DustinandStacy2015

I am using wooden and recycled material flowers. I found website that was very well priced. For some reason I can not post the pictures on here but attached is the website. Mine are the custom order for Jewell.

These are GORGEOUS!!! LOVE

I wonder if anyone has received a call saying that they can pay a little extra for an upgrade. I would be willing to even do that.

Welcome new posters! I hope you are finding lots of help here on the boards. This board has been a life saver for a lot of people!

I haven't updated in awhile so here goes!

Almost everything is booked! :) Ahhhhh!

We fly into Orlando, FL and are staying in Orlando for 2 days, we are going to Harry Potter World (which if you knew me you would know how EXCITED I am for that! I'm a dork. hahaha) Then we head to Cocoa Beach, FL to stay overnight and then we get married!!! The same day we are getting married on the beach we are heading to the cruise right after. Once on the cruise we scheduled an hour and a half cocktail party (we booked through group events, not wedding events) We just wanted drinks and some crackers and a cake thrown in (we don't love cake so really its just a formality) Then we are all eating together for dinner and party all night!!! :) I am hoping for a stress free day but we will see. So Hotels are booked, cocktail hour booked (you have to pay once on board) Ceremony booked and paid....now just working on the honeymoon stuff which hopefully will come within the next few months. I'm hoping for some great groupons! I finished making my cake topper, personalized bubbles, I ordered sticker labels for water bottles and slowly getting all the accessories. I'm loving this part, just laid back picking up things that are all on sale! :) I hope everyone's planning is going great, I know for me now that there is already SNOW on the ground here in Minnesota that April cannot come fast enough!

Try the Clearwater Marine Aquarium They not only have an awesome Aquarium but they also offer a two hour sea cruise to look at Marine life. There is also a Pirate ship cruise that is fun that I can't remember the name of off the top of my head.

AHHH that's the dolphin from Dolphin Tale! I'm totally geeking out right now we will have to see that!

Love them all! I'm trying to decide on my hair, my hair is almost waist length and I'd love to keep it down so it's flowy on the beach but I'd hate for the wind to come in and blow it all around LOL. For your flowers are you ordering online?

I realize this is a very personal question but I thought someone might be willing to answer..... with having the cruise, wedding, reception, flight paid for..... about how much money do you think is appropriate for extra spending and tipping? We are trying to have a ballpark idea but we have no clue. We are also taking an extra week in florida for our honeymoon. So past wedding people and future, how much did you bring and how much are you going to bring?

Weekly check in! How are my fellow Brides and Grooms doing?

This week I have accomplished a couple of other things I'm glad I can check off my list....

-Shoes....check! I LOVE my shoes. I had found a pair of similar shoes on ebay awhile back and for the life of me could not get a hold of them and they were pink and I needed turquoise but I don't know how it happened I got LUCKY one day and found these gems! (pictured below) I am in love, so beachy and matching my colors!

-Cake topper made! I put together our cake topper myself. After seeing these on Etsy for 50 plus dollars I just couldn't fathom that and seeing as I'm pretty crafty I made it myself for under 10.

-Garters.... I bought these plain and kicked it up a notch!

I am just excited that all the little pieces are coming together. Way less stress! I keep finding great deals on our travel bags for our guests and I keep adding to them!

We have guests officially booked for our wedding night hotel, we have guests asking questions about excursions on the cruise, it's all coming together and I cannot believe I started this thread back in April and what time has done! wooftah...5 months and some odd weeks to go! I hope the Holidays blow by super fast and I hope Winter goes by quickly so we can get this party started!!!!

To the new brides and grooms who joined the thread, thanks for joining! We are all constantly trying to find ideas, share thoughts and vent on this thread. I think planning a destination wedding has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It's full of emotions, opinions and through-out the whole process I think I'm going to look back after the special day and say....man what I wouldn't give to go back and keep planning! So I know for me (even though I've been through some really rough planning stages) I am glad to take a step back, breathe deeply and realize that this will be the wedding of my dreams because of all the planning and compassion I have put into it. No matter what happens in the end, I will want it all back. Absorb everything, take it all in.

