It has only been 12 hours since I have been home from my wedding, but I don't feel like unpacking, doing laundry or getting our wedding stuff organized. Plus, the BDW forums were so helpful when planning this wedding that I felt like I had to post a review ASAP. I kept making mental notes of things during my stay to mention in this review, so it's probably going to be super long.

 

Also, just to note, we had a rather large group - there were almost 65 of us total - so some of this was dependent on our group size.

 

I have a handful of pictures right now and am waiting on the professional ones. I think I also have the menu options, catalogs from Jan's and Tai Flora, and a few other forms. If you want to see any of this stuff, just sent me a message with your email and I'd be happy to share!

 

Here we go!

 

THE WEDDING STUFF

Overall, I had a perfect day. I loved everything about the wedding and wouldn't change a thing. Minor hiccups here and there, but that doesn't matter. I kept hearing from our guests that it was the coolest wedding they've been to, so you can't beat that.

 

Coordinator: My coordinator was Omeshia, and I thought she was fantastic! As soon as she was assigned to my wedding (which doesn't happen until 6-8 weeks before your wedding, so don't panic), she was so incredibly helpful. I emailed her on a daily basis, sometimes with lengthy lists of questions, and she always responded in a timely manner with answers to every single one of my questions. When we finally met in person the day before the wedding, I had to give her a hug. Also, we did a vow renewal package (more on that later), and she never once mentioned it in front of my mom, which was a huge relief for me. She even gave us a piece of paper to "sign" after the ceremony so it looked like we were signing our marriage license. My family said she was a bit militaristic the day of the wedding, but I didn't mind it at all. I've seen enough WCs at friends' weddings back here in the States that are the same way, so I didn't find that surprising. Omeshia even took over some of the MC duties at my reception, and she had the tables and everything set up the way I had described. I give her an A+.

 

Package: We did the bare-bones Hibiscus package. It's a vow renewal package that has just some very basic amenities included. We went this route for a few reasons: 1) we wanted one of my husband's really good friends to be our officiant and pronounce us man and wife, 2) we brought our own photographers and didn't need the resort's, 3) we wanted to save some money on the package because we had a larger-than-anticipated group come to Jamaica. When you're only expecting 50 or less and almost 65 people show up, it all adds up quickly. But we still had an aisle runner, two floral arrangements at the "altar," a DJ to play our entrance music, and a champagne toast. Even with the most basic amenities, it was still absolutely beautiful. If you need to save some cash, then I'd recommend doing a vow renewal package instead of a wedding one.

 

Ceremony: Unfortunately, it rained on my wedding day, so we couldn't do our ceremony on the beach. We had it in the atrium of the spa, but everyone said it was still gorgeous. My mom even said that she preferred the spa to the beach, and I think she's right. The spa gave people a welcome break from the heat and humidity, and it seemed to fit our group better than the beach would have.

 

Reception: The reception was at the Poseidon, which is on the Lady Hamilton side in Sunset Cove. For dinner, we picked the crab cakes, the steak and shrimp option, and the chocolate mousse for dessert. Everyone thought the food was amazing, especially the crab cakes! There were a few people that asked for a second serving of those. Also, the staff was really helpful; I totally panicked when I realized (moments before dinner was served) that I forgot to get some gluten-free entrees and a vegetarian one. I talked to Omeshia and the chefs, and they were able to accommodate the request, even on the fly.

 

I loved the privacy that the Poseidon offered. There were a few weddings during my stay that had receptions at the Blue Lagoon, and I felt like some of the activities/music from the Infinity Bar upstairs conflicted with what was happening downstairs. My only complaint was that the dance floor and bar were on separate ends of the restaurant. It made the dance floor look a bit empty because everyone wanted to be at the bar. When you're filling out your DJ worksheet, put some songs on there that you KNOW people would dance to. I put some slow songs on there that were my mom's and stepdad's wedding song, my brother-in-law and his wife's wedding song, etc. I also put Shoop by Salt N Pepa because that gets one of my bridesmaids out on the dance floor EVERY time - just some stuff that you know your friends would immediately run to the dance floor when they heard it. I also did "Sweet Caroline" as our final song of the night, and that got everyone on the floor.

