beckys98

I got married at Iberostar Rose Hall Suite this June with a private reception. Happy to answer any questions!

I was recently married in Jamaica. We had copies of our birth certificates and passports notarized and then we just scanned and emailed to the wedding coordinators. The paperwork said we had to send the physical notarized copies but they accepted the scanned/emailed documents with no problem! We never provided the physical documents and we have our marriage certificate in hand

@@IzzyDeee recently got married at RIU Montego Bay. I'm not sure how much she checks in on here anymore, but here is her planning thread! She really loved it and said everything was perfect. http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/78924-izzydeees-wedding-stages-thread-riu-montego-bay-jamaica-050615/ Cost vary pretty dramatically by resort in how they price what - especially when it comes to extras. How many guests do you think you'll have? I am happy to give you my breakdown for Iberostar Rose Hall Suites in Montego Bay, but it may or may not be a good benchmark for other hotels. We skipped formal invitations all together as a place to save money. We used paperless post for a save the date and then had a website and a facebook group for attendees.

Oooh! I remember you posted it before but I love your dress!!! A simple, modern silhouette but still very unique. I like the first and last the best - with a preference for the last. So I guess that means I like the jewel detail with your dress over the whole shoe being sparkly. I think those would look so totally gorgeous and chic with your dress!

Oh Helen! I'm so sorry about your mom I also lost my mom during our engagement and my fiance lost his grandma (who raised him). Of course you did already I'm sure, but going through something like that does tend to make you appreciate your partner. It gave me even more confidence that we were the right people for each other and would be able to weather tough times in the future. Congratulations on the baby! Hopefully at 26 weeks you'll be past the first trimester sickness but not so big that you'll be uncomfortable for the trip! As you come to the home stretch let me know if I can answer any questions about IRHS! You're going to have a blast!

Congratulations! I got married in Jamaica this June and my husband is Jamaican! Happy to answer any questions you have about wedding planning or the island. Cheers!

I will tell you that planning events is part of my job - but even being an experienced event planner I sure did not love any part of the planning process! It felt like a series of chores to me and I resented it a little bit because most of my spare time went to wedding planning instead of doing some of the other things I enjoy in life (and we really kept it relatively simple)! I was really ready for the planning to be done when it came time. I would give anything to do the wedding week again, but I would not want to go through the planning part again! So don't feel bad if you feel that way! It is worth it to have the event you and your fiancé want - and as long as you keep focused on what is important to the two of you, you'll be fine! And this forum can help keep you sane along the way. Cheers!

That's awesome! Congrats! We did use a travel agent. Her name is Megan Collins with TravelZap in Chicago. [email protected], 312-489-8280. We had a really great, easy experience with her and our guests really liked working with her as well! She had the price match guarantee so if anyone found a better price than our group rate she could have *at least* matched it, if not beat it. I checked occasionally and never saw a better rate anywhere for our dates. It is definitely nice to have your guests booking through the travel agent. Anytime someone started to ask me questions about travel I sent them directly to Megan and she handled it for me!

We didn't write our own vows, per say, but we found ceremony scripts online that we like and copied/pasted into what worked for us. So our vows weren't personalized - I'm not a great writer - but the ceremony reflected exactly our perspectives on love and married and our vows were exactly what we wanted to promise each other. That made it personal. We aren't religious so our ceremony did not mention God. I'm happy to find our script and post it if that would be helpful!

My sister got married there! It was about 6-8 weeks before when she starting working with them on details. I don't think there is any harm in reaching out though. If they have a final details sheet that they'll want you to complete, you could just ask for a copy of it so you can be prepared with all your choices and questions. My resort sent me my final details sheet like 3 months in advance. I sent it back 2 months in advance but they did absolutely nothing with it until a couple weeks before anyway. My sister loved the wedding coordinators and her wedding was beautiful so try not to worry!

