Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[JayKay]

who did you all use for the florist?  did you go with the in house florist or taiflora?

 

-We used the free flowers that were provided in the wedding package and just added on what we needed (extra bout and extra bouquet)  To me flowers were not that important so I didn't really care what they looked like and I knew I definetly didn't want to pay money for them.  Ioved my flowers that were included for free.

 

what is there place settings like for dinner?  do they provide chargers? etc? if someone has a sample pic I would love that

 

- I think the place setting depends on which place your having your dinner.  Here is what ours looked like for the grill.

 

 

do they provide a menu for the dinner?

 

-yes, the menu is the yellow paper in the picture above.  I beleive they always print them on yellow unless you request a different color or bring your own paper.

 

did anybody get married on the beach instead of the gazebo? where abouts is the beach site... looks like maybe behind the gazebo there is room there?

 

-I knew there have been a few past brids who were married on the beach instead of the gazebo.  The week we were there we seen a few weddings on the beach (all were just the bride and groom with no guests).  The beach you get married on is just to the right of the gazebo.

[exquisite02]

 JennS, So very sorry i didn't answer this question sooner. I am no longer getting updates from this forum and I have only been checking this thread once in a while. Thank you for the lovely comment! I bought all my starfishes from another Canadian bride on here and I coloured them myself using food colouring. I tried to buy all my decor items second hand to keep the budget down.

Originally Posted by JennS 

Hi exquitite02,

 

First off, congratulations on your special day....terrific pictures!!  I was curious where you got your starfish for the chairs from??  I have been searching everywhere and have had no luck.  I recently started searching for them online but am nervous to order from some of the sites.

 

Jenn

[JennS]

Terrific, thanks for getting back to me.  Do you still have them?? If so do you think they would turn out okay if they were re-died??  If so, are you willing to part with them or where you hoping to hand on to them?

 

Jenn

Originally Posted by exquisite02 

 JennS, So very sorry i didn't answer this question sooner. I am no longer getting updates from this forum and I have only been checking this thread once in a while. Thank you for the lovely comment! I bought all my starfishes from another Canadian bride on here and I coloured them myself using food colouring. I tried to buy all my decor items second hand to keep the budget down.

[JennS]

Kristo,

 

Did you have any problems at customs with bringing sky lanterns??  And did you get them through skylantern.com?

 

Jenn

Originally Posted by Kristo 

Yes, I didn't use the bouquets that they offered in our package (we brought our own), so they did up two centrepieces which we used on the table where you sign the marriage certificate during the ceremony and then they moved them to our head table for the reception.    But I had to provide centrepieces for the rest of the tables. 

 

And we rented the gazebo after dinner.  So it worked out nicely that we finished dinner, and walked right over to the gazebo.  I believe we only paid $250 though.  Email her back and tell her you were told by past brides that it was cheaper than what you were quoted.  I did that, and they gave it to me for that price.  Doesn't hurt to ask! 

 

We brought our own ipod dock and ipod and when we got to the gazebo, we put all our stuff down and we went and set off our sky lanterns and then did our first dance.  The ipod dock worked perfectly and we had put extra songs on there in case we got the gazebo till later.  Worked out better than expected because they didn't end up turning the lights out on us until about midnight!  At which point we moved over to the disco.

 

And we didn't use the bartender.  A few of the guys took it upon themselves to ask each of our guests for a small donation ($10 or so per couple) and they went into town and picked up a tonne of liquor for us.  So it was set up with pop, juice, ice, and cups when we got to the gazebo.  You can request that set up (ice, pop, juice, cups and a table) for free and they'll do it for you.  If you're not comfy asking the guests to give more money, just work it into your budget and get some bottles of rum, vodka, beer, and wine (and don't forget the rum punch - tip a bartender during the week for a couple jugs on your special night!) yourself during the week. 

 

Hope that helps!

 

 

 

[acw271011]

hi to all the brides to be that are here and a hello again to the two veterans that I see. Jayne and Krista hope married life is going well for you guys. I lurk here every once in a while and catch up. I'm in the same boat as exquisite02. I don't get regular updates anymore either so when I do have a minute to check things out there are usually several pages to look through.

