Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[pask454]

Im so glad your trip went well! Thank you so much for the review. Im really happy with what everyone has to say about the resort. Hopefully you post some pictures too! Thanks again!

[JulesLurvey]

Hi there, great reading all of your posts.  We're getting married on 8th May 2012.  I'm concernced that our ceremony is at 11am, what is there to do for the rest of the day?  HELP!

[JulesLurvey]

The Wedding looked gorgeous.  We're getting married there in May but as we are booking from the UK, the Wedding Planner is included.  I've not heard back from her yet but wondered what I have to arrange before I go i.e. Chair Ties etc.  Also our Ceremony is at 11am and am worried there won't be enough for us to do throughout the day?? xx

[tamandrob]

Congrats on being a Mrs!!!!! Thank you for the review and I am glad that most things worked out. I am shocked about the hot oil incidence. I want to plan a trip to Dunn's River Falls for your group and I was wondering did you organize this before your trip or did you organize this when you were there? Also just to confirm the company was called cool runnings? Did you look around for prices? Thanks
 

Originally Posted by ashley490 

One last thing...we did a couple of excursions one to Dunn's River Falls through Cool Runnings (Catamaran) and one shopping trip.  I highly recommend doing Dunn's River Falls but if you get sea sick there is a Jeep Safari version that may be a little easier on the stomach.  I don't really recommend the shopping excursion as I found you can get all of the same stuff at the shops on the resort (in the shopping center) for the same prices as you'd get in Ocho Rios.  If you want to save a few bucks more, wait to do your shopping at the airport.  I found lots of the same things at the airport as I had already bought at the resort and in Ocho, but the stuff at the airport was usually $3-4 cheaper than the price I had bartered at the resort.

 

[Sjay]

Hi JayKay - have you posted your wedding pics and I've somehow just missed them...? Don't mean to pressure you, I'm just anxious to see more of Merrick's work before we make a final decision on a photog!
 

Originally Posted by JayKay 

I would definately recommend him to anyone.  Although we don't have our photos back we seen a few just from his camera and they look to be pretty amazing!  He was so easy to work with and fun but professional at the same time!  Also, his prices are pretty good compared to some others we looked into hiring.

 

 

 

[JayKay]

We haven't received them yet!! I'm anxiously awaiting them though!  I did message him the other day and he said he has been really busy with weddings so I should receive the link to the online gallery soon!  I will definetly post when I do though!

 

Originally Posted by Sjay 

Hi JayKay - have you posted your wedding pics and I've somehow just missed them...? Don't mean to pressure you, I'm just anxious to see more of Merrick's work before we make a final decision on a photog!
 

 

 

[JayKay]

We didn't really plan anything much in advance, just the date and time of the ceremony and also requested the restaurant we wanted for our wedding dinner.  Other then that mostly everything was done down there.  That being said, if you plan on going with outside vendors (flowers, photographer, makeup, ect) you will need to do that before you get there.

 

Originally Posted by JulesLurvey 

The Wedding looked gorgeous.  We're getting married there in May but as we are booking from the UK, the Wedding Planner is included.  I've not heard back from her yet but wondered what I have to arrange before I go i.e. Chair Ties etc.  Also our Ceremony is at 11am and am worried there won't be enough for us to do throughout the day?? xx

 

[bunzy]

Congrats on your recent wedding!  I just love this blog - it is so helpful!  My wedding is March 2, 2012 and I have the gazebo rented 8:30-10:30 for my dance we are having the dj and renting the bar tender for the 2 hours as well - I was just wondering if there is power at the gazebo? I was planning on bringing some white lights (like 8 strings of christmas lights) will I be able to plug them in down there?  Also I wanted to have some fireworks - did you see any going off anywhere - I am not even sure if that is possible? 

[Kim Deslippe]

Congrats on being a Mrs., can't wait to see some pics!!

 

Originally Posted by ashley490 

 

Well ladies, I’m back!  We stayed at GBP from January 14-21, 2012 and got married on the 18^th.  We certainly had the most beautiful day to get married...hardly any wind at all.  I don’t want to repeat everything that some of the other ladies have said to I’ll just do some highlights.

 

Meeting:

 

We met with Chandlyn the day after we arrived.  She had placed a note under our door the night before to let us know when our meeting with her was booked for.  At the meeting she pretty much had everything written down that I had emailed her about.  Just a few last minute corrections.  Since I hired Paula and Damian from Sungold to do our pictures I told Chandlyn I did not want the resort photographer present and that I didn’t need the 5 free pictures that come with the package.  Since I was skipping the pictures she offered to give me an extra layer of cake for free.  Then I gave her our wedding favours and we paid for everything on credit card and we were set.

