Grandeur of the Seas Wedding Review 10-28-10

[Venusleo1]

We just got married aboard RCI's Grandeur of the Seas Thursday October 28th. 2010 out of Fort Lauderdale, FL (Port Everglades) on a 4 night western caribbean cruise. Our wedding was durring embarkation day while we were still docked at the port. We had 27 non-sailing guests and 1 sailing guest along with us the bride and groom.

I LOVED every moment of our wedding and if I had to do it all over again I would.

 

A little about me/us... I am an avid cruiser and I met my husband a little over 5 months ago, it was love at first site and we spent every day together since the day we met. So fairy tales do very much come true!

Anyways I really wanted to introduce him to my love of travel and cruising and shortly after meeting we booked this cruise. I wanted him to experience a smaller ship and a shorter itinerary to see if he liked it and then we can always upgrade him to a biger/longer cruise. We live in South Florida and I really enjoy cruising as often as possible, subsequently I end up doing alot more shorter cruises on the smaller ships then longer ones on the mega ships and I didnt want to have him go on one of the big ships to end up being disapointed in the future when we do a short 3 nighter to the bahamas. This cruise was the perfect cruise for his first time.

About a month after we met he proposed and mentioned the idea of getting married on our cruise. I called Royal Romance (The Wedding Experience) the very following Monday.

 

After getting pricing information ect we decided to go for it!

Working with TWE was not the best and it wasnt the worst either. I am not really into planning all the details of a wedding so I liked that they had a package ect and I could just choose any add ons, and I liked that they handled everything. Kinda like a one stop shop. I didnt like how they took forever to return a call/e-mail and I was always worried they would drop the ball and screw something up. I did not feel confident in them at all!

 

We bought an invitation box/make your own kinda thing at Michael's and my very artistic, creative, and tallented hunny printed them all up and then we put them all together at home. We also found our cake topper at Michael's too.

I had found a hair stylist/makeup artist on-line and checked out her work and really liked her so I scheduled a trial, she did a great job and so I hired her for my wedding day. Miriam Behar is her name. She comes to you on the day of your wedding and has a whole team of people if there are numerous girls that need hair/makeup.

I purchased my dress vail and hair accessory at David's Bridal, the tuxes were done by Men's Warehouse.

We went on-line and found a really nice sand ceremony kit as well as a personalized isle runner. Aside from that we didnt buy any additional decorations, favors ect.

 

Day of my wedding the staging area for me was to be my dad's house in Hollywood about 20 minutes from Port Everglades (hubby was going to get ready at home and catch a ride down to the port with some of our guests) I would be getting a ride to the port by my dad and the rest of our guests were told to be at the port by 10:30 am. Since everyone is local they all just drove down in their own cars, so I did not set up any transportation. I only had 1 brides maid, my maid of honor and my hubby just had his best man, so we did not have a large bridal party and I was the only one who would be using the stylist services that morning.

It took about two hours to get my hair and makeup done so I asked her to be there by 7:30. By 9:45 we were done and I was loading my dress into the car and on our way to the port.

 

Okay so this is where it gets really crazy!!! I drove my own car down with my two little sisters, I had my dress, the isle runner, my luggale, the sand ceremony kit, my cary on, my file with all the e-mails confirmations ect all with my in my car. When we got to the porters they didnt have anything for me to wheel the rest of my stuff into the port. My one sister took the car to park it and my other sister was helping me to cary all the stuff over to the enterance. I was sweatting like crazy!! I came dressed in just a tank top and shorts but I was super hot and it was a mess trying to cary all of that stuff, so girls try to get some extra people there to help you.

When we got to the enterance of the port my two wedding coordinators were there to escort us and our wedding guests onto the ship. My hunny was there about 10 minutes after me and it was confusion beyond belief!! The scanners were down people were getting mad, it wasnt good and I was a nervous wreck!!! The wedding officiant used this time to do a run through with us and ask us some of our preferences ect. for durring the ceremony. I couldnt even tell you what was going on because my mind was going 1000 mph.

 

After that very stressful begining everything else seemed to go amazing!

We were checked in and escorted to our room on board about 11:20am, we took some of this time to relax hang out with friends ect. I had my hunnie and his best man get ready in the room first and I went to the Schooner Bar right outside our wedding venue The South Pacific Lounge. Alot of our guests were in here all hanging out and it was fun to get to just relax and chat, and have a glass of champaigne! Once the boys were dressed they called me and me and my maid of honor left the bar and went to the room and the guys went to the bar. It was neat neither of us saw each other in our wedding atire before the wedding.

At 12:45 the wedding coordinator came to my room and got me and my maid of honor and we walked back towards the South Pacific Lounge where our wedding and ceremony were to be held.

This is where I met Hoffman my photographer and he took a bunch of shots of me and my dad.

 

Then the show began and I had my maid of honor walk first followed by me and my dad to Here Comes the Bride and I started crying as soon as I saw my husband. The ceremony was short and sweet and we did the sand ceremony afterwards. We walked back out of the venue took a bunch of pictures and then the DJ we hired re-introduced us as we walked back in. We choose an Hou D OUves (sp) and open bar package. We walked right in and did the first dance right away (You & Me by Dave Matthews Band) followed by the cake cutting followed by toasts by the Maid of Honor and Best Man, one thing after another really fast! Lots of pictures in between and then we had about 45 minutes to dance, mingle and hang our with our guests before Hoffman dragged us away for the additional hour of photography I purchased. I wished I had more time to party and celebrate with my friends and family but we left them having a great time.

