danielleandryan2015

I love hearing these stories! Congrats everyone! We are getting married in May 2015 in Negril, Jamaica. Soooo excited for our wedding! We have been together for 6 years, and we also dated for 4 years back in high school but went our own ways for awhile after that until life brought us back together! We have a 2.5 year old son and are expecting baby #2 this June! I truly thought we would never get married, and that was OK. We are pretty nontraditional and we both felt that was not a huge priority for us as we are happy and feel fully committed as is. That being said, I was completely shocked when I opened up a shoe box on Christmas morning to find an engagement ring! Of course I said yes, and I honestly never knew how excited I would feel to marry this man until now!

We are going to do OOT bags and are expecting between 40-50 people, but I am only getting one bag per couple/room and not each individual. Each bag will have 2 tumblers so everyone will get one of those, but as for the other stuff only one per bag like a lanyard, think we are going to burn a Bob Marley CD since we are getting married in Jamaica. Also going to throw in some disposable shot glasses as there are liquor dispensors in the rooms, and maybe a cheapie dollar store inflatable raft. Overall so far these will only cost me $7 a bag including the bag itself! I will probably throw in some of the other stuff too like Tylenol packet and some snacks. But definitely planning to keep it between $10-$15 a bag. I am not doing any favors other than this. I don't think you need to do anything really, but it is a nice gesture. And an excursion would be just as nice as a little bag of stuff!

I will definitely be either wearing them or keeping them in my purse in my lap the entire time! I am going to continue to wear my engagement ring as well. Just make sure you have jewelry insurance incase anything happens or you lose a stone in the ocean, etc. A good company for this is Jewelers Mutual. If you google it you can set up a policy for cheap and no deductible. Can also add jewelry to your home/renters insurance but I don't recommend that because its usually not as comprehensive and it can raise your home rates if you have a claim!

@@Resplendent, did you receive your order yet? I was looking at the Jamaica back sacks and the lanyards. Did you happen to order either of those, and what was the quality like? thanks!

Thanks! I just am not sure what we are getting the guys and FI was thinking of maybe a cooler or something. That would be too big to bring so I thought we could give them here before we go. maybe. I don't know! So many decisions!

Well I went to Jamaica once in June and another time in August. yes its the start of hurricane season, but as you know, you never can really predict the weather! When I was there during these months it would rain for a bit almost everyday, but only for about 15-20 minutes then it would clear up and be beautiful! Last time when I went in August though, we did leave the day before an actual hurricane hit and did some damage to the resort we stayed at! So there is always the possibility of severe weather, although you can't know for sure. My mom is a travel agent and she also goes to Jamaica every year. They usually go in Nov and there is little to no rain and she told me my best chances for no rain on my wedding would be Nov-May. So, we chose an early May wedding. Of course we are never guaranteed so we could see some of that rain too! Happy Planning!

What are you doing for bridal party gifts? Are you taking them to Jamaica or giving them here before you go? I am torn on this as we will already be taking all the OOT stuff, things for the ceremony, etc. We will be having a pre-Jamaica party about a month before we go to hand out travel documents, brochures, get everyone excited to go! I was thinking of giving them their gifts at this time and then just getting them each something small once we get to Jamaica as we will be there a couple days prior to anyone else arriving. So far we have decided to get everyone passport covers and I am not sure what else. I thought maybe a beach towel and then they can choose to pack it with them or not. What is everyone else doing for this?

Congratulations! I think you have a to of options, not really sure where you are thinking of going unless I missed it in your post? We are doing our wedding in Jamaica and it will be about 1700-1900 per person for an all inclusive including the air fare. If you have particular dj and photographers you want to work with you will need to fly them down as well. However most locations have local people who do these things and you can check out their work and get references as well and may save some cost. Good luck and happy planning! Also very nice of you to post on here to get info for her! I wish my fiancé would take as much interest haha!

