Any Princess Brides marrying at sea out there?

[steele]

Hello ladies!

 

Congrats on your recent nuptials! We are getting married on the Crown Princess in April 2011 - and I was wondering if you could tell me how it went for you...

 

We are getting married on the day of embarkation. How is the chapel on-board? The photos online don't make it look very elegant :( Did you have a reception on-board after?

 

Thanks for your input and response!

[tracemyirishroots]

19 day and I still have not recieved a phone call from TWE. They are suppose to call 30 days before to confirm and then send a final confirmation. Anyone else have this problem? Guess I will try and email them and see what is up. I do have the reciept that everything is paid for.

 

Tracey

[life.is.good]

19 day and I still have not recieved a phone call from TWE. They are suppose to call 30 days before to confirm and then send a final confirmation. Anyone else have this problem? Guess I will try and email them and see what is up. I do have the reciept that everything is paid for.

 

Tracey

 

I'm having the same problem too! I emailed them Monday regarding the confirmation and still haven't heard anything. Let me know if you get a hold of them.

[missymac222]

that seems pretty common, i would keep calling and leaving a message every few hours until they answered :)

[Kayakbride]

Hello ladies!

 

Congrats on your recent nuptials! We are getting married on the Crown Princess in April 2011 - and I was wondering if you could tell me how it went for you...

 

We are getting married on the day of embarkation. How is the chapel on-board? The photos online don't make it look very elegant :( Did you have a reception on-board after?

 

Thanks for your input and response!

 

 

Hi Kristen

 

We were married on board the Star Princess and the chapel was nicely decorated with live sprays of white lilies and roses and lit candelabra. The white lacquered grand piano also adds to the elegance, as do the formal uniforms of the captain and two additional staff members. The photographer is dressed in his formal-night attire. Don't worry about the chapel; everyone will be focused on how elegant the bride is. :D

 

We had a small impromptu reception in the Wheelhouse Bar with 12 guests. It was just champagne (3 bottles for $75) as it was just before dinner and we hadn't planned in advance to have any guests. These were people we met onboard. Lucky for us, there was a small band playing, and we had our first dance there.

 

Best wishes on your upcoming marriage.

[tracemyirishroots]

I emailed my coordinator and she called me yesterday. She finalized everything with me and said she would be emailing me the final paperwork. I am to sign it and fax back, then we are set.

I guess I can breath a little easier now. I also asked about the coordinator on board helping me get ready and she said that wouldn't be a problem.

 

So excited! Sept. 13th is almost here!

 

Tracey

[aprilmay85]

CONGRATS to all the upcoming brides!!! Im getting married this JAN 29th on the carnival FREEDOM!!! I am DEF FREAKING out and I still have 5 months!!! we booked it 1 year in advance and these past 7 months have FLOWN BY!! so im very excited!! but i wanted to comment on ppl asking about little favors for your guests...we bought cruise ship luggage tags & then had a koozie personalized that said "april & markos cruise wedding" "jan 29, 2010" and then had a pair of beach wooden chairs with sea shells in the sand & a veil & bow tie on each chair..it fit our cruise theme PERFECT & very reasonable prices!!! if you have any questions where I got them I would be happy to let you know where we got them...they are nice little gestures for everyone coming & they go perfect with our cruise theme!! talk to yall soon!!!

[AZPam]

Okay, you have all pretty much scared us off from having a wedding on the ship with TWE. We've decided to go with a beach wedding on St Thomas but would still like to have a "reception" dinner at Sabatini's that night. We know not to mention the word wedding but how do we get a wedding cake? Can we still order one? Can we still hire a photographer for an hour or so too?

 

How about sharing some ideas for the welcome totes? What did you put in them without breaking the bank?

 

We need a few of the recent Princess Brides to come back and post some updated reviews please.

[Kayakbride]

To AZPam who posted: "Okay, you have all pretty much scared us off from having a wedding on the ship with TWE. We've decided to go with a beach wedding on St Thomas but would still like to have a "reception" dinner at Sabatini's that night. We know not to mention the word wedding but how do we get a wedding cake? Can we still order one? Can we still hire a photographer for an hour or so too?

