Mikesbride

My husband and I recently (June 27 2013) got married at ClubHotel Riu Negril.  I felt like the resort offered a great package at a great price.  We opted for the "free" package which is really the $500 package.  With this package you get to have 10 guests at no additional charge.  Every guest over 10 people is $10.50.  Children are cheaper (5 and under are free, 6-12 are half price).  The resort's preferred photographer is True Colors Photography.  If you choose not to hire True Colors Photography you can use a separate vendor but then the resort charges you a $350 fee.  I used a separate vendor for photography and videography (Alain Hottat  www.jamaicashoots.com).  Alain paid half of the fee.  Even with the fee I paid less to use Alain and received more time (5 hours for $1,400) than I would have received from True Colors Photography.  So don't be afraid to check out vendors outside of the resort if True Colors isn't a good fit for your needs.   The free package includes your ceremony and dinner at the Steakhouse.  In the evening the steakhouse is only open to weddings.  There was one other wedding group there with us, but we truly didn't even notice them so it felt private.   Before the wedding I found out the price of all of the upgrades, etc so I could figure out a way to make things in my budget.  The resort wanted to charge me $15 for a bag of flower petals that I was going to use on the walkway.  Instead I purchased 6,000 artificial petals on Ebay for $25.  The flowers covered the aisle and the resort cleaned them up afterwards for free.  I didn't add any extra decorations other than the petals because the site is beautiful so you don't need to add a lot.  The free arch is green and red.  The free chairs are brown.  So for my colors I did red, orange, and brown so everything coordinated with what the package offered.  I don't remember how much bouquets and boutonnieres were, but I remember it was more than I wanted to pay.  So my girls carried parasols ($8) which were cheaper than flowers and shielded them from the sun.  I made the guy's boutonnieres (starfish with red and orange ribbon).  Getting your hair done at the salon is very expensive and takes a long time.  I'm a plain jane and am not very good at doing my hair, so I paid the salon $125 to do my hair.  Typically it would have only taken 30 minutes to do an update on my hair, but the salon took an hour which wasn't a problem and fortunately I had planned on the extra time.  The coordinator (Dionne) was great to work with.  She always typically responded to my emails in a timely manner (1-3 days).  Some brides suggest combining all of your questions into one email so you email her less often, but I found the more questions that I received in an email would result in not all of the questions getting answered so I emailed her more often with less questions in each email.  We met with Dionne the day before the wedding to go over final details and everything went smoothly.  We had our weddingon the beach at the end of the resort.  It is in the fish sanctuary so nobody is supposed to swim there.  We did have 1 random guy swimming in the water in the background, but it didn't bother us.  This spot is at the very end of the resort with nothing nearby (i.e. grill, bar, lobby, etc) so most people don't have a reason to go down to this end of the beach unless they are staying in building 3 or 4.   The gazebo is in the middle of the beach (near building 2) so it is closer to the main resort area and more people are around.  People stand around and stare when they see a wedding going on, so I was glad we didn't choose the gazebo.  The free package says that you don't get a free upgrade, but my hubby and I did and we didn't even ask for it.  We got an ocean view room.  This was great for the video because it gave the videographer the opportunity to do an overlook scan of the property for our video.  Other than that it didn't matter to us that it was ocean view because you don't spend a lot of time in your room.  We had 16 guests who stayed the entire week so we were only in our room at night.

According to the message boards a lot of brides have had a problem with receiving their wedding certificate in a timely manner.  I planned for this delay so when we got back I went onto Jamaica's Registrar website and paid $85 to have 2 copies or our certificate rushed to us.  I received them in the mail within 2 weeks.  http://apps.rgd.gov.jm/web/Marriage/lay_marriageApplication.cfm

Attached are some pics to give you an idea of how things turned out.  Happy Planning!

My fiancé and I got married at ClubHotel Riu Negril in Jamaica on June 27th.  The resort's preferred vendor is True Colors Photography.  I reviewed True Colors work then chose to hire Alain Hottat for our pictures and video.  I found Alain through a vendor review on this website.  Alain and his assistant (Juan) were phenominal to work with.  They got along well with us and our guests and didn't intrude on the day.  They do great work at an affordable price.  I paid $1,400 for 5 hours of photography and video.  Plus Alain paid half of the vendor's fee ($325) that the resort charged me for not using True Colors.  I would recommend Alain to any bride.  You can look at his work by checking out his facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaphotographers or his website  www.jamaicashoots.com  Happy Planning!

MRSBAILEY

My planning is going well.  All I have left is to pick the music and to create thank you signs for pictures.  We are doing photo postcards for thank you cards.  I hired Alain Hottat as my photographer.  He was cheaper and provider more coverage than the resort photographer.  I have emailed back and forth with Dionne a lot because I didn't want any surprises once I got to the resort, so I wanted everything planned before I arrived.  How is your planning going?

I am selling my veil from my first wedding (2006).  Below is the link to my Craiglist ad.  I am selling it for $60, but if you don't live nearby I could mail it for $5.  If you don't live nearby we could facilitate payment through PayPal.  Later this week I plan to post another veil.  I received a veil with my dress for my wedding in June.  I am picking it up later this week and will post it for sale because I plan on wearing a flower in my hair rather than a veil.

http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/clo/3797236416.html

Wedding: June 27 2013

Location: Riu Negril

Names: Mike and Tina

MrsViolo

Thank you sooooooo much for posting this!  I am not really impressed with the photographer that my resort contracts with and I have been really stressed thinking about trying to find someone else.  I have emailed a few photographers and only got a response from one.  Your posting is very helpful and definitely helped relieve the anxiety and stress that I have been experiencing over this issue.

Kdoyle,

I am planning my 2nd (and final ) wedding right now.  My first wedding was a local (Kentucky) wedding and I had a videographer and a photographer.  My ex and I watched our wedding video a million times and truly treasured it.  Our videographer wasn't intrusive at all and really captured the emotions of the day.  I can't promise all videographers will deliver a great product and not be intrusive but I know I really valued my video and found it as a way to reconnect to that day.

Congrats Mrs. Bailey!  I am flying in June 23rd for my June 27th wedding at Riu Negril.  I hope that your planning is going well

Booked last week!  June 27 2013.

sd2thap-i saw one bride post about hosting their own beach party.  she said they brought their own decorations and an ipod with speakers.  they set it up and cleaned it up so it was $0.  every guest brought the alcohol from their rooms and one of the guests played bartender.

June 27 2013 at Club Hotel Riu Negril.  Just booked last week!

How was your arch decorated?  Some pictures I have seen of the free arch is a green and red arch made of leaves and flowers.  Other pictures of the free arch I have seen are white fabric.  What were the price options on photographers?