ROR Brides (Riu Ocho Rios)

[Yassy]

Originally Posted by CdnBrideJoanne 

 

 

Hi Yassy,

 

I finally spoke with Megan today so I should have my prices early next week.  Thanks so much for the suggestion. 

 

Joanne

NP at all Joanne!  I hope it works out in your favour;)

 

Yassy

[Yassy]

Originally Posted by KDoyle 

 

 

HI There, I am having a private dinner & reception so can prob help clarify for you - but your likely not gonna like the answer lol

 

First of all if you are on Facebook I would encourage you to join the group Riu Ocho Rios Brides. It has some attachments you will find helpful. There are past and future brides on there -- most of which are on this site as well. 

 

It is my understanding that the  $10.50pp for each person over your package is for semi-private dinners only.

 

You need to have a specific amount of people staying at the resort which I believe is 80% of your total guests attending your wedding must be staying at the resort- it is a policy -- I believe you will see it in the package attachment on the FB group. (you should clarify this with Keisha though) .

 

Here is the excerpt from the Riu Ocho Rios Wedding Guide (you can download from Riu site)

 

 

The following are standarized policies that must be met, without exceptions, in order to perform a wedding at RIU Hotels & Resorts. Please be advised that unfullfillment of any of these policies might result in wedding cancelation. Therefore, we highly appreciate your cooperation and understanding. ï‚· For all weddings booked at RIU Hotels & Resorts, the wedding couple and 80 percent of the total number of guests must stay at the RIU Hotel where the wedding will be performed, otherwise it will be canceled. ï‚· DAY PASSES At the RIU Ocho Rios the cost of the day pass is $80.00 USD per adult and $40.00 USD per child. (Prices subject to change at any time without previous notice) ï‚· Couples must respect the arrival date, they have to arrive at least 2 full business days before the wedding (not counting Sundays and the Arrival day).   Keisha advised me that ALL weddings that have over 40 people are FORCED to have a private dinner - the semi-private is not an option. The cost is $67 pp - doesn't matter if the $10.50pp is in your package you will not get back a credit for those alot. and that cost is for the Poolside, ballroom or beach or Plantations Restaurant. There is a setup cost of $600 also - with the exception of the Plantation Restaurant. This includes dinner and open bar. Side Note: a lot of people that do have a Private dinner end up going with the "FREE Package" because it's not useful to have the other upgraded package anymore- you can upgrade your suite for less with your travel agency and the free tshirts just aren't worth it LOL   Music -- you can either have a DJ at $300/hr or rent the equipment -micrphone and ipod hookup for $200/hr  ...YES IT"S INSANE to rent equipment for that! and if you are having a private dinner & reception technically your renting them for 4 hours ---otherwise you won't have a microphone for speeches or a any music during dinner. Unless you bring a ipod docking station.    I am currently outsourcing a offsite DJ right now...to see if it's any cheaper but I doubt it if they have to pay a vendor fee for coming into the resort of $200   All receptions end at 10:30pm ...doesn't matter if it's poolside, plantation, beach, ballroom, or disco.   any other questions pls feel free to ask Congrats and welcome to the forum )

Hey KDoyle:)  A piece of your message is making me really nervous!!!  You mentioned this rule:

 

"Couples must respect the arrival date, they have to arrive at least 2 full business days

before the wedding (not counting Sundays and the Arrival day)"

  So I am having my wedding on Monday, Nov 18th/2013 and I've already booked my flight/hotel and plan to arrive on Thurs, Nov 14th...do you have any idea if the Thurs and Fri will count as the 2 full business days?  Or should I have booked to arrive for the wed?  I've also emailed Keisha, so I'm really hoping it will be considered 2 days....YIKES!!!   Yassy.

[jenn4285]

Has anyone contacted the resort to see if they can get a free upgrade? Currently we are in the ocean view room which is upgraded already in our package, but was wondering if anyone got upgrades to a suite or anything else for free? compliments of the hotel or by emailing them?

I am going to try! I will let you know!