 

How about sharing some ideas for the welcome totes? What did you put in them without breaking the bank?

 

We need a few of the recent Princess Brides to come back and post some updated reviews please."

 

I'm sorry to hear that TWE is the reason your daughter's wedding will not be held on board. It is unfortunate that TWE is the gatekeeper, since all the heavy lifting is actually done by the cruise line and they do it well. TWE just procures your marriage license from Bermuda and forwards it to the ship.

 

As far as I know, no bride has been left at the altar by any of the cruise lines....they do an exceptional job with their ceremony, flowers, photographer, music, cake, receptions, etc. So now you'll need to do all of these things yourself, and get the marriage license and officiant on your own, or hire a wedding planner to do them for you in St. Thomas on top of your cruise costs. By all means, try to make reservations through the Cruise Personalizer for all your guests at Sabatini's, but be aware that it is a pretty small venue and may be reserved already by other passengers. I am not sure about hiring a photographer for an hour. I have seen prices for a private family portrait sitting, but not for a photojournalist/wedding photographer by the hour. Then you would have to negotiate the price of prints and/or the DVD. It probably won't be formal night since you are in port that day, so the ship's photographers won't be too busy, unless that is when they get their time off.

 

Personally, I think you'd have better luck ordering the cruise line's full wedding package than to worry about all the individual items that you may or may not end up with. The TWE inconvenience is a small price to pay for the full services you'll end up with from Princess.

 

If you do go ahead with the shoreside ceremony, please keep us updated on how things progress, and what you find out about your photographer and wedding cake.

[Kayakbride]

I emailed my coordinator and she called me yesterday. She finalized everything with me and said she would be emailing me the final paperwork. I am to sign it and fax back, then we are set.

I guess I can breath a little easier now. I also asked about the coordinator on board helping me get ready and she said that wouldn't be a problem.

 

So excited! Sept. 13th is almost here!

 

Tracey

 

Happy Wedding Day!

Best wishes for a loving future to you and your groom, Tracey!

[mg3251]

CONGRATS to all the upcoming brides!!! Im getting married this JAN 29th on the carnival FREEDOM!!! I am DEF FREAKING out and I still have 5 months!!! we booked it 1 year in advance and these past 7 months have FLOWN BY!! so im very excited!! but i wanted to comment on ppl asking about little favors for your guests...we bought cruise ship luggage tags & then had a koozie personalized that said "april & markos cruise wedding" "jan 29, 2010" and then had a pair of beach wooden chairs with sea shells in the sand & a veil & bow tie on each chair..it fit our cruise theme PERFECT & very reasonable prices!!! if you have any questions where I got them I would be happy to let you know where we got them...they are nice little gestures for everyone coming & they go perfect with our cruise theme!! talk to yall soon!!!

 

Interested in where you got your wedding favors from...

[AZPam]

To AZPam who posted: "Okay, you have all pretty much scared us off from having a wedding on the ship with TWE. We've decided to go with a beach wedding on St Thomas but would still like to have a "reception" dinner at Sabatini's that night. We know not to mention the word wedding but how do we get a wedding cake? Can we still order one? Can we still hire a photographer for an hour or so too?

 

How about sharing some ideas for the welcome totes? What did you put in them without breaking the bank?

 

We need a few of the recent Princess Brides to come back and post some updated reviews please."

 

I'm sorry to hear that TWE is the reason your daughter's wedding will not be held on board. It is unfortunate that TWE is the gatekeeper, since all the heavy lifting is actually done by the cruise line and they do it well. TWE just procures your marriage license from Bermuda and forwards it to the ship.

