Freaking out!

[KLemke2013]

We are getting married on the 21st of April aboard the Carnival Conquest. 7 months... plenty of time right? It sure doesn’t feel like it. After reading these boards I am realizing how many people brought center pieces, OOT bags (just learned what this was), had to get CDs for the DJ, toured the ship, etc. All things, I haven’t thought to do. Leave it to being pregnant, having an 8 year old, working fulltime, going to college, 4 animals, soccer practices for the kid, household chores.... the list goes on. My family all hates one another so I thought a short wedding and a nice goodbye would be great. But no, there are already issues. On top of that apparently my fiancés side of the family is making our honeymoon their family reunion. Did they even ask how we feel about this, nope. They just invited themselves along. :(

[gatrrvet]

Don't worry! We planned ours in 7 months...got engaged in February and we are getting married next Saturday. The cruise lines take care of a lot. If you really want to be involved I everything you can, but half the reason we decided on a cruise wedding was to ease the planning. My fiance and I both work full time and we have 4 kids between us.

We did not give the dj a list, just a few suggestions ..we didn't worry about centerpieces and everything. We are bringing favors, oot bags and a few other things but that's it.

if you plan a few things to tackle each month it will all come together.

Good luck!

[Kayakbride]

We are getting married on the 21st of April aboard the Carnival Conquest. 7 months... plenty of time right? It sure doesn’t feel like it. After reading these boards I am realizing how many people brought center pieces, OOT bags (just learned what this was), had to get CDs for the DJ, toured the ship, etc. All things, I haven’t thought to do. Leave it to being pregnant, having an 8 year old, working fulltime, going to college, 4 animals, soccer practices for the kid, household chores.... the list goes on. My family all hates one another so I thought a short wedding and a nice goodbye would be great. But no, there are already issues. On top of that apparently my fiancés side of the family is making our honeymoon their family reunion. Did they even ask how we feel about this, nope. They just invited themselves along. :(

The fiance's family reunion is typical for a destination wedding. They are doing nothing out of the ordinary...in fact, their activities may give the both of you extra alone time because they will be too busy to bother you. Just be sure to sign up for some shore excursions where the two of you can go off without the rest of the family. If you find them knocking on your stateroom door, ask to meet with the purser, turn on the tears and ask if you can change rooms to an undisclosed cabin number and/or have your phone calls held. Most likely, the family will respect that you are on your honeymoon and you need time for romance. And, don't fret about any of that planning stuff....you don't need centerpieces or gift bags. Touring the ship won't do you any good, because you can't change it anyway, and the DJ can take care of your music. Just let him know your favorite song (and anything you DON'T want played) and they'll take if from there. You'll have a wonderful, carefree day, if you just let go and allow the cruise line to handle things for you. That's what I did when we married on the Star Princess in 2009 and it was super stress-free. Cheers!

[KLemke2013]

Thanks to both of you for the responses. I guess we are both upset because we werent going to have family on the cruise. We are getting married at port. Its good to know we dont HAVE to do all those things to make it special. I sure hope it turns out perfect. :)

[Gina130284]

Im not doing OOT bags, CDs for the DJ and not touring the ship either so dont worry.

 

As far as centre pieces go Im going to use the bouquet thats provided in the wedding package as Im bringing my own bouquet. Im also bringing some teal scatter diamonds and then our place settings. But thats all for table decorations.

 

We're using the music provided by RCI for the ceremony so no need for CDs. We'll be heading to the champagne lounge for drinks afterwards, and then the steak restaurant for our evening meal. Hopefully then making our way to the 'some enchanted evening' lounge onboard to dance the night away. It doesnt bother us at all that we'll be with hundreds of people we dont know... if it bothered us we would have had a church wedding back home!!

 

You can do it- stay positive.

Try finding a wedding planning website with a timeline so you know when all the important bits need to be sorted. xx

[cruiseonthebrain]

Don't freak out or let anything ruin your special day. You can do as many or as few of the extras as you like. Frankly, I should have done a lot less. I wouldn't have worried about the DJ, except to let him know what types of music we liked, I would have skipped OOT bags and favors and tissues and the sign in frame matt, etc.

 

It is a little crazy to have a family reunion on your honeymoon if you didn't specifically invite folks on the cruise, but you can't keep people from cruising so make the best of it. You can spend as little or as much of your time with his family. The Dream is a big ship- we didn't run into anyone in our group except at dinner or if it was planned for us to be together.

 

You are going to have a wonderful time- the Dream is terrific!

[jeschwartz82]

i planned mine in about, what, 60 days or so ... so with 7 months, you have soooo much time! try not to stress and just do what you think is important to you. there is no law that says you have to have OOT bags, centerpieces, ship tours, etc. just do what feels right for you. :)

 

i havent done any of the above mentioned stuff. my biggest thing was buying flowers (silk real touch), my dress and shoes. my coordinator was nice enough to turn my carnival provided bouquet into 2 corsages for the moms and a bout for my dad. that was pretty much the extent of my planning!

 

regarding the family reunion - it will be what you make of it. chances are, it will be more like a week long celebration in your honor. you can see them as much or as little as you choose. im sure most will be respectful of the fact that this is your honeymoon and you would like some alone time with your now husband.

 

keep us posted and let us know how everything is going!