Wedding Cakes on Celebrity Century?

[Soon2bMrs]

I'm getting married while on a cruise on St. John.

We're having a cocktial party back on the ship as we leave St. Thomas. We'd like to get a wedding cake.

My Ta didn't think that Celebrity did wedding cakes.

Does anyone know if this is true?

 

If now, where could we pick one up on the island?

 

Thanks,

Kathy

10/05/04

[MandyGirl]

Kathy -

 

This is who did our wedding cake: http://www.stjohnchef.com/cakes.htm

 

I haven't emailed him yet, but plan to soon. We're planning to purchase another wedding cake to share on Hawksnest Beach where we married - do it the day we are there in port for our next cruise. It wasn't fair we only got one piece to SHARE on our wedding day!!! :eek: Just kidding - but that's all he and I got, and we figured it would be a good tradition to always purchase another smaller version of our cake and return to our wedding beach each time we visit St John. :) I can definitely say the wedding cake was absolutely delicious! I'm not sure where we'll have to go to pick it up, but St John is really small. Just an option if Celebrity doesn't do wedding cakes...

[Soon2bMrs]

Thanks Mandy,

 

I think we're going to try to see if the ship will do one, or I'll get someone to pick one up on St. Thomas.

We just found out that our TA got our cocktail party but for the wrong night. I told her we wanted the night after our ceremony so we can share w/ our guests. She's looking into it. I hope we get that night! Then we'll serve cake and it will have the feel of a wedding. Well not that getting married on St. John won't be a wedding.

I can't believe that it's a little over two months away!

I got my dress fitted last week, I'm having her cut out the ichey crinlion and shorten it so I don't drag it all over the beach. This is getting exciting to me!

 

I may call Celebrity to see what they can do. Sometimes I think my TA is just sitting on her butt counting my money! Next time I'll book a cruise on my own!

 

How are things out your way?

Kathy :)

[MandyGirl]

Kathy -

You know, I sometimes thought that too about the TA we used. I thought it would be better to go through a TA versus an online place since we'd have several cabins. (Don't think it mattered). Since we had several cabins, she asked if we'd like onboard credit, bottles of wine, etc - so we said onboard credit would be great! We got a bottle of wine in each cabin upon arrival. Well... considering only a small handful of us drink any alcohol period, and one in our group had just celebrated his 19th AA birthday, and most in our group don't touch wine/beer/etc at all... that was stupid. It would have been better to get onboard credits so people could use them towards shore excursions, massages, souvenirs. Guess that would have made too much sense. Still don't know why she changed from onboard credits to wine. (?) Needless to say, a few of us shared a bottle of wine each night at dinner - each cabin that didn't drink would bring their bottle to dinner for those of who did want some.

That's cool about your dress! Definitely don't want to be itchy! And good idea about hemming it shorter - your feet will sink in the sand some!!! :D I'm not sure who the cake-makers are on St Thomas, but I'm sure you'll find some. If not, that one on St John is really good. I can already taste it... and I'm so happy Curt goes along with my corny ideas of sharing wedding cake on our beach on future visits! He's all for it too!! But everything in that area is pricey - groceries, living expenses, wedding cakes...

Things are great out here. Started unpacking my new classroom yeterday and have more to do than I thought. Headed back to school today. But... I got that "buy a car" itch last week and bought one in Phoenix. Getting there (and driving back for two days) is an entire story on its own. Had our first experience getting stranded going nonrev... but finally got to Phoenix the next day. I think having a car payment is going to cut into the travel budget though, but I LOVE my 'new' Passat! It's a 2003 model with under 10,000 miles, and I'm very happy with it. After driving from Phoenix through the Arizona mountains, through a monsoon, and speeds to get us home a little quicker... I know it definitely drives well!!!

Is Derek doing okay?

[Soon2bMrs]

Well I called Celebrity today and they will make us a cake but a sheet cake wedding cake in any flavor, and frosting, color that we want. So, I'm debating that. Cheryl emailed me the # of the baker that she uses in St. Thomas. I also got the number for the group bookings and am debating calling them to find out about our party and the date since it's not that date that I want. I hate that I have to do this, but what's a TA for if they don't make you happy???? That's great about the wine that you got, but then again, I'm really not a wine drinker either and would have rather had the ship board credit. At least soda cards for everyone! Geez!