 

As far as I know, no bride has been left at the altar by any of the cruise lines....they do an exceptional job with their ceremony, flowers, photographer, music, cake, receptions, etc. So now you'll need to do all of these things yourself, and get the marriage license and officiant on your own, or hire a wedding planner to do them for you in St. Thomas on top of your cruise costs. By all means, try to make reservations through the Cruise Personalizer for all your guests at Sabatini's, but be aware that it is a pretty small venue and may be reserved already by other passengers. I am not sure about hiring a photographer for an hour. I have seen prices for a private family portrait sitting, but not for a photojournalist/wedding photographer by the hour. Then you would have to negotiate the price of prints and/or the DVD. It probably won't be formal night since you are in port that day, so the ship's photographers won't be too busy, unless that is when they get their time off.

 

Personally, I think you'd have better luck ordering the cruise line's full wedding package than to worry about all the individual items that you may or may not end up with. The TWE inconvenience is a small price to pay for the full services you'll end up with from Princess.

 

If you do go ahead with the shoreside ceremony, please keep us updated on how things progress, and what you find out about your photographer and wedding cake.

 

You bring up some excellent points that we might have to still consider. It's all just so confusing! The issue my daughter and I are both having is just not having the contact and control we need. We aren't real picky but if we want answers, we want them in a reasonable amount of time, not 3 months later when it get's closer to the wedding date.

 

I guess first things first. She still needs the ring! :rolleyes: He wants to "surprise" her with the official engagement even though they have been talking about it for 3 months now.

[life.is.good]

We just returned from being married on the Emerald Princess. The experience on board is 100% better than dealing with TWE I promise! They were so accommodating and made me feel so special. They even made sure my runner was perfect and I walked in at the very second I wanted to.

 

We were set for a deck wedding but with the rain the night before the Captain was worried about my dress being ruined and guests slipping so we had it inside. Which turned out to be a great idea because it was very hot. We had a majority of our pictures taken outside and they are fantastic!

 

If you can make it past TWE, Princess makes it worth it I promise!

[weddingcruise0711]

We just returned from being married on the Emerald Princess. The experience on board is 100% better than dealing with TWE I promise! They were so accommodating and made me feel so special. They even made sure my runner was perfect and I walked in at the very second I wanted to.

 

We were set for a deck wedding but with the rain the night before the Captain was worried about my dress being ruined and guests slipping so we had it inside. Which turned out to be a great idea because it was very hot. We had a majority of our pictures taken outside and they are fantastic!

 

If you can make it past TWE, Princess makes it worth it I promise!

 

Congrats on your wedding! I'm so happy to hear everything went better once on board. I am getting married on the golden princess in july 2011, so I just started working with TWE. I was getting nervous already due to their communication issues. A couple of questions for you... Do you know if they allow deck weddings on all ships? I haven't seen that as an option for me. Did you meet with the WC the day before? Were you married on embarkation day or another day?

 

Thanks so much for sharing, it is so helpful for those of us who are still planning! Congrats again!

[life.is.good]

Congrats on your wedding! I'm so happy to hear everything went better once on board. I am getting married on the golden princess in july 2011, so I just started working with TWE. I was getting nervous already due to their communication issues. A couple of questions for you... Do you know if they allow deck weddings on all ships? I haven't seen that as an option for me. Did you meet with the WC the day before? Were you married on embarkation day or another day?

 

Thanks so much for sharing, it is so helpful for those of us who are still planning! Congrats again!

 

TWE won't mention a deck wedding to you, you have to have them ask the ship. Then the Captain will make the final decision the morning of the wedding. I had a letter in our cabin to meet with the WC that first night before dinner. She was amazing! I met with her once again before the wedding but was able to call her or go to her office any time I needed. We got married on the 3rd day, which was the first day at sea. We had 30 guests and I wanted to make sure they enjoyed the port time. I hope that helps!

[garysum]

My beautiful Bride and I were married on Golden Princess on August 22nd, on an Alaska RT Seattle. It was very special.

 

TWE: They were fine when all was said and done. Had to switch contact people half way through. Likely due to turn over, but that happens. My only concern was timing of calls. We didn't do our final call until 7 days prior to sailing (part our fault and part theirs). Worries that any last minute changes would not make it, turned out fine.