 

DJ: Technically, we had two DJs: the resort's DJ to man the iPod and play our entrance songs, and then Irie Jamz took over from 8-10 pm. I'm not super happy with the resort's DJ; he messed up some of the pre-ceremony music and started playing the wedding party's entrance too early. I even had numbered and labeled playlists of what to play when, so how that got mixed up I have no idea. Irie Jamz was awesome, though. By the time they took over, the dinner service was done and it was time to dance. The guys were super cool and even helped out when the resort DJ failed, so I would recommend them.

 

Flowers: I used Jan's Flowers or Jan's Floral... whatever it's called. Their prices were insanely cheap. For my bouquet and six bridesmaid bouquets, delivery and tax, it was less than $400. They even gave us seven boutonnieres, and we didn't even order them. However, I think there's a reason why they're so cheap: our bouquets barely made it through the day. Flowers kept popping out all over the place; we left a trail wherever we went. They were kind of wimpy-looking by the time they made it to the vases at the reception. This really didn't bother me too much; I wasn't too attached to my bouquet because I knew I wouldn't be able to bring it home with me. The boutonnieres held up pretty well, so I took the flowers from those home and plan to dry them and make an ornament or something with them (Pinterest idea, of course).

 

Photographer: Like I said, we brought our own. They're very good friends of ours that just happen to have a studio here in KC, and they were also a part of the wedding. I'll share pictures once I get them. We did a beach shoot the day after the wedding, and some of the photos from that were beautiful.

 

Hair and makeup: Two of my bridesmaids do makeup, so they took care of us. For hair, I was originally planning on going through the resort. I had been emailing with some woman from the spa for weeks, but her last email didn't come until after I got to GP, so I figured I'd just finalize everything in person. Not so much. The woman at the resort had no clue who the woman I was emailing was and wanted to charge some of the girls $140 for a style. There was no way that was happening, but luckily, my photographer's intern offered to do our hair and it turned out great.

 

 

THE RESORT

So, here's where some of the bigger issues come in. Luckily, these didn't have an impact on the actual wedding day, but it did have an affect on some of the guests' stay, and in some cases, the service was unacceptable.

 

First of all, the resort is huge! Communication can be a bit of an issue if you're not relying on your cell phones. We used the Infinity Bar as our unofficial meeting place before dinner, which helped us get some group dinners together. I've read that some people make a list of all of their guests' and blanks next to their names so people can write down room numbers and keep track of everyone. I'd highly recommend this.

 

Front desk: The front desk staff is HORRIBLE. We had a relatively easy check in, but some people waited two hours to check in. When we checked out, we had to be picked up at 5:30 am. I couldn't find anyone at the front desk to check us out and our bus driver was growing impatient. Finally, someone else goes behind the desk to find someone and it turns out she was SLEEPING behind the desk.

 

And here is where their attitude is inexcusable: on our last night there, it rained so hard that my grandparents' ground floor room started to flood. My grandpa requires a wheelchair to get around, so it's not like they could have just left the room. Water was even coming down from the ceilings. My mom called the front desk repeatedly over a 45-minute period while she tried to help my grandparents gt packed up. Every time she called, someone said they'd be there to help but no one came. My mom then grabbed a bell boy (Jimmy, who she said was a life saver) and demanded some help. Jimmy carted her to the front desk and told her to speak to a manager. She went up to one person who said they weren't the manager, so talk to this person. She went to THAT person, who said that they weren't the manager and to talk to this person. This happened two more times before my mom finally went to the middle of the lobby and screamed for someone to help her immediately. By this point, it had been an hour since she made her original call for help and there were now 3 inches of water in my grandparents' room. She said that seven managers ran out from the back to help her. My grandparents finally got moved to another room. I was so frustrated and disappointed that the staff acted this way. There are some times when "island time" is okay, but this was not one of them.

