Considering Carnival Breeze Embarkation Day Wedding - Miami

[Chellard]

I just got engaged on Christmas to my long-time live-in boyfriend (4 years). This is our second marriage so we have a tight 4k$ budget (can spend more but don't WANT to as we're in processing of buying a new home as well, prefer to spend the money on that :p).

 

We were in the processing of planning a park wedding (live in Miami) and someone mentioned the cruise possibility, so I’m looking into the cruise wedding… all in all, with 20 people above the included 8, it will cost us at BUDGET including the honeymoon. It seems to be the best option financially, especially since we've both been to this Rodeo before! :)

 

The package we’re looking at is “Let Us Serve You” (http://www.carnival.com/wedding-cruises.aspx), which Carnival does for 1595 with 8 people (we'll pay an addition 800 or so for the extra guests, we know). In this package they whisk you off to the dining room for a complete four course meal for you and your guests, so more like a sit down reception instead of the champagne toast and canapes in the disco lounge.

 

My problem is two fold however…

#1 – I won’t get to spend the night hanging out with my kids and family and friends dancing and having fun (this will also be our honeymoon and I don't want the extra responsibility of the 5 kids during this time :D so my parents will be with them, and HIS parents will be managing our business while we're out - none of our friends can take the time out either - so it'll be just the two of us after the embarkation day wedding).

 

and

 

#2 – I don’t get to decorate it how I want – I.e. when I look at the pictures, it looks they put up two columns with silk arrangements on them and the bridal bouquet is 6 ivory roses, hand tied. You’re not allowed to bring in your own photographer or decorations or cake. There's no part of "us" in it, and I wanted to include my kids in the ceremony vows in some way, and not sure if they'll allow that either. Maybe if I could bring my own cake topper and something to cover the hideous greek columns with? I don't know.

 

So now I’m having second thoughts. Financially it makes sense, and its true that a lot of times the big party isn't all its cracked up to be… FI doesn't care either way as long as we stay at budget… am I crazy to even worry about it? Does anyone else have any experience?

[mrstriceasnice]

I am getting married on Sunday, when I talk to the wedding coordinator they offer to set up any extras I want to bring. We are just bringing programs and menus. Also we are not using the roses or boutinierre they supply. Instead I made a brooch bouquet so that all of my friends could contribute and be part of our day and I made Kilt Pin boutinierres for the men along with brooches for our mothers and my father's girlfriend. Many bring extra shells or silk flowers, cake toppers, etc. It is all about what you want to carry on and clean up.

We are doing the Let Us Serve you package with just our immediate family. Our friends are sailing with us but not attending the ceremony.

[hbicfrd]

Our wedding is February 22 on the Breeze. I have done, what I think, is a lot to make it what we want in our wedding. We are doing the sand ceremony and I purchased all silk flowers for the wedding. We are doing the let us celebrate big reception in the lounge as we have the DJ. I have favors, napkins with our names and wedding date, colored straws to put at the bar and a Mr and Mrs sign to hang on the cake table along with our cake topper.

 

 

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[pinklily116]

I'm doing the Let us Serve you package too. Our wedding is in August of 2015. My fiance and I wanted a smaller wedding with very close family and friends and this was just perfect for us. We choose a cruise wedding because it seems really fun and it's destination wedding (more of an excuse not to invite extended family :) ) and it's very budget friendly comparatively. I'm budgeting $10,000 as the max - but that includes everything - wedding, honeymoon, travel to port, dress, tux, excursions, pics, etc. Not a bad deal at all.

 

I do kinda agree about those columns though...they're not the most attractive thing but oh well.

 

While you don't get to pick absolutely everything that they do for your wedding, you can still personalize it. You can bring in your own decorations. You can even bring in your own cake topper and cake ribbon and they'll decorate it how you'd like. You can also bring in your own flowers for there ceremony -- that's what I'm doing because they only provide the bouquet and the boutonniere and I want my bridesmaids and mine and my fiance's parents to have flowers as well.

