2014 Iberostar Rose Hall Suites Brides

[TrooDIVA]

Stand your ground. Your day, your way. We've gotten some lip about choosing to have a destination wedding and not having a reception at home when we return, but as soon as I asked who was paying for all that, lips were closed. LOL I'm kind of a tough cookie.

[megank]

EM8327- I am a December 2014 bride as well and our price is 541 for 3 nights at the suites so it sounds like you have a good deal. I went with a local travel agent and got prices from several and they were all around that price. What dates are you planning to be there?

 

CourtneyTX- The outside vendor fee for photography is a charge of one night's stay. I was told by Loreto (the wedding coordinator at the suites) that the price for December 2014 would be $180/person for double occupancy, or $230 for single occupancy. I have booked with Misha Earle and she is paying the vendor fees. Check with the photographer because some of them like Misha cover the vendor fees up to $500.

[CGervaisToBe]

Due to the crazy quotes we kept receiving for the Suites, we had to switch our wedding to the Beach.

 

There's another wedding party of about 100 at the Beach, but luckily they are being married offsite.

[Cbucket]

Hello! I'm also a iberostar 2014 bride! My fiancé and I still trying to decide what to do about our honeymoon. We can't decide if we want to stay in Jamaica or try to fly to another island. We're not sure how easy it will be to travel to another island. Any suggestions or advice?!? Thanks!! :-)))

[Julia28]

Hi All,

 

I haven't been on in a few months.  My wedding is July 10, 2014 at the suites

 

Are Nicole and Tiffany still the wedding coordinators at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites? I keep reading about Loretto.

 

Please let me know and happy planning!!

[TrooDIVA]

Yes, they are still there. Loreto is the managers of WC.

[Mandiesue]

Hi, I am an April 2015 bride and we will be staying at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites. It looks like an amazing place. We have not set a definite date yet, but we are getting closer. Congrats to all the other brides out there.

[kincey12]

Hi all! Figured I would jump in with some details. Only 2 months away!

 

Date: March 7, 2014

Time: 5pm

Hotel: Iberostar Rose Hall Suites

Ceremony Location: Beach 

Cocktail Hour: Right after ceremony on the beach from 5:30-6:30

Reception Type: Private reception 

Reception Location: Mediterranean restaurant (3 plated dinner options)

Reception Time: 6:30-10:00pm

Music: DJ

Photographer: Misha Earle

Videographer: Digipix (hotel videographer)

Travel Coordinator: GoGo Vacations

Guest Amount: 45-50

 

We are also doing a welcome bonfire the night before with open bar and the steel pan band. Getting excited! Good luck to all who are planning!

[Happy4ever]

Congrats to all braids. I'm getting married at the iberostar suites 4/22/2015. I have been there before and loved it; that's why I decided to go back and have our wedding there. I'm so excited.

[wugambi812]

Hi everyone! We were married at the Suites on January 18th, 2014. We truly had our dream wedding and highly recommend the Rose Hall Suites to anyone that would ask us. I handled the majority of the correspondence with the resort before we arrived because my wife (still weird saying that) tends to stress a bit and I read online about slow response times. We didn't really experience this on our end. Loretto responded within 24-48 hours to all of our emails. Once we were two months out we began corresponding directly with Simone and Nicole. They responded to all messages within 48 hours and addressed each question/concern with bullet point answers. As we approached the week of our wedding the I grew concerned because there were issues we hadn't ironed out. However when we arrived for our meeting with the wedding coordinator she had all my emails printed and noted, and was up to speed with the last minute changes we had. We arrived at the resort a day before most of our guest to get acclimated to the grounds and to deal with wedding meetings etc before people arrived so that we could spend as much time as possible with our friends and family. We chose to get married on the Saturday of a holiday weekend so that most of our guest wouldn't have to take much vacation time to have a 4 day island trip in the middle of the winter.

95 guests

Thursday- Welcome party on the beach with 2 hours of bonfire and national bar and mento band. There was a bit of a hiccup in the beginning as our bonfire was scheduled to run from 8-10PM. We walked outside at 7:45 and although we saw the wood and tables set-up for the bonfire there was no bar and the place was empty. Our guest started showing up and once we located Simone we were told that due to rain (we were eating dinner and didn't notice) they were moving our bonfire into the music bar, and would refund us the difference. We were initially very upset as our guest were standing around with no drinks etc.. It took them 30-45 minutes to get the outside bar set-up again and the fire started. Because of this they extended our bonfire to 10:45. We were a bit ticked that the call was made to move the reception without telling us but they stated that they couldn't locate us but had put signage in front of the music bar announcing the switch. This again ticked me off because guest around 8PM were coming from dinner and were not walking past the lobby to get to the beach. It turned out to be a blast once things got going and we got some excellent pictures and moments from the event.

Friday- Nicole ran a quick afternoon rehearsal. We had our rehearsal dinner in the Mare Nostrum Mediterranean restaurant. Because we had 45 people at the rehearsal dinner we were asked to select a set menu. We picked Steak and Lobster and it was delicious. 

