NL2134

I got married on the Carnival Dream. My sister is a great photographer. I had her taking pictures pre-wedding while we were hanging out in port town and while we were getting ready. Then we had ships photographer take photos of wedding, reception, and posed photos. That way my sister was able to enjoy the wedding & reception. She still took a lot of photos during that time also, but it wasn't her "job" and she was able to enjoy the day as a guest. Then at one of the ports, we got all dressed up again and had my sister do a photo shoot on the beach... these turned out to be some of my favorite photos. So, we kind of mixed both.

The only regret I have of this is that we purchased the awesome (expensive) photo albums from the ship... and they are amazing but they don't include everything that I consider to be my wedding. My wedding experience started the day we all arrived in town, included getting nails & hair done, our bachelor/bachelorette night out on the town before the cruise, the wedding & reception, then the whole cruise afterward. So, I made a Shutterfly book that includes the whole wedding experience. It's not nearly as good quality as the cruise albums, but that is what I show off to everyone since it encompasses the whole thing, not just the few hours of the wedding.

I bought 20 oz. Bubba Mugs for each of my guest bags. They cost $10 each though. You could do a cheaper travel mug though. Many of my guests did use them to keep drinks cold during the cruise.

Are you giving them the bags on the ship? If so, you could purchase a pack of water through Carnival and quickly disperse them into the bags when you get on the ship. We actually had considered buying a case of water for each of our guests rooms. I think it's around $3-4 for a 12-pack of bottled water. We had guests in 6 cabins, so that would have only cost us around $20-25 to get each cabin a case of water. You can purchase it in advance and have it waiting in their room when they arrive... along with a note saying saying "welcome" or "thank you" or whatever you want. We usually purchase a case of water for our room, just so we don't have to bother with carrying it on during boarding.

We brought:

- Our own flowers/bouquets (Real Touch)

- We brought flower petals to match our bouquets & ribbon to put on the cake

- Guest book

- I brought framed wedding photos of my parents and husband's parents (both sets of parents are still married), along with a framed note thanking them for everything they have done for us (they didn't know we were doing it and both mom's cried)

Really, the ships are flashy enough that I didn't feel like we really needed the extra décor. And it was nice not having to lug around a bunch of extra stuff at boarding. We gave favor/welcome bags out at welcome party/dinner the night before cruise.

We paid the extra for the buffet for our guests. We only had 10 non-sailing guests, though. But, I didn't want sailing guests to go eat and have non-sailing guests left out. It also helped give guests something to do between boarding and ceremony. And I didn't want to worry about anyone being hungry. Everyone enjoyed the buffet, BUT they didn't realize that there would be as much food at reception as there was. Many of them filled up at the buffet and regretted it because the reception appetizers were so good.

I don't think it would be a problem. Well, as long as the weather is nice. It rained on our wedding day and we didn't get ANY photos outside on deck. We kept our group photos to a minimum anyway and got them out of the way right after the ceremony. But, my husband and I did get dressed up again at Roatan and got some amazing photos on the beach, taken by my sister-in-law... she also took a couple of us on the ship deck while we were at it.

We did wedding photos after the muster drill, so we attended in our wedding attire. But, our station was in the main auditorium area. They had us sit in the upper row, so we were out of the way and didn't have to worry about people stepping on my dress. And they didn't have anyone go out to the lifeboats or anything like that. So, we just sat there out of the way and it wasn't a problem for us at all.

It didn't seem as short as I had expected it to feel. And we hung out with many of our guests while waiting at port and boarding, so really we got to spend much of the day with them, not just the 2 hour reception.

We also did a pizza party get together at our hotel the night before the wedding, so we had more time to spend with the non-sailing guests. We had 25 people and our hotel was kind enough to let us use the dining/great room for free for a couple hours. We just ordered a few pizzas and soda for everyone. It was a lot of fun.

After the reception, we did the posed photos with photographer, so there wasn't any time to do anything then anyway. But, we did have everyone (well, all sailing guests at least) meet up for dinner that night in the main dining room, so that kind of was a continuation of the celebration. During the cruise everyone kind of ate wherever they wanted, but we did arrange for everyone to eat together in main dining room for the last formal night.

We looked into hosting an additional event through the cruise ship for later in the week, but decided against it. And just having everyone eat together at formal night was plenty.

fabulous info...thanks!