I have been to Jamaica twice before, so I am just thinking of what I thought was fun. I definitely loved the catamaran but it was pretty much a party "booze" cruise so you need to have the right group! They provide drinks and snacks, stop and let people off to snorkel for a bit, and from our area in Negril cruise up to the cliffs to Ricks Café and watch the cliff divers before heading back. Its a blast! I am sure you can get more laid back ones if you wanted. Also the last time I went we did do a smaller glass bottom boat ride.they did not have food or drinks but it was pretty cool to see everything! I am going to ask my wedding coordinator for a list of current offerings though as it has been a few years since I have been there. My FI has never been and neither have most of our guests so I'm really excited about it!

@@fmyers562015.. Well we want to do a couple things but I also want to make them optional as I dont' want to take up our guests whole vacation with wedding stuff. One thing we really want to do though is take our wedding party on a catamaran cruise. I wanted to do it the day before but now I'm thinking maybe the day after the wedding as I don't want anyone having "too" much fun the day before haha! Like I said, we are pretty laid back so I think this will work for us. We will pay for them and then just make it optional for the other guests.

We are getting married at an AI and I think we are just doing the semi private reception dinner w/ cake and toasts that is included in the wedding package. I really can't bring myself to pay what they want for an extra reception or food/activities at an AI. Plus we will be having an AHR wen we get back and are putting money into that. Our group is pretty laid back so I think we will have our own party on the beach in between ceremony and dinner (our ceremony is at noon and dinner not until 6). Then see what the resort entertainment is for the evening, or visit the nightclub on premises and keep it simple. We will be going on an excursion either rthe day before or after the wedding so that's something else we will all do together.

This is a great thread with some really good ideas! However, does anyone have an idea how to add in the wording about the "foundation" of love or something being friends and family who support you? I read somewhere (I can't remember where) of a wedding where they had the guest all dump a little sand from the beach into the bottom before the couple poured their colors on top. I would really like to do this as all the people coming are such important parts of our lives. I am just not sure how to incorporate it into the wording.

We will be bringing our kids to our wedding in Jamaica. One will be almost 4 and the other almost 1 when we go. I did pick a resort that allows kids but it does not necessarily cater to them, its mostly for adults. However I asked our friends/family before deciding on a place and they mostly said if they can come they will want a kid free vacation! so that helped us decide! They all have the option but it sounds like there will only be 2 other kids coming besides our two.

We have to do a 12pm wedding as well and the reception dinner doesn't start until 6 or 6:30. So we have a long gap as well. We will be in Jamaica and I'm thinking that we will do pictures for awhile and just tell guests to meet us back ont he beach at like 3 or so and we can have our own pre party before the reception dinner. That way people can go eat, freshen up, or whatever they want in between. At leas that's my best idea so far!

So glad someone finally posted a review on this resort! I am excited to read it and will do so right now! Thanks!

Awesome. Thank you so much for the info! Thinking about not taking the car seat anyway. If I remember correctly the shuttle we had last time from airport to resort did not even have a seatbelts. I know its scary but maybe we will just hold the little one for that ride. Probably won't take the kids off the resort after that. We will have family there to help when we want to go out for a bit they can stay there!

@JaxBchKay do you know if they charge the stroller as they do for additional checked baggage? Or will they just accommodate us for that? Thanks for the info!

@Linds1204 Thank you for the suggestions on the photographers sites. All of those pictures are so awesome! I am leaning toward yellow dresses and those beautiful blue/purple orchids that they have down there for the bouquet, maybe with some white in there too. One of my girls is very pale and red head so she is concerned about too pale of a yellow but I also don't want to go too bright. We are going to some dress shops in a few weeks to do some looking so hopefully we will have a better idea after that!

Our wedding is in May 2015. We have a son who will be almost 4 at that point and I am expecting now, so this baby will be almost 1. I'm due in June. So, we are definitely taking our kids with us because we want them to be a part of our big day. I am curious if anyone else will be taking kids, or have taken kids to Jamaica in the past? I mean, can we take a stroller on the plane? And what about a car seat, do we need that? I know its going to be a lot more work with them but we just can't imagine them not being there! Any one have any tips or experience with this?