 

Wedding:

 

Our ceremony was at 4pm.  I almost would’ve preferred a 3:00pm ceremony just to have a little bit of buffer time between the ceremony, pictures, and dinner.  I felt a little rushed trying to freshen up before dinner.  We were supposed to eat at the Grill but they moved us to the Palmyra (buffet restaurant) which was okay since it was much quieter than the Grill.  Despite the change in location we were still able to eat the food I had selected from the Grill (chicken Caesar Salad, beef vegetable soup, mix grill, and cheesecake).  The food was good, people swapped parts of the mixed grill amongst each other to get more of what they liked which worked well.  My favourite was the soup.  They had the cake table there and brought out the cake once everyone was finished their main course.  Since we were only a group of 23 we all sat at one long table which felt less formal and as such more comfortable for us.  After dinner we went back to the gazebo for dancing, drinks, and entertainment.  We hired the bartender who was really nice but doesn’t stock Red Stripe, so if you have lots of beer drinkers you might want to skip the bartender (I wish I had now that I know).  We also hired the hat field dancers, who do some fire dancing, to perform.  I would give them a 3 out of 5.  They weren’t super but it was still entertaining to watch.  It also filled up some of our dance time which was good since we don’t have a lot of people in our group who like to dance.  Overall the wedding was great, and our guests said everything was lovely.  The only one who noticed anything wrong was me because I put so much time and effort into planning everything.

 

Things that went wrong:

 

They delivered all of the flowers to my room, and because I was busy getting ready I didn’t realize until it was too late that they had left the men’s bouts in my room too.  I panicked but thankfully our photographer, Damian from Sungold, offered to run them down to the guys at the gazebo.  Crisis averted!!

 

I had given fans to Chandlyn at the meeting to be placed on the chairs at the gazebo.  I guess she had given them to Donnalee and then Donnalee gave them to a “trainee†to hand out.  My guests never did get the fans.  Turns out the “trainee†gave them to the bride that had her ceremony at 2:00pm instead of my group at 4:00pm.  Needless to say I was REALLY ticked off!  It was frustrating sorting this out as Donnalee insisted that they had been given out.  After talking to her about it a couple days after the wedding she still insisted that she didn’t know what happened but offered to have our marriage certificate mailed to us express post.

 

I paid the resort to provide the chair ties.  I gave explicit direction on what the color should be (purple in the same shade as my orchids).  They ended up using a much darker purple which I wasn’t really thrilled about.  They also decorated the gazebo in the same color but then tied lime green bows at the bottom of the pillars, which I thought was hideous and still have no idea why they did that.

 

My wedding cake was 3 tiers.  I had asked for coconut, chocolate, and vanilla raspberry.  I ended up getting 2 layers of vanilla raspberry and one layer of chocolate.  I complained about this to Donnalee and she said she was going to check into it with the pastry chef...but nothing ever happened.

We had the DJ play music for the ceremony.  While he played the right songs at the right places, I assumed that he would fade out the songs before turning them off.  Wrong again!  As soon as people got to their spots the DJ abruptly turns off the music.  So if you want a nice fade out perhaps burn the CD that way.

 

Aside from the wedding, we went to the Japanese restaurant 2 days before the wedding where the chef burned my face with hot oil.  He didn’t even ask if I was okay, just looked over and then kept going about his business.  The other 9 people around the table saw what happened and were shocked but at least showed concern and asked if I was okay.  Had I not been wearing my glasses my eyes would’ve been burned.  I didn’t report the incident right away and then when I did bring it forward the woman from PR basically called me a liar because I hadn’t reported it sooner.

 

Things to Rave about:

 

Damian and Paula from Sungold are AMAZING!  While they are somewhat expensive I thought (and hubby thinks too) that they were worth every penny.  Damian was so kind when I had a bit of a freakout about the flowers before the ceremony and tried to help in any way he could.  His eye for detail is second to none.  He’d always make sure my necklace was straight and that “the girls†(since I’m busty) were always properly covered, and that I was looking perfect all day.  We did a next day trash the dress shoot at Coyaba gardens, and Damian and Paula picked us up from the resort in their own vehicle and drove us.  I was feeling really sick that day and both Damian and Paula were so sweet.  They’d stop the car occasionally to let me out for some fresh air and even stopped and bought me a drink to help settle my stomach.  The few pics that I saw on their camera were phenomenal!  I really can’t say enough about them.  They are truly gifted photographers and are just fantastic people all around.

 

Rashel Edwards is undeniably gifted at what she does.  I had her do my makeup for my wedding and next day TTD session and I felt like a beauty queen both days.  She was definitely worth the money!  If you’re unsure about hiring her, just know that she will make you look flawless for your wedding.  She was also so pleasant, patient, and understanding.  I was really late for my appointment with her (I mixed up the time I was supposed to meet her) but she just waited for me (thank god!) and quickly got to work once I arrived.  She really is a gem and her work speaks for itself!

 

Overall we had a nice vacation.  The resort is huge but has lots of options for things to do.  I had read in some reviews that the bugs were bad but we didn't notice this to be a problem.  The best place to eat is Don Pablo’s (get the chateaubriand).  The best snorkelling is by the wedding gazebo.  The best sand for the beach is towards the nude beach.  Relax, explore, and enjoy!  Know that not everything will go according to plan but just roll with it and you’ll still have fun.  If anything is wrong talk to your travel rep right away and hopefully they can get you some type of compensation. 

 

If you have any questions just ask!

 

[Kim Deslippe]

It is so great reading everyone's different reviews about the resort and how everything plays out, it definitely gives you a heads up about things to be aware of.

Loving the fact that they will give you something else if you choose not to use something included with the packages.  I think that we will be bring a photographer from home with us (my FI cousin, but she's just starting out so were gonna test her out in the spring with some engagement pics I think!!) and I'm still debating on what I want to do about flowers.