April 2013, Sandals Grande Riviera Ocho Rios, Jamaica

[Backy]

Originally Posted by sherrie23 

 

Hey ladies. We just for back in last night from our time at SOR and it was awesome! We stayed on the seaside but got married on the hillside on Monday the 22nd. I will try to update more later, but wanted to knock out something quick while I was thinking about it.

 

Wedding Coordinator & Driver

LaToya was our wedding coordinator & she was very laid back and easy to work with, but very professional at the same time. Ishmael was our driver since we had to go to the other side. He picked up my groom half an hour before and then when LaToya came to get me, he was there for me also for a private escort over which was nice. He turned on some music and it was the song I was walking in to (a different version so a lucky coincidence).

 

Photos

I mentioned in a previous post that we were planning to use a local photographer for our trash the dress/ wedding portraits later on and had decided not to use Sandals photographers, mostly because of the bad feedback I'd read on message boards. I had been under the impression that they'd have a photographer there to capture at least some of the ceremony since I read that we'd get one free 5x7, plus we were planning to get a video done. I'm glad I said something to my fiancé when we were in LaToya's office because she clearly explained the policy. We opted for the 18 photo SnapShots package, the smallest one I believe, so we'd have some to pick from. When we went to take a look at them they were fabulous! Let me say its not my first wedding & I've seen tons of shots of weddings & these were just as good. Some people had been disparaging about them not being as arty or whatever, but we had some really great ones that were. We bought a much larger package- 48 photos & would have gotten more had we budgeted for it in advance (dang). I absolutely recommend them. I will try to post to a public folder on FB or something & send the link. They are working with what they have & in our case it was seriously hot & we picked a full-sun venue (that will have to be for another post), so we were the limitations, but they know their venue the best. Oran was our photographer & I would recommend him. We're already planning to go back for our 1 yr anniversary & get him to do some photos with us when we're there. I'm not sure if you can call ahead & request him, but I'd suggest you look into it.

 

I'll have to write more about the video (wow!), the venue, and my off-site photographer, etc.... gotta get back to work now.

 

Sherrie

 

thank you for sharing, it will be very useful for my next year sandals trip

[mackcait]

Hi Steph, you can do a cocktail and DJ reception. We're getting married in November and that's what we have chosen. The Sandals coordinator will try and talk you into a sit down dinner, but you don't need to do that. We figured it being an all inclusive resort our guests could eat dinner before as well. The coordinator you get over the phone seems more like a sales rep, but I heard the staff at the resort are much more laid back when you actually get there. 

 

If you have over 10 rooms booked, you should also get a complimentary sit down rehearsal dinner, as well as a 1 free hr of the cocktail reception. Hope this helps (:  

[Steph120812]

Great! Thanks so much for the info. We were thinking Nov 2014 actually. Looking at the sites online I was thinking the pier would be a nice location.Have you picked a site yet?

[mackcait]

You're welcome! They wait for you to choose the location until you get there, but we're hoping to get married on the beach at 4 and then have a cocktail reception at 7:30 in the Beach Club gazebo. We're having around 80 guests so we're concerned about the size. 

 

If there's anything I can help you with just let me know. We're slowly learning a lot about the process and Sandals. 

[betinabean]

Now that you've had your wedding, can you tell me how everyone knew where to go when? I'm kind of freaking out about this too...

 

Thank you!

[Maria504]

Any Feedback would be helpful Im getting married this September-its a weddingmoon. My fiance and I are the only ones going and I have so many questions! 1. What are some areas on the property that we should look at to get married on? 2. We bought the ala cart photo sesion that gives us 18 prints or CD's, but I have NO IDEA what the pictures will look like! Does anyone have any pictures that the Sandals photographer had taken? 3. We have Butler service-Is it worth it? And WHAT exactly do they do?? 4.Im getting my hair done at the salon, are they good?? 5. What are some excursion that we should try or avoid? 6. We bought the candlelight dinner on the beach the day we get married as our little personal reception, is it worth it? 7. What are some resturants that we must go to? We have a free candlelight dinner at a resturant of our choice, but not sure where we should go? ** Any help or suggestions are welcome! I'd love to see pictures of other weddings there as well Its been so hard to find out any info

[sherrie23]

Maria- I'm going to try to answer some questions now & some later. There are lots of places to pick from for your venue- we choose the Hillside Gazebo. The Reef Terrace was our second choice. Here is a link to all our photos- some were done by our off-site photographer who lives in OR & some by the resort. If I'm wearing a veil it was the resort photo. https://ryansherriemiller.shutterfly.com/ We need not have a butler & I did my own hair. We decided not to do any pay excursions but the party boat was a hit & our local wedding photos were in Dunns River Falls. We did dinner on the beach two days after our wedding ( see photos). It was great! Our candlelight wedding dinner was at Valentino's & I would recommend it! We went to Soy for sushi 4 times!

[Maria504]

@Sherrie23 THANK YOU SOOO MUCH! The info was so helpful & your pictures are gorgeous!! Can't wait to hear more

[Kathy Watts]

For those of you whose weddings have already happened, have you posted any details? I am booked for Grande Rivera Oct 2014 for our wedding and am looking for ideas

[Maria504]

Maria- I'm going to try to answer some questions now & some later. There are lots of places to pick from for your venue- we choose the Hillside Gazebo. The Reef Terrace was our second choice. Here is a link to all our photos- some were done by our off-site photographer who lives in OR & some by the resort. If I'm wearing a veil it was the resort photo. https://ryansherriemiller.shutterfly.com/ We need not have a butler & I did my own hair. We decided not to do any pay excursions but the party boat was a hit & our local wedding photos were in Dunns River Falls. We did dinner on the beach two days after our wedding ( see photos). It was great! Our candlelight wedding dinner was at Valentino's & I would recommend it! We went to Soy for sushi 4 times!

What was the Party boat?