Vow renewal how much/how little

[2addicted2xmas]

Hi we are planning our vow renewal ceremony in June. We are going to use Carnivals vow ceremony package but I am curious how much or how little others have done. I am planning welcome a board OOT bags and dinner the night of the ceremony in the steak house. This is for our 25th wedding anniversary. Any ideas or suggestions are welcomed.

[jaxstiles]

We are doing a vow renewal in May and cruising on the Dream. However I was a bit disappointed with how little control you had as far as what day, time, location onboard for your ceremony. We decided after much thought to renew our vows in St Thomas and go with a local wedding coordinator. Much cheaper and more your own wants and needs. Good luck and congrats!

 

Ps. We have a party of 30 traveling with us. We are doing lunch after in St. Thomas and then that night reservations at steakhouse restaurant. Oh yeah and oot bags. I am also ordering a cake for dinner.

[2addicted2xmas]

Jaxstiles where did you get your OOT bags and what are you including? I was thinking out using Vistaprint. We have 20 peopl traveling with us also.

[mali06]

We are doing a vow renewal for our 40th Anniversary on the Spirit to Alaska in July. I am NOT using the vow renewal package. First we are having a Roast and Toast dinner the night before the cruise in Seattle. Everyone will get a cruise ship luggage tag favor with our thank you. Everyone is preparing either a roast or a toast for after dinner. Then we are having a sail away party in our cabin on our extra large balcony. Will be ordering canapes thru the ship plus bringing on some snacks like nuts, some special napkins, and wine when we board. Everyone will get their gift bags then. I booked the chapel on my own for the first formal night at 4PM. There was no charge. My son is providing the music using his Ipod and speaker and my granddaughter Bailee (age 5) and I will surprise everyone by dancing down the aisle to I want To Marry You by Bruno Mars. My sons will be doing the ceremony, part serious and part funny (they are hilarious) and we will be saying something personal to each other. We are also exchanging new rings that we bought in Grand Cayman in February. I scouted out the chapel on the Legend and figured out how to adjust the lighting so will have the boys do that before the ceremony. The ladies will be wearing red dresses and the men will be wearing black suits or sportcoats with white shirts and red ties. Each woman will be getting a corsage and each man a bout. I have a gorgeous bouquet and Bailee will have a nosegay. These flowers are being finished by a wonderful lady at Hobby Lobby here in town as I write. Mine are red hydrangeas, very full, with gold leaves and black and white ribbon wrapped stems. After the ceremony, we are going to have a champagne toast in one of the bars (which I will set up ahead with the bartender the night before) and I am bringing special cocktail napkins. There will be karaoke in this bar that evening so I am hoping that I can get the sons (and other if they are interested) to sing "our" song, Anne Murrey's Can I have This Dance for the Rest of My Life, so that we could have a dance. If there is still time before dinner, we will have some portraits taken. I also am toying with the idea of reserving a photographer when we get on board who will follow us around the ship that day and take pictures and then we just buy the ones that we want. There is no other charge for this service. We have anytime dining . . . so the first day on board I will go and make the plan with the maitre 'd to set up our table at 6PM for the 10 of us. I will be providing red napkins and napkin rings, 8 red tea candle holders, 8 battery operated tea lights, and large candy bar favors wrapped with our photo. The centerpiece for the table will be the cake . . . I am ordering a large heart cake and a small heart cake (one chocolate and one white) and having them stacked. Then I am bringing a red hydrangea cake topper with red sparkly " 40 ". After dinner, during dessert, there will be toasts. Then we will all go to a show together and party the night away. It's all coming together really well. Hope this gives you some ideas. I checked all of this out while I was on the Legend to make sure it was all doable. And I also have the plans OKed by the lady in event planning.

[our turn]

We are renewing our vows on the Celebrity Century next week to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We are using the True Love Knot Renewal package. It's just the two of us but I like that because that's the way it all began!

My gown is a pale silver strapless, ruched sweetheart neckline with a chiffon skirt and chapel train. I plan to have my hair and makeup done in the ship's salon. I wasn't impressed with the flowers or cake pictures I've seen, so I am bringing my own gorgeous silk real touch bouquet and cake decorations.

DH is wearing his tux with a pale silver tie to match my dress. We have written our own vows and hope to get through them without choking up or cracking up - 25 years and 5 kids, we've seen and done it all!

The lady from Celebrity that I have set everything up with has been super about returning my calls and answering all my questions. I really admire those that are setting everything up without a package but I like knowing exactly what to expect. I was told that the onboard coordinator will meet with is the day of embarkation to finalize time, location and any other details.

We are leaving Thursday for a couple of days in Miami and then boarding on Saturday. We are also staying on for the next cruise as well. Hope all you ladies have the time of your lives!

[2addicted2xmas]

You have to let us know how everything goes on our cruises! Your dress sounds beautiful. Mali it sounds like you have thought of everything. What did you put in your OOT bags?

[stazcrew]

We did the renewal package on the Victory a couple years ago just the 2 of us and a coupe we met on CC joined us and it was amazing, CARNIVAL went above and beyond once I boarded to change and do anything i wanted done, including a huge flower arrangement, gifts for the guest attending changing the planned appetizers because no one cared for what they had chosen. Just speak up and stay in contact with your guest services rep once you board :)

[2addicted2xmas]

Thanks so much for the info! We have a group of about 15 joining us. We were going to do a big party at home but we figured the first wedding is for everyone, this is for us. We wanted to do something we love.