For those on the fence of doing a destination wedding, I am not going to lie to you, it's hard work.....but....only if you make it that way. If you want to relinquish all control and let your cruise company take the reigns, they will gladly do that for you. Me on the other hand, I just can't give up all control....the little things I like to plan. I like to provide my own little touches to make it truly unique and to my liking. With that being said, I CHOSE to do that, so if you are a bride/groom who isn't picky on what colors are being used or what decorations will be surrounding you on your day then give it all to your wedding coordinator to handle and you will be stress free. Those of us who are venting on here are usually venting because of something we have decided to take on, on our own...unless of course it's the cruises problems, then yes we have been really venting about that. We don't want to scare anyone away from doing the wedding of their dreams but sometimes with choosing a cruise wedding, You kind of just have to fly by the seat of your pants. That's why so many bride/grooms mention problems with venues, dinners, timing etc. Because this was a planning problem on behalf of the cruise ship itself. So, If you are on the fence about choosing a cruise wedding, DO IT! Lol well that's my opinion anyway......I feel like through-out the stress that bottom line it all comes down to the fact that I will be standing face to face with my best friend in around 5 months with sand in my feet, wind in my hair and memories for a lifetime, for me.....that's worth it.

http://s1382.photobucket.com/user/Steckman31886/library/?view=recent

I'm pretty excited today, even though I'm under the weather. We officially booked our wedding package, and I received the Carnival emails with all the documents....all in one day. The invitations arrived just the other day, and my mom is printing out labels for the outside envelopes and rsvp envelope. It feels like it is actually real. I'm not really into the planning part so hopefully, between Carnival, and my mom, the day will look amazing.

Welcome to the 2015 Brides page! Hope you are getting some info you need as well as any advice since we are all learning together! :)

Lol you are completely right!!! It is not easy at all! I'm so happy you found the option that works best for you. You're getting married the day before me :) when are you sending out your invitations? I was thinking January since everyone already knows about it. I'm so lost when it comes to some things. How many people do you have actually cruising with you since your wedding is now on the beach before? We have 10 including me and hubby on the cruise everyone is pretty much flying to St Thomas.

 

 

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Ya know to be honest I don't think we are even doing invitations for the main part of the wedding. Of course we will for the at home reception but we have a facebook page that we keep updated and the guests that are going have kept in close contact so we just don't feel the need to pay more money for what we already know.

So far we have: 22 guests for the cruise

28 guests for the ceremony (possibly up to 35)

It's been really difficult trying to keep everyone together and figuring out who goes where, but I don't think anyone else will be booking the cruise so I think 22 is solid for that but more people seem to be interested in the ceremony and keep telling us they are coming to that so we will see! Eeeek.

I'm so glad you found the solution that makes you happy. My mother has tried to convince us five times to switch to the Beach at Daytona. Just not our idea of what we want. That's why there are so many different types of weddings.

I really am very happy you found your positive happy place for planning. I worried the Carnival changes would leave you feet by trapped rather than excited.p. :) YAY for happy endings/beginnings!

YES! People who say destination weddings are easier and cheaper....uhhh I'd like to talk to them because it is NOT the case. You can make them cheaper of course but there is A LOT that goes into it! hahaha 6 months today!

Beautiful review! How about the bags? I've been trying to find cheap nautical bags....

WOW I feel like so much has changed in our wedding planning (this is why it's important to keep an open mind ladies and gents when you are out 8plus months because things will CHANGE)

I am soooooo much more positive lately! We have planned our itinerary how we like it and it seems to be working so much better then just trying to please everyone. So here goes!

We are getting married on Cocoa Beach, FL on Sunday, April 12th in the morning with our friends and family right there with us! We went through elitebeachweddings. com for our ceremony. Much cheaper then getting married in Nassau which would have costed around 4000. We are paying 1200 now! Our friends and family who couldn't take off 5 days for the cruise are now having the option to fly down for a few days just to celebrate the ceremony with us and then those of us who are cruising will get the 2 hour reception to celebrate on the ship! :) This has been the best decision we made as both of my sisters and some of my FH groomsmen could not make it on the cruise, so now they can make it to the ceremony in Florida which I truly appreciate!

-Dress paid and in a secret spot at home! (now just waiting for 2 more months to get it altered as I am working on getting in shape)

-Ceremony deposit down! Reserved and ready to go!

-Hotel in Cocoa Beach, Fl reserved and ready for people to book!

-Cruise paid for and waiting to hear back on finalized reception plans (paid for)

-Got some stuff for our gift bags, Target had an amazing clearance deal on travel stuff so we got shampoos, conditioners for SUPER cheap! We also have advil, face wipes and lint rollers, mini notebooks lined up! We just keep looking for great deals.

