JessSchollSmith

@BridetobeABCD You will love Flora. She's an instant stress-reliever. I think the only thing I forgot to ask her when I went down was about making reservations for hair styling. I'm not sure how many can go at once... Have a great time!

The ocean front gazebo gets two thumbs up from me.

oops... I meant a beautiful Gazebo

@katiehenderson there's a beautiful terrace to the left of the Villas terrace (it's technically on the Royal's property) is by far the prettiest and more private gazebo option. The other "terrace" is brand new and is in the very busy pool area...

@katiehenderson... We pretty much all booked through expedia.com... super easy and way cheaper. Was also wondering what peeps are doing for decorations on the terrace? I ordered white lanterns for the guest tables, and am thinking that I want to keep it simple... maybe I'll have some vases for my little bridal party's bouquets? Which brings me to another question: Is anyone ordering their bouquets through the resort? I only have two bridesmaids and myself, but don't want anything too extravagant. In the Royal Catholic Wedding package, I get one of the standard bouquets, but do they have anything smaller for my bridesmaids, or will their's be the same as mine?

Booking through *expedia (not expertise... silly autocorrect)

@katiehenderson I did not go through a TA. I found that booking through expertise would help my guests save about 800 dollars a couple compared to the prices I was given by agents. Having a TA is great if you think that you can get a whole bunch of guests to stay for a predetermined amount of time, and can pay a deposit in advance. I just find it so much easier to let your guests book their own trip... and they really won't mind

yikes! Call your coordinator asap.

I went for a menu tasting during our site visit and have to say that the beef medalions were amazzzzing.

Hey! I'm getting married at the GCR on April 12, 2014. I fell in love with the chapel, and was super-psched when my fiance was just as excited about having a destination wedding there. I've been checking out some other threads about the GCR, and feel like I know what I'm in for. I have taken care of a few things already: I booked an outside photographer (Ivan Luckie; his work is gorgeous and his prices are within my budget, and based on the luke-warm reviews of the on-site photographers, I'm okay with going with an outside professional), I've already purchased some centerpieces that I will take down with me (some simple, lovely white candle-lit lanterns), and have booked a brief site visit this April. At this point, I know that my ceremony is at 4pm at the chapel, followed by a cocktail hour on the beach (which is actually only sparkling wine, unless I want to pay an extra $5 per person...and I don't), and a 3-hour reception on the Villas Terrace. My hope is to get save-the-dates out a year ahead of time, and to set up a website with more information. I'm not convinced that a travel agent is necessary... it seems to me that people are already planning on going down for different lengths of time, and using their air miles from different airlines... but we'll see... Happy planning!!

Heyyy! I'm getting married at the GCR in April 2014! I fell in love with the chapel at the resort about a year ago and can't believe that it's actually going to happen. My fiance and I booked our date last September and have been working with Claudy Che. I'm a teacher, so I chose to book my wedding for the start of school vacation week. I've been told that April and May temperatures are perfect and it's long before hurricane season hits. I'm enjoying the long engagement and have booked an outside vendor for photography already (Ivan Luckie; his work is amazing and his prices are reasonable). I wanted to book him ahead of time so that I could pay a few things off before this summer. I've also decided to have candle-lit lantern centerpieces, as their floral arrangements priced very high and the view from the villas terrace will be gorgeous without any flowers. I'm heading down for a brief site visit this April, so feel free to forward me any questions that I can ask the on-site staff.

Ivan Luckie photography is amazing and is totally affordable. I don't think I'm supposed to disclose his package prices, but if you go to his website and shoot him an email, he'll send you a list of prices.

Are all of you using Travel Agents? I'm guessing that most of my guests will be coming down at different times, so I'm not sure if it would be totally useful to have one... any thoughts? Also, is anybody using the photographer that they provide at GCR? I'm considering who to go with. Thanks and happy planning. -Jess

Hey ladies! This is my first post on here, but I want to thank everybody for supplying such great information. I'm getting married at the GRC in April, 2014... which is sooo far away! My WC is Claudy Che, and she's been great so far. I just got my contract though, and after asking for a private reception on one of the terraces, they typed in "Solar 2 Lounge" for my reception site... weird. Also, does anybody have any information on the photographer/dj services that they use at the gran caribe? Happy planning! Jess