 

I think it's great that you guys are going back and having a cake. Derek was bummed becuase we really wouldn't have a cake to eat next year, but I asked him if he would rather have a fozen cake or a fresh one next year? This way we can get a new cake every year and try different ones!

 

So why did you buy your car so far away? My brother in law has a Passat and loves it. I'm getting the 8 year new car ich too. Derek's car has been in the shop like 6 times in a year... all warrenty work, but still! My Honda is fine, but I'm bored and love the new cars out there! LOL I think we're going to buy a house first, baby our cars and then buy one. I think my car will outlast his... his being American and mine.... well a Honda!

 

When does school start for you? I was taking a Bus. Law class, but withdrew when we found out Derek's dad was sick. Glad that I did that becuase the week of his death and then funeral I had exams and a couple of projects due! There was no way I'd get through this semester! I might take 1 in the fall..... if not it's back to 2 in the spring. I feel that I'm getting behind when I was on a role!

 

WE just got credits on our flights to FLL. The flights went from $79 to $49! So we got some $$ back as well as credit to fly again.

Yippie!

D is doing good. I've been in a crappy mood all week, then again it's rained every day since Monday. His step mom is flying back to Florida this Saturday. I think one of her sons is going w/ her to get her thru the initial shock of returning to an empty house. With our credits we'll go visit her in the spring.

I still can't believe it's been two weeks since he's gone! And only 1 month since he told us that he was sick! Life is so wierd sometimes!

 

Thanks for asking.

[MandyGirl]

So true about not eating a frozen cake next year! Fresh cake would be awesome! The Celebrity chefs would probably enjoy making a wedding cake - something they don't get to do that often, and if a chef loves his/her job, I would imagine it being a nice change of something to do!

 

School officially starts Aug 9 for me and Aug 16 for my 150 kiddos. I'm still unpacking my new classroom - I'm going to do more next week when my most favorite student ever gets home from HER family vacation on St John. (I'm jealous). She likes helping me over the summer, and I really enjoy her help - she is an awesome student. That's good you dropped your class though - that would have been tough. I took 18 hours one summer and it about killed me! I was on this mission to be out in three years... went to school, worked about 40-50 hours a week, and slept. That's about it. Plus I went to a very small school with no athletics, so I missed that part of college. And being a math major put me in the nerdy buildings!! Now we go to Curt's old college once a year for a football game - and I really enjoy doing that!

 

That's great about your flight credits! You'll definitely be able to feel good using them in the Spring to go visit her. I couldn't even imagine going through all that. My neighbor that we always borrow tools from (or advice when doing home projects) is in the hospital. Last month they diagnosed him with pneumonia, but he also has asthma. Now he's back in - has been almost 2 weeks - and now they're suspecting lung cancer. :( Waiting on the biopsy, but his wife is a wreck. I have a key to their house and let their dog out for them when they need it - and vice versa. I'm really hoping the doctors are wrong and the biopsy comes back good. I've been reading webmd.com and it showed a 15% survival rate after 5 years of diagnosis. And the guy doesn't even smoke!

 

Yep - everyone is givine me that question about buying the car 1000+ miles away! :D Well, first I went to a local VW dealership here in Dallas to look at new Passats, and after TWO trips over there (went to one on the other side of Dallas) and LOTS of LIES that did not come realized until we sat down with the finance person, we decided to leave. I've heard negativity about carsalesemen before, but the two that we worked with were just 'ugh'. Lies like "we'll pay three months of your payments" and "0%" and "we can give you more than bluebook for your trade-in" and "yes we can get you down to that car payment you want with your trade-in". Turned out the 0% offer was not on the model we were wanting to buy - that started at 2.9% even with perfect credit, the three payments was a flat out lie, they wouldn't even take my trade-in and sent me to CarMax (which gave me blueblook value), and obviously the numbers never worked out. And the funny thing was that the second guy who came up to us while we were working the details out with our salesman introduced himself as the FLOOR MANAGER. When we were sitting with the finance guy, we mentioned that "Marcus the floor manager said..." and he just started laughing. Turns out this guy was just another salesman and not a manager. They were tag-teaming us. Lies lies lies.

