HeatherRenee112

Hi

Do you have a template for your welcome letter? I love the format. Thanks for ideas for the gift bags also. We are starting to gather stuff for the bags and I hadn't thought about first aid kits. Great idea!

I do not have a template as I used a stationery designer and printing company to design them for us. The printing company is Harless Printing out of St. Albans, WV. Maggie was the designer of all paper goods for our wedding. I highly recommend her!!

Okay, so here is my lengthy review of the Carnival Weddings process from the time we got on the ship until the reception...

We purchased Faster to the Fun passes for our cabin and it was a huge benefit. We were able to take everything on-board and go straight to our cabin so we could unload everything immediately without having to wait on our cabin to open. FTF also allowed us priority lines for the tender, debarkation, and for the guest service desk. It was definitely worth the $70!

A couple nights into the cruise, our hostess (Mary) found us at dinner to want to discuss wedding details. We thought the timing to be extremely off-putting as we were in the middle of a meal with friends and family, but met with her later that evening. In that meeting, she went over all the wedding day details and times for taxi meetings/pick-ups, reception choices, etc. Mary's times were slightly different than what was planned by TWE before we left for the cruise and I'll touch on that later. I met with the Spa that same evening we met with Mary and double-checked appointment times, had a consultation with my hair stylist, and made another massage appointment while there. All of that went very smoothly and they were super sweet to work with throughout the whole week.

So the morning of the wedding, my mom and I had hair appointments at 7am and then everyone in our party met in the atrium at 8:45a to board the privately chartered shuttle. I mentioned in an earlier post that TWE price gouges, so I'd recommend looking outside of TWE to outsource as much as you can independently. It takes a little more work on your part, but the cost savings are amazing! ($16 per person vs. $60! :o) After the rest of the party left the ship, Mary came to the room to get me and my man of honor. We were on our way by 9:30 and arrived to the resort around 10am.

As I was getting off the charter bus that I rode from the ship on, my mom met me with the wedding coordinator from TWE. She was very confused because she hadn't sent transportation to pick me up yet! Thankfully, Mary from Carnival was on her game and had everything coordinated well. TWE coordinator went on to scold us for being there early because SHE was running late and hadn't decorated ahead of us arriving for the ceremony! She continued to berate me right before lining us up claiming I'd hired an outside photographer because the Carnival staff was not in proper uniform... we were thankful they were dressed like our guests because if they were in a shot by accident, it didn't stand out so much! She was ranting right as I was about to see my dad for the first time before walking down the isle. I was FURIOUS! Overall, the wedding coordinator sent from TWE was very rude and abrasive during a moment that shouldn't be bothered with such trivial nonsense.

The officiant met with me and Onick individually before the ceremony to introduce himself. He was very sweet and delivered a beautiful ceremony for us. After the ceremony was over, we had extra time to take photos since everyone was there earlier than expected. We got shots near the water, on the beach, on the resort grounds, etc. Afterwards, we all boarded the charter I'd arranged for and returned back to the ship for the reception that started at 12:30pm. The reception was a ton of fun. We immediately did the cake cutting, first dances, and the rest of the time was spent dancing with friends and family.

We met with our photographer (Aleksandra) ahead of time before the wedding and she was absolutely AMAZING!! We had a printout of photos that we were wanting and gave them to her. She not only met our expectations but completely surpassed them! I was the most nervous of all about the photography services but I'm glad I just trusted her. She served as the photographer and videographer. We had all photos and the DVD back to us the next day. They of course present the DVD to you first and then all of your photos and explain the packages. Your package cost with everything is going to be roughly $3600. We did not pay this amount as we were able to negotiate a significant discount.

Looking back in retrospect, the day was perfect for us. If I had it to do over again, I might consider contacting the resort directly and planning everything through them and just using Carnival as a transportation method to the island. If Carnival did EVERYTHING in house without outsourcing to TWE, I'd definitely do a wedding through Carnival again. However, my disgust for working with TWE still stands and I cannot recommend them in any way. From the planning process to working with the onsite coordinator, they were rude and it was just an unpleasant experience dealing with them.

Last minute tips and recommendations:

--Relax and enjoy the day! It will fly by!

--Understand that not everything is going to go as planned, so just go with it and don't stress the small details.

--Have EVERYTHING printed out and in an organized binder of sorts so if something does come up in questioning, you can refer to it quickly.

--Use a cheap-o hand trolley cart with bungee straps to get everything onto the ship in boxes. As we emptied boxes, housekeeping would take them for us. It was sooooo easy this way!

Well wishes to all for a beautiful wedding!!

Dakotasmommy1212: our items for the gift bags are travel size. I ordered everything through Amazon prime. Us included, there are 26 people cruising.

Hello, looking forward to seeing you all reviews after your wedding experience. By the way congratulations to you both!!! I will also be getting married on the Pride in December. I am doing an embarkation wedding at the port of Baltimore.

