travel independently). Extending a second week, staying in an independent small hotel and actually relax was the best thing we've done, because the wedding week is busy, trying to hang out with our guests. The wedding package at the resort was 3000, and additional stuff was 3000. You can see my resort wedding bill in my pictures. The rest of the 5000$ was spend towards my husband attire, his bestman's attire, bridesmaids dresses, silk flowers, accessories, 2nd week travelling/diving/food/drinks/accom/transport, save-the-dates, etc... Word of advice...Keep it simple. Less is more ! I was studying full-time in the fall semester leading to the wedding, I didn't have time to think about OOT, shop for outside vendors, or be picky about flowers. I just went with the provided photographer & flowers. Good Luck !

Our first dance song was "Hold my Hand" by Michael Jackson feat. Akon

"This must be the place" by Talking Heads was our unplanned Father-daughter/Mother-son song !

Thanks AllieH ! Now my dress needs a clean, it's hanging in the den... And I feel like I want to wear it again ! So I have suggested to some work colleagues who also got married this year that we have a high tea in our gowns later this year !

Ladies, here is my bill from my recent wedding. I had the Divine Package for 31 people. It's detailing every items used or not used. This way you can have a pretty accurate how much will be swiped at the resort. It's pretty consistent with their wedding booklet price list.