A Royal Wedding - Harmony of the Seas January 21 2023 - Join the adventure!

[Katems75]

You are both beautiful! Congratulations!

 

Did that $20k price tag include the honeymoon suite and cruise for the two of you?  That seems super high for just the items you listed.

 

Were the opening and closing scenes of the ship stock footage?  The ending is particularly beautiful but I'm trying to figure out how your videographer would have filmed that.

 

I have to ask...who is your officiant and why does he say it's his pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife AGAIN?

 

The way it was handled was inexcusable and the photo mess is also inexcusable!  I'm so sorry for all that stress!!

 

Congrats again!

[retiredgram]

Beautiful wedding. Thanks for allowing us to witness your wedding.

 

[Coralc]

1 hour ago, Katems75 said:

I have to ask...who is your officiant and why does he say it's his pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife AGAIN?

 

 

It says Renewal of Vows, so they were probably officially married earlier. 

[perfect match]

Annie, thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding with all of us! While I’m sorry for all of the glitches and lack of communication issues you had to deal with, it sure looked to me like your wedding was absolutely amazing anyway. No excuse, though, for Royal’s wedding vendor not giving you everything listed in your contract, done correctly and in a much note timely manner.

 

You and Bryan seem like a couple who were definitely meant to be together. Congratulations on your marriage and wishing you many happy years together! 

[helloxxannie]

On 2/2/2023 at 12:54 AM, Coralc said:

 

It says Renewal of Vows, so they were probably officially married earlier. 

 

Yes, we were already married!

 

We are a long distance relationship so we had a church wedding in August 2022 with our family in Toronto, Canada. We decided to have two weddings so that our family and friends didn't feel obligated to have to travel for our wedding. Bryan is from Fort Lauderdale so it was easy to do on at the port with his side. We had two weddings in 6 months! 

 

On 2/1/2023 at 11:24 PM, Katems75 said:

You are both beautiful! Congratulations!

 

Did that $20k price tag include the honeymoon suite and cruise for the two of you?  That seems super high for just the items you listed.

 

Were the opening and closing scenes of the ship stock footage?  The ending is particularly beautiful but I'm trying to figure out how your videographer would have filmed that.

 

I have to ask...who is your officiant and why does he say it's his pleasure to pronounce you husband and wife AGAIN?

 

The way it was handled was inexcusable and the photo mess is also inexcusable!  I'm so sorry for all that stress!!

 

Congrats again!

 

 

Price Breakdown

Thank you so much! the $20k price tag did not include the honeymoon suite and cruise - the breakdown was: 
$5900 Initial Embarkation Wedding Package
$7600 - Premium Open Bar for 3 Hours ($25/hour)
$300 - Soda & Juice for non-drinkers ($11/hour
$2250 - Tier 3 Canapes (8 pieces each, $21 per person)
$3200 - Platinum Package Photography (2 photographers for 5 hours, all digital files, 75 prints + extras)

$450 - DJ, Sound Tech & Microphone
$535 Additional Shoreside Coordinators (required due to the size of our wedding) 

 

Open/Close Footage 
Our videographer did bring a drone but wasn't allowed to bring it onboard so he tried to fly it at port. The opening/closing images he used was stock footage because there is a no fly zone over the port in FLL! 

 

Our Officiant: 
My Husband is an MC for Pure Energy Entertainment in Fort Lauderdale & our officiant is his mentor and boss. Since we were "officially" already married in August, we didn't need an official person to do our wedding. This turned out to be the best thing ever and gave so much sentimental value to our wedding day! 

 

[graciekelli]

Hi Annie,

Your wedding looked very beautiful, congratulations to the both of you. I am curious if you got to have your dinner for all the sailing guests that night?  How did that work or not?  Did you feel that the money you spent was worth it?  It sounded like to me that the only part that was not worth the money was the photography?

Thank you for sharing your review of your wedding here.  

 

 

[jerseygirl3]

On 2/3/2023 at 12:54 PM, helloxxannie said:

 

Yes, we were already married!

 

We are a long distance relationship so we had a church wedding in August 2022 with our family in Toronto, Canada. We decided to have two weddings so that our family and friends didn't feel obligated to have to travel for our wedding. Bryan is from Fort Lauderdale so it was easy to do on at the port with his side. We had two weddings in 6 months! 