My 'old' car was a Saturn that I bought 8 years ago this August - like you, it still ran okay, but I just wanted something newer and that actually could get me on the freeway at a decent speed! :) I actually bought a Saturn because of the no-haggle pricing, so after this experience at this highly-awarded VW dealership, I just totally have a negative taste of car salesmen. There are actually two closer VW dealerships to our house, but we went to this particular one because of all the awards they had won. Anyway, I decided to look at used. I wanted a specific color, year, model (GLX), automatic, etc and I looked at many VW websites in two-day driving distance. Then I started searching google. I found about a dozen around the nation, made a spreadsheet, bought the carfax unlimited search, and narrowed it down to three based on price/mileage (carfax was a good investment - found two lemon-law cars by using that). One never emailed back, one was in New Jersey, and one was Phoenix. The guy in Phoenix was great, sounded very honest, emailed at least a dozen pics, walked around the car to answer questions while on the phone, and told me of every little bitty microscopic rock chip. He was awesome, and even better in person - I would highly recommend him if you are wanting to buy a high quality, used VW, Audi, or other car in Phoenix. I can't say enough great things about him. Anyway, as soon as we pulled up (he picked us up from our airport hotel), I was ready to give him the check - it looked that great - but knew I had to be good and testdrive it. We ran it good, and he taught me how to use the tiptronic that I had not been taught before. That was awesome. While they finished detailing the car, he got on Mapquest to give us a better (scenic) way home, which was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. At least until we hit I-40 in Arizona - then it was typical interstate driving trying not to get run off the road by truckers. (I had a big truck have a blowout right next to me once, so I now have that phobia of trucks). I am VERY happy with my car - it totally fits my personality!! Finished defensive driving last night to get that 10% insurance discount, and we're also going to take the alcohol class for another 5% - it will be worth it even after paying the class cost. I can totally see why people love their Passats! I have wanted one since 1998 when a colleague had one - I love her's! So I made sure to get exactly what I wanted.

 

Okay - I better go clean the house. I'm not going to work in my classroom today so I want Curt to come home to something clean! :) Have a good weekend if I don't talk to you before then!

[Soon2bMrs]

Wow,

Ok, why didn't you just get Carmax to ship it to your closest Carmax? At least you got out of the state and had a nice trip!

 

Celebrity will do a cake, a sheet cake, but they will do it for about $112. Not bad and I wouldn't have to worry about how to get it on the ship. My TA is waiting to here back from CC about the date change for the cocktail hour. Why she picked the day she did???????????????? Well it will be my birthday...... Oiy another day older! LOL

 

I can't believe that school starts so early for you guys! I think they go back the week before or after Labor Day. Then again w/ all the weather and the sissy school system I don't think that the kids got out for summer break till the middle or end of June! I'm debating on taking 1 piddly class to knock it out of the way... maybe something online so that I can keep track while on the cruise. Yup I'm a little whacky about it. It's taken me this long to finaly like school that I don't want to stop and yes.... I sorta have it in my head that I'd love to finish in 3 years..... going part time! HA HA

 

Did you see my other eply to that girl who was looking into cruise weddings? I don't know how I could have gotten along w/ out you here! Especially the last couple of weeks! Thank you sooooo much!

If you ever go into this business, I'll work for you! I'll do marketing and sales for you! LOL BUT we'd HAVE to live on the island! Give Cheryl, Mary and the other planners a run for thier money! LOL

 

I'm off to eat dinner. Have a great weekend yourself! I think we're going to finish registering, go to the pool and just chill. If it rains.... we have to clean our apartment!

 

Later

Kathy :)

[MandyGirl]

Hey! Yes, I saw that - that was very sweet of you! I had seen a wedding consulting business in St Thomas (with living quarters) come up for sale online this past Fall. I was all set to sell the house and move and let Curt move back in with his old roommate until he could get a job in St Thomas. I had it all planned out by the end of the day and had emailed her before I even left school. Turns out the lady had changed her mind, but it was totally the perfect setup. And she had Carnival's contract for ten years (which is how I learned the cruiselines contract out like that). Definitely a dream job! And I know we could kick butt! There are so many ways it can be done cheaper - they definitely have a good business going on. Even when I'd play flute for "rich" weddings, I might make $100 for an hour. The steelpan players get $350!! I can learn steelpan drums for that!!! After working with the wedding coordinators those years I played in weddings, it's not that hard of a job I would think. You get your contacts, know the area/laws, have good people skills, focus on customer service, and give people a good value for their money.

