What I wish I had known before the big day - advice from past brides

[Twin A]

Best thread ever! Keep 'em coming, ladies!

[ashleyunf]

I can't take any credit for this, I can only pass it on to you. A bride on these boards went through a lot of trouble making this spread sheet. I wish I could remember her name to give her the credit (I think her email is on the spreadsheet) but anyway...

 

I wish I had this sheet during my planning. She has thought of it all...

I had to upload it to my site... you can download it here

 

 

Can you repost this. The link does not seem to be workig or could you email it to me ashleyunf@hotmail.com.

 

Thank you

[bridetobe52012]

I wish I had known to carry flip flops around with me while taking pictures. My feet were killing me after dancing at the reception and the outside decks were too hot to take my shoes off to get from one place to another. Our photographer walked very fast...

 

I also wish I had asked my maid of honor or a bridesmaid to wait outside the ceremony room for me after they had finished their rehearsal. Waiting alone was horrible. My nerves were worse than ever and I just needed the support of one of my girls. Even when my grandpa came 10 minutes later it still would have helped to have my sister or my best friend wait with me.

[gymbomb]

 

I also wish I had asked my maid of honor or a bridesmaid to wait outside the ceremony room for me after they had finished their rehearsal. Waiting alone was horrible. My nerves were worse than ever and I just needed the support of one of my girls. Even when my grandpa came 10 minutes later it still would have helped to have my sister or my best friend wait with me.

 

 

I'm not sure if we were supposed to, but my MOH stayed in the cabin with me after we got dressed and then when the wedding coordinator came to get me we went to the venue together. It was good to have her there just to pass the time because we had about 30 min in the cabin before it was time to go. We only had a MOH, best man and flower girl though -- so other than showing the flower girl what to do there wasn't much to rehearse.

[Shatima]

Best thread ever! Keep 'em coming, ladies!

 

I know right,, I had to bring this one back to page 1. VERY helpful

[OhMyGosh]

I am going to write a review right now ;-)

[Tiggertastic]

Put all your tips in thank you cards and give to best man then when you decide you got what you paid for - give him the nod - my planner charged us an extra $70 to take us to a restaurant instead of back to the ship - the restaurant turned out to be by the dock and walked it in a few minutes - she should not have got her tip for the overcharging

 

Ensure you get everything in writing - I got fuscia pink shoes and asked for matching flowers - they were blue and yellow rather than the pink and orange orchids I asked for - too late to do anything

 

Ensure you have a copy of your hand written vows - the wedding planner took them and I don't have a copy and she states to have posted them but they never arrived - so we can't remember our vows

[Shatima]

I am going to write a review right now ;-)

 

 

I cant wait to Reaaaaaaaaaaaaad it.. Yesss A new review *=*

[JonandJess]

Girls! These tips are AMAZING. Thanks so much for all of the detailed information.

 

Questions:

1) Did any of you do seating assignments on a Norwegian cruise line ship? We are not using TWE to help plan anything (we are just doing a 2 hour cocktail party after our dinner in the dining hall). Any suggestions on planning seating assignments?? We already have reservations in the main dining hall.

2) How did you all communicate on the ships? We will have approximately 80 sailing guests, and we would like to at least have 4-6 walkie talkies for the main family members, but we are not sure if they will work all around the ship. Any ideas?

3) A lot of brides mention getting a list of wanted photos to the photographers prior to the wedding day. We have a photographer sailing with us (although we will keep this discreet as we know that NCL does not allow outside photogs), and we will have a TON of opportunities for photos. Does anyone have suggestions about where to get ideas for great, unique photos...especially on a beach?

 

Thanks SO MUCH in advance - this thread has been wonderfully helpful!

[gymbomb]

For keeping in touch on the ship we just distributed a list of guests cabin numbers to everyone at the beginning of the trip. The we used phone/voice mail to contact each other as needed. We only had 15 sailing guests and found we bumped into most people at least once a day anyway.

[dst]

I can't take any credit for this, I can only pass it on to you. A bride on these boards went through a lot of trouble making this spread sheet. I wish I could remember her name to give her the credit (I think her email is on the spreadsheet) but anyway...

 

I wish I had this sheet during my planning. She has thought of it all...

I had to upload it to my site... you can download it here

 

 

This is not working for me - would you please repost? I am anxious to see it :)

 

thanks

[dst]

These tips are wonderful - thank you ladies

 

Can anyone give suggestions of how you did your save the date and informed people that they could attend the wedding but not required to sail (we live in Florida so we except about 30 non sailing guests) I am stressing about how the invitation should be sent.

