Beaches Negril Wedding Review

[katie424]

Ladies, l just returned from our wedding at Beaches Negril Jamaica, and let me start by saying you have very little to worry about, if anything at all!

 

Flights:

We took the overnight flight, it was fine. Got to Jamaica at 9-10 ish in the morning. Made it through customs just fine, and got our bags. The Beaches/Sandals lounge is really nice (forewarning - small bathrooms. Side note, I took my carryon suitcase in there with me, b/c I wasn't thinking it would be a small restroom. Very tiny! Very nice, but small. If you want to change or put on contacts or anything, just take it out of your bag first). The beer / drinks they serve are in small cocktail cups too, so if you want to take it for the ride, bring your own bottle to fill up. Our driver didn't mind

 

Oh, and we were in the Beaches/Sandals lounge for like 5 minutes only, then they took us to the bus. We were on the bus for about 10 minutes before we actually took off...

 

Bus Ride to Resort:

Very interesting to see the city, the driving is a bit scary if you are nervous about that but the island attitude is laid back, and they know what they are doing, so don't be worried. It was about an hour or so to the pit stop. There was a family with our group (we had 6 adults, my husband, and my 2 bridesmaids with their husbands) and then a family of 5 on the same bus. They were probably annoyed with the pit stop, but it was fun to stop and get a beer and grab one for the road too.

 

Resort / Check-in:

Absolutely beautiful entry, scenery, grounds when you arrive. Seriously! Just stunning. Check-in was smooth, we were in the concierge level room so we were in the special check in room. It was nice - definitely try the rum punch - strong and delicious! The rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we changed into our suits and then grabbed some food. Our rooms were ready within about 20 minutes, so we took everything to our room, put on sunblock and headed to the pool.

 

Room:

We were in room 718 - a beachfront suite. It was perfect. Large seating area, big TV, mini fridge, microwave (not sure what for) King bed, giant bathroom / closet area with 2 sinks. This is a great room to get if you plan to have all your bridesmaids getting ready together. Plenty of space to breathe. The decor was mostly updated, and very nice. Everything had a nice Tommy Bahama feel to it all.

 

More to follow!!!!

[Julie H]

Sounds nice!!! Can't wait to hear the rest!

[BeachBride83]

Sounds great! Can't wait to hear the rest of your review!!

[chicagobeachbunny]

Anxiously waiting to here the rest of the review. My wedding is less than two months away so the anticipation is killing me.

[katie424]

Quote:

Originally Posted by katie424 Ladies, l just returned from our wedding at Beaches Negril Jamaica, and let me start by saying you have very little to worry about, if anything at all! Flights: We took the overnight flight, it was fine. Got to Jamaica at 9-10 ish in the morning. Made it through customs just fine, and got our bags. The Beaches/Sandals lounge is really nice (forewarning - small bathrooms. Side note, I took my carryon suitcase in there with me, b/c I wasn't thinking it would be a small restroom. Very tiny! Very nice, but small. If you want to change or put on contacts or anything, just take it out of your bag first). The beer / drinks they serve are in small cocktail cups too, so if you want to take it for the ride, bring your own bottle to fill up. Our driver didn't mind Oh, and we were in the Beaches/Sandals lounge for like 5 minutes only, then they took us to the bus. We were on the bus for about 10 minutes before we actually took off... Bus Ride to Resort: Very interesting to see the city, the driving is a bit scary if you are nervous about that but the island attitude is laid back, and they know what they are doing, so don't be worried. It was about an hour or so to the pit stop. There was a family with our group (we had 6 adults, my husband, and my 2 bridesmaids with their husbands) and then a family of 5 on the same bus. They were probably annoyed with the pit stop, but it was fun to stop and get a beer and grab one for the road too. Resort / Check-in: Absolutely beautiful entry, scenery, grounds when you arrive. Seriously! Just stunning. Check-in was smooth, we were in the concierge level room so we were in the special check in room. It was nice - definitely try the rum punch - strong and delicious! The rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we changed into our suits and then grabbed some food. Our rooms were ready within about 20 minutes, so we took everything to our room, put on sunblock and headed to the pool. Room: We were in room 718 - a beachfront suite. It was perfect. Large seating area, big TV, mini fridge, microwave (not sure what for) King bed, giant bathroom / closet area with 2 sinks. This is a great room to get if you plan to have all your bridesmaids getting ready together. Plenty of space to breathe. The decor was mostly updated, and very nice. Everything had a nice Tommy Bahama feel to it all. More to follow!!!!