 

were yall able to do embarkation photos at the terminal or did you have to get there too early? i'm hoping we are still able to take that pic...we buy one for each cruise because it has the date / ship on it. also...did everyone in your party get to board at the same time (cruisers and non cruisers?) i'm worried not everyone will get there in time to board early

We didn't do the embarkation photo, but I didn't ask about it either. Wedding groups are first to board at around 11am, but other VIP/priority boarding goes right afterward, so it may be available. Ask the wedding coordinator if it's possible.

Everyone boards at the same time. Everyone is supposed to be at port by 10:30am. Half our guests are notoriously late for everything, so we told them to be there at 10am. The last of our group showed up around 10:45, so I'm glad I told them an earlier time. It was kind of nice not being rushed to check in though. Then they boarded us all at 11am. They need to board everyone at once so coordinator can show everyone where they need to go and run through the process with them.

I was married on the Dream in June 2014. I have a review thread on here that you search for. The people involved on the Dream are awesome! Our wedding coordinator, Jill, was really great and made everything run so smoothly.

About half of our guests were non-sailing. They were all able to park in the employee parking just before you get to the terminal. The employees directing traffic were great about recognizing the cars and directing us in there. Of course, we were likely the only people arriving that early.

We printed maps of the ship for each person on 11x17 paper, which were very useful. The map they give people when they board is really tiny. I also marked buffet, ceremony location, and reception location on the maps so people didn't need to search for them.

For our sailing guests, I put together a page that had each persons name, photo and cabin number. Some of our guests had never met, so this was a great way to help them familiarize with each other. And the list became super useful when we needed to know peoples cabin numbers to call them or to meet up. We also gave everyone magnetic clips, which were great to keep the list on the wall near the phone.

The photos were amazing. But, definitely negotiate with them. The prices they show you aren't necessarily final prices. The photo books are really, really great, but very expensive. We bought them, thanks to help from our parents, but I kind of wish we hadn't. We love the books, but we wish they could show other parts of the wedding trip, instead of just the ceremony & reception. I'd maybe do just the posed photo book, if any. After we got back, we made a Shutterfly book that shows the whole trip. It shows pictures of the girls getting nails, hair, and makeup done, which is definitely part of the wedding experience. And I included pages for the cruise, each port, and our excursions. Anytime we want to show our wedding photos, we just show that book because it includes everything... so the expensive Carnival books are gorgeous, but just sit on a shelf.

I had my hair & makeup done by Flawless Bride and I was super pleased with it. Makeup was very natural and stayed all day, which was good since they did it at 7am and we didn't finish photos until around 7pm... that's a long time for hair and makeup to look flawless. We had them come to our hotel near the port at 6:30am. http://www.flawless-bride.com/

Relax and enjoy it. Once we got to the port, the coordinator really took over and I didn't have to worry about much. They were all so great and allowed me to really enjoy my day instead of worrying about details. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

I don't know particularly about bringing your own cake, but that just seems like a huge hassle to me. Boarding the ship is hectic enough (especially while carrying wedding dress and "critical items" you don't want to check) without having to worry about dropping a cake too. Plus, Carnival's cakes are amazingly good. I'm not usually a cake person, but I will probably order a cake from Carnival on all future cruises, even for no reason, because it was just so yummy. Other wedding cakes I've had haven't even come close to being that good. And the look of the cake isn't really that important to your wedding happiness. I'd save yourself the hassle and just get a cake from Carnival, regardless of the type. There are enough other things to worry about with a wedding without stressing over boarding with the cake, keeping it fresh, and all that other stuff... go for simplicity and save the stress.

And on a technical note, sheet cakes are often fresher because they don't take as long to decorate, so they don't need to be made as far in advance.

We sat with others and really enjoyed it. We did eat at specialty restaurant one night and hit other dining options a couple nights. I think we ate in the main dining room only 3 out of the 7 nights. It really depends on the atmosphere you want. It can be a lot of fun to socialize with others though.

Nicole those both turned out really nice!!

 

I'm very much a perfectionist myself and I know that if I take on the invites myself they will take tons of time and effort.

 

I have been looking at Vanessa's Destination Wedding Invitations and will probably use her to print everything and I'll design it myself.

