5/5/06 Glory Wedding Review

[brianroberts2526]

I'm going to try and make this as detailed as possible, because I have been reading this forum for a while and other reviews of detail were a huge help to me.

 

First off, let me start by saying right away it was an amazing wedding. If there are points where it seems like I am whining, I am not doing it out of dissapointment; there were bumps in the road and me pointing them out could possibly help others down the road. If I rag on something, I don't want to turn anyone away from this experience; because if I had to do it over 100 times; I would do it all over again and again the same way we did.

 

First a little background. Me and my new wife Andria were engaged last April. We weren't sure what kind of wedding we wanted; but we definitely knew we wanted to go on our third cruise for our honeymoon. Eventually we just figured, we loved cruising so much; why not have the wedding on the ship?

 

The reason we picked the Glory Western sailing, is because we liked the date as far as our schedules and we wanted to get married on the first day after embarking; making it Key West. After some talks we decided just to have it in the port, because more people could attend. We stuck with the Glory, and throughout change after change to the itinerary; I think we may have been better with a different ship; but I'm not sure.

 

As for everything else pre-wedding. She bought her dress, and she got a band and all the things that a bride needs. She also made favors which were little pales with out pictures on them with a bag of sand in them. Also we brought a bunch of disposable cameras. As for me; I bought a brand new tuxedo on Ebay for 100$. I thought it looked very good. I bought a pair of used tuxedo shoes on Ebay for 5$. The tux came with a bowtie and cumberbund, but I decided to go with a regular tie and vest, which I also bought on Ebay. I also bought my wedding band on Ebay for 5$. (I don't wear jewelry and work outside, so getting something really nice wasn't what I wanted to do.) That's all from our side. From the cruise/TWE side; we didn't hear anything from the time we booked until 6 days before the wedding; that is a one year span. So, that is definitely one aspect which might not work for some. I was fine, it was a good trade off for not having to talk to everyone and booking this and booking that, like a normal wedding.

 

As for the wedding. We got the hour and a half deluxe romance package that had all the finger foods and the ice sculpture, and the open bar. We did the unity candle, and just went with some standard vows. We also booked a paino player.

 

We were contacted 6 days prior to the wedding, told that we were scheduled at 1pm in the green room with a reception at 1:30-3:00 in the CinnABar. We were also asked why we didn't send a guest list. 8( And of course I didn't have a copy of it (completely moronic move by me). We ended up with a guest list of 47; 13 sailing.

 

So, now to the weekend of the wedding. The day before Friday, we headed to the Comfort Inn in Cocoa Beach. We booked a standard room with a pack and ride shuttle package. After hearing we were the bride and groom of the group (many people stayed at this hotel) the lady at the desk gave us a suite; which was very cool. That day we hung out by the pool (check in time was 4pm, we were in the room by 1). That night about 20 of us all went to SlowNLow Barbq. Very, very loud; not good with the intention of the night being to spend time with family while they are down.

 

The next morning we got up, Andria did her own hair. (She burned her neck and got a hickey looking mark from her curling iron. Didn't notice it later.) So, we were told to check into the port at 10:30 for priority check in. The shuttle came and it was too small. So we waited for a 2nd. The first shuttle had half the luggage and the other sailing guests. The 2nd shuttle had the other half of the luggage and the soon to be bride and groom. The first shuttle leaves; the 2nd shuttle is started, and tried to start again, and again, and again.

 

They also had a smaller shuttle their too for other guests. I had to literally tell the dirver; who just didn't get it. I told him, uh excuse me we need to get to the port. He replied saying we have to wait for the shuttle "hub" to get us cables. We told him to use the smaller shuttle; he said it was for others and too small. In the end we fit in it easily, and I'm sure the shuttle was back in plenty of time; of course.

 

We finally made it to the port. Everyone except for a couple others who didn't get the idea of "You either know your 100% going or your not invited" weren't their. We met the coordinator who checked us in, got us updated along with everyone else. There was a ton of stuff going on. We waited by the check in until about 11-1130 ish; then moved up to the tower to wait way from the crowds. After quite a few lines later we all got on the ship about an hour before the cermony.

