wedding review ROR Jamaica april 22 2009

[Jill]

This resort is beautiful and you will not be disappointed if you have chosen to marry here. The resort is stunning and the grounds are beautiful. The food is good, just like any other 5 star I have been too.

 

We arrived on the Saturday and meet with the Nikki on Monday. I had been corresponding through email with Chandlyn for months and months, but Nikki is amazing and had all the stuff I wanted written down. Our meeting was about 45 minutes, I brought my suitcase full of stuff for them and we went through how I wanted everything set up. I had been emailing back and forth with Tai Flora for months and had already put a deposit down so I did not have to discuss flowers. We choose the beach gazebo with white folded chairs (cheaper then brown with white cover and nicer if you ask me). We had a fushia sash on all the chairs. We chose the free package and did all the upgrades we wanted, which worked out cheaper for us. We had the white tulle on the gazebo plus 2 gazebo flower decorations and 2 aisle markers. I had asked to have the white runner but on the day it was not there (no big deal) so they refunded me the cost of the runner ($45). The day before the wedding the florist called and said they did not have enough white calla lilies to do my bridemaids bouquets as I had asked (I wanted 9 white calla lilies) so I had to pick a new bouquet, we did 5 white calla lilies with these other flowers, so for a moment I was annoyed but in the end liked these bouquets better.

 

The night before the wedding we had a rehersal, which I would recommend, it is only 10 minutes but lets you know what will happen. Nikki and Chandlyn can only book you into the buffet for your rehersal dinner but I did not want that so my husbands aunt went to talk to the manger and they booked 17 of us into the plantation and it was set up beautiful and was perfect!

 

The day of the wedding I had the spa go to moms room to do hair and make up on me and my 3 bridesmaids. They arrived at 9:30 and got started right away, these ladies are amazing. I took a picture of what I wanted but my girls did not and they did a great job. Make up looked great too, and if you don’t like it they keep going until you do. Nikki delivered champagne and orange juice at 1030, my mom had gone to the buffet and brought up fruit and breakfast stuff for us. We finished everyones hair and make up at about 12:45 and then we got the bridesmaids dressed. At 1 my photographer arrived and then I got into my dress. We took some pictures at this time. My photographer brought a second photographer with her so he went to the guy’s room and did pictures there. At about 1:45 my photographer went to the ceremony site to take detail pictures… we were to get married at 2:00.. at 205 Chandlyn called and said they were still waiting on the flowers they have called three times and they said they were on the way. At 217 Nikki arrived with the flowers (so I guess 17 minutes late is not too bad in Jamaica). The problem was the flowers were going brown….you could only tell if you were close, in pictures you can’t tell.

 

Our ceremony was perfect… I had recorded music and they played it all correctly. The set up was out of a dream. I wrote the entire ceremony and the judge read it great, messed up a little at the end but no one noticed. We then did champagne toast on the beach and then did pictures. At 5:30 we had a cocktail hour at Dunns river. They set out white tablecloths and we all just relaxed and had some drinks. At 6:30 we headed over to the poolside reception which was perfect. I could not believe how nice it looked. They set it up exactly how I wanted. They had little white lights around the colums. Had moved our flowers over, we put out rose petals and gems on the tables and had the candles they use. Dinner was the best food we had all week, everyone loved it. Our waiters were great, and we even got them out dancing. The barstaff was amazing and came around the dance floor pouring shots into our mouths! We had the DJ show up at 7:30 and he played until 11.

 

The photographer I used was Stacey Clarke. She was amazing to work with, her style is not traditional which is what I wanted. She was fun and easy. I would highly recommend her!

 

Our room was decorated with rose petals and flowers when we got back and the next day they delivered at fruit tray. We never did ask for the upgrade, but I am sure you would get it is you asked. Nikki and Chandlyn bend over backwards to make this day perfect, I cannot say enough good things about them!

 

The day after the wedding I went to Nikki and she called the florist and I told them how disappointed I was, firstly the day before the wedding I had to change bouquets, secondly they were late and thirdly they were going brown.. I ended up getting $400 back and I was happy with that!

 

As I said before if you have any questions please ask.. I don’t have pictures yet.

[baj]

congrat's, what a great review, can't wait to see the photo's

[ukbride]

Congradulations! Sounds like you had a great time. Looking forward to seeing the pics

[kris]

Glad it turned out so well Congrats, can't wait to see pics!

[m_willis22]

sounds great. you are doing almost the same thing as me so i can't wait to see your pics.

[srobins15]

I am so glad to hear you had a wonderful wedding day! I am looking forward to the pics. Thanks for the great review with details.

[krista]

That's such a great review! Congratulations. I'm excited to see pics of the poolside reception since that's what I booked and I've only seen a few. It sounds beautiful. Did you have to pay anything for them to set up the Dunn's bar for a cocktail hour? I really like that idea. How much were the white chairs and chair covers+sashes? Did you have to bring the white lights for the columns or did they have those there? Thanks. : )

[Jill]

"That's such a great review! Congratulations. I'm excited to see pics of the poolside reception since that's what I booked and I've only seen a few. It sounds beautiful. Did you have to pay anything for them to set up the Dunn's bar for a cocktail hour? I really like that idea. How much were the white chairs and chair covers+sashes? Did you have to bring the white lights for the columns or did they have those there? Thanks. : ) "

 

I did not have to pay extra for the cocktail hour, since the bar opens at 5:30 anyway... The white folded chairs were $5/chair plus $2/sash so worked out to $7. I did not bring the white lights, now I thought you had to pay for these through the florists, but I dunno if she did them free for me cause of the mix up. I did not ask but they certainly made the area beautiful!~

[drbrainfreeze]

Thanks for the great review! I cannot wait to see all the pics ;-)

[DTHSLove]

Congrats to both of you..