 

Wedding Coordinators on board: Ceremony was on the 1st full day at sea so we were anxious about last minute details. Frimetta and Isabel were the BEST! They met with us on embarkation date and brought all of the service leads to us. Things we discussed were: Changing our Wedding Dinner from Sabatini's to Crown Room (more space more private), Bouquet additions (after we asked, they brought florist, Javi, to the meeting and he did an amazing job on flowers), Photographer-Jonathan (also excellent). Extras we didn't expect were...you asked and they took care of it. Robes, cake, changing dinner reservations, escorts from cabin to chapel, reception details, steamed gown and tux on short notice, etc. We put our faith in their capable hands and it turned out wonderful.

 

Ceremony: Was as quick as everyone suspected. We were the only wedding that day, so no pressure. Even moved it back a bit to accommodate the captain as ship was to be in fog. No problem. Our group was very small so not much to coordinate. Wedding performed in the Hearts & Minds Chapel on board. Captain was very nice (say your thank you's then as we never saw him again during the week), music nice, photography excellent. Decorations were curios as they had a mix of wedding white and tropical flower arrangements. Don't forget to arrange in advance for the web-cam to be on. We did this last minute and no one back home got our text messages.

 

Reception: Held in Skywakers, great views. Cake and food was much more than we could eat in a week. Saved some for the cabins and the crew got to eat well that afternoon. The reception hour went extremely fast so make sure you have a schedule. I would extend the reception if possible, especially if you plan on the traditional activities (cake cutting, first dance, dad/daughter dance, toasts, etc). We brought our own music CD so it was very custom and we felt super special as there were more crew waiting on us than in the wedding group.

 

Some of our best memories:

Princess did a Champaign glass pyramid during the first formal night. Happened to be the same night as our wedding. We were honored to be asked to do the first pour on the pyramid in front several hundred passengers. Very special.

Princess cabin stewards don't do the traditional towel characters at turn down every evening. But EJ took special care to create kissing swan towels on our bed that night. Very special.

Photography around the ship after the wedding, before the reception, was very cool. Many ooos and ahhs, as we walked through areas. We felt like royalty as passengers stopped to check out the fancy threads and pass on their well wishes. Even got time on the bridge to see the best views and pose for many pictures.

And one not cruise related...We flew Southwest Airlines which was a great decision. Easy flight and effort at the airports, and bags fly free! But the best thing was the impromptu in-flight ceremony. They asked us to practice walking down the aisle (of the plane). A handmade crown of peanut bags, stirrer sticks, and a toilet paper Veil was made for the bride. Applause from the full airplane and cockpit announcements were super funny the rest of the way. We departed with a bottle of Champaign from the flight crew as a gift. Very Very special.

 

Good luck. Will one day hope to upload pictures to Flickr and provide a link.

 

T & G

[weddingcruise0711]

My beautiful Bride and I were married on Golden Princess on August 22nd, on an Alaska RT Seattle. It was very special.

 

TWE: They were fine when all was said and done. Had to switch contact people half way through. Likely due to turn over, but that happens. My only concern was timing of calls. We didn't do our final call until 7 days prior to sailing (part our fault and part theirs). Worries that any last minute changes would not make it, turned out fine.

 

Wedding Coordinators on board: Ceremony was on the 1st full day at sea so we were anxious about last minute details. Frimetta and Isabel were the BEST! They met with us on embarkation date and brought all of the service leads to us. Things we discussed were: Changing our Wedding Dinner from Sabatini's to Crown Room (more space more private), Bouquet additions (after we asked, they brought florist, Javi, to the meeting and he did an amazing job on flowers), Photographer-Jonathan (also excellent). Extras we didn't expect were...you asked and they took care of it. Robes, cake, changing dinner reservations, escorts from cabin to chapel, reception details, steamed gown and tux on short notice, etc. We put our faith in their capable hands and it turned out wonderful.

