Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[JayKay]

Ill answer what I can.

We too went to Dunns River falls, and not everyone went in.  There are lots of benches and a ledge that overlooked the falls that my mom and aunt (who didnt go in) were able to watch us come up the falls from.  Also, we didnt know this at the time, but if there are people that arent going to be in the falls its cheaper for them to get into the park.  So make sure you ask for the discounted price when booking your excursion.

 

There were no clocks anywhere! It was a pretty big pain in the butt always asking for the time.  We had an alarm clock in our room but it kept randomly resetting itself.  We then found a channel on the tv that had the time (or so we thought) but we learnt it was 20 minutes to slow.  We did bring our own little travel alarm clock, and it was so helpful.  Everyone else ended up buying watches so they could know the time.  And some of the rooms didnt have any alarm clocks in them.  I would highly suggest bringing your own and advising your guests to do the same.

 

My chair ties were actual chair ties.  I ordered them off wedding linen direct.  The people at the resort put them on the chairs for the wedding and also moved them over to the grill for our dinner.  As to the actual gazebo decoration, that was all provided from the resort, i didnt bring any of that.  I just choose a bouquet that I liked and didnt request any changes, so Im not to sure if you can request different colors or not.

Originally Posted by pask454 

Hey Ladies, I have some questions for the 2 new brides. Would be forever greatful for some answers!!! Thanks

 

BusyBee- When you did the TTD, you ordered a taxi for 7, and at Dunns only 4 of you went in. Did the rest follow you in, or did they wait in the taxi? You mentioned that there were no clocks anywhere, this may be silly, but did they have any in the rooms? (Im just thinking OOT bags)  I LOVE the idea of sky lanterns, do you remember where you got them? One more thing! When you did the diagrams of how you wanted everything set up, did you draw them at the resort after SEEING the venue's, or did you kind of just assume how things would be set up?

 

JayKay- I loved your decor. Did you pre-cut the fabric for the chair ties, or did you just bring a "roll" of it, and they did the rest? Also, I think I will be going with the flowers that are included in the package. I know that there are only so many flowers to choose from going that route, but do you get to choose the COLOUR, or is it  "take as is"

 

Im so confused about where to have my wedding dinner. Both reviews were opposite! I guess it's just preference.

 

Loved both of your reviews! Thanks again!

 

[erindegagne]

Hello Ladies!! I am back from our wedding which was on January 6th 2012!!!

Please do not worry about anything!! everything was perfect and chandlyn was absolutely amazing!!! She was so organized and helpful.

I dont really have time to go into a ton of detail but i will post some pics and if anyone has any questions i will be happy to do what i can!

We had 48 people join us for the wedding which made the week such a fun time. It was a bit challenging to split up our time between everyone but we worked it out and everything was great. We had the same issue as others with the a la cartes. There werent many times left when we got there so i would recommend booking ahead of time if you can! We had Merrick cousley for photography and i would highly recommend him!! he was so great to work with and i havent gotten my pics yet but the ones i saw were amazing!! we did a trash the dress the following day and he had so many good ideas! I was going to get my hair and makeup done at the spa but after hearing mixed reviews i looked into other options. I ended up hiring Rashel Edwards and her assistant for hair for myself and my bridesmaids. Rashel did my makeup (airbrush) and i couldn't have been happier. all of the bridesmaids loved their hair and they were both so easy and fun to work with. Also, her prices were similar to the spa! We rented out the pisces restaurant for the reception and were going to have it outside however it started to rain after the ceremony so we moved it into the dolce vita. at first i was a little upset because i was set on having outdoors but it turned out beautifully. Everything was so perfect and i wouldn't change a thing! im sure there are so many details i am forgetting but like i said if there are any questions i would be happy to answer them!

ps...we went to negril (couples swept away) for our honeymoon and it was so amazing!! Definitely recommended!

 

Here are some pics!

 

 

My dad mande the wedding sign that we stuck in the sand

 

I painted the paracas as name cards with everyones names on them and Jamaica on the other side

 

I also made the menus and table numbers

 

for our guestbook we put out rocks and people wrote on those! i love this idea and when we got home i put them all in a glass vase with shells we picked up from jamaica! very cute

 

The flowers were from Tai Flora, they did a great job!!

