ROR beach party

[achoy]

Hello,

 

Going through some of the threads, I read somewhere that the ROR beach party is on Saturday nights, is this correct? Instead of having a poolside/beach reception, do you think it would work and be acceptable to just move the guests to the beach party for dancing, drinking, etc after dinner? Has anyone done this in the past or have you seen it happen while you were there?

 

Thanks!

[achoy]

I did get a chance to read that thread and was going to post a reply to it but it's closed!

 

Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely consider having a back up plan if I do go this route.

 

I was hoping to get some feedback from people who have done this and if things worked out or if you wished you had done something else.

[Loveisintheair]

I just came back and had a Saturday wedding and did not do the party after the semi-reception. Let me tell you why we decided against and I will tell you about the beach party.

 

1. We did not want to take away that much time from our guest trip

2. Only half the group drink so thought it was a waste of money to pay $15 person to have it which was for the bar to be opened.

3. The resort had a beach party so people could go to that.

 

Let me tell how it worked out.....GREAT! By the time the sit down was over everyone was tired including us!! I could have not imagined one more thing to do afterwards. The younger group went back to to their rooms and changed and went to the beach party. It was cool nothing to rave over but we had a good time as a group. Laughing, clapping and talking about about the wedding. I kept my dress on and everyone congratulate us everywhere we went. On thing to remember my ceremony was about 35 minutes long plus everyone stayed about another 45 minutes taking pictures and dancing. We had good music playing in the background. It was at 4pm so everything was back to back with the ceremony and the dinner.

 

All this to say that it is no big deal if you don't have something else planned afterwards and go with beach party. No one knows the difference and they are just happy to be there with you. We did our first dance after the ceremony and bouquet toss after dinner in the restaurant during cake cutting and it was a blast!

[sweetluna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loveisintheair I just came back and had a Saturday wedding and did not do the party after the semi-reception. Let me tell you why we decided against and I will tell you about the beach party. 1. We did not want to take away that much time from our guest trip 2. Only half the group drink so thought it was a waste of money to pay $15 person to have it which was for the bar to be opened. 3. The resort had a beach party so people could go to that. Let me tell how it worked out.....GREAT! By the time the sit down was over everyone was tired including us!! I could have not imagined one more thing to do afterwards. The younger group went back to to their rooms and changed and went to the beach party. It was cool nothing to rave over but we had a good time as a group. Laughing, clapping and talking about about the wedding. I kept my dress on and everyone congratulate us everywhere we went. On thing to remember my ceremony was about 35 minutes long plus everyone stayed about another 45 minutes taking pictures and dancing. We had good music playing in the background. It was at 4pm so everything was back to back with the ceremony and the dinner. All this to say that it is no big deal if you don't have something else planned afterwards and go with beach party. No one knows the difference and they are just happy to be there with you. We did our first dance after the ceremony and bouquet toss after dinner in the restaurant during cake cutting and it was a blast!

Congratulations, Loveisintheair, on your wedding. I can't wait to see your pictures. Also, thank you for this bit of feedback. I've been on the fence about having a reception/dance after our wedding and I've been leaning on forgetting about it. I don't think we'll have enough people to really justify planning/budgeting $15/person when most people won't even dance/drink.

May I ask you a few questions about doing the first dance at the restaurant? Did you find there was enough room for you to do that? How did you transition from dinner to dance without it being awkward? Did you bring your own CD player or IPod connection to the restaurant? Did you have a few songs for your guests to get up and dance with you? I'm really interested in how you had the first dance at the restaurant. The first dance and the father/daughter dance are really important to me and I don't want to miss that opportunity but I didn't know how to incorporate it without putting on a full beach reception after the dinner.

[hutchets]

Thank you Loveisintheair. It was good to hear that as I was sort of thinking of doing the same thing next year. Why not use the beach party if it's available and some people may want to see it anyway while they are there. Not sure what you would do as far as a backup plan if you don't schedule the additional party with the hotel but hopefully, guests won't know any better. It's really about the bride and groom and I am all for keeping things simple. That's my reasoning for doing a dw.

We will have a AHR that will suffice and everyone, including those at the wedding are invited.

[achoy]

Loveisintheair - Thanks for your feedback! I'm glad things went well and smooth. Just wondering, you did the free semi-private dinner, right? How did you manage to find room to do a bouquet toss?! From what I see in other pics, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of room. How was the transition from the ceremony to your first dance?

[Loveisintheair]

Hello Ladies,

 

I am happy to answer your questions! It was fabulous.

 

Well, We did our very first dance on the beach after the cermony. We brought our own music on CD for the ceremony. I had one for pre-ceremony just to play and another for the actual cermeony. After we marched down the aisle and took a few pictures, we just heard one of our songs and started dancing.

 

As far as semi-private reception, you cannnot play your own music. The restaurant has some background music and then the beach party is right by the restaurant and you start hearing that as well. I am not sure which music it was but right after the bouquet toss we started dancing again.

 

As far as bouqet toss. I wanted to do it on the beach after the ceremony but forgot :-( But it worked out perfectly. My photog came back right before the cake cutting to take pictures of the cake cutting. So after the cake cutting we called all single ladies and did the bouqet toss. I think space depends on the number of people in attendance. There is a new size space by your table with no chairs that was perfect for the toss.

 

We did not have a reception and it worked out well for our group. No one expected it and no one missed it. We had spent so much time during the trip with everyone as a group that it was not missed. And like I said before I was EXHAUSTED!!! And so were many of my guess. I did see a wedding that a beach side reception but it was extremely windy and a little chilly so it wasn't really lively but I am sure they had a good time.

 

This is long but here is my two cents. If you have the extra money and feel that your wedding is not complete without go for it but don't feel that it will diminsh your wedding day in any means if you don't. All of our guest had an amazing time. And I even have a few that say if they get married they will do the exact same thing.

[achoy]

Thanks for your feedback - very helpful!

[sweetluna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loveisintheair Hello Ladies, I am happy to answer your questions! It was fabulous. Well, We did our very first dance on the beach after the cermony. We brought our own music on CD for the ceremony. I had one for pre-ceremony just to play and another for the actual cermeony. After we marched down the aisle and took a few pictures, we just heard one of our songs and started dancing. As far as semi-private reception, you cannnot play your own music. The restaurant has some background music and then the beach party is right by the restaurant and you start hearing that as well. I am not sure which music it was but right after the bouquet toss we started dancing again. As far as bouqet toss. I wanted to do it on the beach after the ceremony but forgot :-( But it worked out perfectly. My photog came back right before the cake cutting to take pictures of the cake cutting. So after the cake cutting we called all single ladies and did the bouqet toss. I think space depends on the number of people in attendance. There is a new size space by your table with no chairs that was perfect for the toss. We did not have a reception and it worked out well for our group. No one expected it and no one missed it. We had spent so much time during the trip with everyone as a group that it was not missed. And like I said before I was EXHAUSTED!!! And so were many of my guess. I did see a wedding that a beach side reception but it was extremely windy and a little chilly so it wasn't really lively but I am sure they had a good time. This is long but here is my two cents. If you have the extra money and feel that your wedding is not complete without go for it but don't feel that it will diminsh your wedding day in any means if you don't. All of our guest had an amazing time. And I even have a few that say if they get married they will do the exact same thing.

Thanks!! This is very helpful and I appreciate your 2 cents. I still have time to think about this but I'll keep your advice in mind.

[Mello78]

What we plan on doing is going to the Disco with our wedding group. Since the beach party is the Saturday, we will have our bachelorette/bachelor party then.