Shipping your wedding stuff in advance?

meltanirie · December 3, 2008

I am getting married in Jamaica and I wanted to know how many brides had their stuff shipped in advance. If you did, who did you use, how far in advance did you ship it and where and about how much did it cost? Did any of you ship vases? I am having trouble finding the size I want 14" sq or cylindrical with a 5" diameter. I would rather not ship tha vases so if any of you knows a store that sells that I would appreciate it. Thanks

Bianca · December 3, 2008

Here are a couple threads about this. I don't know how specific the information is, but it will give you something!

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t29322

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t27997

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t24827

Banana11 · December 3, 2008

I looked into shipping a small box to Jamaica. It would be very light and only have raffia fans and programs in it. They prefer I use DHL to ship. I priced it out and it was over $100. I think i'm going to stuff them in our luggage instead.

Rob&Sue · December 9, 2008

I'm not shipping anything to the resort ahead of time. I know myself... and know that I would worry about the stuff not getting there on time, or getting misdirected, or something! If I have it with me, I know where it is... and how to start looking for it! And, I think from what I've read, it's a lot cheaper to travel with your stuff too.

Tropical Imaging · December 9, 2008

As a resident of a Caribbean island I would advise not to ship anything to a non-US based destination. Most countries have an import duty tax, and for many of us it is substantial (In the T&C here it is 33% of the price of the imported items and it is on everything, so if you import $100 worth of goods you will owe $33 tax plus clearing and customs fees). This is true in Jamaica as well (I believe they are within the 30-40% range). You would not only have to pay for shipment of the items, but for import duties as well as clearing and customs fees as well (Even after 13 years here I don't clear items myself.).

If you don't have receipts/invoices on shipped items, Customs can and will impose their own prices on the items which are not cheap. Many of these countries derive a large amount of income from import duties (we don't have income tax here so import duty is a huge piece of the govt pie) so you cannot get around it and things can be delayed in clearing etc.

Spread it out amongst your guests....Do not ship anything if it can be avoided and then only if you have a plan in place with your coordinator or someone on island who can advise you which shipping company is the best/quickest/most efficient to deal with (Fed ex here in the T&C gets it to us in 2-3 days...UPS and DHL can be weeks or months). It varies by island depending on the business owners of the companies.

Krys