 

Everyone wandered the very pretty ship, most got pizza and burgers. We went up to our room, only to have our steward kick us out. She came off rude at first, but by the end of the cruise was pretty cool. She aopologized and said she wasn't told thaty the wedding couple was in this room and it wasn't cleaned. So they moved us to the brides mothers room. I got dressed in 10 minutes and let the bride, maid of honor, and brides mom have the room.

 

I met the officiant, who was very nice; wasn't thrilled about a woman doing the cermony; but she was great. We had a quick rehearsal; and started things. The ceremony was short (only way Id do it) and the whole thing was great and went down smooth. The bride's dad was told to give her a kiss and didn't hear it, so that was a little akward pause. The officiant messed up my name a couple times, but it was all good.

 

Now we come to pictures. First I'll start by saying this. Our photagrapher Dan was great at what he does. He was funny, professional, and took what I thought were amazing pictures. But, I think the pictures and me were the thing that mixed the least. As soon as I met Dan I told him I wanted a lot of pictures of everyone who was attending the wedding. We took a bunch of pictures right after the cermony and my parents asked to get some with them and I. But he said later, because we had to rush to the reception. He took a lot of reception pictures. After the reception we took some portrait photos, a ton of them, being with Andrias parents. My parwents weren't told about this and couldn't be found when we did them. After this we went up to the top deck, for what seemed forever and right after that he had to go elsewhere for pictures. Meaning, in the end I didn't get one photo of me with just my parents.

Also, more on the photos. We met Dan on Tuesday evening in the library to look at the photos. I was really impressed with them. I went in with the idea (mostly from reading other Carnival reviews) that I could end up deadling with him and getting a few nice photos and a CD with the negatives for 600$. He started with an offer of all his pictures; an album, the CD, a DVD, and 2 canvases for more than 2500$. I asked him what the price would be without the DVD (it's just a slideshow with some music and a menu; I could do it if I wanted) and without the canvases (also not practical; theyre huge.) He said, it would be the same price. Finally, after negotiating, the best deal he could give us was to pay 5$ for 3*5 and 15$ for 8*10; and if we bought 1500$ worth we would get the CD and DVD (not dropping price w/o DVD again). So we bought 90+ 8x10's and 40+ 3x5's. The CD is really what we wanted; though they look a ton better in the pictures we bought. Must be something in the paper :). He also made us a lot of black and white which were great. All in all with the pictures; I am disappointed with the price; but the exact opposite of disappointed with the quality.

 

So, back to the reception. We got to the Cinn-A-Bar; and I immediately noticed three things. First, it wasn't as red as I thought; which I was thrilled about. Second, there was no bar; and it is hard to have an open bar without a bar. And third, there was no music or anyone sitting at the piano player.

Well, it turned out the bar was out of the room and there was a bar service. Although the beer glasses were small and you had to order two drinks at one time; everyone was very impressed. They were pretty fast, and everyone got a good amount of drinks and they were fairly strong as well. Now the paino player. The reception was 1:30-3:00; every couple of minutes we were told she would be there in a couple of minutes. She ended up getting there aboput 2:55. Because of this the coordinator was able to help get the reception extened to a little before 3:30; which when you factor in the open bar was a good trade off. (The mother in law is going to try to get the money for the paino player back) As it turned out, there was some sort of bomb threat at the Disney Magic next door; and because of this it made traffic and made it hard for the paino player to get on the Glory; which is understandeable, but still. But, when she did show up; I wish there was more traffic. She wasn't very good at all and didn't know any songs. The first half hour or so of the receptiont here was no background music, because they couldn't get the CD player unlocked to play a piano CD. (which sounded better anyways).

 

Also at the reception were finger foods, like sushi and fried mushrooms; that everyone seemed to like. Also, some fruit carvings and an ice sculpture. We had a champagne toast, with out own souvenier flutes. We had a cake cutting, kept the topper (not as cruddy looking as everyone makes it out to be) and it tasted good. We had a bouget toss and the whole nine yards. We then said goodbye to everyone and went up on the hot and sweaty top deck for what seemed like forever.

 

After pictures we ran downstairs and our steward said we could skip the Muster drill (I hate the drill). After hearing all the warnings and such, we thought maybe we should go. We grabbed the vests, and she saw us again and said "Really, you can skip it." So that was a nice little bonus.

 

In our room was a very nice bottle of champagne from Carnival. Not the crappy kind they give everyone during the week either.

