Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[tamandrob]

Mekanabr: Congrats on being a Mrs!!!!! You looked gorgeous and your dress is so beautiful, Thanks for your great review! I can't wait to see your pro pictures!

[exquisite02]

Mekanabr, Thank you for your response it was extremely helpful to me. You have helped me to confirm my thoughts on just renting the gazebo and for sure doing the Mahoe falls for my trash the dress. Now I want lanterns and luminaries lol Thank you again!

 

Originally Posted by mekanabr 

Thanks everyone for the congrats!  It was such an amazing day!  I'll attempt to answer some of the questions..

 

Exquisite02:

 

-as far as the decor goes, I brought with us pink and orange chair sashes, pink, orange, and white 8" paper lanterns, and pink and orange paper luminary bags with electronic tea lights to go inside.  Chanldyn and Donnalee set up the chair covers and lanterns for hte ceremony and it was beautiful.  After our wedding since there was one after us, they took everything down and then to my surprise set up the paper lanterns in the gazebo again for our reception.  THey also put our luminaries around the outter part of the gazebo and along the inner step and a few alnog hte pathway leading up to the gazebo.  I'll post the pics I have that were posted on fb, sorry I don't have any other ones.  I originally wanted them to use the luminaries to light up the entire pathway to the gazebo, but it worked out better the way they did it bc ppl just cut across the beach to get there, so noone would have appreciated the pathway anyway.  Plus, when the lights went out they provided just enough light to allow us to keep dancing!

ceremony decoration

 

gazebo at night, hard to see sorry!  but you can see a few lumiaries in the front along the pathway and they they were put around the outter edge and along the inner part that raises a little bit

 

table decor, we didn't get the package inclusive flowers, bc we went through Jan's so instead they gave us a centerpiece for our table and it was used on the table during the signing of the register.  We brought with us the table runners in both pink and orange and they transferred the chair sashes from the ceremony to the dinner.  We brought with us tea lights and the centerpieces which were photos printed on vellum and set up in triangles, everyone loved them.

 

for the alcohol we got for the reception, we just stopped at a random road side store that our taxi driver took us to.  His name was Michael and he was just a driver the resort got for us.  Since we went all over for about 2 hrs, the trip cost us $10 pp and we had 16 ppl with us (not cheap! but totally worth it).  I'm sure if you were just going to the store and back it wouldn't cost for than $20.  We bought 4 bottles of wine and 2 cases of red stripe and they charged us in Jamaican, so I think it was just over $100 for everything.  When the reception at the gazebo started our friend walked over to the lobby bar and paid the bartender $5 for a gallon jug of rum punch.  Chanldyn set up the cooler or ice, table, and cups for us.  We actualy had cups with us that were from our fav bar back home but they provided everything we would've needed.  THe only thing we didn't have when we got down there was a bottle opener for the red stripe and a cork screw for the wine, but we got one from a bartender and returned it at the end of the night.  If you want liquor, the resort sells it at their shops on site, we didin't trust our friends mixing their own liquor drinks lol.

 

We borought our own ipod dock and just set it up once we walked over from dinner to the gazebo.  My brother in law was in charge of it for the night and just made sure our first dance song came on when needed, other wse it played until the playlist ended.

 

-Mahoe falls is about 20 mins away and it is $5 to play in the falls and $5 to tour the Coyoba gardens that are on-site.  Mahoe was beautiful and I definitely recommend it!  Our tour was through Lee's Tours and I set up everything in advance beofre we were down there.  We had private transportation during the whole excursion and we went zip lining and to the falls and it was $62 per person.  Everyone loved the tour and thought it was cool that we went into Jamaica and saw the mountains etc instead of doing a snorkeling excursion (our original idea).  We were usposed to have had time to go shopping at Ohco Rios but we got stuck in traffic bc of an accident on the way to zip lining and didn't have enough time.  Our excursion left the resort at 9am and returned around 3pm. 

 

and don't worry, your questions weren't rude at all!  I"m happy to help.

 

Ashley490-

 

My hair literally didn't move until I went swimming that night at 2am!  My hair never holds curl and whatever they put on it actually made my hair stay where it was supposed to and was mostly curled the entire day, I was super impressed.  I didn't get my make up done at the resort, although they wanted me to.  I used a tinted primer from Benefit and it was amaizng, even with the heat and humidity, my makeup looked great all day.  I got it from Sephora and highly recommend it!

