Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[AngRiggs]

Another question for anyone who got married or is getting close to the date. when did you have to send them the 'wedding requirements' form?? and how did the marriage license work? thanks

[AngRiggs]

Originally Posted by DandM2013 

 

Hello Brides,

 

Another review for you. I was just at the resort from June 28 to July 5 and had my wedding on July 1, 2013. It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!! Let me break it down for you...

 

Hotel- Its huge, We were in room 18415 and had a view of the main beach and it was private and beautiful. Food was good. Beach is nice, pool is nice..... The only thing I got complaints alot about was the towels. They have a towel shortage at the hotel for sure. We got told to come back constantly when we tried to replace our beach towels. They really should order more! And it the room as well. Our room was always stocked but alot of my friends complained that the cleaning lady would take the towels and not give new ones. If you want to avoid this problem, pack an extra towel in case...

 

Wedding planner- Originally I had Chandlyn, then I had Donna Lee and when I got there it was Tamika who became my new planner. She was amazing and so accomodating. We met and went over every detail and she was wonderful. I told her my vision and she made it happen. We brought our own chair ties and decor and wanted it set up a certain way and she did just that. I made a plan on the reception ( a play by play list) for her and she found it really helpful. If you have anything you need from the planners, be specific and they will get it done.

 

Wedding Day- It was a beautiful sunny morning, shaping up to be a great day. Went to get my hair done at 1pm for my 4pm wedding. They did a great job and had mimosa's waiting for us. GOt back to the room at 3pm and Chris Lee was already there waiting for me. I invited him in and ofered him a soda while I continued to get ready, put on my dress etc. Then at 3:30pm WORST NIGHTMARE happened- It was pouring rain! Pouring! I was so upset. I kept looking out the window and praying for it to stop. The phone started ringing saying we are going to wait and delay a little bit etc.  I continued my shoot and Chris kept me calm telling me he knows it will pass. And it did!!! at 4pm the show was back on the road and everyone went down to the Gazebo.

 

Flowers- I got an upgraded bouquet #52 in the booklet i think and it was so pretty. We ordered 2 vases for the Gazebo and other flowers werealso placed there. Gorgeous work!

 

Ceremony- was short and sweet -15 mins tops and then a champagne toast and steel drum band was playing for my 67 guests. It was great and I cried as I walked down the isle. Took some family shots and a group shot and then we continued on our own for an 1.5 hour.

 

Photographer- As mentioned above, I had Chris Lee and the man was incredible. I was beyind happy with the gorgeous pictures he took. I will post some! He was a pleasure to work with as well.

 

Recpetion- Because we had a big group we booked the Dolce Vita and closed it down for a privat reception and the craziest dance party ever!  It was a blast, food was good, pspeeches, toasts and dancing until the walls were sweating!  Everyone cannot stop raving about the wedding and how beautiful it was.

 

All in all, it was amazing and they know what they are doing, My advice, plan your wedding and all the details and have alot of notes for the wedding planner and at the meeting and rehearsal make sure she "sees your vision". Don't worry about their slow replied to emails etc. Just know that they will pull it off as you want and hope! Relax and enjoy. The day passed so quickly it seems like a dream, try to take a moment when you can and soak it all in!

 

Dana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your wedding sounds like it was amazing!! I'm getting married October 29. I also have Tamika now. I am trying to find out about upgraded chairs and she redirects me to TaiFlora who I've been trying to reach since March. How did you deal with your upgrades? Did you just choose them once you got there? thanks

[AngRiggs]

Originally Posted by STemple 

 

 

My main concern is weather, how was it when you were there?

I will be there at that time as well. I was also worried about weather! But they say that if it rains it passes quickly. Lets hope! and I'll see you there

[AngRiggs]

Originally Posted by STemple 

 

 

My main concern is weather, how was it when you were there?

Oh, just realized yours in next year! oops. I'll let you know how mine goes

[AngRiggs]

Originally Posted by dutchess 

 

Ya an email would not be a notarized copy....no wonder stephany is gone. LOL.... I'm going to courier the notarized copies and then bring originals with me of the long version birth cert. I have short version but I will leave those at home. I am also sending mine in January.

I've emailed the wedding planner asking what I need to send because my paper work says 2 months before. and my wedding is 3months away!!, also that its just a birth certificate. do we need a marriage license??  What exactly has to be sent? 

[AngRiggs]

Originally Posted by acw271011 

 

 

I used Tai Flora for my flowers. I didn't bring my own however I did smuggle them back home with me because I didn't want to just toss them out after our wedding. Tai Flora were wonderful. Great to wrok with. Jennevie is a little slow to respond but she always got back to me. I did take the time at the beginning to buy a phone card and make a phone call to Jamaica just to be sure everything was ok and it was. no worries at all!

I have been trying to get in touch with TaiFlora since February or March with NO response at all!! How did you reach them? phone?

[SarahInNS]

Question for the ladies who have had their wedding already! Which cake flavour did you get, and would you choose it again? We cant decide between chocolate, vanilla or coconut!

 

Also, for anyone who rented the gazebo or poolside after dinner, and chose NOT to have a DJ, what was provided, if anything, for you to play music on? Was there a fee?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Sarah

[SarahInNS]

I sent them an email a while back and they responded right away! Here's the contact info.

