Cruisewed18

Wow thanks for the pics! It’s fantastic you’re doing this. I have a small request- if you find yourself in the Viking crown lounge, I would love to see some pictures! I will be getting married in there in October, and still trying to figure out how the layout will work for about 40-45 people. TIA!

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AGREED!! Please send... alyssa.tintin@gmail.

Thanks! :)

Hello, I am sure there are posts out there, but what I found was limited. We are looking to get married on board while at sea on RC Adventure of the Seas going out of New Jersey in 2019. We will be traveling to Bermuda and Bahamas. Has anyone had any experience with this. Typically we go with Celebrity, however, The Summit is a smaller ship than we would like for our wedding.I already called RC and got some basic info and also printed their brochure. :o:o:o:o:o

I'm in the process of booking my wedding in October 2018 on Adventure of the Seas. I was dealing with someone from the Weddings department who answered some of my preliminary questions and they send you the brochure. If you still want to continue with the process they send you forms to fill out with your preferred day, type of wedding (embarkation, onboard, destination, etc.) and they require you to fill out credit card information upfront for the initial cost of the wedding (whatever package you choose). Once you submit the paperwork they check with the ship to ensure that day is available for a wedding (since we're getting married onboard). From there we've been contacted by the venue and time coordinator who sends you a list of possible venues for your ceremony and reception (you can choose to held these at different venues). It's been a little challenging because the ship is in dry dock undergoing renos right now so they don't have accurate images or venues. I chose one with large windows (that's why I'm getting married on a ship- the view!) and chose the same venue for both ceremony and reception. They give you an option of time (although the venue I chose is only available until 4pm), and you get 3 hours to complete the ceremony and reception. That's been my experience so far!

Following! I would love to see your photos (getting married on Adventure of the Season October 2018).

Thank you!

Great question! I've been wondering the same thing myself (getting married on the Adventure of the Seas October 2018).

Following!

Hi all!

I'm looking for advice on wedding photography from someone that doesn't work for the cruise line (I find the ship photographers are so hit and miss). I'm wondering if anyone has experience hiring a photographer that is willing to do your photography (one-day wedding shooting) in exchange for us paying for their trip. Has anyone done this?

Additionally, I'm looking at either hiring someone from our area (we live in Canada) or hiring someone from Fort Lauderdale to take the cruise with us. If anyone knows a fantastic wedding photographer that either lives in Fort Lauderdale, or would be willing to travel in exchange for their services please let me know!!

Thanks :)

Hi!

First off, Congratulations!

 

There are a ton of options with cruise weddings, so it's hard to really identify a "normal" until you narrow down some of the decisions. I just went through the whole planning process and got married in Juneau as part of our Alaskan cruise wedding. Things you'll need to take into consideration/place to start looking:

 

 

1. Legality. Not every cruise line can legally marry you. And if they can (Princess can perform a marriage as long as it's international waters for example), not every itinerary has a sea day far enough out from land to perform a legal marriage. Are you comfortable with just a ceremony? Or do you want your marriage certificate to have the day of your vows. This impacts the cruise line and itinerary you choose.

 

2. Destination! This is the fun part. Where do you want to go? Caribbean? Alaska? Mediterranean? Hawaii? I started by looking into the logistics for each area I was interested in. For example, Hawaii is a 2 week minimum cruise from the mainland--which was too long for my guests to make. Time of year matters. If you're heart is set on an August wedding, that's hurricane season in the Caribbean. Flights- is getting to the departure port in your budget? Etc.

 

3. Ship size. This is partially related to number 2. The big luxury ships are mostly in the Caribbean. These are going to be the newest and coolest (robot bars, luxury detailing, etc). However, places like Alaska need smaller ships that can get in and out of the fjords. There are pros and cons to both. Small ships are older, though refurbished frequently. They're more intimate and you'll run into family and friends. Big ships can be a more lux experience, especially in the public spaces, but are also so big that you don't necessarily have to see or hang out with family while on the cruise. There's that much to do.

 

4. Type of wedding. You can do a package deal through the cruise's company or you can book directly as a group/corporate event. Pros and cons to both. If you want the wedding on board you have to book via the wedding package company. If you're doing a port wedding, you can easily reserve dinning options/do an open bar, etc on board and either arrange your own wedding in port or use a local wedding planning company. If you're in port long enough you can do the reception in port too. This option gives you the most control (you pick location, photographer, etc etc), but if the ship misses the port due to rough seas, etc., you will need a back up plan. The package will generally limit you if you want a port wedding to a set location. But if the ship misses that port they'll bump the wedding to an onboard event.

 

 

For us, Alaska checked all the boxes. The water is super calm in the inside passage and almost none of the ports have a tender (biggest risk of missing a port for rough water is that the tender can't make it). Since it's in America, having a legal marriage wasn't a problem. We liked the idea of a small ship and more time bonding/hanging out in the evenings. And since we wanted to get married in port, we just booked everything directly and skipped the whole wedding package, which allows us to bring our own photographer for the trip. If you want to see pictures: https://hofferphotography.com/2016/07/27/amanda-nick-in-alaska-part-1/

 

https://hofferphotography.com/2016/07/28/amanda-nick-at-the-shrine-of-st-therese-juneau-alaska-part-2/

 

Part 2 is the actual wedding.

 

 

I will say that there are more fun group booking options in the Caribbean. When looking at the group event list, there were things like private reserved areas and games on Princess Cay (would be labadee for RC). Tiki themed parties at certain bars on board. Etc. We ended up doing a wine tasting for our guests.

 

 

Let me know if you have more questions!

Wow!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write that fantastic response!

The legality part is going to be very important because I want to have a ceremony with a marriage certificate and vows, and not just a symbolic ceremony. And I definitely want to get married in the Caribbean! There's something about a beach that just calls my name.

I'm looking to have a destination wedding in a port of call vs on the ship.

I must say, your photographs are absolutely stunning!! You can definitely tell that they weren't taken by the ship photographer in the very cheesy poses, there is some genuine emotion and candid shots. After seeing those vs some of the ship ones, I'm leaning towards going the corporate/group booking instead of the wedding to be able to bring my own photographer. The added flexibility of being able to customize parts of the ceremony is also appealing. I'm just nervous that if something happens and we aren't able to dock for any reason there is no insurance to be able to have the ceremony on the ship. I wonder if the ship would be able to accommodate a symbolic ceremony if we didn't book through them and we weren't able to dock at our destination??

I think a Royal Caribbean ship on a Caribbean itinerary will be perfect for us and our group. We are young and like to have fun and so do our friends and family!

Hi all! My fiancé and I recently got engaged and are looking to have our wedding on a cruise! Looking to depart out of Florida on a RCCL ship sometime in late 2018 or early 2019. Looking for some recent reviews on Royal Caribbean's new wedding company (Royal Ocean I believe?) or reviews on recent wedding royal Caribbean cruises in general! There doesn't seem to be many details online, so anything (including pictures!) is very much useful and appreciated at this time.

Some other questions include the following: what does a normal port wedding look like? What about a wedding at a desination in one of the ports? What are the normal timelines for that? Any ships people would recommend for weddings? Any destinations people would recommend? We were also toying with the idea of hiring a coordinator at our destination instead of using Royal Caribbean's. Has anyone done this?

As you can probably tell, I'm quite early in the planning stages. Any of me fellow brides have any advice one way or another? Thank so much in advance!