 

[Emi-Lou]

Congratulations to the 3 new Mrs' all of your days sound amazingly perfect!

[exquisite02]

Busybee, Congrats on becoming a Mrs.! You wrote the best review I have ever read on here. Thank you for all the details and telling us about the restuarants more in detail. Because of your review I will reserve the restuarants early. Now I want to do the Japanese rehearsal dinner. Do you have to pay extra for this dinner show?  Sorry for repeat question.Thank you for giving us the info for island tours as well. Can't wait to see pictures!

 

Jaykay, Congrats on your beautiful wedding. Thank you to for your detail review. It is nice to read all the different opinions. Sorry to hear about your problems but glad that you are happy being a Mrs. Loving all your pictures an can't wait to see more!  How much was the Mountian excursion? More info would be great. Sorry if this is  repeat question! Also love your planning thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope more gran bahia Jamaican brides do more planning threads.

 

Erindegagne, what a lovely wedding! Congratz! your dress looks amazing on you! Love your idea projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you ladies for the answers to my questions in advance!

[pask454]

Thanks for all the answers JayKay! Helps so much.

Erindegagne -- You looked beautiful! Glad everything turned out nice for you. Where did your bridesmaids get their dresses?

[pask454]

By the way -- love the idea of the rocks!!!! How did you get them home, weren't they heavy!?!

[erindegagne]

they rocks werent too heavy but we already had coupons for 5 extra kg per bag so it was all good!! the bridesmaids dresses were from RWandCO...cheap and convenient!

 

[BusyBee123]

Thanks so much exquisite.  I always wanted more details and was dying to know more, so I tried to be as thorough as possible.  The Japanese restaurant was great, I would highly recommend it for a rehearsal dinner/group dinner/welcome dinner.  They can comfortably seat about a max of 12 around the station.  We were exactly 12 at the rehearsal and just fit, more would get crowded.  I would suggest emailing to book in advance and specify that you want the teppanyaki at the Mikado.  If you don't specify that you want the teppanyaki there are a number of other tables where you miss out on the show and just eat off the menu.  No you do not have to pay extra for anything!  Its all inclusive which is great! 
 

Originally Posted by exquisite02 

Busybee, Congrats on becoming a Mrs.! You wrote the best review I have ever read on here. Thank you for all the details and telling us about the restuarants more in detail. Because of your review I will reserve the restuarants early. Now I want to do the Japanese rehearsal dinner. Do you have to pay extra for this dinner show?  Sorry for repeat question.Thank you for giving us the info for island tours as well. Can't wait to see pictures!

 

Jaykay, Congrats on your beautiful wedding. Thank you to for your detail review. It is nice to read all the different opinions. Sorry to hear about your problems but glad that you are happy being a Mrs. Loving all your pictures an can't wait to see more!  How much was the Mountian excursion? More info would be great. Sorry if this is  repeat question! Also love your planning thread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope more gran bahia Jamaican brides do more planning threads.

 

Erindegagne, what a lovely wedding! Congratz! your dress looks amazing on you! Love your idea projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thank you ladies for the answers to my questions in advance!

 

Hey...We got the 7 passenger van just for the space!  The guy we used had the choice of a car, (which may have fit the 4 of us if we put 3 in the backseat), but we also had my two wedding dresses, our changes of clothes, extra shoes and our two photogs with all of their equipment.  I just wanted us to be comfortable for the day.  So only the 4 of us went out...with our driver.  

 

There was an alarm clock in the room, but the power went out so often that it didn't really work.  Most of us just turned off the network on our cell phones and used them.  My parents tried the wake up calls, but never got it on the last day.  Thankfully they are early risers and didn't miss their flight. 

 

I bought the sky lanterns from: http://www.justartifacts.net/flskyla.html  They were FABULOUS!

 

In terms of diagrams, I made them in powerpoint and sent them to the planners about a month before I left.  I drew out the seating plan, table arrangement, table decor, gazebo seating and decor and how to set up the centrepieces.  The WCs really appreciated the extra guidance.  