 

Ceremony: Was as quick as everyone suspected. We were the only wedding that day, so no pressure. Even moved it back a bit to accommodate the captain as ship was to be in fog. No problem. Our group was very small so not much to coordinate. Wedding performed in the Hearts & Minds Chapel on board. Captain was very nice (say your thank you's then as we never saw him again during the week), music nice, photography excellent. Decorations were curios as they had a mix of wedding white and tropical flower arrangements. Don't forget to arrange in advance for the web-cam to be on. We did this last minute and no one back home got our text messages.

 

Reception: Held in Skywakers, great views. Cake and food was much more than we could eat in a week. Saved some for the cabins and the crew got to eat well that afternoon. The reception hour went extremely fast so make sure you have a schedule. I would extend the reception if possible, especially if you plan on the traditional activities (cake cutting, first dance, dad/daughter dance, toasts, etc). We brought our own music CD so it was very custom and we felt super special as there were more crew waiting on us than in the wedding group.

 

Some of our best memories:

Princess did a Champaign glass pyramid during the first formal night. Happened to be the same night as our wedding. We were honored to be asked to do the first pour on the pyramid in front several hundred passengers. Very special.

Princess cabin stewards don't do the traditional towel characters at turn down every evening. But EJ took special care to create kissing swan towels on our bed that night. Very special.

Photography around the ship after the wedding, before the reception, was very cool. Many ooos and ahhs, as we walked through areas. We felt like royalty as passengers stopped to check out the fancy threads and pass on their well wishes. Even got time on the bridge to see the best views and pose for many pictures.

And one not cruise related...We flew Southwest Airlines which was a great decision. Easy flight and effort at the airports, and bags fly free! But the best thing was the impromptu in-flight ceremony. They asked us to practice walking down the aisle (of the plane). A handmade crown of peanut bags, stirrer sticks, and a toilet paper Veil was made for the bride. Applause from the full airplane and cockpit announcements were super funny the rest of the way. We departed with a bottle of Champaign from the flight crew as a gift. Very Very special.

 

Good luck. Will one day hope to upload pictures to Flickr and provide a link.

 

T & G

 

 

 

Thank you so much for posting all of this valuable information. My fiance and I are getting married in July 2011, and it sounds like we have chosen the exact same cruise! We too are headed for Alaska, via Seattle, on the Golden Princess. We have chosen the first sea day to get married as well. Reading your post has truly calmed many of my fears about the unknown. I have been scouring this posts to find someone who got married on the Golden Princess, or on the Alaska Cruise. Can I ask how large your group was? We are expecting about 20 people total. We have requested the 3:30 wedding time. I am slightly nervous about the chapel decor, as the web cam pictures leave much to be desired. I would be thrilled to see any pictures if you are willing to share. How long was your reception? Was it hard to get Skywalkers reserved? TWE has made it sound nearly impossible. Thanks again!

[garysum]

Thank you so much for posting all of this valuable information. My fiance and I are getting married in July 2011, and it sounds like we have chosen the exact same cruise! We too are headed for Alaska, via Seattle, on the Golden Princess. We have chosen the first sea day to get married as well. Reading your post has truly calmed many of my fears about the unknown. I have been scouring this posts to find someone who got married on the Golden Princess, or on the Alaska Cruise. Can I ask how large your group was? We are expecting about 20 people total. We have requested the 3:30 wedding time. I am slightly nervous about the chapel decor, as the web cam pictures leave much to be desired. I would be thrilled to see any pictures if you are willing to share. How long was your reception? Was it hard to get Skywalkers reserved? TWE has made it sound nearly impossible. Thanks again!

 

• Group size was 6 including B&G
  
• We booked 2pm wedding slot but we were only one that day, or all week for that matter, as they can only have weddings on one day of our itinerary (international waters thing). As I said the Captain sent word to ask if we can move back to 3pm due to expected fog. Planners moved other corresponding reservations for us.
  
• Chapel decor was minimal but nice enough. Not much decoration but tasteful. Was focused on my bride so don't recall that much. You'll see what you need in the pics
  
• Cermony at 3:00ish for about 20 minutes, tops. Guest went to reception at Skywalkers after. B&G did photographer let pics around ship for about 45 minutes. Reception 4pm-5pm and flew by. Would have booked and extra hour in hindsight.
  
