Caribbean Princess - San Juan Harbor -

[Nunina]

Wedding Date: March 28, 2010 1:00 pm

Wedding Location: Caribbean Princess, San Juan Harbor

Ceremony Package: Tie the Knot Harborside

Wedding Coordinator: The Wedding Experience

Ceremony: Wheelhouse Bar

Reception Luncheon: Coral Restaurant @ 2:00 pm

Second Reception: Skywalker Disco @ 3:30 pm

Wedding Day Photographer: Caribbean Princess Photographer

Other Photographers: Family and Friends

 

 

Hello girls!

 

This is the first discussion I open here, and I hope it serves other brides. The months prior to our wedding were a little desperate, since we couldn’t find pictures or more details on what to expect during our wedding aboard the Caribbean Princess ship. Hopefully my story will help other brides!

 

Well, the story begins with the decision of getting married aboard a Princess Cruise. And I tell you, it was the best decision we ever made! DF was sleeping under a coconut tree the afternoon before the wedding. Talk about stress free!

 

The Wedding Experience – rate: A

 

First, it took me forever to get ahold of someone at The Wedding Experience. But when I finally did, our Wedding Coordinator, Jackie, was so attentive and had such great ideas! Best of all, she has all the patience in the world!! LOL I must be the worst undecided bride in the world, and she was just awesome! Thanks Jackie!

 

About a month prior to the wedding I changed the color scheme to orange and teal one, but it was not a problem. Around that time the ship came back with the cake quote. They said that they could not do the cake I had originally sent them, but they’d have to do a much larger cake. My original request was for 50 people, including us. They replied they could not do a 50 people cake, but they could do a huge cake which would cost over $300. I told them no. I did not want to waste that much food for no reason at all. So, back to the search of a smaller cake I was!

 

We ended up ordering the 14-inch cake, and had them place the 9-inch cake included in the package on top of the 14-inch. This saved us almost $200!

 

I special ordered single roses for my BM’s, corsages for the moms and the grandmas and boutonnieres for the Best Man and my Dad. The bouquet, the groom’s boutonniere and the ceremony flowers were included in the ceremony package. The the aisle runner, the candles and basically all ceremony decorations were included. I had specified peach or orange roses. They told me orange roses would cost more. And since I was already paying $15 per single rose for the BM’s, I decided to go with peach in a small half a dozen hand-tied bouquet.

 

My wedding party – My sisters, my brother, my niece and my BFF the MH.

 

 

 

Wedding Day - rate: A

 

Ceremony - rate: A-

 

We were supposed to arrive at the pier at 10:30 am. 1 week before the wedding they call me and tell me that we are to be at the pier at 11:30 am. I rushed to call and send an updated email to all my guests with the new time. The invitations had the 10:30 am time on it, and I didn’t want anyone waiting unnecessarily for over 1 hour.

 

My mom, my sister and I stayed at the San Juan Sheraton Convention Center Hotel, which is less than 1 block away from the pier. I hired a limo-SUV to transport us to the ship from the hotel. Once we arrived at the pier, everything was very rushed. The local WC’s were horribly dressed and were a little rude to us and our guests. The Princess WC , Hugo, rushed us all the way… that part I did not like too much.

 

Also, the local WC had advised us not to offer any pastries and refreshments to our guests prior to the ceremony and that they could explore the ship while we were getting ready. I wish we had the pastries and refreshments. Our guests weren't allowed to explore the ship.

 

Once me and DF got on the ship, we were rushed to our cabin to dress. I found out afterward what happened to our guests during that time. They were not allowed to explore the ship (except those brave enough not to listen to them), no bars were opened, so no one could even get a drink of water, and the guests ended up waiting over 1 ½ hours for the bride (me) to show. All the while, they kept telling our guests to stay put, because the ceremony was about to begin.

 

The ceremony was held in the Wheelhouse Bar, as all 52 of us did not fit in the ship’s chapel. The bar was decorated beautifully, and there were seats, ottomans and sofas for all our guests to be very comfortable. On the other hand, it was horribly HOT inside the ship! We were sweating!

 

For the ceremony, we brought our own music CD. This is what was in it:

 

Processional – “From this Moment “(Shania Twain & The Backstreet Boys)

YouTube - Shania Twain & The Backstreet Boys - from this moment on ( live ).mpg

 

Vows- “The Love I Found in You”

YouTube - the love i found in you

 

Recessional – “Hey Soul Sister” (Train)

YouTube - Train - Hey, Soul Sister (Unofficial Video)

 

The WC went to get me to our room and to my horror, the flowers were WHITE AND PINK! Oh well… at least they gave me the whole dozen instead of the 6 flowers I was supposed to get. They were not hand-tied at all!

So, I get to the bar and my dad is waiting and everything starts… Oh, so exciting!

 

 

They had told us no bubbles, but I brought some anyway and the pic turned out super!

 

 

Luncheon Reception – A+

 

For the reception I had brought with me the centerpieces, flower petals, place cards, Godiva chocolates , disposable cameras and the wedding favor. The WC’s did a great job putting everything together! Especially the registry table, for which I had some canvases printed one for the sitting chart, and the other one with a collage of photos of us for our guests to sign.

 

Registry Table:

 

 

Decorated Reception Table:

 

 

Decorated Coral Restaurant:

 

 

When we arrived at the restaurant and we see that they had printed the menus with our names, we almost started crying (well, I almost started crying!).

 

 

The food was DELICIOUS and the desserts were awesome! We had a great time and everyone still keeps talking about how fabulous the food was.

 

Coral Dining Room without decor:

 

 

The candles were flameless candles which we found in K-mart: http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_1...ype=G21&mv=s2f

 

 

Second Reception - A

 

After the luncheon we went up to the 18th floor for a disco reception. We did the cake cutting, the garter and bouquet toss and danced some until we all got kicked out! It was amazing!

 

You could see Old San Juan, the Fort and Caribbean Sea from the SkyWalker. We had an amazing time and the only negative thing is that time flew by so fast!

 

 

 

The cake topper is a couple of Basset Hounds I had custom made for us by a lady here in Puerto Rico. If you want her number, PM me! I have an 11 yr old Basset, which is responsible for us meeting!

 

All in all, our wedding was awesome, we had the greatest time and everyone keeps talking about it. It was certainly worth it. All of it! And apart from the flower color issue (which in the end didn’t really matter), how hot it was during the ceremony and the WC’s choice of attire for the wedding, everything was perfect and just the way we wanted it! We would do it all over again…

 

More wedding pictures:

http://photobucket.com/bodaissysymig...view=slideshow

passcode: crucero

[Nunina]

Some more pics:

 

Bouquet:

 

 

Godiva Chocolates. The starfish I bought on eBay and the Godiva store were sweet enough to tie it for me free of charge. (Of course, we had bought the chocolate box with the ribbon.)

 

 

DIY Name Tags:

 

 

More pro photos (from ship):

 

 

 

[jaynreneewed]

cute centerpieces- i may have to steal your idea

[orionandmari072510]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nunina Some more pics: Bouquet: Godiva Chocolates. The starfish I bought on eBay and the Godiva store were sweet enough to tie it for me free of charge. (Of course, we had bought the chocolate box with the ribbon.) DIY Name Tags: More pro photos (from ship):

Gorgeous godiva chocolate boxes. Where did you get them?

[shortnsweet7675]

Somehow I missed this review... Congratulations!! The personalized menus was a sweet touch, it would have brought tears to my eyes too!

[Cindy*]

Wow, I love your dress. Everything looks beautiful, congratulations!

[AishaB]

Everything sounds like it was wonderful! Congrats