*The official St. Lucia Brides CHAT thread*

[LilyRose]

Hi Wilsonj2, Yes, our date is set to the 11th to make it match with the year (2011) and 11 is my favorite number! :-) I am starting to plan the details with the resort as they work differently than most resorts. Do you know that we will be there at the same time that the St Lucia Carnival ? I will maybe plan a group activity there (maybe a kind of bachelorette party!) Also, I do not know if you are aware, but it will be the Full Moon in St Lucia on the 15th! It will be gorgeous for your wedding night! For my invites, I went with a passport from an awesome designer in the UK (I live in Canada but it was easy to work with her). You can see pics of them in a precious thread called: Lilyrose's unique passport invitations.

 

Where are you from ? The US ?

[MEve]

Hi all,

 

MrsWilliams, about Bay Gardens Beach Resort/Inn/Hotel, please let us know your guests reviews.  I was thinking of either going there (Resort one) and telling our guests to go there, since they have 3 hotels, with different prices, but are still well connected via hotel bus.

 

LilyRose, what a great idea to check when the full moons are...since our date isn't set, I think that'll be my next google search!

 

Is it me, or there isn't many reviews here on St.Lucia's resorts and hotels?  I'll check trip advisor, but vacationing and getting married are 2 different types of experience...I don't doubt I can find a nice place, but I don't want to be ripped off with a crappy choice of flowers or a lousy photographer...

 

Talk soon,

MEve, from snowy Toronto, Canada.

[MEve]

google "zip lining in the st.lucia rainforest"

I can't seem to be able to send the post with the weblink...sorry.

[wilsonj2]

Oh I did not know about the carnival...I will have to check that out!  Where is it?  And how gorgeous will a full moon be?!  Thanks for sharing that...I had no idea.  LilyRose, I'm in the US/Atlanta.  I loved the pictures in the thread!  Great ideas!

 

There aren't that many reviews of St. Lucia resorts on here, but I did a search for _______ (resort) wedding on Tripadvisor and found several people who had been married at my location.

 

[MrsWilliams1111]

MEve, I just met with a TA who told me that the Bay Gardens got 2 out of 5 stars, although that conflicts with the other reviews I have seen online, so I'm not sure how it will all work out. I'll be sure to post reviews after my wedding, cause at this point, I still plan on referring my guests there because it's close to the Sandals resort, where we plan to use for our accomodations and as the pick up point for the wedding.

[LilyRose]

Thanks for sharing MrsWilliams, You are so right, it's hard to know how it's gonna be like before we go.

 

My experience tells me that Trip Advisor is really good for having a idea of the place.  But we have to be careful because other travellers expectations are not often the same. Some travellers are not used to travel so they will overate it or they can also be too picky about small stuff.  Recently, I was looking for a good hotel in Paris and Trip Advisor refered me a hostel with excellent reviews! I am not backpaking in Paris in Febuary so ..thanks but no thanks! :-)  Also, last year, I was reading bad reviews about the hotel I stayed at in Costa Rica (Hilton papagayo) and some people did not like the hotel at all because of the food (no burgers or hot dog).  For me, it was not a deal breaker at all as I prefer to eat something different...

 

Anyway, I looked the rating on Air Canada Vacations.  Usually, there are quite good in rating the resorts (in terms of star ratings). I find that they tend to rate them realistically.  According to them, you can expect a different experience depending at what Bay Garden you are staying at:

 

Bay Garden Inn     2 stars and and half

Bay Garden Hotel  3 stars

Bay Garden Beach Resort : 4 stars

 

Also, this is telling me that you have to be very careful when reading reviews online as some of them can be mixed up and refer to other sister hotels.

 

http://www.aircanadavacations.com/en/vacation_packages/destinations/Saint-Lucia/resort_listing?actualpage=2&sortedBy=Rating

 

Hope this can help you with you decision..

 

LilyRose

[Julee]

I haven't logged on in a while but am glad that I have.  Our wedding is planned for June 2011.  We've rented out the Villa Capri and will be having the wedding on site with reception to follow also on site.  Just wondering if anyone has sourced a good photographer yet.

[MEve]

Julee, I'd love to hear your review of Villa Capri.  After seeing the Sandals brochure for "Martha Stewart Weddings", I got a bit turned off with all their hidden costs and rigid programs.  I've started to look at more private, small Inns, and Villa Capri seemed quite attractive and intimate.  Did you pick fully catered, B&B or none of those?  I'm curious about costs for food, because renting the villa is quite affordable...How many guests are you expecting?

[JessM]

Hi Everyone!

 

I never thought I would join a chat room, but here I am!  I'm getting married July 2011 at Anse Chastanet in St. Lucia.  Really excited, as I've heard St. Lucia is one of the most beautiful islands in the caribbean!

 

Is anyone else planning a wedding at Anse Chastanet, or has anyone stayed at this resort before?  I would love to hear your thoughts if so.  Looking forward to getting some good planning tips from this site

 

Jess

[Julee]

I did a bunch of research and picked Villa Capri because it was what we were looking for such that it was like renting a home but having the comforts of a hotel.  Having all of the ammenties like housekeeping and chefs on staff were also a bonus!  The Villa Capri is an old embassy so you know all of the comforts, style and beauty are there as well. 

 

I will be having the reception there catered and in speaking with their coordinator Kris Wagner it looks like we can also plan welcome dinners and such at the villa as well.  We're just having an intimate wedding so we're only having 22 family and close friends in attendance.