~ Norwegian Jewel ~ :::Ship Board Embarkment Day Wedding::: ~July 30, 2011~ (Review)

[Lipz]

Ribbon Wand Salute

 

I wish we had had the guest move towards the aisle we were departing on and then salute us. Would have made a better photo.

 

 

 

[Lipz]

Before I add our reception I want to take a minute to give my thumbs up for the ceremony part done by NCL and also our officiant.

The ceremony was perfect in terms of us being able to design how we come in, and using our own music. Although we originally had our music on CDs I decided to put the music on my Ipod as a plan B. Instead I gave them my Ipod to use because I had changed something and like it better. There was no problem at all in giving them our Ipod to play and when I told the coordinator I had my own CDs in case the Ipod did not work she said that would be fine too. I listed out, typed up and printed the order of the ceremony songs and how to fade them out and it was all done with no problems at all.

NCL Ceremony Music Play ... A +

We found our officiant via an internet search. Although I felt she was to costly, I needed to keep the wife happy (again) and so we went with her. My wife's first choice cost even more and there was no way I could say yes to that. So Elizabeth got our business by compromise but I will admit that she was worth every penny. She didn't just write and officiate our ceremony but she even helped us in terms of giving us info on how to make it legal, and she was just very nice and touched based via email all the time. She made everything feel just right and helped us to truly personalize our ceremony.

Elizabeth Phaire Officiant .... A +

 

 

Edited August 13, 2011 by Lipz

[JerseyGem]

Dana & Sharine- I know you're leaving today for your Canadian cruise- have a wonderful time! (What an amazing gift.) The pictures are lovely (in spite of the photographer). I'm looking forward to the rest of your review (after your cruise and after your computer problems are resolved).

 

Congrats and best wishes to both of you for a long, happy marriage that grows more special each day. Lynn

[Lipz]

Dana & Sharine- I know you're leaving today for your Canadian cruise- have a wonderful time! (What an amazing gift.) The pictures are lovely (in spite of the photographer). I'm looking forward to the rest of your review (after your cruise and after your computer problems are resolved).

 

Congrats and best wishes to both of you for a long, happy marriage that grows more special each day. Lynn

 

 

Good morning Lynn -

I actually just logged on to try to add some more as I have about an hour before we are leaving. I'm all packed and ready to go but tired as it was a late night. I'm usually all packed before any trip, but last night was the first time I packed the night before. I think I've learned my lesson on that! lol

Thanks for your kind words and help throughout this crazy process we call wedding planning. :D

Dana

[Lipz]

The (before) Reception

I was just about to jump into the reception and realized I would have left out what reall happened next. After we left our from the ceremony we (myself, Sha, our two children, the officiant and the photographer) went into the chapel which is right at the entrance to the Spinnaker Lounge. The chapel which was actually a nice little room was not an option for our wedding because it only seats about 25. Our expected guest list was 50.

While in the chapel we all took a slight breather and the photographer suggested we take some photos in there. Before we could get started here came 'the captain' (the senor coordinator for the weddings). He congratulated us and asked to take a picture with us. We obliged of course and just a few days ago we discovered that he had added his photo taken with us to his website :eek:. It's all good though, even though he didn't ask, because it's on a page where he is promoting is services to marry same-sex couples and we are all for that!... of course I just wish he would have asked so we could have given him a better pic lol. Here we are:

 

http://nauticalweddingbells.com/lgbt.html

 

 

.....and here are some of the pics the photographer took of us in the chapel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and one with 'the captain'

 

 

[Lipz]

After the chapel pics we were headed back to the Spinnaker but when we arrived we saw that guest were getting food and drinks. Although not planned instead of interupting them to be introduced we went to take a few more photos.

 

Taken in the entry way of the lounge:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taken on the ships' Sun Deck:

 

 

 

 

 

[dcdiva]

I'm curious to know if you had purchased your photos before your wedding. Of course you were also on a different cruise line than we were.