Yeah, I'm a perfectionist too. These were VERY time consuming and certainly didn't save me any money. I probably worked on the passport invites on and off for nearly 6 months, getting them just right. I even had all my save the dates printed and cut, decided I didn't really like the paper, threw them out and reprinted them entirely. Luckily, I only had 25 invites otherwise it would have been an impossible task for me. But, it was definitely a lot of work for something that people look at then throw away. I did get compliments on them, but aside from my parents, all the hard work just went in the trash after people looked at them, so I'm not sure it was worth all the stress.

More photos of my passport photos.

Here are the passport invites:

I went DIY crazy on mine. I did boarding pass save the dates, about 10 months before wedding. And I did passport book invites about 3 months before wedding. They ended up being more work than I expected, but I'm also a perfectionist on things like that. But everyone loved them.

Congratulations! I was a Dream bride in June 2014. I was thrilled with how my wedding turned out.

I wrote a review afterward: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2065051

Let me know if you have any questions I can help with.

I did send Save the Dates about 10 months before my wedding, but I also wanted to include all the info, so they really ended up resembling invites more than save the dates. But, I wanted to include all the booking info and stuff like that. I sent out the real invites about 2 months before my wedding and instead of including booking info, I included more details about hotel, travel, excursion option on cruise, and specific wedding details, since anyone who was cruising had already booked by then.

What rules did you follow for invitation etiquette? I have a huge family, and it would be impossible to invite them all on the boat, so we are having a reception back home with everyone and are just including immediate family, bridal party, and aunts & uncles on the boat. My maid of honor is set on throwing me a shower, but I don't know if we should invite the whole family or just those invited to the wedding.

It's usually best to just invite people who are invited to the wedding. For the others that are just attending that reception at home, if they really want to give you gifts, they will do so at the reception or send it to you another way, even if they aren't invited to the shower. I had a couple people offer to throw me showers that I declined, because the people they wanted to invite weren't invited to my wedding.

We originally wanted to have a Disney World wedding, but later decided we wanted to get married on a cruise. We got engaged on RC's Grandeur of the Seas. I have been looking into Carnival weddings, but the reception seems way too short. Disney cruises are also an option. Any opinions?

Are you planning to have an embarkation wedding, a port wedding, or at sea? That may make a difference in cruise line choice also. Only a few of them allow at-sea weddings.

My wedding was on Carnival. We did an embarkation wedding with the 1.5 hour reception and I thought it was perfectly fine. We didn't feel like it was cut short or anything. We did meet up with the sailing guests at dinner that night to kind of continue the celebration a little.

Also, from your user name, I'm guessing your name is Nicole Lee... that's my maiden name also. I think it's awesome to see another Nicole Lee also planning a cruise wedding. Now, if your fiancé is named Brian (my husband's name), that would be even crazier.

We originally wanted to have a Disney World wedding, but later decided we wanted to get married on a cruise. We got engaged on RC's Grandeur of the Seas. I have been looking into Carnival weddings, but the reception seems way too short. Disney cruises are also an option. Any opinions?

We had originally looked at Royal Caribbean or Princess. But, it came down to price point for our guests. We went with Carnival because the cruise fares fit into our guests budgets better. And we were able to do a 7-day cruise on a newer class Carnival ship for the same price that we could have done a 3-4 day cruise on a different line. And everyone had a wonderful time. I think doing a newer Carnival ship was a good trade off over an older ship on a different cruise line.

Since only about 1/2 our guests were sailing, we did a pizza party the night before the wedding.

During the cruise, we requested everyone attend dinner in main dining room the first night and the last formal night. A few people chose to eat there every night, but others chose to go with other options some nights.

We did arrange excursions at 2 ports and invited everyone to join us... we had a total of 14 people sailing. In Cozumel, we swam with dolphins and all but 2 people joined in. In Belize we did cave tubing and there were 8 of us for that one.

Besides that everyone was pretty much on their own. We didn't want to plan out their whole vacation. We did get together often and hang out on the ship, but it wasn't planned.

We had 14 sailing guests and 11 non-sailing guests. The lunch buffet is included for sailing guests. We did pay the $10 for each non-sailing guest to eat at the buffet before the ceremony. Most people say it's not a problem to get them in without paying and nobody really checks, but I didn't want to risk it over $110. And I certainly didn't want to take the chance that someone did check and they couldn't eat.