@@JoannaBanana and @@TaraMarie33 - When we sent out our Save the Dates we were terrified because based on verbal RSVPs we were tracking at like 90 guests!! All 90 said they were definitely coming. We were happy, but that completely changed our budget calculations! When all was said and done, we ended up with only 64 and we had budgeted for 55-60. So your numbers may be fine when everything settles out Still, we would have figured out a way to make it work with the extra guests. It is a once in a lifetime experience and having too many people who want to celebrate with you is a great problem to have!

Personally, I wanted to get the wedding out of the way so I could relax with our guests! (And so I could not worry about tan lines and eating/drinking too much...) Most of our guests only stayed 4 nights over a long weekend, so we did the wedding on Thursday so we could hang out with everyone Friday and Saturday with no "chores" to handle. We checked into the resort late on Monday and handled everything on Tuesday and then we had a welcome dinner and beach bonfire on Wednesday. We would have been fine if we arrived on Tuesday as well, but Jamaica doesn't have the 2 day requirement to be in the country before getting married. I wouldn't have changed it - Friday everyone strolled down to the pool all hungover and starting drinking again. It was such a relaxing, fun, carefree day! And then Saturday we did an excursion. Happy planning!

I agree that if it is an Iberostar that probably can put you at ease a little bit. We booked an unopened resort once just for vacation and it was amazing - we got a HUGE discount for booking before it opened and we never would have been able to afford the resort otherwise! I think the biggest thing is to know yourself. Are you, what I like to call, a "control enthusiast" (control freak sounds so bad! haha)? If so, that just might push you over the edge. There are so many wild cards when planning a destination wedding - most of us have never been to our resorts before the wedding - and the coordinators tend to be pretty laid back about your day until a couple months out. That can be hard for many brides in and of itself, so add a NEW resort to the mix where it is hard to find past brides or reviews to help and it could be challenging for your state of mind. If you're a "wing it" kind of person and you can let the details go and trust that it'll all work out, I think you could get a really great deal. Even my resort (also an Iberostar) that does weddings every single day had some hiccups and issues so I think the resort being new will probably just be about the same! It won't be perfect, but none of them are Good luck and happy planning!

Ah - this is so cool to see you all together! Thanks for sharing the pics! Cheers!

@@JonathanB obviously I don't know you or your bride, but my advice would definitely be to make sure proposing somewhere public is a good match with what she would want. My husband proposed at home (still a complete surprise) and I was so, so glad he did. It is a very surreal and special moment and I just wanted time to stand still to enjoy each other and appreciate the moment. I wanted to remember every second, every word he said, every detail of our surroundings. He did, however, have my friends and family waiting for us at a bar to party afterward which was so perfect! We got the private moment AND the celebration. I'm sure you know your gal, but just wanted to throw it out there. CONGRATULATIONS!

I'm so jealous! You ladies are going to have such a good time. Post some pictures so the rest of us can live vicariously through your meet up. Cheers!!

Oh my gosh, girlie! You poor thing. At least you're married!! How does it feel? That is definitely a funny story that won't matter in the long run - and at least you still have Punta Cana to savor - in clean clothes nonetheless CONGRATULATIONS! I hope all is going well with planning otherwise!

Check out the site oyster.com or tripadvisor.com if you want pictures of the resorts themselves. I used both of those sites to find reliable pictures - not the brochure pictures the resorts use! Or are you more specifically looking for pictures of weddings from the resorts?

Congratulations! I was married at Iberostar Rose Hall Suites 2 months ago! Here is a link to my review: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/reviews/r/5125-iberostar-rose-hall-suites-all-inclusive-montego-bay-jamaica/ You can also search the forum for additional threads on the resort. Here is one! http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/topic/75612-2015-iberostar-rose-hall-suite-bride/ I'm more than happy to answer any specific questions as you have them. Happy planning!

Congrats! It isn't on your list but I got married at Iberostar Rose Hall Suites 2 months ago and it was fantastic. We needed a resort that was family-friendly and it fit what we wanted for our wedding and also what worked for our guests and their budgets. Originally we did not want to be in Montego Bay but the proximity to the airport was really nice for our guests who were staying 4 nights - they didn't waste a bunch of time on travel. If you have specific questions about IRHS I'm happy to answer!