 

I had even wondered if purchasing before hand would have made the difference in the way they were presented to us. Then I wondered if it had to do with us being two women, or even being black. Whatever the case is, it was bad business and it made me not want to spend money on the photos at all. Of course I had too as we didn't have any other professional photos taken so we were kind of over a barrel on this one.

 

Although I am not happy about all this I refused to let it ruin my wedding day at all.

 

Lipz -- Did not purchase my pics in advance. I did inquire about packages, and they sent me a price list in advance, but I didn't commit to a package. The only thing I pre-paid was for an extra hour of the photographers time.

[bluewater723]

LIPZ,

 

Your pictures look lovely; it looks amazing. Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I wish you and your wife a life of continued happiness!

 

Lots of Love,

Bluewater

Edited August 13, 2011 by bluewater723

[our turn]

So gorgeous! I love your purple jewelry, your fun personality shows. You are both radiant, and the love and happiness shows on your faces. Wishing you a long and happy marriage.

[mrsgomez2011]

Congrats on your beautiful wedding lipz!!! So happy for you!!! I'm sorry that your photographer was less than stellar. Congrats again and enjoy your 2nd cruise!!!

[Bahamian Bride]

Congrats again! I wish you both years of continued happiness! I love your pictures! You are a beautiful couple. I think my favorites are the ones on the deck with the city behind you... truly breathtaking! I can't say enough about how much I've loved reading all your posts and to see everything finally come together was even better than I could think of. Many blessings to you are your wife!

[canucme_cruisin]

CONGRATULATIONS Lipz!!!! Your review is great. I like that you had a TON of originality. I really like the "Circle of Love" and the pic of when you two met each other to walk down the aisle is my fav. Very sentimental stories and I'm glad you had a great officant to incorporate everything, which I know more than made up for the terrible photo service...the best part about it all is that you are LEGALLY married...whhoooooo hooooooo!!!!

[jjwelsh]

I have been following you for months now and I am happy for you and our wife, you both looked amazing! Thanks for the review and the wonderful pictures! Best wishes for a lifetime of happiness!

[kwilliams137]

Congrats!!! Glad that you had a great time and what a wonderful gift you gave your wife!! i dont think i would have been able to actually keep that huge surprise!!

[KenyaCruise]

I loved reading your review. As a matter of fact it was one of the best reviews I have read thus far even with the few mishaps it made for a very perfect and special day. Congrats to the both of you!!

[KLYx0327]

YAY!!!!! So happy for ya'll and glad that you had an overall great experience.

 

So sorry to hear about the photographer -- you were MUCH more nice about that at the time than I imagine that I would be. Gives me something to think about for my wedding :)

 

Also, your point about the pricing for their photography packages -- I have wondered about that since the first time I saw them. I just assumed that I had no choice but to pre-pay for the packages -- I'm glad to know that I can wait to see how it turns out before placing my order :)

 

Congratulations again, and I hope you all had a fantastic honeymoon :)

 

Kara

[tweetybird617]

Congratulations Lipz! You and your wife are both beautiful and your pictures are gorgeous. I'm so glad you had a wonderful wedding!

[Lipz]

Well it's been a whooping 2 weeks and boy am I tired.

However, I am happy and enjoying this new thing called marriage.

After a nice cruise with the Mrs. I am back to work and back to reality but nothing can spoil my shine right. Well except the fact that my pc died right before we left and we haven't replaced it yet BUT it could be worse.

Before I had the rest of my pics and review I want to share some GOOD news!!

Remember I mentioned (well at least I think I did) that the cruise ship photographer was late and we didn't start our ceremony until 1:00 instead of the scheduled 12:30 which meant we were out of 1/2 hour of reception time?!?!?

