New SGOR bride with questions!

Diamonddani · January 27, 2010

Hi Everyone! My name is Danielle and I am getting married on 12/31/10 at Sandals Grande Ocho Rios. Right now, all I have booked is the wedding day and time (4pm.) I haven't had any contact with my WC yet (I'm assuming because the wedding is still 11 months away...) But I do have a couple questions.

My main question is about dinner. We will have about 15 guests? And I was only planning on the one hour reception, and then have us all go have dinner together at one of the resturants. I've heard this is possible, then I've heard the resturants can't get group seating for that many people. Which is the case? I don't want to pay $75 for a dinner when all the food is included anyway! But then again, I want my guests & I to all have dinner together.

Another question is, when do they take pictures? Does the one hour reception dinner start right after the ceremony? So will we miss most of it because we are taking pictures? Or will they start it once we are done?

I'm sure I will have tons more questions later, but these are the two on my mind right now... Thanks!!

islandbride317 · January 28, 2010

Hi-ya, Danielle!

From one SGOR Bride-to-be to another, congratulations on choosing your date and venue...and a big WELCOME TO BDW!! You are absolutely going to L-O-V-E this forum -- it's been a God send in virtually every aspect of my planning so far, and I hope you find it equally helpful!

And now to try to answer some of your questions...I am getting married on May 14, 2010, and have really only had minimal contact with a Sandals WC (mostly I have been dealing with my own travel agent so far), but we also only have 10 guests, so "planning" per se has been rather straightforward for me. Since we are having a stateside reception with all the bells and whistles exactly 3 months to the day after our wedding (8/14!), we have decided to do only the 1/2 hour ($15 pp) cocktail and cold hors d'ourves reception at Sandals, because like you, I also couldn't justify spending $75 pp for a dinner since we'll be at an all-inclusive and people have already paid for all their meals! Why waste the money when we will be spending close to that per person, for about 85 guests at our local reception, right? Makes sense to me!

And as for the pictures, I am also going a little unconventional here, and we only plan to purchased the $500 DVD footage of the ceremony and the $150 (6) 8 x 10 photos from Sandals. Nothing against the photographers at Sandals, I'm just not overly-thrilled with the very basic photography-style they tend to use, so we have booked a 4 hour, off-resort portrait/TTD (or Trash The Dress ) photo shoot with an American photographer named Brian Nejedly, who lives year-round in Ocho Rios, and that will be taking place starting at 4pm - sunset (about an hour and a half after our 2 pm ceremony).

Some of the other girls here on BDW have used him before, and he's great -- not to mention, has really reasonable pricing! Check him out at Jamaica Wedding Photographer - Brian Nejedly if you'd like to see his work, and maybe consider him as an option for your photo needs, as well!

Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions and I will do my best to help you out as much as I can! Again, welcome to BDW!

JenniferSS · January 28, 2010

Welcome to the forum DiamondDani!

It'll be harder to be able to accommodate 15 at one of the restaurants- they are really designed for couples or groups of 4-6 at most. There are a couple of ways that it might work but keep in mind that the meals will likely not all come out at the same time , and depending on the layout of the restaurant you may not all be sitting at the same tables. Also the bar service may be slow as it depends on the restaurant but many do not have an in restaurant bar- the waitstaff go to a central bar- when a group comes in like that they will not have it properly staffed ( as they weren't expecting you).

the next statement usually is -but they already paid for the AI so the staffing should be there! keep in mind that at a restaurant they will seat one couple at a time- this allows for the waitstaff to assist each table in turn. For groups of 15 they would have normally scheduled at least 2 waiters so that the orders can all be taking in a timely manner, dinners and drinks brought out together ect.

However if you have a butler they may be able to arrange something . If not the best bet is to get to the restaurant when it first opens and you may be able to seat 15. Be patient though as the service may not be what you expected. The buffet wou;ld be the easiest place to arrange a group meal and have everyone be able to eat at teh same time!

There are a few reasons for the extra cost for a private reception. The first having the staff set up the private area for your party. The second is the kitchen staff that is dedicated to having your meals all come out together. And then there are the the staff & bartender ( plus bar set up) that is dedicated to serving you & your guests and of course the clean up crew! They do not pull this staff from the other restaurants as that would mean a drop in service but rather they bring them in just for your event.

At any rate I've babbled enough!

JenniferSS · January 28, 2010

I guess I haven't rambled quite enough just yet !

The reception you can schedule for whenever you would like- if you prefer to do it an hr or even two hrs after the reception Sandals will be fine with that!