I would agree with @@snswedding2016 - Balancing what we wanted for our wedding and what was best for our guests was a big factor in deciding our location. In some ways, our guests were more important to us than we were to us! My husband is from Jamaica so having it off resort would have been amazing, but with most guests staying only 4 nights we wanted to make the whole experience as easy for them as possible. We also wanted to maximize our time with them so having everyone in close proximity to each other with max relaxing time at an AI was the right choice for us. We did plan 2 optional excursions with our guests as well (not formal tours) which was perfect for some off-resort access to authentic food and adventure. I didn't do any research into non AI options, but we had 66 adults and 3 kids. Our resort tab for the wedding was under $6,000 and we didn't skimp so I think your budget is doable! Mexico is typically less expensive than Jamaica as well. We hired an outside photographer for about $2,000 - the photographer paid the vendor fee. Our resort salon had excellent reviews from past brides so I felt comfortable using them and I was very happy with my hair and makeup. Once you do get your venue figured out the planning gets MUCH easier! It is the hardest part. Don't get discouraged!

@@SimpleBliss you might be looking for a unicorn! I'm kidding - but I honestly haven't heard of a resort that doesn't charge a vendor fee at all. Some resorts definitely prohibit any use of outside vendors, and then for others the vendor fee varies. I got married at an Iberostar and the vendor fee was one night's stay per person. But during the course of planning they changed it for hair/makeup vendors to be $500 per person! I was planning to use the on-site salon anyway, but a lot of brides cancelled their makeup artists because of the crazy fee. I didn't actually end up paying any vendor fees for my wedding. I hired an outside photographer but she covered the vendor fee in the package. I wasn't charged a fee for the florist because they just dropped off the flowers at the gate and didn't come onto the resort to set them up. We used the preferred DJ and I had my hair and makeup done at the resort. We also had 5 people come off resort and we did have to pay a day pass fee of $80 just to get in the resort gates, and then we paid the per-person costs for the wedding on top of that. Our wedding ended at 10 p.m. and they were allowed to stay until 2 a.m. Good luck with your search! My guess is trying to "minimize the damage" on vendor fees might be more feasible than finding a resort that charges no fees at all.

This time last year I was just starting planning and had booked our resort and now I'm am a married lady of 7 whole weeks Life sure does move fast! Congratulations and happy planning!

I was actually a little surprised at the lack of reaction to our welcome bags! Honestly, no one really even mentioned them. Not that I needed a big ole pat on the back or anything, but you do kind of hope people are impressed when you put so much thought into them and lugged all the crap down there My husband is Jamaican so we event went out of our way to get local Jamaican treats to put in the bags - stuff people wouldn't have ever had and couldn't really get at the resort. We thought people would be excited about that - and maybe they were - but they didn't say anything. Of our 65 guests we saw maybe 3-4 using the koozies... We did t-shirts for our would-be bridal party (we didn't have an official bridal party) and a couple people wore them while we were at the resort, but most didn't. All that said, I think I would still do them if I could do it over again!

@@srjoseph23 We did a private reception for our 66 guests at the gourmet restaurant ("Calabash"). We did see several semi-private receptions while we were there - they do literally have a wedding every single day - and they did seem private enough depending on what your priorities are. We did a welcome dinner at the steakhouse, which was technically "semi-private" but no one was seated anywhere near us so you never would have known! It was just important to us to do speeches and dancing during the reception - and I wanted to be inside with air conditioning - so it was an obvious choice for us. We also did the beach bonfire as part of our welcome event. For photography, we hired an outside photographer, Stacey Clarke. She covered the vendor fee so no issue there. Digipics is on the resort all the time just taking pictures of guests and then you can pick them up at a kiosk. They are RIDICULOUSLY expensive and the quality was not great. We purchased one image because it was our whole group on the grand staircase in the lobby and I wanted it - but it was like $30 or something for one printed picture! We didn't even get a digital version! Such a rip off. I attached a few of our professional photos! We only have about 15 and are still waiting for the rest!