Wellll........before Sha and I cruised out again I wrote a letter to our TWE coordinator who we had been working with, as well as the supervisor who went over our final plans with us. In the letter I shared that we had a wonderful wedding and even with things not going 100% as planned we would do it all again. In the letter I also shared our only two concerns was the tardiness of the wedding photographer which resulted in a shortened reception and the fact that we weren't happy with the way we were asked to view our pics which equaled to standing at a counter for almost 2 hours.

When we got back from our trip there was not only a nice letter stating the matter would be looked into, but soon we will have access to our pics online with a chance to purchase what we want AND we received notice that we would get a monetary reimbursement for the lost 1/2 hour. Two days later that money was BACK on our bank card!

I know TWE has gotten a bad rap, but from beginning to end we never had a problem with them and so they get nothing but kudos from us!

[Lipz]

So where were we.....

After our ceremony and taking a few pics on the sun deck & in the lounge it was time for the wedding party introducations and the reception to begin.

Our daughter......... maid of honor... shyly coming in.

 

 

Our son ... best man ... smoothly dancing back in.

 

 

The married couple .... happily.... coming back in.

 

 

Once we were in we went straight into our first dance... 'Something Special' by Usher .... and towards the middle of the song we grabbed our kids and danced with them until the song ended.

 

[Lipz]

After our first dance we took a breather and talked with guest. At this time we also had witnesses sign our marriage liscense.... my son who is 21 and Sha's long time friend. She was shocked as she didn't know ahead of time and broke down crying. (pic: her and my son)

 

 

 

As guest ate we talked with them and also wanted to make sure we took a picture with each guest whether they came as a couple or solo, so we invited them up to take pics. Not posting those though as there are to many but here is one with our mothers. (pic: Sha's mom is next to me, and my mom is next to Sha)

We also wanted to make sure we got a group shot before guest started leaving.

Afterwards we cut the cake.

 

 

We thanked the guest & so did my son but it was short and sweet.

Then we danced until the reception was over and it was time for non sailing guest to leave.

We were able to pretty much order our reception components how we wanted them since we had the extended hour (2 hours in total). Although it does feel kind of short, for us it worked as we were not doing some of the traditional stuff life bouquet and garter toss, or long speeches.

It was a wedding tailored to 'us' and we were and still are very delighted with NCL! :D

[lovepea]

wonderful review! I am so happy for you both that things turned out so well. And thanks for coming back to share so many details and pictures of your special time. :)

[Lipz]

Thanks for all your kind words ladies.

I've finally got our Shutterfly up and running with wedding pics. This includes some that are posted in my review as well as others. Now we are just patiently waiting for some more of our guest to add their photos as we can't wait to see them all! :)

 

http://daisha.shutterfly.com/

[Bostoncruiser35]

OMG Lipz , I love that you walked in together. The pic of your wife watching you brought tears to my eyes! So touching to see the love in a pic!

[JulieRose]

OMG I was literally crying by the middle of page 2! I'm so happy for you ladies! It's wonderful that you were (finally) able to do this legally. Here's hoping that more states follow NY's lead and we get to read many more of these happy same-sex love stories.

[Lipz]

OMG Lipz , I love that you walked in together. The pic of your wife watching you brought tears to my eyes! So touching to see the love in a pic!

 

Thank you.

 

It's so strange how things change and evolve as you are wedding planning. However, us coming in at the same time was there from the very beginning. It was my wife's idea and I am so glad that the venue had two entry ways so we could. I'm even happier that the photographer captured the moment.

 

OMG I was literally crying by the middle of page 2! I'm so happy for you ladies! It's wonderful that you were (finally) able to do this legally. Here's hoping that more states follow NY's lead and we get to read many more of these happy same-sex love stories.

 

 

I am very detailed orientated and to be honest I know I probably left some stuff out lol. Thank you for taking the time to visit our wedding day, we were VERY pleased and happy that we decided to do it on board a cruise ship. We were VERY VERY VERY excited that it actually became legal here in NY right before our big day. :D