Planning Visit

Marne · December 17, 2009

Hi Ladies,

I just returned from my planning visit with TONS of information! My wedding is in MoBay so we didn't really venture anywhere else.

Per the suggestion of other forum brides, I went to Blue Diamond shopping plaza near the airport. The grocery store was great for OOT bag treats. Crackers, cookies etc. The liquor store next door to the grocery store had the little bottles of Appleton rum but they were pretty expensive. I found cheaper bottles at the Rose Hall shopping plaza liquor store - which was suprising because it catered to the tourists - but I have the card for the owner and he can get me an even better deal when I want to buy in bulk. AND I also discovered that everything I saw in the Rose Hall shopping plaza can be bought at the airport prior to departure. The hotel told me about the Megamart - a larger grocery store in MoBay but it was 25 minutes away and therefore I wasn't interested in going that far. Blue Diamond was only 10 minutes away and still cost us $30 round trip in a cab.

The majority of my fact finding mission was specific to the Ritz Carlton. Since there aren't many RC brides on the forum, I won't bore everyone with the details - but let me know if you have questions.

Marne

LadyD · December 18, 2009

Hi Marne,

The Ritz Carlton property is beautiful at least what I see online. I didn't have a chance to see it while I was there. I am considering hosting a breakfast/brunch for the wedding party or family birthday during the week of the wedding. I've been back and forth with a coordinator there. Is it as beautiful as it looks online?

I discovered outside of buying liquor at the airport, almost EVERYTHING is marked up. I bought a local cookbook in town for $12 and saw the same book for $24 at the airport. So outside of liquor or maybe jewerly..it may be more expensive.

Anyway, I would love to hear more about the RC if you care to share!

Marne · December 18, 2009

The grounds of the Ritz Carlton are gorgeous. We took one look at the ballroom and turned around. We're doing everything outside. The only hitch with the grounds is that they just built the Palmyra RIGHT next door. It's really close - but doesn't bother me. The hotel perfect for my wedding because of the ease of everything - that being said, it's a second tier Ritz. It's much better than the Ritz Carlton in San Juan but the food is not great and my mom used the word tired to describe the hotel. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a dump - it's just not perfect. I fell in love with my coordinator - and have full faith that my wedding will be perfect. If you can wait until March, I can give you a better idea - or if you PM me with your email address, I'll send you my album with pictures.

Regarding the shopping, I'm only comparing the airport to the shopping plaza at Rose Hall. We didn't go anywhere else.