• Skywalkers was booked through TWE and Princess took 4 weeks to confirm after initial requests and many follow up requests from TWE. Believe delay was on the Princess end. Didn't get the impression it was difficult to get. BTW they did block off the tunnel for our event. Its a bigger place than you think and felt empty considering only 6 of us.
  
• If you provide your email, will send you to our CVSPhoto page link for the pictures. Most are from the photographer (we bought the DVD) and some are from private cameras. Still working to get a flickr page up.
  

cheers

[Kayakbride]

My beautiful Bride and I were married on Golden Princess on August 22nd, on an Alaska RT Seattle. It was very special.

 

TWE: They were fine when all was said and done. Had to switch contact people half way through. Likely due to turn over, but that happens. My only concern was timing of calls. We didn't do our final call until 7 days prior to sailing (part our fault and part theirs). Worries that any last minute changes would not make it, turned out fine.

 

Wedding Coordinators on board: Ceremony was on the 1st full day at sea so we were anxious about last minute details. Frimetta and Isabel were the BEST! They met with us on embarkation date and brought all of the service leads to us. Things we discussed were: Changing our Wedding Dinner from Sabatini's to Crown Room (more space more private), Bouquet additions (after we asked, they brought florist, Javi, to the meeting and he did an amazing job on flowers), Photographer-Jonathan (also excellent). Extras we didn't expect were...you asked and they took care of it. Robes, cake, changing dinner reservations, escorts from cabin to chapel, reception details, steamed gown and tux on short notice, etc. We put our faith in their capable hands and it turned out wonderful.

 

Ceremony: Was as quick as everyone suspected. We were the only wedding that day, so no pressure. Even moved it back a bit to accommodate the captain as ship was to be in fog. No problem. Our group was very small so not much to coordinate. Wedding performed in the Hearts & Minds Chapel on board. Captain was very nice (say your thank you's then as we never saw him again during the week), music nice, photography excellent. Decorations were curios as they had a mix of wedding white and tropical flower arrangements. Don't forget to arrange in advance for the web-cam to be on. We did this last minute and no one back home got our text messages.

 

Reception: Held in Skywakers, great views. Cake and food was much more than we could eat in a week. Saved some for the cabins and the crew got to eat well that afternoon. The reception hour went extremely fast so make sure you have a schedule. I would extend the reception if possible, especially if you plan on the traditional activities (cake cutting, first dance, dad/daughter dance, toasts, etc). We brought our own music CD so it was very custom and we felt super special as there were more crew waiting on us than in the wedding group.

 

Some of our best memories:

Princess did a Champaign glass pyramid during the first formal night. Happened to be the same night as our wedding. We were honored to be asked to do the first pour on the pyramid in front several hundred passengers. Very special.

Princess cabin stewards don't do the traditional towel characters at turn down every evening. But EJ took special care to create kissing swan towels on our bed that night. Very special.

Photography around the ship after the wedding, before the reception, was very cool. Many ooos and ahhs, as we walked through areas. We felt like royalty as passengers stopped to check out the fancy threads and pass on their well wishes. Even got time on the bridge to see the best views and pose for many pictures.

And one not cruise related...We flew Southwest Airlines which was a great decision. Easy flight and effort at the airports, and bags fly free! But the best thing was the impromptu in-flight ceremony. They asked us to practice walking down the aisle (of the plane). A handmade crown of peanut bags, stirrer sticks, and a toilet paper Veil was made for the bride. Applause from the full airplane and cockpit announcements were super funny the rest of the way. We departed with a bottle of Champaign from the flight crew as a gift. Very Very special.

 

Good luck. Will one day hope to upload pictures to Flickr and provide a link.

 

T & G

 

I'm so happy to hear your experience was as good as ours...only we didn't get the Southwest treatment but I don't recall letting them know we were on our way to be married - how did you let them know? You mentioned a tunnel...was that the tunnel to Skywalkers? I can't visualize any other tunnel (we were on the Star Princess, but I think its the same as the Golden). I look forward to seeing your photos.