 

 

 

Price Breakdown

Thank you so much! the $20k price tag did not include the honeymoon suite and cruise - the breakdown was: 
$5900 Initial Embarkation Wedding Package
$7600 - Premium Open Bar for 3 Hours ($25/hour)
$300 - Soda & Juice for non-drinkers ($11/hour
$2250 - Tier 3 Canapes (8 pieces each, $21 per person)
$3200 - Platinum Package Photography (2 photographers for 5 hours, all digital files, 75 prints + extras)

$450 - DJ, Sound Tech & Microphone
$535 Additional Shoreside Coordinators (required due to the size of our wedding) 

 

Open/Close Footage 
Our videographer did bring a drone but wasn't allowed to bring it onboard so he tried to fly it at port. The opening/closing images he used was stock footage because there is a no fly zone over the port in FLL! 

 

Our Officiant: 
My Husband is an MC for Pure Energy Entertainment in Fort Lauderdale & our officiant is his mentor and boss. Since we were "officially" already married in August, we didn't need an official person to do our wedding. This turned out to be the best thing ever and gave so much sentimental value to our wedding day! 

 

What a beautiful wedding!  My husband and I were married on May 18, 2002, onboard a Carnival cruise.  We had 75 people that attended the wedding and cruised with us.  We were married before the ship left port as my sister and BIL had infant twins and they were uncomfortable cruising with them or leaving them, but the rest all cruised with us.  It was the best wedding ever!  And ours was a bit less than yours as it was 20 years ago, but where could you host a wedding for 100 guests for 20K!  Congrats and I wish you guys as much happiness as my husband and I have had these last 20 years.  BTW, our cruising continues and we'll be boarding Enchantment this weekend and doing a TA on Odyssey from Rome in October!

[Opstrat]

hello @helloxxannie.

That looked amazing. we are booked to get married on the symphony in july in dazzles.

 

I know what you mean about Barbara and the wedding company. i haven't ran into any problems yet but I am prepared.

 

The one thing that i am worried about is we are getting married at sea and our sea day is the last day of the cruise. 😭

 

[helloxxannie]

On 2/6/2023 at 8:07 AM, graciekelli said:

Hi Annie,

Your wedding looked very beautiful, congratulations to the both of you. I am curious if you got to have your dinner for all the sailing guests that night?  How did that work or not?  Did you feel that the money you spent was worth it?  It sounded like to me that the only part that was not worth the money was the photography?

Thank you for sharing your review of your wedding here.  

 

 

Thank you! Yes, we had dinner with our sailing guests that night in MDR, being able to schedule that was a little bit of a headache as the wedding department said they wouldn't help, our Travel Agent couldn't help, and when we contacted Royal directly, they said to try onboard. Once onboard , the main dining room was very helpful and we were able to seat all 30 together in one section. We also had a weird problem where half of our guests paid USD and half paid CAD (my family vs his) therefore Royal issued two separate group numbers and was unable to put us under one! 

 

I would do it again in a heartbeat. The photography was definitely not worth it in my opinion. Without that, our cost would have been closer to $17,000. I think the service that the wedding department provides could definitely use some work as well, I felt like we paid for a premium service but other than providing the venue - Royal did their job, but the wedding coordinators did not. The communication overall was not good before and during the wedding. I honestly feel like the coordinators we paid for barely did the minimum - when I called their department after the wedding to discuss this, they even said "well they set up chairs"... I mean for that price I could set them up myself! 

 

I did have my dream wedding, it definitely could have been better, but I'm happy that we made it work with what we were provided. 

[helloxxannie]

21 hours ago, jerseygirl3 said:

What a beautiful wedding!  My husband and I were married on May 18, 2002, onboard a Carnival cruise.  We had 75 people that attended the wedding and cruised with us.  We were married before the ship left port as my sister and BIL had infant twins and they were uncomfortable cruising with them or leaving them, but the rest all cruised with us.  It was the best wedding ever!  And ours was a bit less than yours as it was 20 years ago, but where could you host a wedding for 100 guests for 20K!  Congrats and I wish you guys as much happiness as my husband and I have had these last 20 years.  BTW, our cruising continues and we'll be boarding Enchantment this weekend and doing a TA on Odyssey from Rome in October!