 

You can still involve your kids in the ceremony. You can choose to do a sand ceremony during the wedding part and your kids can be involved in that. Plus, you'll get a cool keepsake out of it

[Creole Girl]

We will be upgrading our ceremony flowers. It goes instead on the pilars and consists of 2 dozen roses, white snapdragon, and greenery. We are going with Let Us Serve You as well. We are requesting the flowers to be moved to the dining room for the meal.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Creole Girl
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[tea82au]

Hi Everyone

 

I am new to cruise critic, and I am also planning a wedding on the carnival cruise. Just wondering If I can get some feedback or some advice on having an embarkation wedding with a Time to celebrate...Big! package.

 

Do you need to be dressed and ready to go onboard for your wedding or can this be done when you check in?

 

The open bar in the package what actually does this include...? Does the open bar mean everyone pays for their own drink....or it means they can order whatever they like at no extra costs? If someone can clarify this for me that would be great.

 

What was the Hot and Cold canapes like? Did everyone enjoy them? Was there enough for all the guests?

 

is there a minimum about of guests that have to be sailing? Is there an extra fee if you have more non sailing guests than the ones who are sailing.

 

Thank you for your help :)

[Miss Kellybean]

Here is what I know...so far. :)

 

Do you need to be dressed and ready to go onboard for your wedding or can this be done when you check in? Your guests should be dressed. Your room will be available to get ready in. I plan on having my hair and makeup done in the morning and bringing my dress with me to change into.

 

The open bar in the package what actually does this include...? Does the open bar mean everyone pays for their own drink....or it means they can order whatever they like at no extra costs? Open bar means that drinks are included. I am not sure as of this point if it is well, call or top shelf/premium but essentially drinks are included. A cash bar would mean the guests have to pay. I believe there is a full cash bar available with the let us serve you package.

 

What was the Hot and Cold canapes like? Did everyone enjoy them? Was there enough for all the guests? I may have to refer this one to another bride or groom. I just have the list but I do not know about the quality and quantity first hand. I haven't really heard many negatives on this, though. I have also reached out to see other menus than just the one they gave me. I saw somewhere on here that there are 4.

 

is there a minimum about of guests that have to be sailing? Is there an extra fee if you have more non sailing guests than the ones who are sailing. As many can sail that want to. The wedding package covers 20 people. The couple plus 18 guests. Any others have to pay $30. Also, if you would like to provide a Lido deck lunch to non-sailing guests, it is $9.20+tax for each adult and free for children. The limit is 50 non-sailing guests.

[hbicfrd]

May additions of what I have learned so far.

 

Do you need to be dressed and ready to go onboard for your wedding or can this be done when you check in? Your guests should be dressed. Your room will be available to get ready in. I plan on having my hair and makeup done in the morning and bringing my dress with me to change into. I am doing the same, hair and make up and bringing my dress. I have 3 cabins that purchased the faster to fun so their rooms will be ready. Between these 4 rooms, everyone sailing is planning to get dressed on board.

 

The open bar in the package what actually does this include...? Does the open bar mean everyone pays for their own drink....or it means they can order whatever they like at no extra costs? Open bar means that drinks are included. I am not sure as of this point if it is well, call or top shelf/premium but essentially drinks are included. A cash bar would mean the guests have to pay. I believe there is a full cash bar available with the let us serve you package. You can also select a "signature" drink at no extra charge to be served. There is a list of about 5 different ones to choose from I believe.

 

What was the Hot and Cold canapes like? Did everyone enjoy them? Was there enough for all the guests? I may have to refer this one to another bride or groom. I just have the list but I do not know about the quality and quantity first hand. I haven't really heard many negatives on this, though. I have also reached out to see other menus than just the one they gave me. I saw somewhere on here that there are 4. I have the extra menus if you need them. I mixed and matched between them to create what I think we would like the best.

 

is there a minimum about of guests that have to be sailing? Is there an extra fee if you have more non sailing guests than the ones who are sailing. As many can sail that want to. The wedding package covers 20 people. The couple plus 18 guests. Any others have to pay $30. Also, if you would like to provide a Lido deck lunch to non-sailing guests, it is $9.20+tax for each adult and free for children. The limit is 50 non-sailing guests. Anything over 50 guests (including the bride and groom) is an additional $150 per 50 guests. We did not purchase the lunch for our guests, we just told them if they wanted to grab something to eat, to just remove their "guest" badge. When we did the ship tour, we were told we could go to the Lido deck. We left our badges on to see and nothing was said to us. I also learned that guests can purchase beverages with a credit card on the Lido deck.