GANSEVOORT TURKS AND CAICOS WEDDING

chitap · December 18, 2012

Hi Everyone,

I just returned from my wedding which was on Dec. 8, 2012. We were down there for almost 2 weeks - we extended our stay a few times because leaving the island felt wrong. We had an amazing time there and wish it never ended.

You may have seen in previous posts that I had some difficulties early on with their constant staff changing and re-orginization within their company but, I hung in there bc my husband and I could only imagine getting married there. It was frustrating at times but, in the end The Gansevoort was great! Their staff could not be friendlier - with the exception on me getting busted in my wedding dress on a bike that I was trying to ride into the pool - fail. The staff was super accommodating, helpful, and really just wanted to make sure our experience was everything we had dreamed about. Everyone from housekeeping to the GM was exceptional.

Linda Cangro who at the time I signed my contract was the wedding coordinator but, I believe she is only on the Food and Bev side of the wedding planning now was very helpful. I met her in NYC and she was able to get a feel for what we wanted and who we are. She was extremely helpful during the ceremony and reception, paid great attention to detail and made sure I was ok. Throughout the planning she followed up and tried to get everything in order for me.

Stephen Garland - F & B manager was amazing and so helpful and instrumental in making sure everything was perfect. He made sure every detail that I had concern for was taken care of from the lights to pouring me and my bridal party shots on our way down to the beach. I was very grateful for all of his efforts and hard work. He even set us up with a gorgeous romantic dinner on the beach on our last night.

Matthew Doerner - Chef of Stelle restaurant. I ended up speaking directly to Matthew bc I was not 100% on any of the options that were being given to me. After we chatted and got to know each other he sent me an amazing menu. We flew down for a tasting before our wedding which exceeded our expectations and it did not fall short at the wedding. Our family and friends were in love with the food! The only complaint I got when I followed up with guests was that there wasn't enough food brought out during cocktail hour. I did ask during the cocktail hour where all the food was bc I noticed it was lagging and the wedding day coordinator that I hired (Teresa Brunner) told me there was plenty of food and pointed to a tray going by - OK Thanks. All in all I had 3 of the 6 hor'dourves from the menu - Spring rolls, Mushroom Pizza, Beetroots, Tuna crudo, Conch salad and Prosciutto and Mozzarella Involtini. (Please note that most of my guest are huge foodies and would notice things like that). Our dinner menu was a buffet and it had 48 hour marinated Skirt Steak, Grilled Lobster tails with 3 accompanying sauces, Red Snapper with a red curry sauce, and Jerk Chicken as the main proteins. Everything was delicious. The Yuzu Hollandaise that was served with the lobster was to die for. Our Sides were Truffled Cauliflower - Super yummy, Lobster Truffled Mac n cheese - a crowd favorite, broccolini, Tuscan potatoes, rice, and a few salads - chick pea with carrots, caprese, and a beet salad. (The salads were the least favorite of the guests - not that they were bad just, not WOW as most of the other food was.

Jean-Francois Tremblay - The guest services manager was simply a delight. He made you feel special and important. No matter where he was headed to he'd always stop to chat and make sure you were enjoying your stay and everything was good. He was always eager to help, no matter what the task. At one point I had a bag of food in my hand that I wanted to give a guest and he took it and delivered it for me. He is 5 star service.

We had about 60 guests for the wedding. My rehearsal dinner was at The Grace Bay Club which was absolutely amazing! It was a toss up for the wedding between the Gansevoort and GBC but, in the end I got both. The Friday festivities was really a welcome party rather than a rehearsal dinner. We had a cocktail our in the outdoor lounge by the fire pit. Gorgeously lit, comfy, open bar, live band (I piggy backed onto GBC live band so I didn't have to pay for music). The food spread they had for dinner was amazing and I have guests still raving about how amazing it was. Friday night was really like a wedding in itself. Ajay the Food and Bev Director and Shameka their wedding coordinator were very helpful. I could not be happier with GBC. We paid for our guest to be transported to and from. Cab fee was about $8 per person. Please contact me for further details on GBC.

Day of the wedding;

I had Briggite from Tangled Hair Salon (www.tangledhairsalonprovidenciales.com) come to my room for hair
Thea Gangasingh did my make-up ( https://www.facebook.com/theamakeupartistry, Email: [email protected]).
Cyrile from Environmental Arts did my flowers for the bouquets and boutenniers. We took our photos before the ceremony so we wouldn't miss our cocktail party.
Our photographers/videographers were amazing! Please contact me for their details.
We had our good friend officiate our wedding since we were already married by the Justice of the Peace before heading down.
I rented a lot of my stuff from Teresa Brunner and she also did my table flower arrangements ($700) to help save $$ bc they were very costly through the florist. I also rented burlap table runners ($20ea), shepherd hooks ($10) with mason hanging jars ($8) for my aisle markers, Sparklers ($15-20 each) and 2 post Chuppa decorated with sheer white panels, hydrangea bunches and starfish from her for $600. I hired Teresa for the day of the wedding ($75 p/hr) so I wouldn't have to worry about setting things up, etc. She set it up and managed my timeline. For further detail please contact me.
I hired DJ Williams for my party and it was great. I gave him a bunch of songs I liked for cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing and he put them together. Our music was great and even the front desk staff danced. 5 HOURS PLUS 1 HOUR FOR SPEAKERS AND MICROPHONE FOR CEREMONY ($1700 OR $375 P/HR)
I purchased my cake from Diane Guess who made me a 10" round so I could put my cake topper on it and also made 2DZ cupcakes for the grooms cake which we also brought our own toppers for. ($321)

Items I brought down:

Gift Bags
Advil packets - ordered on amazon
sunscreen wipes - amazon
bug spray wipes - amazon
Paper bag material napkin ring printed with guest names - Etsy
snorkels - purchased locally
underwater cameras - ebay
gum/candy - costco
votives - mercury glass from pottery barn outlet in riverhead (gorgeous and worth it - $2 each)
tea lights - amazon
seating chart - in efforts to not weigh down my luggage I bought art canvas from Michaels and glued seagrass wall paper to it and made a decorative background with the table number and guests table) it was really pretty
thumbprint tree - also made with a canvas, seagrass wallpaper and then thumbprint tree from etsy
flip flops - purchased a variety of sizes and more of the average size. Sizes were 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 12-13. So more of the middle sizes. For the most part I had a good idea of the shoe sizes since we're really close with the friends that came.
polaroid camera for a guest book
guest book
pens for guest book
pashmina's for people when the were chilly. Instead of renting decorative pillows from teresa at $15 each I went to chinatown and bought a bunch for $3each in my two main colors and draped them over the couches we had set up around the dance floor.