Congratulations, Ringonit! I will definitely be doing a full review once we return. :)

Wow!! It's so close!! Are you here in Baltimore or will you be traveling here for the cruise? We just got into DC (where he's originally from) last night and we will drive to Baltimore in the morning. What all do you have left to do with a week left and a few days before boarding the ship? Everything is done at this point. We have everything in boxes and we are doing "faster to the fun" to be able to take things to the room immediately upon boarding. The gift bags, flowers, etc. are all boxed up and ready to go. Did you tell them what time you wanted to ceremony to begin or did they tell you when? We had no control over the time of the ceremony and reception. That is totally left to TWE to arrange and make happen. Also, did they tell you when the reception was as well and does it have to be finished by the time the ship sails from port? We were told the reception needed to be over before the ship sets sail from port. I think it has something to do with the bars opening back up to the public at that point.

 

Did you do welcome bags and welcome letters for your guests? Yes, we are! I'm in love with them. :') I included a first aid kit, sunglasses, sunscreen, aloe, a fan, chapstick, and drink coozies. Are you bringing your own décor at all or no? No, we aren't bringing decor but we are packing the supplies for the cake to be decorated. Oh and could you also share the Fun Times please when you return? Yes, absolutely. I was able to find the best person ever to do all of my stationary work and everything is completely coordinated and perfect for a cruise wedding... like I said before, I'm pretty much obsessed with my paper goods, LOL. I'm sorry for asking so many questions. LOL Will you do a review afterwards and post pics? Of course! I'd love to know how your experience was.

Just to simplify, I put my answers in a different color after each question. :)

Attached is a pic of the gift bag and front side of the Fun Times.

Pics.pdf

Hi, ShanteS!

Our wedding is next Friday, May 18th! 😊 I was able to move things along easier with TWE as the wedding got closer. Our ceremony is at the Grand Lucayan Resort in Freeport.

Our reception is back on board in the nightclub with the DJ. We didn’t choose a food option for guests since the wedding is at 10:30am and our reception will be over mid-afternoon in time for a late lunch. We are however offering bar service so I’m sure our guests will enjoy that more anyways.

You will receive calls from both Carnival and TWE to confirm everything about 10 days before and answer any last minute questions. This helped put my mind at ease some. I’m a planner so this hands-off experience has been somewhat difficult for me. Fingers crossed we both have stress-free, beautiful weddings!

I am a May 2018 bride on Carnival Pride and I had no idea how difficult the planning would be with TWE. My emails are not being returned in a timely manner (sometimes weeks before a response), calls are not returned, etc.

I'm also seeing crazy price increases on things: i.e. the day room at the resort we are getting married at off-site was going to be over $600 for just a couple hours through TWE and when I called the resort directly for the same room for the night before and morning of was only $300! Similar with transportation for our guests: $60 (TWE) vs. $18/person elsewhere.

I am beyond frustrated! Are there any other brides that can offer advice on negotiating and navigating TWE issues?

Thanks in advance!!

I wanted to do the same thing for my wedding in Freeport via the Carnival Pride but was told there would be a fee associated for the bag delivery and they couldn't guarantee they would be in the rooms before the guests arrived to their staterooms. That said, my fiancé and I decided we would just hand deliver ours and personally thank each of our guests for joining us at the same time.

We're confirmed for Freeport on the Pride on 07/20/2015. We decided on Xanadu, however, for the seclusion factor.

 

Did you file your initial paperwork to start the process? I'm curious as well and am following this thread

Yes, we have filed all of the paperwork with The Wedding Experience. The fees associated to the marriage license themselves add up quickly. The licensing fees alone are over $500 at this point and we haven't even ordered any additional copies to bring home with us (which is cheaper to pay for in advance than to order at a later date after the wedding). I've emailed the Wedding Experience to see if we could be refunded for these fees and to just get married at the courthouse stateside first to save on cost and to avoid any unnecessary error or stress the day of the wedding. They haven't been the best with communication so far so we will see how they respond.

I am getting married in Freeport, Bahamas at the Grand Lucayan Resort on May 18, 2018 via the Carnival Pride. We have decided to do a full wedding in the Bahamas but I'm very nervous about obtaining a marriage license the day of with all of the stipulations placed on licensing. Plus, we have a very short timeframe for that particular port (7a-1p). I don't want to leave any room for error!

Has anyone gotten married on the island in Freeport that could give advice or share personal experiences on this topic?

Thanks in advance!

Heather

They won't answer any questions other then if that day is open for wedding before you book your cruise. Same thing happen to me. After I booked my cruise (I used the group department, so everyone has to book within 30 days of when you book an you all get a discount, you must do at least 8 rooms for group booking) I had to sign the paperwork and pay before before any questions were answered. It really pissed me off. Then the person they assign you too won't help until 90 days before then they only give you 2 weeks to get them all the information they need.

 

If it helps we did the 3 hours of photographer for a land wedding with RC i believe it was $1000 extra but worth it. The groups department may help you will pictures of the Venus, they were so nice to work with.

 

Attached are pictures from my wedding on land with RC.

Your pics are gorgeous! What island/beach did you get married at?