MissJJVT

I'm planning to write a "newsletter" of sorts with the pre-cruise information, hotel and pre-cruise info, and another RSVP type card for them to mail back with their personal info... I saw a cute idea that told people their "ultra exclusive security team (the U.S. Homeland Security Dept)" needs to know everything about them- lol!

Sorry, I'm a little late in responding! For our Feb 2016 wedding we are sending only formal invites with info about the cruise included as an enclosure card... Half of our guests will receive an RSVP that contains a "come to the wedding but don't sail" option, the others will have the option only to sail or decline... We put a Nov 1 RSVP date, and once we get the responses back we will follow up with a mailing to our sailing and non-sailing guests with reminders and a mail-back card to provide the necessary customs info- it helps that my brother is a customs agent and is available to answer our questions!

That's great to hear! How did you set up the tour? That will definitely be something we are interested in doing... Will probably work it in with visits to a few hotels to find somewhere to host our guests the night before and also have our pre-sailing "rehearsal" dinner!

I'd love copies of your docs as well, please!

Jejenki4@vt.edu

Thanks so much- you have really made this "real" for me!!

Absolutely loved your pics and your review!! Thank you so much for sharing! Your timeline was great and eases my mind a bit with all the stress I start feeling! Congratulations and thanks for participating in this forum to help us all out!!! [emoji3]

I was also thinking I'd just do a nice cake topper, one of those antique suitcase looking boxes to use as a card box, and I'm planning to order a guestbook canvas for everyone to sign... Not sure whether I'll stick with the more rustic tree look or do something more nautical.... We were also torn on favors- I saw some cute anchor shaped bottle openers, but who needs another bottle opener? If anyone thinks of creative ideas please share!

Did you just call or email them to book the videographer?

How exciting!! I love logging in and seeing my countdown too! I am just about ready to send invitations- still sending option to family to cruise or not, and sending friends cruise-only option... It was just the only way... So far we have a lot of family and friends who have already booked so I'm not as worried about it as I once was...

Regarding attendants, we're each having 5 so as to include siblings and a couple of close friends each... Hopefully that will go smoothly- I'm trying to keep things as cheap and casual as possible (will prob do the dresses from Target's bridesmaid collection)

I'm gonna give in and fill out my entertainment form this week and pay for the $275 music and DJ choice... Don't wanna stress about it any more and you only get married once...

Hope everyone else is having luck with planning and preparing! Best Wishes to all!!

Apparently the $275 is an entertainment fee that includes the DJ and music- again, not exactly mad about having to pay, I just wish they would have rolled everything into the single fee so that I didn't have to run back to my parents every day for more money!

We did the "Time to Celebrate Big" package on Carnival [emoji568]

We're getting all of our paperwork filled out for the cruise line now- it's exciting, but I did get slightly upset with the additional fee for music at the reception... $275 for their music or $225 to bring our own- I feel like they should just roll that into the package price to begin with so I'm not going to my parents every 10 minutes asking them to charge something else! Ok, end rant [emoji6]

Next on the agenda will be finding a hotel to block rooms- has anyone looked at hotels that offer a park & cruise option? We're leaving from Charleston and I see that available on some of the rooms- think it would come out cheaper than the $17/day charged by the port but not sure

I am doing traditional invites to save $$- I had priced some others, but couldn't see myself paying upwards of $8 each for specialized invites, especially considering I'll have to spend $1 on stamps for the invite and rsvp! Speaking of rsvp, I'm going with a traditional mail-back style just bc I have a lot of older family members who I don't exactly trust to figure out the website! I am actually doing 2 versions of the rsvp card due to the limits on non-cruising guests with Carnival... friends will get only the options to cruise or decline, while family will get an additional option to attend but not cruise. I'm also adding an enclosure card with cruise booking details... FYI, I'm ordering the invites through Costco and they seem to be a great price, although the styles are slightly limited!

Like many of you here, I got engaged very recently (4/26!) and immediately started planning my cruise wedding! I was relieved to read through the thread and see some of my same concerns (flowers, how to save space for non-sailing guests, etc.)

We live in South Carolina and are hoping to book our wedding on the Carnival Ecstacy for 2/28/16-3/3/16, leaving from Charleston. I love the idea of getting married in port to allow our older family members to attend.

I've been burning up ETSY looking at silk flowers, bridesmaid dresses, wedding cake toppers, invitations, and other fun things- hopefully once we call Carnival (tomorrow) I'll be able to get some orders started!

Looking forward to continued communication with you ladies, and congratulations to all!!