 

Staff in general: Once you get away from the front desk, the resort staff is great. We had several people that knew us by name, called us "Mr. and Mrs Erickson," and made it a point to congratulate us after our wedding day. The only person that asked for a tip was a driver from the airport who did not work for GP. Otherwise, no one ever asked or acted like they expected a tip. The housekeeping was great, too. On the day of my wedding, we tipped one of the bell boys pretty generously and he brought us a tub of cold waters and a bottle of champagne. If you give a little, you get a lot, but even without tipping the service was excellent.

 

Food: I thought the food was pretty good, but there were a few disappointments. The Mexican place is awful! No one was happy with their meal, and the service was so slow. Also, lunch at the Poseidon was sub-par. My husband had the fish tacos and thought they were disgusting. We didn't get to try the Italian or Indian places. I think everyone thought the Creole restaurant was the best, and the buffets weren't too bad either. My in-laws said it was the best food they had at an all-inclusive, and my MIL can be kind of picky. We also ate a lot at the sports bar. I really liked the Jamaican patties and quesadillas. And of course, we had to go to the Jerk Hut in Sunset Cove. It was pretty good; the rice was awesome!

 

The room: We had a one bedroom suite with an ocean view in building 11. I loved our room and have pictures if anyone would like to see. I also liked being so close to the main building; it made running into people a lot easier since everyone had to walk by our building to get anywhere. The downside to that location was that it got pretty loud if they had activities and stuff going on, but it wasn't a big deal. Our pillows were rock hard, though. Bring your own if you can. The room had two balconies, so we got two cool views. It was also perfect for getting ready with my bridesmaids. The other guests liked their rooms too, whether they were the junior suites or one bedroom suites. There was a common problem with the showers, though. I don't think they're set up very well, because a handful of people (including us) had an issue with flooding. Nothing major - they just got the bathroom floor wet - but it happened to a few of us.

 

Excursions: I would recommend talking to your guests before you leave and getting a general idea of what excursions they would like to do. Plan some things ahead of time if you can, because this would help take some of the pressure off of feeling like you need to play hostess. People from our group did horseback riding on the beach, zip lining, scuba diving/discovery dives/snorkeling, and the shopping trip that included Rick's Cafe and Margaritaville. All of these trips were awesome.

 

For the scuba diving, we went with Uncle Stanley's Deep Sea Fishing. They offered scuba dives, discovery dives for those who aren't certified and even a bit of snorkeling at the end for those of us who didn't do either dive. The guys were SO nice, very knowledgeable and a lot of fun. Uncle Stanley is a great guy. If you can, see if you can book through them directly instead of going through the resort. They'll give you a deal because they won't have to pay the resort a percentage. We ended up tipping them very well because we had a blast.

 

For Rick's Cafe/shopping/Margaritaville, we had some people go by bus and another group go by catamaran. Both were fun. Some of us did the cliff jump at Rick's. If you do the jump, just ignore the guys that try to pull you off to the side to show you "the famous Bob Marley cave." There's no such thing. They just take you in some dark cave that's impossible to climb through, then ask you for $20. When we did the scuba dive the next day, I asked our guide about it and he just shook his head. I didn't give them $20 and didn't want to give them anything, but my husband gave them $1.

 

 

 

I feel like I'm forgetting something, so I may update this later, but that's it for now! I had a great week, our guests had a great week, and it was a really special trip. We brought our different groups of friends together and they all got along so well. People made new friends and exchanged information, they got to know our families better... it was just a really incredible and awesome experience. Even despite the issues I pointed out, i wouldn't change a thing... well, maybe the front desk staff, but whatever. I'd go back to this resort and would definitely recommend it for your wedding!

 

If you have any questions too, I'd be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.