RIU OCHO RIOS REVIEW - our July 20, 2010 wedding and our stay at the resort *PHOTOS**

[Sax Lady]

great view. Look like you all had a beautiful wonderful time.

[JesseLyn10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yumyum90 Thanks for answering! As for the DJ did you bring a cd with your first dance songs on it, or were you able to give him the names of the songs and he has them. I'm worried about the selection of music that he has.

We had cds with our wedding song, parents song and traditional Greek music (my new husband is Greek) that we wanted to play. We found out at the reception that the cds didn't play in his equipment so my friend who had made them ran back to his room to grab his ipod which had the same playlist on it.

The dj didn't have a problem playing the music we specifically requested and he announced the individual dances. He would then play a variety of music which sometimes we had to ask to change (club anthems are not wedding music in my opinion) and he would change it to more family-friendly, fun music (Michael Jackson medley, oldies etc) which was more appropriate to my wedding guests.

In my opinion, you should bring both cds and an ipod with the playlist on it. He does have the cables to connect an ipod to the equipment.

[sunstarsmoon]

great review and pictures

[NiagaraBridetobe]

Congrats! Thanks for posting your review. You looked fantastic. I'm so happy to hear the new WC is honouring arrangements made with Chandlyn.

[Thomasjsgirl]

Congrats and welcome back!

[hiccups]

Thanks for the review and great pics! Just a few questions...

- did you have to pay extra for the chairs at your ceremony?

- did you pay to have the extra decor at the beach reception (lights around the tree) or did you bring your own? If they were your own, did you have to have guests set them up or did the staff do it for you? You mentioned that the staff no longer set up help with the set up and I'm worried because I don't want my guests to spend a whole lot of time helping with the decor as well, if I order flowers from an outside vendor, how will I have this set up?!

- does the 4 post bamboo arch cost extra?

- when you met with Antonette, did she or the new WC have any of your previous correspondence with Chandlyn?

 

Thanks in advance!!

[JesseLyn10]

 

 

Originally Posted by hiccups 

 

Thanks for the review and great pics! Just a few questions...

- did you have to pay extra for the chairs at your ceremony?

- did you pay to have the extra decor at the beach reception (lights around the tree) or did you bring your own? If they were your own, did you have to have guests set them up or did the staff do it for you? You mentioned that the staff no longer set up help with the set up and I'm worried because I don't want my guests to spend a whole lot of time helping with the decor as well, if I order flowers from an outside vendor, how will I have this set up?!

- does the 4 post bamboo arch cost extra?

- when you met with Antonette, did she or the new WC have any of your previous correspondence with Chandlyn?

 

Thanks in advance!!

 

* Antonette is the new WC. I brought all the correspondence with me when I met with her.  On the wedding day she had an assistant but I don't know if I was ever introduced to her.

*The 4 post bamboo was provided by Tai Flora and cost $250 for rental and set up.  We cut back on some things and slurged on others and this was a splurge

*PLEASE BREATHE   When I said that I had guests set up some things at the wedding/reception I meant that 3 guests placed my fans and confetti bags on the chairs prior to the ceremony (all of 5 minutes of work) and then I had them set up the place cards/guestbook prior to dinner (again, it took no time at all).  The flowers, centrepieces, wrapped palm trees, chairs and everything else was set up by Tai Flora.  They did a great job and I didn't mind paying for the service they provided.  Because the Montego Bay airport has a luggage restriction for airlines during specific times so we couldn't pack decorations because of the weight.  Tai Flora did an outstanding job with everything!! The reception chairs were different than the ceremony chairs but they were still dark wood and fit the decor wonderfully.

* The RIU will give you white chairs for the ceremony for free.  I had a specific picture in my mind of what I wanted the wedding to look like - very beachy with dark wood and natural materials. The mahogany chairs and white cushions were provided by Tai Flora and cost $9 per chair.

 

Everything will work out beautifully!!  I stressed out about every possible thing and the wedding was perfect!

[hiccups]

Thanks for your quick reply to my questions!

 

I thought I read on the forum that Tina is the new WC?  Has this changed again? Also, I thought the white chairs were $5 each for the ceremony (which they also use for the reception)...if you opt out of this, you get the brown chairs....has this changed also?!

[JesseLyn10]

 

 

Originally Posted by hiccups 

 

Thanks for your quick reply to my questions!

 

I thought I read on the forum that Tina is the new WC?  Has this changed again? Also, I thought the white chairs were $5 each for the ceremony (which they also use for the reception)...if you opt out of this, you get the brown chairs....has this changed also?!

 

I received emails from many different people at the RIU (Tina included) but when we sat and had our meeting, it was with Antonette. She is the head WC who took over for Chandlyn and I believe she is from the RIU Negril.

 

I don't know anything about the cost of white chairs.  I upgraded to the mahogany chairs through Tai Flora for $9 per chair immediately and didn't even consider the white chairs from the RIU.  My reception chairs were brown but they were not the same chairs I had for my ceremony.  There wasn't any other wedding that had a beach reception while I was there so I couldn't even compare what I had with anyone else.

 

Glad I can help you!!

[JesseLyn10]

 

 

Originally Posted by hiccups 

 

Thanks for your quick reply to my questions!

 

I thought I read on the forum that Tina is the new WC?  Has this changed again? Also, I thought the white chairs were $5 each for the ceremony (which they also use for the reception)...if you opt out of this, you get the brown chairs....has this changed also?!

 

I know what you mean - I said that the white chairs are free.  I was never given a price for the white chairs and I didn't ask because I wasn't considering them.  I just assumed that those are the standard chairs and that they are included in the package.  They could be $5 per chair as you said.