 

Oh we are cruising on carnival and are torn between the Legend and the Dream

 

thanks

[Artemis908]

I wish I had known:

 

1. People didn't expect the favors and OOT bags and probably didn't use them. I could have saved a bunch of time and money.

2. How great the photos would be. I too would have budgeted more for the photos.

3. I was going to be starving by the time of the reception because I didn't have time to get anything to eat and my piggy friends and family were too busy stuffing their bellies to bring me anything (I say this lovingly :-). I would have had a bag of trail mix or something in my carry ons.

4. My panty lines showed through the dress (luckily I discovered this before the ceremony). I won't tell you how I solved that :-)

5. That we were never going to wear all the just married crap we bought. That too would have saved us money.

6. That my JBM's families were going to have them change into different clothes for dinner. I really wanted more pictures with them later on the ship.

7. That a certain in law was going to try to drive me batty- I would have had ear plugs and Xanax :-)

 

My solve for #1 was I donated the money I would have used to two charities and created a sign stating that which they put up during the receiption.

 

For #3 I asked one of my bridesmaid to take care of me and get me food during the reception :) She made sure to give me a nice plate of all the different kinds of food which I hardly ate... lol the dress was just sucking me in and so I wasn't in the mood to eat all day!

[LilBlackDress]

Can you repost this. The link does not seem to be workig or could you email it to me ashleyunf@hotmail.com.

 

Thank you

I sent the email and fixed the link as well... Thank you for letting me know it was down. I was doing some site cleaning and moved it...

[LilBlackDress]

This is not working for me - would you please repost? I am anxious to see it :)

 

thanks

It should be fixed now sorry

Link

[dst]

It should be fixed now sorry

Link

 

 

WOW - thank you so much! This helps me tremendously; I am a bit of an organizer so this is perfect :)

[RoonilWazlib]

It should be fixed now sorry

Link

 

Why do I keep getting the error? :(

[richbum]

I get the error too....Can you email to imarichbum@hotmail.com...thanks a bunch!:D

[Olp41]

Oh how handy!! I keep hoping that my boyfriend will soon propose (it's been 4.5 years now), and I've always wanted a destination wedding. This thread is full of some great advice!

 

Especially considering that when I was on a Carnival Cruise as a teenager, a man being followed by someone with a video camera told me "Don't ever get married on a cruise ship!" as he walked by! Haha! I've always wondered why he said that, and what kind of a mess his day must have been.

 

Perhaps he should have visited this forum first ;)

[gymbomb]

Oh how handy!! I keep hoping that my boyfriend will soon propose (it's been 4.5 years now), and I've always wanted a destination wedding. This thread is full of some great advice!

 

 

So propose to him!!

[fldogmassage]

Who do I need to tip? And how much should I budget?

[Shatima]

I hear you about having to give lots of notice. But this is good for me too to pla things out and to be able to know things that I would have never thought of.

 

Good luck with the weddings ladies!!

Very True as well :)

 

Good Luck to you as well :D

[PunkyB]

I had a sand ceremony in Bermuda, no one said a word to me about it. The part that made me mad was the stupid a$$ that ran in through the xray scanner laid it down after my mother told them to keep it standing up!

 

What about the sand? I wanted to pass out vials as favors so people could keep sand from the cruise. Is that allowed?

[OneLove2012]

HI Ladies :)

 

I wish all of you the very best in the planning stages! I am a newlywed mysef, and although I did not get married on a cruise, I did learn a bunch from planning our wedding this past October. We are leaving next week for our honeymoon cruise :) Can't wait!

 

I was happy with how everything turned out, but I wish I had stressed less about the small stuff.

 

Every bride has a few things that are most important to them, the dress/veil, the flowers, the color scheme, whatever it is. Pick a few things that really matter to YOU, and set those things first. The rest will fall into place.

 

Make your wedding a celebration, not a show. Have those who mean the most to you there, and dont' apoligize for setting a healthy limit.

 

Highlight was is most important to you as a couple. For us, it was a love or our family, our dogs, and the location that we were married. And it showed.

 

Most imporantly, it does not matter if you are not a size 2. This was my biggest mistake! I am a size 12, and I felt like the most beautiful person in the world on my wedding day. Find the dress that is right for you.

 

At the end of the day, it didn't matter that the sun didn't come out for my outdoor wedding, or that the wind blew the curl out of my hair before we made it to the reception. What mattered? My Dad walked me down the isle (a cancer survivor), and waiting at the end of the isle was my best friend. We were surrounded by people who truly matter, in a location that we love.

 

Sorry for the unsolicited advice, but I truely hope that each of your wedding days turns out to be as imperfect and magical as it should be!

[fldogmassage]

Onelove2012, Thank you. I love your attitude and it is very true! Enjoy every moment.