-Bubbles bought for the ceremony! 2.00 for 30 at Walmart on clearance and I'm tying cute burlap around them! (Hey its a big thing to me!HAHAHA)

-Bridesmaids dresses ordered and jewellery done!

-Message in a bottle stuff purchased! (we are doing this instead of a guestbook. We bought a bottle and labels from Zazzle to have people leave us some words of advice and then we will break it on our year anniversary!)

Wooftah. I feel like I've gotten A LOT done over the last month and I just keep chugging along.

And the super hysterical question of the day is: Should I wear Spanx when I go to try on dresses? :confused: :)

Thanks for the 21DF I love the idea! When I went I brought spanx 3/4 places I went. When I didn't have them I really wanted them. Something about feeling more feminine in the dress but I think it's honestly personal opinion. Sometimes my spanx make me look rounder though so it really just depended on the dress I had on. I'd say bring them just in case! :)

Ahhhhh, soda. I did have a soda (for the first time in weeks) on Wednesday night, and it was.....yuck! :p

 

I don't think of it as a diet...more of a lifestyle change. I honestly eat more food in a day than nearly anyone I know, but it's all healthy, clean foods. The program is called 21 Day Fix, and it's all about clean, portion-controlled eating. It's such a super simple, very straight forward program, and the best thing is it def works!! If you would like more info I can e-mail you.

Sure! dustinandstacyjohnson@gmail.com

So our plans have once again changed!!! But now I can say we are firmly booked in our ceremony plans! Originally we were going to get off in the middle of the cruise and get married on Nassau, Bahamas however when looking at prices, it just didn't seem like something we wanted to spend $4000.00 on for an hour. So after further planning we picked something different! We are going to get married at Cocoa Beach by Port Canaveral the day of embarktion! We are waking up early and getting married on Sunday April 12 in Florida (FL license, same package but 1,200 dollars!!!) Then we will board the ship and still have a cocktail reception for our guests. Now we will possibly have more guests that will be able to come just for the ceremony which could be fun! :) yay! So things are starting to really get better now that deposits are down for everything. Each day inching closer and closer! :)

Hi everyone! Hope all is well! I did some "preliminary, solo dress shopping" last week (on a whim) and had great luck. I have the bridesmaids dresses picked out (well 4 dresses and they can choose which one they want) and nailed down the exact color...and the girls love them, so that's a huge relief. I also tried dresses on and have 2 finalists picked out. I am completely torn between them because one is the dress that I walked into the shop wanting, and the other is just a beautiful with a great fit... So hopefully when the entire crew comes with me they can help hash it out. My girls and I are also taking a trip to the city in 2 weeks to go dress shopping....so I may find a few more to add to the short list then. I'm also ecstatic that I've hit my 10# weight loss goal for dress shopping (that's why I treated myself to trying on dresses last week)! I'm having such great success with the program I'm following that I am thinking I might be able to drop another 5 before the dress shopping extravaganza at the end of the month. 😃 we shall see

 

I am still up in the air about the photographer thing...such a decision because I want all of the photos I can possible get of the day (as one of you mentioned) but something tells me that we will have plenty, quality photos without the extra time (and cost). On a positive not, transportation for the wedding is booked.

 

As always, happy planning.

 

 

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What is this diet you speak of? I'm working hard gave up pop for almost 4 weeks now but its not wworkig ahhhhh haha

I found a perfect "Message in a bottle, bottle!" It was from Ikea for 3.99!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40227983/

We are going to get old style paper and twine and have everyone write us a little word of advice. I think it will be a nice display and we will also be leaving out a picture frame for everyone to sign at our at home reception.

Hello All!

 

Thanks for the reply about how you are booking wed2015. We decided to do a group booking, mainly because we are paying for our wedding party (so I can keep track of all of that) and because I'm an overly obsessive planner and want to know every detail of what is going on (so I can make spreadsheets to keep myself sane, and keep our website updated for our guests), and for the perks we will get from having a group. I mentioned the incentives when I first booked, but have not been able to get out of my PVP (as wonderful as she is) any information about where we stand right now. We have 7 4F and 9 8C cabins booked so far, so one would think that would lead to some sort of kick-backs, no?

 

I have 18 days until my planned girls weekend-wedding dress shopping trip. I'm getting excited about that! I have several dresses picked out, but I am convinced they will not look good on me so it should be an adventure.