Absolutely! Congratulations on a lifetime of sailing with your husband! 

[helloxxannie]

18 hours ago, Opstrat said:

hello @helloxxannie.

That looked amazing. we are booked to get married on the symphony in july in dazzles.

 

I know what you mean about Barbara and the wedding company. i haven't ran into any problems yet but I am prepared.

 

The one thing that i am worried about is we are getting married at sea and our sea day is the last day of the cruise. 😭

 

Congrats on your upcoming wedding! The wedding department definitely needs more staff, I didn't have my final invoice or confirmation until 3 days before my wedding which to me is kind of pushing it since they had all of my choices and final details weeks in advance. 

 

Definitely be prepared and stay organized on your end, ensure she answers your questions as I noticed she would push off questions every time I'd ask them again. I am by far not a picky bride nor did I bother her much, but there were multiple times she said she would call me but didn't which was very annoying. 

 

Since you are getting married at sea, you'll have an advantage over me where you'll be able to meet your onboard coordinator prior to your wedding. We had to look for ours all over the terminal before the wedding and that was not fun! Definitely ask Barbara for your coordinator's name and onboard extension before you board so that you can reach out to your coordinator once you get on the ship! 

 

Wishing you a lifetime of happiness and a beautiful wedding! 

[moposh]

On 1/15/2023 at 7:56 PM, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

Ohhh boy, I can only imagine how awkward. 😳 Sorry you had to deal with that.

 

Congratulations on your wedding and I look forward to following along! 

But they knew about the altercation and probably knew they were banned.

[moposh]

Congratulations.  You both look beautiful.  I wish you much happiness.

 

I want to hear how you met.  Was he in the belly flop competition or sexiest man?  😍

[helloxxannie]

12 minutes ago, moposh said:

Congratulations.  You both look beautiful.  I wish you much happiness.

 

I want to hear how you met.  Was he in the belly flop competition or sexiest man?  😍

Haha! Funny you say that because Bryan just competed in the Belly Flop competition on our honeymoon cruise onboard the Harmony, he came 3rd place - he probably would have won but the 1st & 2nd place had 100+ lbs on him. I told him he had all the flop but not enough belly 😂 Few more cruises and he'll get there haha

 

It's actually a funny story how we met, he was on a cruise with his best friend & I was there with my sister. His best friend & my sister actually connected and caught each other's eye first.  Bryan and I were just there as wingmen, but realized pretty quickly that we had our own connection and talked all night. Next day, I was leaving the pool deck alone and the elevator opened - he was in there with a woman and child. I got in the elevator & the way he was interacting with the kid made it seem like it was his little family. I got so flustered and got out of the elevator ASAP because I totally thought it was his wife and kid with him! We cleared it up later on, turns out it was his best friend's sister and child 🤣

 

We became friends after for a year and a half as I lived in Toronto & he lived in Fort Lauderdale. One day we realized that we were meant to be together, worked through the long distance,  and now we're married! 

 

[moposh]

Awww....super sweet.  

 

 

For belly flop, it does help if one has a sizeable belly.  😆

[ReneeFLL]

On 1/15/2023 at 5:25 PM, helloxxannie said:

…Turns out, one of our attendees had a previous issue on a RC trip and our wedding coordinator called us to let us know he was denied boarding. That was quite the awkward conversation we had to have with our guest, apparently there was an altercation on an RC cruise a few years back….

That’s awkward. Did he not know he was banned? I remember seeing you and some people with you. Was it you that was carrying the wedding dress or someone else? There did seem to be a problem when I saw you. I was on the previous cruise and on this one. I saw you during turn around when they walked us thru customs and then back on board. You were there when we went in and still there when we went out. Sorry to hear about all the issues. Beautiful couple and it’s cool that you had 2 weddings so both sides could attend.

 

BTW did you or someone have on a sash? Maybe it said bride or something?