Okay - sorry ladies! Here's where I left off:
Beach
Gorgeous, unbeatable by far! Such a pretty stretch of beach and probably the calmest area too. Beaches is the last resort on the north side and then Couples Swept Away is next door. We could hear some of their music late at night from our room but it didn't bother me. Might annoy other people but I sleep pretty heavy.

Restaurants
The Mill -- Great buffet, ate here daily for breakfast and they have lots of options. Had lunch here often too, very good selections of hot and cold food plus a decent salad bar
Last Chance Saloon -- Had dinner here 1 time and lunch once too. The lunch time wraps and chicken jerk were tasty. It wasn't the fastest service, but that day we didn't mind since we needed some breaks from the sun.
Kimonos -- AWESOME!! We ate here twice and the second time was even better than the first. We had a lively group too which made it more fun. We were singing with our chef Roy and just having a blast. Took a shrimp to the eyeball too, missed my mouth, it was pretty funny (happy that there were no spices on it though, could have been a hot mess!)
Seville -- Okay so at the Seville the food was really good, great service, but the day we decided to eat there they moved it to the beach for some reason, for the rest of our trip?!? Not sure if they were doing remodels to the indoor area or what. Would have been nice to see what the inside looked like, but overall the food was good. A few people from our trip had reactions to the sand fleas (see info below) so they didn't want to go eat in the sand area. Have to respect that. We ended up not using our reservation for our couples dinner the last night at the Seville and went to Kimonos instead. But we also wanted to see some of our guests, not big deal to us.
Snack Shop near Last Chance -- GREAT pizza! Lots of choices for a quick burger, pizza, fries, that kind of snack food. Good option if you are on that side of the resort, or want a quick meal.

Food in General A+ We read some reviews on Trip Advisor and probably here too that the food was so - so. I disagree. So does my husband, and he is a particular food person. He was really happy to find the food to be really seasoned well and just great.

The Resort Grounds A+++
EMMACLUATE - from the street, you can tell there is a resort, but everything is filled in with gardens, plants, seriously it is beautiful everywhere you go.

WEDDING DETAILS --
I worked with Renee in Miami. I thought she was very nice, not too pushy. A little bit at the end, but we had a pretty large group, so I think it made everyone a little nervous to know what we were picking. We pre-paid for the reception, flowers, DJ and the Beautiful Beginning package and extra tables. Note, we pre-paid about a week before we left...

Simone helped us in Jamaica, she is lovely! Very nice, funny and worked hard to fulfill all our requests. We picked our photography package there. Found the digital books to be really great and negotiated to get the digital negatives so we can make our own books too.

Rehearsal Dinner A+
We got this for free b/c of our group size. Really nice set up. This was on the far end of the beach near the water sports, set up under one of the thatch huts. Full bar, great food options, deserts everything was fantastic. We got there right as the sun was setting, so be ready with your camera - got some awesome sunset photos.

Wedding Day A+++
I stayed with one of my bridesmaids that night and started to get ready in her room before we moved to our room once the new hubby left. Hung my dress up to un-wrinkle in a different bridesmaid room and she and her husband transported it over to the room. We finished getting ready and just in the nick of time. We were all done, the photographer, Nicola, showed up and started taking shots of us getting ready. Simone called and said she would be there in 2 minutes, 15 minutes later she did come to get us. (I found out later that the guys were standing at the gazebo staring at all the guests for like 20 minutes - hot and awkward). So I am not sure what the hold up was... we were ready, just taking pictures, but Simone never came when she said, so who knows. We were comfortable, but the guests were sitting in the heat. (I had brought raffia fans and set them out with the wedding programs - highly recommend this if you get married in the afternoon, guests really liked it.)

Salon B+
I got a mani/pedi free with the group rate, but had acrylics on my fingers, so didn't take the mani. I had the pedi, it was great (although I think they must make commission on product sales b/c my lady kept getting me to buy a special foot cream). NOTE: They charged me $5.00 to do a french pedi which I thought was ridiculous especially since I didn't take the mani, but oh well, just a heads up. The salon is in the spa which is really nice! I had a friend do my hair so I didn't get my hair done in the salon. However there was a bride and others getting their hair done and it looked really good. 2 of my bridesmaids had their hair done as well too, and it looked awesome. Held the curls all day too!

Wedding!
Wedding was at 3pm. Wedding was awesome. We managed not to see each other all day long, when I came around the corner and saw him for the first time, it was great. We got married at the Gazebo. Liked the location the best and hoped it would be the shadiest location. Ceremony was great, we had 2 readings along with the normal run through. Music was good, everything went smooth.