 

My dilemma this week is pinning down the timeline for the day of the wedding. Our wedding will be at 9:30am (all of those details are taken are of). We are using Old Towne Trolleys for our transportation; we get a 1/2 hour tour after the wedding and then plan to be dropped off at Margaritaville, where we will mozy our way back down Duval St to the ship. I have hired the photographer for an hour at the wedding and then for an additional hour to bop around town with us. However I am thinking that the extra hour might not be needed. I do want pictures throughout the day (aka our Duval Crawl) but I am thinking that my friends and family might do a sufficient job with that, and therefore the extra hour of photography is unnecessary?

The photography kills me.... That's where they know how to get you! It's super frustrating though because you know you want all the pictures in the world as it really is the only memories you'll have. We have decided on sticking with the Carnival photography for our reception and see if they can come in the room before the ceremony (outside vendor) and then we will use our ceremony vendor for the ceremony and then the back home reception we have hired someone else! It's just a super big pain but I know I will want every moment of it. I was also thinking about a slow motion photo booth, has anyone ever done one?!

I LOVE my round halo! :)

We are doing a message in a bottle for our guests. We took small pieces of paper and twine and asked they they leave us messages then wrap them in twine and drop in a large bottle. on our 1 year anniversary we plan to break the bottle and read all the messages.

I love this idea! :) Might have to steal it...if you don't mind of course! ;)

DustinandStacy2015 - I too am a Liberty bride, now Valor, Nov 2015. We were, still am, disappointed to say the least. Our letter will be emailed to Carnival tomorrow....we are sleeping on it before sending. We understand Corporate decisions, we are seasoned Carnival cruisers, and know the chance we took in planning and choosing the Liberty. The letter is something I need to do. We had/have 14 cabins booked with an additional 10 yet to book.

 

Since receiving notice of the switch, and even though Port Canaveral is our port of choice, we researched different ports, ships, days, and itineraries to no avail and various reasons. We made the decision yesterday to stay with the Valor.

 

In my opinion and research, I do not see the Liberty and Valor as a comparable switch. I believe the Liberty was pulled in hopes of increasing the bookings on the Sunshine which seem to be suffering and replaced by a non upgraded Valor. We sailed the Sunshine and it was not even a second choice.....so much we didn't care for.

 

We have not sailed the Valor but just booked for Nov 9th and will fly to Puerto Rico in order to check out the ship.....expensive but making the effort to get excited.

 

I'm staying positive, I know it will work out and what's important is getting married and sharing our day with friends and family :)

 

 

 

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I agree it is not a comparable switch. With that being said, I took a big step back and realized that it really is how you make it. Will I miss the 2.0 upgrades? Absolutely..... but hopefully I convince enough people (cruise virgins) that cruising is a blast and we can try the Liberty a different time. What is it about the Sunshine you don't like? We were looking into that ship....the only negative things we saw was that it was overcrowded.

Wedding stuff!!! eeeek!

Bridesmaids dresses are ordered minus 2 people...(my sisters because they are obvious slackers! ;) ) and I have picked out my earrings. I know that is a small thing in the grand scheme of things but it was an advancement to me! :) So far we have 9 rooms booked with about 3-4 more to go I believe.

We have 19 booked as of today. I think we will reach a total of 32. Fwew! haha.

So I have a loaded question..... We have the reception booked on the ship. (2 hour BIGGER package) So that is done.....

We have been researching numerous wedding ceremony options...we have talked to two different companies both with varying prices. The prices range from 2500 to 4500. Sitting down we have been talking and we just don't know if that amount of money is worth an hour long process....what are your thoughts on this? I know it's a once in a lifetime *fingers crossed* event, but is it really worth all that money? What have you done to save money???

Update:

Well, I have finally heard back from Carnival after many complaints of mine going through the hoops of everything. They gave me a manager who will work with our group. Adam told us that doing a group would be a waste because we are not all getting the same room type. So we are just calling him directly for everything. It seems hopefully my issues will be addressed. *fingers crossed*

As far as planning goes.... Things are coming together! I feel like this time of year is hard on everyone getting back into the swing of things and its already 50 degrees in MN... :( Getting excited though as things are coming together!

How is everyone else standing with the planning stuff?

Me too! dustinandstacyjohnson@gmail.com

Good luck

Love the purple and gold idea

 

 

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YAY! MN Vikings!!! But they were on ships so purple and gold might fit? lol

How is everyone doing?!

Absolutely beautiful and glamorous! Love it!