Like others we debated the same thing and ended up booking separately through the PVP. By booking the group, you miss out on some of the deals, so you may end up paying more per cabin to get that one free cabin and therefore losing that "free cabin" savings. And you miss out on the early saver pricing, which is usually the best deal and it gives you the price guarantee so you benefit from price drops, which can save you A LOT of money.

We booked our suite with early saver pricing, but most of our guests slacked on booking and just missed on the ES deal. Prices dropped significantly the week or two before the cruise and most of them would have saved hundreds of dollars if they had booked with ES. Unfortunately, we booked a spa suite and by the time prices were dropping all the suites were booked full, so there was no comparable price drop there for that cabin class. But, usually going with the ES booking and watching for price drops will save you more money in the long run than a group booking will. At least that's what I was told by two PVP's.

Only 25 days out!!!

 

Speaking by phone with our wedding specialist Desirae today, and still trying to find out if we can have a slideshow in Chops. At this point I'm guessing that I should just let it all go until we get on board!! We were told we could have our ceremony at 1pm, but haven't been given a venue yet.

We are having a set menu (3 choices of each item) for our meal, but I have no idea what the set up of the restaurant will be. I have asked for a head table of 8, then 4 tables of 10, 1 of 6 and one of 8. Hopefully this will look nice. Then we will have our cake cutting and dance there. PS - if you book Chops its for 5:30-11! I don't know if we will utilize the whole time, but we figure people can start gathering at 5:30 and get a drink , then maybe we will arrive at 6.

I certainly don't need pictures from 2pm - 6pm though haha.

 

I'm worried about music, but sounds like an ipod is just our best option. I just know that if anyone wants a certain song played it screws up the list, I wish a DJ wasn't so much money and trouble lol

 

Would still love to see your pictures Soulfish!!! I provided my email above :)

You will probably do photos from about 1:30-3:30... then you probably have the muster drill at around 4pm. That only leaves you about 1-1.5 hours to fill. At my wedding, we ran out of time to do photos before the muster drill, so we did them afterward. But, that left us with about an hour before the drill. DH and I went back to our room and just took some time to lay down and relax in the middle of all the excitement. It was really nice to have that opportunity together to let it sink in that we just got married. And with such a busy day, you will likely cherish any chance to just slow down and absorb everything... and those moments go fast.

I've heard amazing things about all the options. I really don't think I've ever seen one person complain about Carnival's cakes. So, I don't think you can go wrong with any choice.

I went with vanilla cake (I prefer vanilla and it's more traditional for a wedding) with the Bavarian crème filling (I LOVE Bavarian crème). It was AMAZINGINGLY YUMMY! I honestly think it may be the best cake I've ever had. I was glad we had few guests (25 people) because that meant I was able to eat cake everyday for the whole cruise (and it stayed moist and just as yummy all week).

Yeah, it totally depends on you and what you want. I've done cruises before where I spent only about $200 max., utilizing what was included (brought my own soda on board instead of buying drink package, didn't drink alcohol, avoided casino, minimal souvenirs at ports).

For our wedding cruise, we tipped wedding staff and room steward pretty generously and spent about $600 on tips (including wedding, daily tips added to bill for cruise, and additional tips we gave to room steward & wait staff). We bought drink package for DH (I stuck with free drinks). We (mainly DH) spent probably $600 at casino. We spent about $400 on shore excursions. We did buy some stuff at ports, but didn't spend too much there, probably less than $100 total. We spent $70 to eat at steakhouse (SO worth it). We spent $3500 on wedding photos (we bought everything, thanks to help from parents contributing, but had originally planned on $2000 which would have been perfectly fine). I spent about $300 for hair/makeup/nails (including trials and wedding day). We stayed at port city 5 nights before cruise and 1 night after, which cost about $1200 total for hotels. Transportation to/from airport and around town probably cost about $150. Then spending money and meals there. I also paid about $50 for marriage license application & copies of certificate.

We saved for a few years to be able to enjoy the trip without worrying about money and wanted to be able to splurge and live it up a bit, and we did. But, we spent a lot more than was really necessary and could have easily had a great trip for much less. I think our total cost for cruise (we got a spa suite), wedding & all related expenses came to about $12,000. But, I think you could definitely cut costs and spend half that and still have an awesome time. It just depends on what you like to do and what you want to spend.