Shane and I then spent the next hour running all around the ship taking beautiful photos everywhere.

We went to muster drill still dressed up and I had us booked for My Time Dinning reservations for 6 for a table for two. They brought our wedding cake out for desert (and then delivered the rest to the room)

We stayed in our wedding atire the rest of the night we hung out till about 8:30 and then were beyond tired and went to bed.

We met with Hoffman the last sea day to go over all of our pictures and choose a package. This was VERY stressful, so prepare yourselves. Its hard picking and choosing and then you forget what you already pulled and what you dont have. We choose the $2000 package which came with 75 5x7 30 8x10 50 wedding annoucements which our photographer let us switch out for another 25 5x 7 three 5x7 albums, one 8x10 album and a CD of every single photo he shot. Ohh and a printed canvas too I believe 16X20 but we didnt get to walk off with that, they deliver it to your home 3-5 weeks later. We havnt recieved it yet.

 

Our wedding was the most amazing day of my entire life, and I am so glad that I choose a cruise wedding!

My husband LOVED cruising and we are already booked for two upcomming cruises in 2011.

 

Anyways I tried to cover as much as I can remember but if anyone has any specific questions I'd be happy to answer.

 

Also here is a link to all the photos the professional photographer took: Our Wedding

Edited November 8, 2010 by Venusleo1

[katieandaron]

Congratulations! Thanks so much for posting your review! Your photos are gorgeous! I love your dress!

 

Do you think the aisle runner was worth it? Would you do it again? It's very pretty and I'm thinking about it...

[Venusleo1]

The aisle runner was expensive about $80 plus shipping but I think it really added a personal touch. That along w/ the engraved sand ceremony kit. Yes, I would get it again. I brought it home with me and we're going to have it cut so that the portion that says our names and date will go into a frame and we plan on hanging it. So we'll have it forever.

Thank you for the compliments on my dress I feel in love with it as soon as she put it on me! Best part was I could step into it and didnt have to wear an extra peti coat underneath so it wasnt all that hot. It's actually a halter top but I just tucked the straps in and pinned them to my bra and wore it strapless, later on in the evening when that tourture chamber bra became too much, I lost the bra and then just hooked up the halter took the ribbon off and it looked like I had a totally different dress.

[ebcruiser]

My daughter is getting married on RCI's Explorer of the Seas in September of 2011. We just booked her date about 2 weeks ago. I was wondering when do we have to decide on everything that my daughter wants at her wedding? Having a DJ, flowers for bridemaids, etc. All she has told the Royal Romance group was that we were going with the buffet lunch and 2 hour cocktail hour. When do you need to give your # of guest to them? I know they need all guest information 45 days before the date of the wedding.

 

How many hours of photography did you purchase? You said that you had to leave the reception to take pictures. Did you miss a lot of the reception?

 

I just need to know if my daughter should be ordering everything now or does she have several months to give them the details that my wants.

 

If she wants a DJ should she set that up now or down the road?

 

Thanks for any info that you can give my daughter and me so that she will have a beautiful wedding.

[Venusleo1]

You'll have more then plenty of time. You can order the DJ and all extras all the way up to 45 days prior to the wedding. That's also when they need the final guest count and all the names of your guests. Things can still be added or changed all the way up to the 45 day mark.

 

We were engaged in June and had an October wedding so we only had 4 months to plan and book everything. We honestly did most of our planning/ordering that first month and it was just hurry up wait after that. Also, waiting to get the RSVP's. We had the RSVP date on the invitations for 2 weeks before the 45 day mark and we still had to chase down some stragglers right at the last minute, so I would give your self about 30 days before the 45 day mark.

 

Our wedding package came with 1 hour of photography and we ordered an additional hour on top of that. Our wedding started at about 1pm and the ceremony lasted about 15 minutes, that is included in the hour. So we were only at our reception for about 40 minutes before he wanted to take us away to go shoot photos around the ship. I asked him if he could wait till 2:30 and ended up tipping him extra. I think our reception lasted longer then an hour, because at 2:30 we left and our guests stayed for a while longer hanging out. but really our reception should have ended. They were pretty cool about letting everyone hang. Our photographer was great but be prepared to drop at least $2000 for the photo package if you want to get a CD of all of your photos.

 

I'm really glad that we got the DJ, there was too much going on to try and play our own music or corrdinate first dance ect. so I would suggest getting a DJ or other entertainer. Also, the DJ helped get people up and together for certain pictures, Family of the Bride, family of the groom ect.

 

Im sure your daughter is going to have a beautiful wedding!!! Having a cruise wedding was perfect!

[ebcruiser]

Thank you for all the great information. It will come in helpful. You said that you purchased a sand ceremony kit and brought with you. Did you let TWE know that you wanted a sand ceremony? How much did TWE charge you to perform this part of ceremony?

[Venusleo1]

You will get a full package you fill in letting them know how you want the ceremony. What order people go down the aisle what music if you want to do a sand ceremony ect. You can bring your own wording with you or they have wording for the sand ceremony. They did not charge any extra for this but you are required to purchase the actual sand ceremony kit. I think ours was $70 plus shipping.

We had time to sit with the wedding officiant before the ceremony and she went through everything with us. She really was the one who kinda kept the flow of everything going.

[lee_1989]

Hi there! I was wondering if you could email me I have a few questions about your wedding on the granduer. I am actually getting married 4-9-14 in MD and had a few questions about how everything works on the ship. so far the communication is horrible but I already have the shop booked and was looking for someone who actually got married already. My email is leepperry@yahoo.com

 

Thanks!