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My Carnival Pride Wedding 11/15/17


Drradical27
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I am one month out from my wedding on the Carnival Pride. I wanted to give a general idea of what I am doing. I have lots more information I will be adding in the next month. Including the very few issues I have had. Feel free to ask questions :):bottle-pop:

 

 

 

THE DRESS: The first thing I did before booking or planning anything was get my dress. David's Bridal was having a sale and my mom and I went together to find a dress. I tried on 2 dresses and the second one was everything I ever dreamed of. I am 32 so I grew up in the late 80's-early 90's and I have always been a huge little mermaid fan. My dress is exactly that. Think about the end of the movie when Ariel marries prince Eric on the ship. That sparkly ball gown...now just minus the puffy sleeves. The dress is by the designer Zac Posen and was originally $1300 but for some reason on that magical day it was on sale for $500. SCORE. I also got a veil, a garment bag and the dress restoration kit, (was on sale from $200 down to $60)

I will post pictures of my dress after the wedding just so I can make sure it is secret from my man.

I saw the easiness of getting this dress as a sign that I was on the right track for my wedding.

HOW WE CHOSE TO CRUISE FOR OUR WEDDING: We knew we wanted to do cruise but there was apprehension for one specific reason. My sister at the time of my engagement was pregnant with twins.....on top of the daughter she had had a year before as well as two older daughters. (So as of today that is 2 6 month olds, 1 year and a half year old, a 9 year old and a 16 year old, her and her husband) I was terrified to put the pressure on her to be able to get on the boat for the wedding. Its not cheap and I knew it would be a stretch. But having my only sister and her kids there meant everything to me. So after a few months after the babies were born i sat her down and she gave me a roaring BOOK THE CRUISE. And she promised she would be there with her clan. Once I got the good to go on that....I called Carnival.

DECIDING ON WHAT WEDDING CRUISE: I knew we wanted the pride so it was a matter of deciding on where wedding would be and what time of year we would do it. We chose the cruise to the Bahamas. (Pt. Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport) My fiance and I have done this cruse before but the price was right (especially for our guests) . We also decided on November, because hurricane season is over and the weather should be great. The next step was...Do we get married the day of embarkation or at a port???? I have been on the boat while people are getting married during embarkation and I just didn't feel like it was for me. We decided to have our wedding on the boat at Port Canaveral. The port is a bit boring, and honestly no one in my crew is going to do any excursions there so we thought it would be great. Most people will be off the boat and we will get some great photos with the Florida Sunshine in the background.

CHOOSING PACKAGE: As for what wedding package we chose we decided on the "Time to Celebrate Big" package. I think it came to about $2500 for the ceremony and a 1.5 hour reception. I just looked on Carnival weddings website and it seems they have changed the Brochure and whole set up for weddings.....So I guess I am lucky! Here is the new wedding Brochure https://www.carnival.com/~/media/CCLUS/Images/pdf/Weddingspricelist.pdf

THE MUSIC: My fiance is a musician and I am a big time music lover. They have 2 options for the DJ, one is where you have a DJ who mixes the music for you. He creates a mix based off of a "general music theme" and will use your MP3's of songs for the special things like garter toss or first dance(if the song is not on the carnival music library) the other option is to make your own playlist and the coordinator just pushes play. (with this option the music plays softly in the background and you do not get to have reception in the nightclub. The price difference was about 50 dollars difference (50$ more to use the DJ) So we went with that one, we really wanted the club setting and we are going to do everything to communicate with the DJ the style we are looking for. Because under no circumstances will I want Taylor Swift or Selena Gomez played at my limited time(1.5 hours) wedding reception. There is a sheet to fill out and we plan on "suggesting" what we are looking for.

PHOTOGRAPHY: This is one I am still brainstorming about. I am a professional photographer. If i could shoot my own wedding.... I would, So this is a big deal to me and I will do everything in my power to get what I want. The beauty of this is that Iphones take pretty amazing photos, I will have photographer friends that have their cameras and I WILL have my camera on hand lol. So if I want to partake in the shots of the Groom with the bridesmaids....Im gonna do it. I also will be more than happy with 15 prints from the photographer and just ALL of the proofs on a CD or flash drive....this is a work in process and I know I will have to be prepared to speak to the photographer on the boat and sweet talk them a bit. Any advice from previous couples?

RECEPTION FOOD: My fiance and I are vegetarians(well I am a pescetarian) We had to ask the coordinator for a special menu to choose some of our Hors d’oeuvres so some of them can be vegan....this will be a great option and I am so glad they offer it.

BRIDESMAIDS: I have 3 Bridesmaids proper....one friend that I would love to include are not sure if they are coming yet and I will probably have one junior bridesmaid. We found their dresses on ASOS.com they have BEAUTIFUL DRESSES. We decided to choose 4 different dresses that are all similar and let the girls pick whatever one they want. My dress has sequins on it so that is part of the theme. So When my girls choose their dresses I will share.

I also have been making gift bags for the bridesmaids....they will have silk robes for us to get reading in, little notebooks with their initials on them, tropical themed drink tumblers(one of the best things to bring on a cruise....having a big cup full of water helps save one in the middle of the night from dehydration from too much sun and booze), the tumbler will be filled with things like advil, wet-whips, tampons lip gloss and other little emergency things. For the Groomsmen we found some really cool flask sets with little shot glasses that have skulls on them(got these at home goods during Halloween for 7$ each.

Well this is my Journey so Far I have a lot more to share. Coming in the next few months.... Do I get a second dress to rock after the reception , so we can party on the deck? How will our song list turn out? Should I plan a small party at my beach house this summer, for those that cannot come on cruise? What should I get for my mom and new mother in law? SO many photos to come too. I am SOOOOOO excited to share our journey with you all! Thanks for Reading

UPDATE: So as I mention we have a few options for bridesmaid dresses. I personally have a Maid of Honor (My childhood Best friend) A Matron of Honor (My Sister), A bridesmaid (My other best friend) and a Junior Bridesmaid(my 16 year old Niece) There may be one other bridesmaid but she is not sure if she can come yet. Anyway.... So the dresses are from ASOS.com. There are 2 options of the 5 or 6 we found that we liked. Linked are the pictures to the 2 the girls will choose from. I also have included pictures of the dress and pillow my 9 year old niece (and goddaughter) will wear as ring bearer. We decided since her and my fiance are best friends that she should be able to have the very important responsibility of transporting the rings to him and standing by his side. This was she is kind of like a best man without using the word "man" in her title. I got the dress for her on Amazon $39.99 and the Pillow on Ebay $6.99. Both are coming from China and I cannot wait to see them in person.

http://**********/a/MwdKX Enjoy!

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