 

As far as the excursion goes, read above and that should hopefully answer your questions, let me know if it doesn't!

 

Here's a pic of Mahoe!    It's the top portion, there is another part below about the same size.  It was so fun and refreshing after the hot morning in the jungle zip lining to splash around in the falls

 

part of the lower portion

 

 

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

Beautiful! Few questions, how much did you pay for gazebo rental without the dj or bar? Also, who was the car service did you use to get to st Anne?

Thanks everyone for the congrats!  It was such an amazing day!  I'll attempt to answer some of the questions..

 

Exquisite02:

 

-as far as the decor goes, I brought with us pink and orange chair sashes, pink, orange, and white 8" paper lanterns, and pink and orange paper luminary bags with electronic tea lights to go inside.  Chanldyn and Donnalee set up the chair covers and lanterns for hte ceremony and it was beautiful.  After our wedding since there was one after us, they took everything down and then to my surprise set up the paper lanterns in the gazebo again for our reception.  THey also put our luminaries around the outter part of the gazebo and along the inner step and a few alnog hte pathway leading up to the gazebo.  I'll post the pics I have that were posted on fb, sorry I don't have any other ones.  I originally wanted them to use the luminaries to light up the entire pathway to the gazebo, but it worked out better the way they did it bc ppl just cut across the beach to get there, so noone would have appreciated the pathway anyway.  Plus, when the lights went out they provided just enough light to allow us to keep dancing!

ceremony decoration

 

gazebo at night, hard to see sorry!  but you can see a few lumiaries in the front along the pathway and they they were put around the outter edge and along the inner part that raises a little bit

 

table decor, we didn't get the package inclusive flowers, bc we went through Jan's so instead they gave us a centerpiece for our table and it was used on the table during the signing of the register.  We brought with us the table runners in both pink and orange and they transferred the chair sashes from the ceremony to the dinner.  We brought with us tea lights and the centerpieces which were photos printed on vellum and set up in triangles, everyone loved them.

 

for the alcohol we got for the reception, we just stopped at a random road side store that our taxi driver took us to.  His name was Michael and he was just a driver the resort got for us.  Since we went all over for about 2 hrs, the trip cost us $10 pp and we had 16 ppl with us (not cheap! but totally worth it).  I'm sure if you were just going to the store and back it wouldn't cost for than $20.  We bought 4 bottles of wine and 2 cases of red stripe and they charged us in Jamaican, so I think it was just over $100 for everything.  When the reception at the gazebo started our friend walked over to the lobby bar and paid the bartender $5 for a gallon jug of rum punch.  Chanldyn set up the cooler or ice, table, and cups for us.  We actualy had cups with us that were from our fav bar back home but they provided everything we would've needed.  THe only thing we didn't have when we got down there was a bottle opener for the red stripe and a cork screw for the wine, but we got one from a bartender and returned it at the end of the night.  If you want liquor, the resort sells it at their shops on site, we didin't trust our friends mixing their own liquor drinks lol.

 

We borought our own ipod dock and just set it up once we walked over from dinner to the gazebo.  My brother in law was in charge of it for the night and just made sure our first dance song came on when needed, other wse it played until the playlist ended.

 

-Mahoe falls is about 20 mins away and it is $5 to play in the falls and $5 to tour the Coyoba gardens that are on-site.  Mahoe was beautiful and I definitely recommend it!  Our tour was through Lee's Tours and I set up everything in advance beofre we were down there.  We had private transportation during the whole excursion and we went zip lining and to the falls and it was $62 per person.  Everyone loved the tour and thought it was cool that we went into Jamaica and saw the mountains etc instead of doing a snorkeling excursion (our original idea).  We were usposed to have had time to go shopping at Ohco Rios but we got stuck in traffic bc of an accident on the way to zip lining and didn't have enough time.  Our excursion left the resort at 9am and returned around 3pm. 

 

and don't worry, your questions weren't rude at all!  I"m happy to help.

 

Ashley490-

 

My hair literally didn't move until I went swimming that night at 2am!  My hair never holds curl and whatever they put on it actually made my hair stay where it was supposed to and was mostly curled the entire day, I was super impressed.  I didn't get my make up done at the resort, although they wanted me to.  I used a tinted primer from Benefit and it was amaizng, even with the heat and humidity, my makeup looked great all day.  I got it from Sephora and highly recommend it!