Immediately after the wedding they took the whole group to the beach for some photos, I realized later that there was a 4pm wedding right after us, of like 100 people. Our reception location was the garden area directly behind the wedding gazebo, so they kind of ushered our group away from the wedding zone for about an hour. It didn't dawn on me why they had the whole group stay out on the sand even after the 1 group shot was taken until I saw the other wedding starting. Then I realized they probably didn't want us in the area during the other wedding, which makes sense. (Side note, we picked the garden b/c this other wedding group already had the large thatch hut on the beach due to their group size. There was a nice patio area attached to the mill that we could have selected, but the 2 receptions were essentially right by each-other. And this area was right by the pool too. We decided to use the garden area for more privacy. So we could have told our group to go to one of the bars until we were done but nobody told us they wouldn't be allowed in the reception area.) It was hot, but most of the group took shade under a little smaller thatch umbrella thing until they were ready for us.

Reception B+
We picked a 2 hour reception with a buffet food set up. The food was delicious, and there was a desert bar too (sadly we didn't even see this b/c they brought us plates of food so we didn't hardly go look at the food - we saw it in wedding the photos the next day -- haha!)
Music and set up was great, tables were very nice. BB package would have been lovely, but they didn't have the order of orchids in time (I asked for white instead of the purple). So we got white roses instead. It was still very nice (might have been because we paid so close to leaving??)

Only words of advice, this is why we say B+ As soon as they had us walk in they introduced the wedding party, then we walked in, then they started our 1st dance, we didn't even really know what was going on, so we were super thirsty and hadn't even had a moment to unwind, so we danced and had them fade the music out so we could relax for a minute. After that they wanted to immediately do all the other formalities, but hubby said, let us eat, take it down a notch, let us breathe, then we will figure out when to do the rest. We should have asked more about how the whole thing was to flow, or told them what we wanted. After we ate, we ran to the beach, took more sunset photos (really awesome) came back, did the toasts and the cake cutting, 1st dance with my Dad and then we did a dance with my Grandpa, brothers.... then it was last call and the final song!!!!
It flew by so fast! Especially with photos being taken. We should have extended the DJ and the bar and just enjoyed the whole experience a little longer, but didn't realize it would go so fast!

We all gathered at the piano bar after we changed, but it was hot and crowded.

Oh - another pointer... we were set up under these white tents, no air movement. My grandpa was there but has a hard time in the humidity. They brought a huge fan over, but on request. I would ask them to set this up either way b/c it really helped.

Breakfast in Bed A+
You fill out this card during your coordination session. It was delivered on time and was delicious - we got omeletes. So good. Mimosas too!

Photographers were really good Nicola did the shots and Collin did the video. They did really well and were flexible with our schedules especially when we said can we slow it down a notch. They hung out until we were ready. I liked the photos. I worried about this the most but they turned out very well. some of the shots were silly or really "posed" but none of them look bad. We were a little rushed so they were all on the beach. If we had started our reception later, and told the guests to get drinks at one of the bar, that might have been better, rather than all of them waiting around, but all in hindsight! I will try to get a shutterfly link up soon.

you can email me if you have other questions too - happy to help!
[email protected]

Good luck ladies and let me know if there is anything else you have questions about. It was the best experience ever, we had the best time and wouldn't change it for the world! Best advice, worry a little less and enjoy the experience! Everything worked out for us just perfect.

[mrshump]

how many guests did you have?

[BeachBride83]

What a great review! You mention the sand fleas but i didn't see anything else related to them. Were they bad? I have read about them and am planning on having my ceremony & reception in the sand and am worried about them!

 

Do you have any pics?!?

[katie424]

Oooh, sorry guys. Sand fleas -- yes they exist, bring tons of Off and bite cream. Some of our guests had reactions to them, like they were bit and the bite marks turned red and dime sized. the nurse on site said they had a disposition or allergy to them. My sister in law had them but used a salt scrub and said it helped a lot. I used bug bite spray religiously, very little perfume and unscented lotion. I noticed I had been bitten, but didn't have any itches (until I got home... now they are itchy!)

 

Guests -- we had 36 guests total: 32 adults (4 stayed at different sandals resorts) 4 children, 1 was an infant.

 

Please let me know if there were other questions I didn't answer!

Working on uploading our photos to shutterfly to share too!

[Cindy*]

Congratulations Katie. Sounds like you had a wonderful wedding!

[BritniC]

Congrats!! Your wedding sounds awesome!! Just wondering, for your rehearsal dinner were all your guests there or just your wedding party?? Also what kind of food did they serve for the rehearsal??