 

We had a great week of cruising, very fun. In the end, the only thing I might change is not cruising with others :).

 

Also, we had some more of our cake at dinner. We were going to take some home, but decided not to.

 

Very long , sorry. Any other questions feel free to ask; I'd be more than happy to help; and definitely recommend it to anyone. We had a recent wedding in the family that costed twice as much as ours while ours was twice as good.

 

Don't forget to check out the pictures:

http://community.webshots.com/album/550337993aotxjn

[jerseygirl3]

What absolutely beautiful photos! Your wife is stunning and looks like a model. We, too, were married onboard a Carnival ship (May 18, 2002). My only regret is that, although our photographer did a great job, he didn't take any photos of us on any of the outside decks, so you can't even tell we got married on a ship. I never even thought about it at the time, but I so regret that our photos are lacking outside shots.

 

Congratulations and may you have many happy years together.

[KirbyCruiser]

Congrtulations! Its funny some of your complaints are the same as ours. We also had a wonderfull time. You two look fabulous.

[stevesgirl1111]

Congratulations! I am so glad to hear that everything went well for you. You and Andria make a beautiful couple and she was a gorgeous bride! I'm sorry to hear about the piano player though--we have booked the piano player as well but perhaps we will have a different one since they are usually on short contracts. What flavor of cake did you have? Thanks so much for the detailed review--it helps me picture what my wedding might be like :)

[brianroberts2526]

I think the cake was vanilla on vanilla; or something along those lines; it wasn't too bad at all.

[engagedatsea]

Congradualations.

 

Your bride is very glamourous.

 

We were married on a Carnival ship May 29, 2005 with 13 sailing guests.

 

I would do it again also.

[stevesgirl1111]

brianroberts--

 

did you use a special song for your first dance? If so, did you bring it on a cd and have them play it for you? Thanks!

[brianroberts2526]

brianroberts--

 

did you use a special song for your first dance? If so, did you bring it on a cd and have them play it for you? Thanks!

 

 

Ah thank you, I forgot to mention this. Our song is Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis.

When I talked to the coordinator she said we just ask the paino player when we get there; Ive seen a lot of ship piano players and I had no doubt it could be played. So once the coordinator got there an hour late or more; we asked her to play it and she didnt know it

[stevesgirl1111]

Oh that's terrible! So you just did your first dance to some random song that the piano player played? Would you recommend us bringing our own cd player in case this happens to us? :confused:

[brianroberts2526]

Oh that's terrible! So you just did your first dance to some random song that the piano player played? Would you recommend us bringing our own cd player in case this happens to us? :confused:

 

It couldn't hurt. They had a cd player but couldnt unlock it for the longest time.

[rara0508]

congrats groom!!! Your bride looked stunning.

 

Our cruise was great too.

 

Now it's back to work and laundry...yuk! Lots of pics to go thru and lots of stories to tell.

 

Congratulations again!

[mkaiser]

Did you and your wife have to be fully dressed at 10:30 when you got there? Or did you get to get dressed right before your wedding? We are dealing with "Lucy" (wedding coordinator) and she told my daughter that she has to be fully dressed. Can't imagine waiting around for 2 1/2 hours in a dress. They did say that my daughter and fiance room would be ready when they got on the ship

[Narina]

I was wondering about the being dressed thing too. We are getting married on the Glory in 2007 and I was at first told I could get dressed in my room once aboard the ship. If I have to be fully dressed when I get there that is going to make for a huge rush in the morning.

 

 

By the way your pictures are great! Really gives me an idea of what to expect at our wedding.

[syncarity81]

mkaiser, I dealt with Lucy also. We did not have to be dressed at 10:30 a.m. but our wedding wasn't set to begin until 1:00p.m. After check-in and everything, my husband and I had about an hour to get dressed before the wedding. I know that some people's ceremony start earlier or later so that may have been why Lucy said that you should already be dressed.

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=4pd6joy.10zifkxi&Uy=5d1ejd&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=1&UV=313745094689_60348892310

[brianroberts2526]

Ya we both did our hair at the hotel the morning of and wore casual clothes to the port while everyone was dressed. We had about an hour or so to get dressed in our room, but we moved to another room because ours wasn't clean.

[Cruising Wonder]

Congrats to your and your wife!! You both look great. I especially love the pictures out on the deck!!