 

As far as the excursion goes, read above and that should hopefully answer your questions, let me know if it doesn't!

 

Here's a pic of Mahoe!    It's the top portion, there is another part below about the same size.  It was so fun and refreshing after the hot morning in the jungle zip lining to splash around in the falls

 

part of the lower portion

 

 

[greatbritain]

The gazebo rental for 2 hours is $250 without dj or bar!
 

Originally Posted by Tekeya Thompson 

Beautiful! Few questions, how much did you pay for gazebo rental without the dj or bar? Also, who was the car service did you use to get to st Anne?

 

 

[toesinsand30]

Congrats on your wedding mekanabr your review is amazing ! and the ceremony looks beautiful !!! Im sure you were one happy bride when you saw that it all came together !!

 

where did you get your paper laterns from ?

 

Thanks

Vicky

[BusyBee123]

Congrats Mekanabr! Looks like you had an absolutely amazing day!  And they set it up so beautifully!
 

Just a question, did you have a hard time getting them to hang the lanterns?  I had bought a whole bunch of them, but an ex bride had said that they refused to hang them because the gazebo ceiling was too high and it was too difficult!  So I went and returned them all!  Now I'm wondering if I should go out an buy them again!?! Oh the confusion! lol!  

 

I also noticed that you had flowers on the back table of your ceremony, which looks like they also doubled as a centrepiece for your table at your reception.  Was that a separate order or from the resort?  I've ordered a few flower arrangements for the gazebo in addition to our bouquets, but just wondering if that was already included in the resort package?

 

Thanks a bunch and congrats again on becoming a Mrs!

[Tekeya Thompson]

I would like to know the same thing because I initially wanted to bring some also (the paper lanterns)

[mekanabr]

hi girls,

 

I bought a bunch of lanterns of all sizes but after I read on here that they might not put them up, I only brought with me a few small lanterns and asked them to put them on the light posts along the walk way.  But, when we showed up they had put them in the gazebo.  It actually wasn't what I wanted, I originally bought the lanterns for them to put in the gazebo during our evening reception, not the ceremony.  But, it looked pretty and I was so happy they put them up for the reception as well.  At the end of the night we just ripped them down and tossed them bc they were a little moist from the rain that night.  One tip- I brought the lanterns as well as fishing line to string them up with, I never got that back (not a big deal) but I'm thinking that may have helped a bit with them putting them up. 

 

I bought the lanterns and paper luminaries from lunabazaar.com and the electronic tea lights for the lumiaries from ebay.

 

The gazebo rental without DJ or Bar was $250.  With DJ, it would've been $500, and bar is $22 per person or something like that. 

 

With the free package you are supposed to get the bride and grooms flowers, but since we bought our flowers from Jan's, they instead gave us a centerpiece which was used during the ceremony and the dinner.  It was really surprised how pretty it was!

 

Hope this helps!

[Espejo2be]

mekanabr, looking at your pictures makes me feel so much better!! We leave for Jamaica tomorrow night and one of our bridesmaids (my FI's only sister) just backed out of the wedding tonight!!! She's not going because her son caught a chest infection and he hasnt been feeling well the last 2 weeks but it got worse today so she decided to tell us 24 hours before we leave that her and her husband (who was also in the wedding) have decided that they aren't going to come.  I"m mad and upset but yet I can't show it because it's my FI's nephew that's sick.... i'm so mixed up right now I'm down a bridesmaid and my FI's down a family member which is hard seeing he only has one sister and one brother.... so looking at your pictures makes me feel a bit better because then i somewhat focus on the fact that i'm getting married to the man of my dreams in less than a week and although this is not how i pictured my wedding going... in the end, i will be married!

[tamandrob]

Espejo2be: I am so sorry to hear that and only 24hrs before you leave but at the same time you need to focus on the positive. You are going to Jamaica to marry the man of your dreams and it is your special day!!!! I really hope you don't let this get you too down I know it sucks but you have to just go with it. You must be so excited that your leaving tonight!!!!!! I can't wait to hear all about it when you return as a Mrs!!! Congrats!!!