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by ReneeFLL

[helloxxannie]

28 minutes ago, ReneeFLL said:

That’s awkward. Did he not know he was banned? I remember seeing you and some people with you. Was it you that was carrying the wedding dress or someone else? There did seem to be a problem when I saw you. I was on the previous cruise and on this one. I saw you during turn around when they walked us thru customs and then back on board. You were there when we went in and still there when we went out. Sorry to hear about all the issues. Beautiful couple and it’s cool that you had 2 weddings so both sides could attend.

 

BTW did you or someone have on a sash? Maybe it said bride or something?

 

 

Oh my! Funny that you got to witness the chaos from an outsiders view! 

 

Our wedding coordinators were no where to be found and no one in the terminal even knew there was a wedding going on so we were basically in limbo for about an hour. It was pretty stressful and frustrating because we knew it was a short timeline for the wedding and we felt like we were wasting precious time just sitting there. The weirdest part was while I was sitting in the terminal, all my non-sailing guests were already on board and exploring the ship since they entered through the guest entrance. We got a lot of "where are you" texts and phone calls for an hour. 

 

My sister was holding my wedding dress and a few days later it was her birthday so we got a birthday sash and crown for her to celebrate. We look very similar so it's easy to get us mixed up! 

 

As for the guest that got denied, he knew there was a previous altercation but he thought since he was attending the wedding and not sailing it wouldn't be an issue. Was definitely an awkward conversation because he's also Bryan's boss 🤣

 

[moposh]

14 hours ago, helloxxannie said:

As for the guest that got denied, he knew there was a previous altercation but he thought since he was attending the wedding and not sailing it wouldn't be an issue. Was definitely an awkward conversation because he's also Bryan's boss 🤣

Oh no!  

[alibi78]

On 1/31/2023 at 11:40 AM, helloxxannie said:

We are BACK! Here's our full wedding video for anyone that would like to enjoy. Huge shoutout to Timeline Video Productions for masterfully capturing our day.  

 

Here's how our wedding day and experience went!

 

The Wedding: 

Embark on Romance Package with 100 guests, here's what we chose to do:

Premium Open Bar for 3 hours 
Tier 3 Hors D'oeurves (8 pieces per person)

Microphone Add On

Sound Tech for 1 hour
DJ for 2 Hours 
Platinum Photo Package 

Total Cost $20,353.06

 

Venue: Dazzles onboard the Harmony of the Seas 
 

Expectations Going Into The Day
We had finalized all of our choices and had confirmation from the wedding department only a few days before sailing.  The only thing that they could not help us with, was dinner with the full group on the wedding day, I was told to speak to the on-board coordinator about that part since we had two group numbers and scattered dining choices. 

 

All of our 70 non-sailing guests sent their IDs in for security clearance to board the ship, and all of our 30 sailing guests were all checked in and ready to go. The wedding department told us that we all MUST be in the terminal by 10am where there will be someone with wedding sign to gather us together to escort us on the ship.

 

We had our timeline and we made sure everyone knew they had to be on time 

 

Timeline of the Day: 
10am Everyone arrives at terminal 
11am Guests escorted into the venue, Bride & Groom escorted into two separate rooms to get ready

12pm: Ceremony Starts
12:30: Food + Reception Begins
2:30: Non-sailing guests escorted off 

 

How The Day Started 

Myself and my family (20 people) boarded a limo bus to transport us to the ship to arrive at 9:30am to give us plenty of time. We had our wedding dress, suit, décor, wedding favors, etc, I had everything in garment bags and storage bins to make it easier to transport along with our luggage for our trip. 

 

We got to the port and it was just absolute chaos! There were ships disembarking of course and the traffic was heavy, but we kept calm and we knew we would get there eventually. Once we got to terminal 18 - that's when it just got frustrating. The wedding department told us that there would be our wedding coordinators waiting for us with a wedding sign - 4 in total because of the size of the wedding. They were not there, so we asked the staff at the terminal where we should be going. We were sent to inside the terminal through one line, and then sent back outside the terminal because we weren't supposed to be there. We did this 3 times with directions from different staff, all while our non-sailing guests were also trying to figure out where they're supposed to go. Finally, our non-sailing guests figured out they were to go to the "visitor" section, while our sailing group was still confused. 