Hmm I have never heard the superstition about not getting married on a Tuesday. But it would not matter to me! We will be getting married on a Monday, we almost did it on Tuesday but it was going to be cinco de mayo and we didn't want that as our anniversary

Hi ladies! I am wondering about this as well. We are getting married in Jamaica in May 2015. I sent STD out in January of this year so that was like 16mos ahead of the wedding. I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to plan. My mom is a travel agent and she is handling all the booking/deposits of the rooms so she keeps me posted on who has contacted her and what not. I am still not sure when to send formal invitations. The final payment will be due Feb 1st, 2015. I am not sure when to send them. I do have all the payment/deposit deadlines on our wedding website which I included on the STD so everyone is aware of that. I was thinking of just sending invites out in Dec or Jan since we will pretty much already know who is coming by then and that's still 5 months before the wedding. We are also going to have an AHR and not sure when to send those invites, I am sending those separate than the destination invitations.

I feel so stuck because I have not fully decided on wedding colors, so I can't plan for other things yet! Please give me your opinions. This is what I am thinking: I am leaning toward typical beach wedding colors like a teal/turquoise (like the ocean) and a paler yellow (sunshine). I will have 3 girls on my side and one guy, then there will be 4 groomsmen. I have a couple problems/decisions that I am running into. First, I wanted to originally let the girls choose which dress and color to wear after I give them the option on the 2 shades (either yellow or teal). But now I am wondering will that look silly with only 3 girls? Should I just decided on a color and that be that? Second, I am leaning more toward yellow if I have to pick one. Do you think that will look bad with the groomsmen if they wear khaki colored pants and a white shirt? I am wondering if it will be all to pale or if khaki will clash with the yellow. What do you all think? I definitely don't want them to wear a tux or anything dark since it will be so hot. These are my dilemma's at the moment and any advice/ opinions would be greatly appreciate! Thanks!

Thanks for the responses! I think it will work out. I am just trying to figure out if the bar area is a good place to have it like after breakfast and then do a catamaran in the afternoon, or maybe an evening cruise.

We are getting married next year at RIU Palace Tropical Bay in Negril, which is an all inclusive resort. Our guests will be flying in on a Saturday and our wedding will be Monday. I'm thinking about having a welcome party or cocktail hour or activity planned for Sunday. Its my understanding that the resort won't hand out the OOT bags and I thought it would be nice to have a little welcome party to give them their bags, thank them in person for coming, and let them mingle and get to know the other guests.( Most of the people will already be familiar with each other, but there are some who will not). Is anyone else doing this? I'm not sure how to go about it since its an all inclusive place. We can't really reserve a restaurant or anything. There is a very nice and open bar area in the lobby I was thinking of just having everyone meet us there around 11ish and we can have bloody Marys and hand out bags, socialize. Or do you think I should have some type of activity planned for us do to? Any ideas are welcome! I also thought of reserving a catamaran for a few hours following and we would pay for the wedding party and make it optional for the other guests. Or is that a bad idea?

@@bghbasket, I am getting married here in May of 2015 but have already started planning and have been in contact with Sophie several times. She did send me pictures of the chairs, as well as the bouqets included and other options. I would be happy to forward them to you if you would like. Feel free to email me at [email protected]. I am planning to just have the Royal package that is for 20 people. Its only $13 per person additional charge so an extra 20 people only adds $260 which is far less than the $1000 upgrade to the caprice package. Also I checked salon prices and to have my hair, makeup, mani and pedi done is $240. so still under the Caprice package amount and that's what we will do. We are planning to just have the dinner at the steakhouse that is included in the package and make our own party on the beach after! I figure we will just pull some chairs where we want them, bring some decorations of our own, and have people run and get drinks every so often. We are an easy to please crowd though, so I think this will work well for us. I also considered having our group go down to the other resort Club Negril and go into their nightclub and just have our dance party there! Its free to get in as a guest of tropical bay so that is always an option too.