[missymac222]

Sounds awesome! so glad everything went great and cant wait to see pictures!!! :D good to know things get better once on the boat... but I'm worried theres going to be too much to take care of on the boat! TWE is sure making me mad! I wanted to get skywalkers for our reception but they said its unavailable :(Quite disappointed by this. been trying to figure out where to have it for 3 months now.. they won’t give me answers! They arnt very accommodating at all!

[tracemyirishroots]

We got married aboard the Sapphire Princess, Seattle to Alaska, on Sept.13th.

Chris from Princess Customer Service was wonderful. He called on our first day aboard and arranged to meet with us. He went over everything with us. Our wedding was the next day, the first sea day. He noticed we were having the rose ceremony but didn't have the paperwork with the wording. Luckily I had brought a copy with me. My suggestion is to bring a copy of the ceremony you have chosen, I am so glad I did.

Also make sure you tell them to turn on the web cam if you want in on, normally it is off. I posted the webcam and time on my facebook page, and many friends and family were able to watch it. It isn't a live video, but a still picture that refreshes every few minutes.

On the day of the wedding, Chris met with the groom and the wedding party at the Wheelhouse Lounge, right across from the Heats and Mind Chapel. He sent an assistant to my room to walk me to the chapel.

Chapel was nice, better than what you see on the web cam.

We had fog also and was lucky the captain was able to leave the bridge to do the ceremony, if the fog had gotten worse the wedding would have had to be performed by the purser.

Piano music wasn't great, but better than nothing.

Chris was great making sure my train was laying out nicely. He really did his best to make sure all my needs were met.

Photographer did an okay job, I only ordered a few extra pictures.

Cake was not what we had ordered, not sure if this was a mix up in cakes or if the chef didn't have the white with strawberry filling.

We also had the Champagne fountain the night of our wedding, and since it was formal night and we were still in our wedding clothes, it made a really nice picture. We also were invited to the bridge, we had some nice photos from there.

 

Overall, the wedding was nice. TWE is not great on communications, so you need to keep up on everthing. Make sure you bring a copy of everything on the ship with you.

 

The Princess staff was great! They will do a great job in helping make your day special.

[weddingcruise0711]

• Group size was 6 including B&G
  
• We booked 2pm wedding slot but we were only one that day, or all week for that matter, as they can only have weddings on one day of our itinerary (international waters thing). As I said the Captain sent word to ask if we can move back to 3pm due to expected fog. Planners moved other corresponding reservations for us.
  
• Chapel decor was minimal but nice enough. Not much decoration but tasteful. Was focused on my bride so don't recall that much. You'll see what you need in the pics
  
• Cermony at 3:00ish for about 20 minutes, tops. Guest went to reception at Skywalkers after. B&G did photographer let pics around ship for about 45 minutes. Reception 4pm-5pm and flew by. Would have booked and extra hour in hindsight.
  
• Skywalkers was booked through TWE and Princess took 4 weeks to confirm after initial requests and many follow up requests from TWE. Believe delay was on the Princess end. Didn't get the impression it was difficult to get. BTW they did block off the tunnel for our event. Its a bigger place than you think and felt empty considering only 6 of us.
  
• If you provide your email, will send you to our CVSPhoto page link for the pictures. Most are from the photographer (we bought the DVD) and some are from private cameras. Still working to get a flickr page up.
  

cheers

 

 

G - My email is MHScheer19@aol.com. Thank you again, so much!

[garysum]

G - My email is MHScheer19@aol.com. Thank you again, so much!

 

weddingcruise0711: you have mail.

 

G

[garysum]

I'm so happy to hear your experience was as good as ours...only we didn't get the Southwest treatment but I don't recall letting them know we were on our way to be married - how did you let them know? You mentioned a tunnel...was that the tunnel to Skywalkers? I can't visualize any other tunnel (we were on the Star Princess, but I think its the same as the Golden). I look forward to seeing your photos.