 

The RC staff members inside the terminal started to realize how overwhelmed and frustrated we were all getting carrying all of our things back and forth from one end to the other so she kept us all in one spot while she ran around trying to figure out what to do. The best part is, no one in the terminal even knew that there was going to be a wedding happening that day! Next thing you know, our non-sailing videographer that was inside the terminal and ship with all of our non-sailing guests while I was still sitting in the terminal not knowing where to go. I couldn't find my wedding coordinator and no one was trying to get a hold of me. I didn't get a call from a coordinator until 11am - 1.5 hours after I had arrived at the terminal. By this time, our non-sailing guests had been roaming around the ship for almost an hour. 

 

Getting on the Ship 

 

When our co-ordinator finally found us, myself, my groom and all of our sailing guests were escorted on. Bryan had to go to his room, and I had to go to mine, we had the room numbers already selected prior to sailing. Our wedding co-ordinators had NO IDEA which way our rooms were because they'd never been on the ship before. So, myself and my sisters had to run around the ship trying to find the room & of course, we ended up on the wrong side, we kept getting scolded by staff because they were turning down the rooms for the sailing. I totally understand though, but we needed to get ready! 

 

My room was ready, but Bryan's was not. He had to talk to the attendant into letting him in so that he can at least change in time for the wedding. I finally got to speak to the onboard wedding coordinator as I was rushing to mine to get changed in time for our noon ceremony. This was way too stressful for the morning of our wedding, but we pulled through! 

 

The Wedding

Once we finally got dressed, our wedding was amazing. We had our own officiant who is also an MC take care of making sure our wedding was how we wanted it. Our friends and family really rallied together to make it absolutely magical. I was pretty disappointed that the wedding coordinators that were given to us didn't facilitate everything. Although the 4 wedding coordinators had our schedule, we missed out on a lot of things like our group pictures, bouquet toss, cake cutting, etc and they sat in the back of our venue the whole time just watching us. Our wedding was self sufficient once we were allowed in the venue, our friends and family was the ones that made everything happen. The RC staff that handled food and drinks were AMAZING though!

 

All in all, everything that was within Royal Caribbean's realm like venue, food, drinks, & cake was phenomenal, but the actual wedding company that RC uses to facilitate was unacceptable. 

 

We ended up with a magical wedding though, as you can see in our full wedding video! 

 

The Photography Nightmare

This was probably the worst part of my week & I am SO GLAD I brought on board my own videographer to capture my day because if I only relied on their photography, I wouldn't even know how to handle it. 

 

We used the RC photographers for our wedding because it was a $1000 buyout to be able to use our own. We decided to use that towards a videographer instead and use their photographers on board. Originally, the package comes with 1 hour but does not include photos, at first, we decided to add 2 hours + add on ALL digital files - these two came up to about $2250. Our wedding coordinator up-sold us prior to the wedding to their "Platinum Package" which included a lot more - 2 photographers for 5 hours, all digital files, 75 prints, a video box, 1 hour private studio session and a lot more. 

 

When we did our photo viewing, I was so frustrated  because there was SO many photos that could have been amazing but the photographer didn't take the time to frame the shot right or fix our clothing. For example, we have an amazing sunset shoot but my husband's suit is flipped up completely and my hair is tangled in my crown. Obviously, we wouldn't have seen this because we're in the shot, but with two photographers, you'd figure they'd at least say something when they're looking at the shot. I felt like they were just bringing us everywhere to get quantity, not quality shots. Of the 1200 shots they took, it was hard to find 75 that we even liked. Even the photos with our guests were angled weird so we both have major double chins and look unproportioned. The Platinum package cost us around $3000. 

 

Here's where the story takes the most frustrating turn. When we were choosing our photos, the onboard photo department told us that were ONLY entitled to the 75 we chose, print and digital, not ALL like it said in our contract. I couldn't believe it. I even brought up the contract to show them, but she was adamant that I'm not supposed to receive it. She also mentioned that the "11x14 video presentation print box with 10 mounts + prints" listed in the contract is not available on the ship. I also did not receive my RAW format images that was listed either. I couldn't understand why I had to be fighting them on my honeymoon week. 