 

our one year anniversary is coming up in just about 3 weeks - October 20th. can't believe it's a year already! the time has just flown by!  we've had some unusual things that have happened to us over the last 11 months so believe it or not we're thinking about a vow renewal already! possibly in 2014 if certain things go ok. we'll have to see what the next year brings for us.

 

we had rather a unique situation with our wedding and we ended up being only the 2 of us. Chandlyn and Donnalee signed our marriage licence and Chandlyn stepped in as my "assistant" and helped me get dressed the morning of our wedding so I have nothing but good things to say about her. I used Tai Flora and they are actually the default florist for the resort, but also offer Jan's as an approved vendor. Tai Flora were wonderful and I would definitely recommend them. I changed completely what I wanted and the price was super. I have no complaints whatsoever. Jennivie sometimes took a few days to get back to me by email but she always did and always answered my questions.  I have the catalog for them if anyone wants it.  We had planned dinner at the Grill which has a really nice view of the ocean but they were replacing tiles on the floor whiel we were there so the whole restaurant was closed. We ended up having our dinner in the Paloma buffet restaurant instead. they cleared a section for us even though we didn't have a group so we didn't have people having conversations around us. our photographer took pity on us and stayed for dinner with us so we at least had somebody there! we used Merrick Cousley same as JayKay and again, nothing but wonderful things to say about him. we also had a video done. Roxroy Gough of RGWeddings and he is wonderful too! both were very reasonably priced and worked with us after our plans fell apart and we had ot change our date. I will say again what I said when we came back and I wrote my review. don't sweat things and JayKay and Kristo can attest to this. your wedding day will be perfect. just remember you are going to another country and things may not be exactly as they are here but if that's what you want then don't do a destination wedding. you're doing a destination wedding for simplicity, fun and less cost so take advantage of all of that and ENJOY!!!! 

 

to the bride asking about the beach, the unique thing about GBPJ is that the gazebo is right on the beach. it's the only resort that does this so everyone takes advantage of it. I know they will do a beach ceremony but I don't think I've ever seen anyone on this site that did it only because of the true beauty of the gazebo right on the ocean. there is a wonderful breeze that comes in off the water and keeps you cool and you get a view of the entire resort as a backdrop. it's great. I would highly recommend the gazebo ceremony.

 

I've added a couple of pics of what we had done. obviously with no guests we didn't have chairs or anything but I thought what they did with the gazebo was nice. we did our cd with our music for the different parts of the ceremony and we also did a sand ceremony. we're older and this was second time around for both of us so we wanted more meaning to things rather than the traditional. it's a beautiful walk down to the gazebo. try to enjoy it!! I have a link to recorded steel drum music that is for weddings if anyone is interested. it's totally cheap and is as good as you would get from a real steel band. they put the volume up for us and it was just like having the steel band actually there.

 

I guess this makes me the oldest vet hanging around but I can still add to anything that JayKay and Kristo put in. they had groups so are probably better equipped to answer questions than I am but feel free anyway.

 

this was our table setting and Tai Flora did the centerpiece:

 

 

 

and our cake:

 

 

 

this is the gazebo:

 

 

 

this was my bouquet. I lost my mom when I was 15 (almost 40 yrs ago now)  so I have a brooch that belonged to her that Chandlyn pinned onto my flowers. it gave me my "old" and my "blue"

 

[pask454]

does the bride a groom speak through a microphone during the ceremony?

[JayKay]

Yes

Originally Posted by pask454 

does the bride a groom speak through a microphone during the ceremony?

[Emi-Lou]

Hello!  Does anyone know whether they allow candles/tea lights on the tables for the meal?

[JayKay]

We had candles on our table during our meal.  They were provided by the resort as we didn't bring any of our own decorations.

Originally Posted by Emi-Lou 

Hello!  Does anyone know whether they allow candles/tea lights on the tables for the meal?

[Kristo]

 My inlaws actually brought them down in their suitcase from England.. but they said they didn't have any trouble at the airport.  And I don't know where they got them in England, sorry.

 

Originally Posted by JennS 

Kristo,

 

Did you have any problems at customs with bringing sky lanterns??  And did you get them through skylantern.com?

 

Jenn