 

Kayakbride:

The day before we left, bride's co-workers bought her a hair comb tiarra that she wore until wedding day, including in-route to Seattle. Conversations started from there. Brought us a lot of special attention which was nice.

Yes the tunnel was the one up to Skywalkers, which was the only access point.

G

[iwingy]

I should have returned a while ago and give my piece of information back to the board. Tomorrow is three months as we have been married and I would like to thank you all, everything I learned here was EXTREMELY useful for our wedding on August 3rd 2010 onboard Emerald Princess. First of all - it was fantastic! The best day of our lives, the best experience ever.

We were so relaxed and happy on and after the wedding. Princess staff were impeccable. Maria from Portugal who was our coordinator did great job. We met with her on the embarkation day to go through all the details. We were the first (11 am) of the three weddings on the first sea day.

What we have discovered at meeting with Maria:

TWE did not communicated properly all our choices and gave us some wrong information

We budgeted accordingly.

It turned out:

- Maria has in her files wrong color of boutonniere (most likely our fault too - we have changes it back and forth couple of times). This was fixed, Maria communicated change to the florists.

- Maria was really surprised why anyone wants Crooner's for cake cutting and champagne and suggested something more private and elegant. We were not given any choice with TWE at all. They said Crooner's was the only venue available. Finally we had it all at Sabbatini! At 12.00 o'clock with nobody else but we and our party of 6, in a beautiful sun-lit restaurant that complimented my dress perfectly =) Thanks a million times to Maria!

- Pictures were the biggest disappointment. Dear princess brides, please be aware that their pricing policy has changed. You cannot buy CD with all photos taken for $500 onboard. It will coast you $1000! If one wants to get it for $500 they should pre-order and pre-pay it through TWE. I was so negatively surprised by this that I started crying, tears were coming out of my eyes and I couldn't do anything about it. We have thoroughly budgeted the trip and could not get extra 500 out of nowhere. Then photographer started crying and Maria as well. This was happening in Maria's office, can you imagine my poor then-fiance, surrounded by 3 crying girls? We simply could not afford another 500 for the photos. And without photos what was the point? I was about to cancel the whole thing. Finally supervisor of the photo team made a decision to sell this CD for $500 to us. Also at least at Emerald they no longer allow B&G to the bridge. In our case they made an exception and we had those beautiful photos. Also photo proofs are no longer given for free, they are $199. I've kept copy of the price list. I will scan it and upload it here in few days.

At our meeting with Maria we signed the release and ask Web Cam to be on. Relatives and friends back home could see us in black and white.

 

Apart from that mini catastrophe-to-be with the CD everything went perfect and smooth and seamless. On the day of the ceremony I had my hair and make up done in Lotus SPA by Cassandra from South Africa. She did great job, hair and the whole look was perfect.

We had a couple from Russia as our witnesses and I asked the lady to help me with my dress. Then Maria's assistant went up to get us. The Chapel was decorated with white flowers, Monika who was a pianist played beautiful music and the bouquet was perfectly shaped, florist did great job with ribbons that I brought along. I was so touched that cried (happily cried this time =) for most of the ceremony. Our Captain was from Italy, he was really caring and we enjoyed his company a lot.

After the ceremony we had photo session around the ship and in ~50 minutes were up at Sabbatini.

Cake was exactly as we ordered, and very delicious and huge. We ate only half of it after the ceremony (B&G + 6 adult guests!). The rest was served at dinner and we shared it with our new friends at neighbour table. That was formal night as well, so we were in our wedding attire in the evening and it felt like the whole ship congratulated us! This was amazing!

Overall this is the best experience of our lives. TWE might be annoying (btw, we do not have our documents yet, when rerurned home we just went and got married by local authorities in Russia, so that I can change my name chagne and speed up the whole process, but we still hope to receive those documents from Bermuda). But all these are so minor things. The whole Princess team want to make you feel special on this day and during the cruise and make everything possible and impossible.

I'm so happy we had our wedding at sea with Princess.