We cruised and conquered and had the best wedding experience!

[LadyLove]

Hi BDW fam! We did it!!!! My husband (oh I love saying that) and I did a cruise wedding via Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas. We got married in St. Thomas on Valentine's Day, 2012 on Lime Tree Beach. We used Island Bliss Weddings and my 5 bridesmaids and I got our hair and makeup done at Sugar and Spice Artistry on the island. We also hired Elisha Orin to do our photography. It was amazing and we all looked amazing I learned soooo much during our 1 year and 4 months engagement, had many emotional roller coaster rides, severed some friendships and also grew others. At the end of it all, it was worth it and our wedding day was THE happiest day of my life thus far. Brides, don't let sh*t get to you. I know it's easier said than done. People might disappoint, frustrate, and surprise you and there are those that are just wonderful and love you. Grow from this experience, enjoy it, and most important don't take things out on your fiancé. Now that it all done I'm here if anyone has questions on what we did, needs to vent, needs to splurge about something really good that happened. Don't hesitate to message me... I love being in the wedding world! One thing I will share that we were unaware of despite lots of research and hiring a wedding planner is: if you book things on the island your having your wedding check that the cruise ship time is the same or different from the island time. For example, our wedding was scheduled for 2pm on the island, however St. Thomas was 1hr ahead of the ship time so our cruising guests had to be to told that the wedding was at 1pm ship time so that they'd be on schedule. Best of luck with all your planning and congratulations!

[tkuzma]

Congratulations LadyLove!!! Hope you're relishing every moment of married life! Would love to see pictures when you get them

[LadyLove]

Thank you tkuzma! We are still anxiously waiting to receive our pictures However, Elisha posted some on her blog which makes us even more anxious to see the rest. I hope you can see them from this link, you may have to copy and paste it: http://thatstalk.elishaorin.com/?p=6102

Congratulations LadyLove!!! Hope you're relishing every moment of married life! Would love to see pictures when you get them :)

[tkuzma]

Beautiful pictures!  You looked absolutely stunning on your wedding day!!!

[kimbrrlee]

AHHH gorg!!! I love this! We are taking the Oasis of the Seas and getting married in St. Thomas too!! I was so worried about ship and island time. What time was your ceremony at?? I was so worried about the lighting at that time of day but yours seems so soft and lovely! Congrats You looked amazing!! 

[LadyLove]

Thanks Ladies @ kimbrrlee Our wedding time was set for 2pm island time (which was 1pm ship time). We did not know there would be a time difference until the night before our wedding. :eek: :eek:This meant that my bridesmaids 9:45am hair appointments on the island definitely would be behind schedule since we wouldn't be docking until 10am island time (9am ship time). Because of this by the time I got to the salon after a very quick visit to the courthouse (they were great and we were the only one's there getting marriage paperwork done and they even let us take pics of us signing our marriage license) we didn't end up getting to the ceremony site and startng the wedding until around 2:30pm. The weather was perfect. At times a bit overcast which worked since I was worried about everyone being too hot since our wedding was formal. Since you're also getting married in Feb you may have the same time difference so clarify with your wedding planner or with whoever you book something with on the island. If you are hiring an island photographer then they should be able to deal with the lighting and elements of the Caribbean to make sure you have beautiful pictures, so try not to worry. Even all our guests who took pics had lovely photos. Also, since we knew we'd have to wait a long time to get our wedding pics (they actually arrived Friday) we took tons of pics at the professional stations all over the Oasis and bought the whole package. It was a splurge, but well worth it. Don't worry you are going to have an amazing, beautiful wedding!

AHHH gorg!!! I love this! We are taking the Oasis of the Seas and getting married in St. Thomas too!! I was so worried about ship and island time. What time was your ceremony at?? I was so worried about the lighting at that time of day but yours seems so soft and lovely! Congrats You looked amazing!! 

[kks2012]

Your pictures are beautiful! I'm so anxious about how our pictures will come out since we are using the cruise photographer.

[LadyLove]

Thank you kks2012 The cruise photographer should do a great job. They are doing it everyday and should be pros. ...And (if you like) give your camera to someone you trust to get some additional shots of your own. Wow your wedding is just around the corner. By the way your wedding website looks great and the proposal story was soooo sweet. Congrats!

Your pictures are beautiful! I'm so anxious about how our pictures will come out since we are using the cruise photographer.

[futuremrstgun]

Your pics are beautiful!!! Congrats!!! R~

[Amiris1]

Those pics are so beautiful!