Anna-Kay Byfield

Sales Administrator

Tai Flora Services Ltd. - Head Office

Golden Triangle Mall Shop 5 & 6, Ironshore, Montego Bay, Jamaica W.I

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.taiflora.com

T: 876-953-9485 / F: 876-953-2376

Toll Free (within Jamaica) 1-888-FLOWERS (1-888-356-9377)

Toll Free (US & Canada) 1-877-884-4390

[kailz23]

for our cake we got them to do lemon as that is my husbands favorate. and the only thing he asked for was to have lemon cake for desert. It was pretty good. And he was happy. I have heard the coconut is fab too
 

[Stay cee1]

Now that I’ve had some time to settle in and semi-unpack...i thought I would take the time to post my review.   We arrived Thursday July 4th and stayed until July 16th.  We enjoyed our time to the fullest extent.   Flight: WestJet treated us great. They offered us pre-boarding because of the dress....which helped a lot as it was a full flight. Dont feel bad about making this request...!!  We travelled with our hand held steamer...but I couldn't stomach squishing my dress between luggage bags before the big day...! Since we were the only wedding couple on board and the flight crew kept treating us to snacks, complimentary champagne and rum punch. We arrived in Jamaica with a party mode and all juiced up..LOL.   Check-In: The front desk treated us to a sweet and cool drink as we approached the desk, and our check in was seamless..the staff had our vote from the start.   Resort: We stayed in room 17404 which turned out just fine as we were near the beach, and the pool. The resort is big, so be prepared to do plenty of walking and stairs climbing. After day 2, we started using the elevators as much as possible..our knees were on fire....LOL. There is no complaint about the food...there was certainly a lot of it...the drinks at the lobby bar and patio was always good and I loved how very liberal they were with the rum too!!  We enjoyed the buffet and the variety it offered daily. We even ended up cancelling one of our dinner reservations to one of the restaurants and just ate at the buffet instead. The Piscis snack bar at lunch time was awesome...the staff made sure you had lots to drink, and the jerk chicken was divine!! The pool was awesome. We spent much of our late afternoons there after leaving the beach...its also an excellent gathering spot if you need to catch up with any of your guests. If I can offer you any advice it’s to write down your guests room numbers....we had 42 guests...it was hard to keep track, but once we had a list of everyone’s rooms, we pretty much found it easy to call and book breakfast with one bunch, lunch with another, and dinner with the rest. Once we got around to everyone, we pretty much left them alone to enjoy their vacation...everyone was fine with that!!   Wedding Info: We got a call from Donnalee with the appointed time and place to meet. We went over all the details (she was very thorough and walked us through what the day would be like). She ensured we knew what time to be dressed, where we should be, and took all the information related to our guests (head count on and off the resort), names of each person arriving that were not staying on the resort, noted food allergies, food preferences for our vegetarians, as we made our meal choices. She was sweet, patient, and very accommodating. We handed over our suitcase filled with wedding items and she asked our vision, and assured us she would take care of everything.   Hair & Make Up: I went to a local salon and got my hair did for 1/3 of the cost the resort spa offered. For anyone that needs hair pieces added in, please ensure you bring your own. They couldn’t accommodate me with this, and when out the day prior to the wedding purchasing hair pieces, I came across a salon another local bride just walked out of looking simply divine!! I walked in, got an appointment for 9am on my wedding day, complete with a driver...they guaranteed I would be back on the resort by 11am, and they kept that promise. For the driver, tip for the stylist and driver, my hair, and eyelashes, I spent less than half of the quote I got from the resort spa. Make up for myself an all the girls were done by my friend who travelled with us....we were all very happy with her work!!!!   Our Wedding day was Tuesday July 9th. With my hair done by 11am, I had enough time to get my nails re-polished at the spa on the resort for $20 US, sit down for my make up by 1:30, and was in my dress by 3:15 for my 4pm wedding. A friend of my husband did our photo shoot which included my mom, my sister, and all the girls prior to the start of the wedding in the lobby. Vinnette was the assistant that met me in the lobby, and guided myself first along with everyone else in to the golf cart for our trip down to the gazebo. The décor to match our colors was perfect...The music was queued right on time...the wedding team guided through every step of the ceremony, including the minister who was flawless in his delivery, and personalized everything which suited us just fine. Our guests commented how magical and beautiful the ceremony was...it felt like a dream come true for both of us and was very emotional.   Don't worry about all the little details...it comes together so great..and even if a few small things fall apart...they are so well trained and professional...they will ensure everything comes together smoothly for you!!   Our reception was held at The Grill were we found the staff very easy going and accommodating. With the exception of the soup being way too salty, and the service being a bit too slow...we enjoyed ourselves!! We had the coleslaw, salmon with tequila reduction, apple crumble...everything was delicious. The wedding cake was a hit with everyone too! The left over was delivered to our room along with all of our personal items (centrepieces, candles, flowers...ect).   After this, we all went back to change...some guests sauntered off to the bar...we all met later at the disco for the after party which was good times as well!!   Overall, I would recommend a destination wedding to anyone.  I loved the magical feeling of not having to stress about too much..and even if stress comes your way...its easy to tune it out with the island vibe!!  If I could have changed anything it would have been my seating...not knowing how the set up is in The Grill, and not having a mike, made speeches hard. Other than that...everything was great!   We are still in the process of going through our 1500 photos...but wanted to share just a few with you all.