[jenn4285]

Danielle03, you can do speeches but your not allowed music or a microphone in the semiprivate dinner. You are only there from 6:30-8:30 and it's really only your dinner. You have to pay for a private reception if you want anything longer then 8:30pm -- most people book either the poolside, the Disco, or have a bonfire on the beach as their private reception so they can do some traditional stuff ie/ first dances father/daughter dance/ speeches.The poolside and beach reception are $15pp (I think thats the cost) and that covers you having a bar tender and  open bar at your private reception. At both the Beach and the Poolside private receptions though you either have to rent the microphone and music/sound equipment which is $200/hr or bring you could save the cost - I've heard of some people bringing their own docking station and ipod & microphone and using that. For the beach if you want the Bonfire you have to pay for it and its a couple of hundred dollars... or a popular private after dinner reception is renting the Disco for the 2hrs before it opens.... you get a DJ with the rental of the disco and the open bar & bar tender. Here's the costs;

Disco Rental (1 –20 persons only US$500.00, 20 – 50 persons US$650.00 & 50 – 100 persons $ 1000.00)  includes open bar, bartender and a DJ

at 11:00 disco is open to the hotel public (except Tuesdays closed)

Hope this helps!

Omg! 15pp is amazing! Do you have that quote in an email from the resort? The price package that I got was for 67 pp plus 600 set up fee, and I don't see that as being fair when 7 ppl in my group are under 16 and are NOT drinking! The reception prices are crazy, I dunno really what to do....

[jenn4285]

YIKES!!! lol, I imagine it will be about the same from Orangeville, ON    lol Thanks for the info...working on the budget now --which seems to be totally out of control 

[DANIELLE03]

Originally Posted by Yassy 

 

Hey KDoyle:)  A piece of your message is making me really nervous!!!  You mentioned this rule:

 

"Couples must respect the arrival date, they have to arrive at least 2 full business days

before the wedding (not counting Sundays and the Arrival day)"

  So I am having my wedding on Monday, Nov 18th/2013 and I've already booked my flight/hotel and plan to arrive on Thurs, Nov 14th...do you have any idea if the Thurs and Fri will count as the 2 full business days?  Or should I have booked to arrive for the wed?  I've also emailed Keisha, so I'm really hoping it will be considered 2 days....YIKES!!!   Yassy.

As far as I know. The thursday wont count. The friday will and then you would have to wait til tuesday. as the saturday and sunday do not count. I had to change my whole week that I wanted to go . Originally wanted to have the ceremony Jan 8 2014 but Because we would be arriving on a monday that day didnt count and we would have to wait until the 9th, so because the 13-20 worked better for other guests and couldnt have my day i wanted We just switched it.

[DANIELLE03]

Originally Posted by jenn4285 

 

 

I am going to try! I will let you know!

Thanks! Please do! I dont want to email them yet as its quite far in advance, but I have read that some ppl just wait until they are there. I mean we are Paying so much to do this at their resort anyways it should just be given wishful thinking I guess

[Yassy]

Originally Posted by DANIELLE03 

 

As far as I know. The thursday wont count. The friday will and then you would have to wait til tuesday. as the saturday and sunday do not count. I had to change my whole week that I wanted to go . Originally wanted to have the ceremony Jan 8 2014 but Because we would be arriving on a monday that day didnt count and we would have to wait until the 9th, so because the 13-20 worked better for other guests and couldnt have my day i wanted We just switched it.

Geez!  That is SO frustrating!!!  If Keisha replies with the same thing, then I'll have no choice but to do the Tuesday (if it's even still avail) which sucks as I think someone had mentioned in a prev post I saw that the disco is closed on Tues...

[DANIELLE03]

Originally Posted by Yassy 

 

Geez!  That is SO frustrating!!!  If Keisha replies with the same thing, then I'll have no choice but to do the Tuesday (if it's even still avail) which sucks as I think someone had mentioned in a prev post I saw that the disco is closed on Tues...

My travel agent tried to get her to wave 1 day so I could have it on the 8th but they said no. Hopefully it works out for you, but im guessing she will says that 2 day rule applies. I wonder why the disco is closed on tuesdays. Why is tuesday a day that it would be closed.. Makes no sense.

 

Right now im trying to figure out if i want to do something for 2 hrs before the disco opens. Waiting to hear back from her on if its available on my day. She responded to one of my emails about the cake. I asked how much to get some deco on it or a different cake and it was 350. THE 350 cake is nice, but really dont wanna spend that. I think im going to keep the cake thats included and just get my SIL to dress it up with flowers and what not and some colour.

 

Anyone know how much it is for white chair covers for dinner?

[kalolaco]

We didn't ask ahead of time, but they upgraded us upon check-in. We didn't have to ask, they offered (we were planning on asking anyway but since they offered we didn't have to).

 

We booked the gardenview junior suite and were promised an ocean view room junior suite upon check in; when we got there, our papers said ocean view junior suite but they upgraded us to ocean front junior suite.