Wedding at Sea

[yoyoma44]

My Fiance and I are getting married in early February 2015 on the Getaway. Since we booked are cruise this past February, this board has been immensely helpful with little tips and tricks that have made the planning process much less stressful as far as the cruise itself is concerned.

 

Now since we are getting down to actually sending out invites and all that lovely stuff, she suggested that we should see if anyone out there has helpful advice to make our Wedding cruise perfect, either advice on specifically the Getaway, NCL, or a wedding cruise in general.

 

Thanks.

[Cruising Golfer]

First, I would say don't expect perfect. That never happens, so be ready for little bumps in the road. Don't over plan as you will be very busy.

Enjoy your day as have a wonderful cruise and life together!!!:cool:

[SissasMomE]

My Fiance and I are getting married in early February 2015 on the Getaway. Since we booked are cruise this past February, this board has been immensely helpful with little tips and tricks that have made the planning process much less stressful as far as the cruise itself is concerned.

 

Now since we are getting down to actually sending out invites and all that lovely stuff, she suggested that we should see if anyone out there has helpful advice to make our Wedding cruise perfect, either advice on specifically the Getaway, NCL, or a wedding cruise in general.

 

Thanks.

 

You might not want to hear this, but I would get legally married the day before the cruise, and then have your ceremony onboard. The one and only wedding we attended on a cruise ship was so messed up (by RCCL, not NCL). Their signed license was never returned to them by the cruise line. It took 9 months for them to get everything straight. Anyway, after that fiasco, I'd never recommend it to anyone!

[beachmonkey]

I suggest getting married on the ship while in port. There are some reviews in the wedding forum. I suggest reading the review from Lipz (both beautiful and intelligent women who got married on NCL and attended our wedding on the Breakaway)

 

Here is a link to our review http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2079834

[stacymills99]

DH and I got married in Cabo on the Beach 5 years ago, as part of our port day. We did the legal ceremony a few days ahead of time and I was so much less stressed because of it. Even though we already signed the paper, the Cabo day felt like the real day and is the one I consider our anniversary.

We had a group of 20, and the couple days before let the front desk know we were getting married in Cabo that day. They made sure we were on the first tender off the ship (even though we did not use their wedding services). We also had t-shirts made up that our party wore one of the day's, which was kind of fun.

I also got everyone a little beach photo album as a thank you for coming gift. I figured they could put their cruise pics in it.

Our wedding cruise was the best vacation I have been on. I loved the fact that we got to celebrate with our family and friends all week long. Many of our guests said it was the best wedding experience they had been to, and everyone that went had a great vacation! Best of luck to you.

[CruzLover80]

A couple things, most cruiselines will only marry while in port and in their chapel. Honestly, most chapels on board I've seen are less then appealing. When I was doing research, I found out that you couldn't be married while at sea or anywhere on the ship other than the chapel. We got married on the beach while in port in Key West (which eliminated the international license requirements). We had 5 people join us on the cruise, as it was sort've last minute for my family out of the state. I hired one agency (found on wedding forum, not cruiseline) to do it all, arrange the pick up from the port and return, cake, photography and ceremony. I ran into the ocean, dress and all and the pictures were absolutely stunning. Our wedding dinner (with formal white dress) was in the MDR with dancing followed in the nightclub. We spent under $600. It was perfect!!!

 

Considering I had few guests, I did a bag that I gave them as they boarded. In it, there was a beach towel, sunglasses, mints, tums, dental floss, suntan lotion, flip flops, t-shirts I had made, water bottle. Pretty much a cruise bag of things that was probably forgotten.

 

My suggestion to you, keep it simple and keep it stress free.