 

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by pask454 

Hey Ladies, I have some questions for the 2 new brides. Would be forever greatful for some answers!!! Thanks

 

BusyBee- When you did the TTD, you ordered a taxi for 7, and at Dunns only 4 of you went in. Did the rest follow you in, or did they wait in the taxi? You mentioned that there were no clocks anywhere, this may be silly, but did they have any in the rooms? (Im just thinking OOT bags)  I LOVE the idea of sky lanterns, do you remember where you got them? One more thing! When you did the diagrams of how you wanted everything set up, did you draw them at the resort after SEEING the venue's, or did you kind of just assume how things would be set up?

 

JayKay- I loved your decor. Did you pre-cut the fabric for the chair ties, or did you just bring a "roll" of it, and they did the rest? Also, I think I will be going with the flowers that are included in the package. I know that there are only so many flowers to choose from going that route, but do you get to choose the COLOUR, or is it  "take as is"

 

Im so confused about where to have my wedding dinner. Both reviews were opposite! I guess it's just preference.

 

Loved both of your reviews! Thanks again!

 

[BusyBee123]

One more thing about the dinner...I know its a tough decision.  We went back and forth too, especially since we were wondering about Italian food, but in the end, the privacy factor won out.  I just read JayKay's review and saw that she was able to have a little bit more privacy at the Grill which is great!  I'm not sure that that is always the case, as 4 of my guests went to dinner there a few days before our wedding and were seated DIRECTLY beside the wedding table about 3 feet away. And they were not the only ones..they were surrounded!  They found it really awkward to be so close to the wedding party, and kept asking me if that was going to happen to us.  They had a lot of inside jokes and whatnot in their speeches that they didn't really want others to overhear.  Also they were limited to only one large rectangular table.  The advantage, in my personal opinion, of the Dolce is that it is totally private.  There is no one else within about 75 yards.  We were able to do speeches, tell inside jokes and not worry about anyone overhearing.  We were also able to have several smaller tables, a sweetheart table for us, a separate cake table, a separate table for our photo frame matt that we asked people to sign and a separate table for our sky lanterns.  Its a more traditional setting if that's what you're looking for.  Its totally up to you, but that's just my personal experience.  I just wanted to make sure it was known that the other two nights we saw at the Grill were not as private of a setting.  
 

Originally Posted by pask454 

Hey Ladies, I have some questions for the 2 new brides. Would be forever greatful for some answers!!! Thanks

 

BusyBee- When you did the TTD, you ordered a taxi for 7, and at Dunns only 4 of you went in. Did the rest follow you in, or did they wait in the taxi? You mentioned that there were no clocks anywhere, this may be silly, but did they have any in the rooms? (Im just thinking OOT bags)  I LOVE the idea of sky lanterns, do you remember where you got them? One more thing! When you did the diagrams of how you wanted everything set up, did you draw them at the resort after SEEING the venue's, or did you kind of just assume how things would be set up?

 

JayKay- I loved your decor. Did you pre-cut the fabric for the chair ties, or did you just bring a "roll" of it, and they did the rest? Also, I think I will be going with the flowers that are included in the package. I know that there are only so many flowers to choose from going that route, but do you get to choose the COLOUR, or is it  "take as is"

 

Im so confused about where to have my wedding dinner. Both reviews were opposite! I guess it's just preference.

 

Loved both of your reviews! Thanks again!

 

[GBP2012]

Hello Ladies!

 

Thank you JayKay and erindegagne for the spectacular reviews. They have been so helpful!

 

For all the brides out there, has anyone heard of where you may be able to go horseback riding? Horse back riding on the beach is on my mom's "bucket list" so I would love to set something up and surprise her!

 

For excursions we have approximately 40 guests that would likely want to go, I know one bride has left the contact information for Michael Spencer but his bus only takes up to 25 guests.

Just wondering if any other brides had any ideas! Catamaran tours are not an option as "Sea sickness" runs in the family

 

Thanks and once again congrats!!