Saturday- Wedding day: My wife and I chose to take our bridal party and family pictures before the ceremony. This worked out great as we were able to enjoy some of the cocktail hour after the wedding along with our guest. Our photographer and videographers arrived at 3:15 as we finished getting ready to begin shooting. After being completely sunny all morning and afternoon it started to rain as we moved outside to take pictures. We took pictures at the bottom of the lobby staircase with our bridal party and families. As the wedding start time approached they began to quickly set-up the bottom of the lobby area as a back-up plan. I know rain is good luck on a wedding day so I wasn't too worried, but it was a tense scene as we tracked the weather. Finally, about 10 minutes before the wedding the rain let up, we informed the coordinators we would still proceed outside and things got going.


Ceremony was at 5:15 on the beach- weather was cool, but a bit humid after the early evening rainstorm. We had a legal ceremony with the officiant provided by the resort. We didn't meet with him before but he was great! Funny, personable and really kind. We did however write our own vows instead of using the ones he provides. We had no special readings or anything so the ceremony moved fairly quickly like we wanted.

6-7: Cocktail hour with open bar and Steel Pans Band on the beach. This was great! The band was awesome, everyone enjoyed the appetizers and champagne/wine/beer. It was also beautiful outside at this point so it was nice to walk around, take pictures with friends/family on the beach and still be involved in the cocktail celebrations. 


7-11: Private Reception at Aunt Ruby's- My wife worked with the florist (Floral Fantasies) to arrange lanterns, candles, flowers and they did a tremendous job. Everything was beautiful and the room looked great. We used Elite Media Concepts for videography, DJ services, and uplighting. The resort, florist, and Elite worked to make the space look absolutely spectacular. The Elite DJ was great at leading the reception along and getting us through dinner and into dancing. We also paid to have a fire dancer perform before dancing got started. It was something different and out of the ordinary that our guest truly loved and took a ton of pictures of. We paid extra to extend our reception until 11 PM as the staff transportation leaves at 11 and an additional van had to be called. We had International Bar for our reception and everyone danced the night away. There was a huge rainstorm that hit during the reception. There were new doors installed at Rubys and because of this we ended up with water leaking through the dance floor. The staff did everything they could to clean it up but our guest were dancing and having a good time in spite of the water mishap. 

Hair A -I didn't use the salon but the girls all looked tremendous. They were a bit unorganized and that threw off the girls. They had reservations/appointments but didn't mark down who was getting what services. The girls had to repeatedly inform the salon manager of their appointments but again, they all looked great.

Make-up A -The girls had their make-up done by the on site salon as well. The salon did a tremendous job with the makeup of the girls. The makeup held in the rain and humidity.

Photographer A -We used Michael Saab Photography for our wedding pictures. We went with their associates as we wanted to utilize those additional funds in other ways. Chris and Chantel were absolutely a delight to work with and really did a great job with our pictures. They work with Elite Media Concepts a lot so they never stepped on each other's toes and allowed each to get whatever shots they needed.

Videographer/DJ's no grade yet - Elite Media Concepts were great to work with. We haven't gotten our video back yet but we selected them because of how beautiful the sample videos were on their site. The staff was great to work with and realy helped to keep the mood light during the day.

Flowers A -We used Floral Fantasies for our flowers. My wife wanted lanterns, candles, and mason jars along with natural table runners and orange flowers. I think that they did an amazing job of making the room look specifically how we imagined. They also provided all the flowers for the huppa as well as the bouquets for my wife and the bridesmaids.

Check-in A: 11 of us arrived on the first day and were greeted with welcome drinks. All our rooms were ready and we were quickly told about the property, restaurants, the pool hours etc... The bell hop brought our clothes up to the room within 30 minutes. In the meantime we were provided with a fresh fruit plate in the room, along with a stocked mini fridge and a bottle of Appleton Rum.

The Resort A: Everyone in our group really enjoyed the resort. A few of us attended the spin classes held in the gym. The night club was a great perk for a group of our size and age. It offered a late night party option for our younger guest during their stay without making them leave the property. Everyone enjoyed the music bar and pool areas as well. 

Room – A+: We were booked in an Oceanview room but on our first night we were called by the front desk manager. They upgraded us to the Presidential Suite which was absolutely amazing. 3 balconies, a separate living area, an outdoor jacuzzi. The room was absolutely amazing. It made a great headquarters for the girls to get ready in before the wedding.

Food & Restaurants – A: There are about 50 people on our trip who are now obsessed with Banana Juice!. The food was great. The selection of fresh and local fruits, juices etc was amazing. I really enjoyed that the buffets provided traditional Jamaican cuisine as well as standard North American or European dishes. We were able to dine at all the restaurants at the suites plus the Japanese place at the beach hotel and we didn't have a bad meal anytime. 

Entertainment – B-: The staff was great, funny, and really out there trying to get everyone to have a good time. The shows were a bit cheesy at times, but the music bar, pool games, dance club routines etc.. were great.

I'm attaching a few pictures here as well. Feel free to ask any questions if I didn't cover everything. Good luck to you all and don't stress, they do an amazing job.