 

We also did our 1 hour private studio session which gave us 10 prints, we asked if we could buy one additional one that we wanted and they tried to charge us $250 PER DIGITAL FILE! I told them that was just a complete scam because the photo and file was already there, and $250 is just absurd. 

 

The WORST part was, upon disembarkation, I was supposed to pick up my photos at 7am. I met a gentleman there with my prints in hand and he told me that there was a problem with the printer so there's heads cut off of the photos and cropped wrong completely. I told him I had to leave because I had transportation booked but he said he need to reprint and shipping them to me was not an option. So, the only option I had was to wait. I waited for almost an hour when he gave me the files I ran off the ship to catch my way home....

 

Upon arriving at home, I realized the prints are horrible. They're blurry and cropped wrong, printed on low quality paper. I had better prints done at Walgreens a week ago. They're just so bad... 

 

We still had an amazing wedding and an amazing week with our family and friends because we made the best of it. But the experience leading up to it and how it ended was just ridiculous! 

 

I'll follow up with some tips to help make your day seamless and less stressful now that I've gone through it. I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has!

 

Congrats to you both and thank you for sharing all the great details. I have a wedding coming up in a few months on Freedom out of Miami. I'm hoping all goes smoothly but I too have had some communication issues which is a bit frustrating. 

One question i had is did they charge you an extra fee to use that video company in addition to their photographers?

[ReneeFLL]

On 2/7/2023 at 11:17 PM, helloxxannie said:

 

Oh my! Funny that you got to witness the chaos from an outsiders view! 

 

Our wedding coordinators were no where to be found and no one in the terminal even knew there was a wedding going on so we were basically in limbo for about an hour. It was pretty stressful and frustrating because we knew it was a short timeline for the wedding and we felt like we were wasting precious time just sitting there. The weirdest part was while I was sitting in the terminal, all my non-sailing guests were already on board and exploring the ship since they entered through the guest entrance. We got a lot of "where are you" texts and phone calls for an hour. 

 

My sister was holding my wedding dress and a few days later it was her birthday so we got a birthday sash and crown for her to celebrate. We look very similar so it's easy to get us mixed up! 

 

As for the guest that got denied, he knew there was a previous altercation but he thought since he was attending the wedding and not sailing it wouldn't be an issue. Was definitely an awkward conversation because he's also Bryan's boss 🤣

 

I didn’t see this earlier since for some reason I didn’t get an email that you responded. That had to have been really awkward that he was Bryan’s boss. Looks like everyone had a great time. Congrats.

 

How did Bryan make those moves and not spill that martini? It’s hard enough for me to just walk with one and try to not spill it. 😁

Edited June 8, 2023 by ReneeFLL

[helloxxannie]

On 6/8/2023 at 12:39 AM, alibi78 said:

Congrats to you both and thank you for sharing all the great details. I have a wedding coming up in a few months on Freedom out of Miami. I'm hoping all goes smoothly but I too have had some communication issues which is a bit frustrating. 

One question i had is did they charge you an extra fee to use that video company in addition to their photographers?

Thank you!

I did not have to pay an extra fee for the videographer because they didn't offer that service. Their " Buy Out" only pertained to photography! 

 

Good luck on your wedding! It'll turn out amazing, just need to pack your patience in dealing with the wedding company. Communication will get a little better once you get closer to your date! 

[helloxxannie]

On 6/8/2023 at 6:43 AM, ReneeFLL said:

How did Bryan make those moves and not spill that martini? It’s hard enough for me to just walk with one and try to not spill it. 😁

 

I have NO idea! I can't even hold it in my hand without spilling it. He's got a martini glass holding talent that's for sure! Thanks for your kind words 🙂 

[Wanna Be Retired]

My daughter just got married on Allure in Central Park.  This is my husband walking her down the aisle.  She was married by the Second Captain.  Not a lot of communication and we were concerned but it was all taken care of.  It was beautiful!

[Hellokacco9o]

Beautiful wedding!! Thank you so much for sharing! How was it working with the dj? Were you able to pick songs for first dance and stuff? Or did you just have to go with whatever song they played for you? Can you bring your own songs for him to play for walking down the aisle? 
 

Thank you again!