 

We actually traded my Saturn in to CarMax, but bought the VW from a different dealer. He could ship it for about $300-$400, but I didn't think I could wait!!! But like you said, it made for a good drive! :)

Hopefully your cocktail hour will work out! But your birthday's the same week?? How cool! I hit the big 3-0 last month and am actually starting to feel like an adult. :( But I live with the motto of "you're not guaranteed tomorrow" so I try to make the most of everyday. :)

I figured out yesterday that I actually start back Aug 6 - next Friday. UGH! It's because I am changing schools but still in the same district. If I were new to the district I'd start Aug 3. My computer is flat broken at school, so I quit unpacking so they could get to it easily before I piled a million things all around it. I wish we did more of a year-round school so that we could more breaks during the year at non-holiday times. I hate only getting to take a cruise when it's peak season (lots of kids and $$$$$). But... I am so thankful we get the entire week for Thanksgiving. That's not that bad of a time to cruise. We have yet to have Thanksgiving with our families as a couple - even when dating, we would go our separate ways for Thanksgiving, but this will be the third Thanksgiving in a row we've been in the Caribbean.

You know, the pool is the one big thing I miss about living in apartments. Curt and I even had our first kiss his apartment complex's hot tub! I still think about that every time I pass his old apartment. Hopefully you guys got to chill out instead of clean! We washed cars last night.

I wouldn't be too concerned about Celebrity's wedding cake though - they are known for their dining. Surely they would do a fantastic one!!

I really don't want to do anything productive today... l a z y !!

So is your family getting to be okay with running off to St John??

~ Mandy

[Soon2bMrs]

It's true. Thank god for you! You have been the best source of information!

I never thought of the steel dream playing........ Hey how hard could it be? How would know if you played a wrong key?

You get to wear those cool tropical shirts.... or sundresses! I wonder if you get good tips? LOL

 

You got me looking online at cars! URGH Can't afford it now.... well could, but would have to curb my weekly trips to Target! I really love those new Mazda's, the 3 and the 6. Derek and I saw them at the car show this winter. NICE!

 

I remember when I turned 30! This year will be the 36th! I can't believe that I got so old! HA HA Derek is 33. Yes I"m robbing the cradel! He can take care of me when I get all old and decrepid!

 

Your right about the cake thing. So it's not a tiered cake, I'm sure it will be delicious! D's liking the idea. ANd it's cake, how hard can it be?

 

I know what you mean about being lazy today. I'm so not motivated to be here, then again I hate my job and I never feel like being here! LOL But it's Friday, some people are off and the sun is out for the first time since Saturday! It is perfect pool weather!

 

OK I better clear off my desk for Monday.

Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon.

 

Kath :)

[MandyGirl]

Hey Kathy! Just thought I'd say "hi". So is the Celebrity wedding cake a definite?

 

36 isn't that bad! My old roommate is turning 45 this October, but I don't remind her too often!! She's never been married, but still keeping her eye out!!! The last guy she dated lived outside BWI, but he turned out to be a L O S E R !

I asked the moderator if my old username could be rolled into my new one (since I wanted to get away from my maiden name) and she said no problem. So now I have my original old "join date" showing with the posts that transferred over from my old username! (even though about 800 posts didn't transfer to the new boards). Four years ago I didn't think twice about using my name as a username, but with identity theft these days, they had no problem switching that old ID into my new MandyGirl ID. Yea CruiseCritic! :)

I am avoiding housework and grocery store as much as possible. I've been bad about being on the computer so much this summer - Curt will probably be glad I'm going back to school!!! LOL! But dang, weddings are so much fun, and I love St John, and looking at that upcoming cruise has me trying to research the heck out of everything! I just ran across the girl who had our wedding suite on that ship! I had forgotten her userid, but she noticed my signature and put two and two together! How cool is that? (Back when cruising the Norway, every cabin was so different, you really tried finding someone who actually had your cabin so you'd really know what to expect!)

Okay - I really am going to run to the grocery store and try to be a wife tonight. Poor Curt made a cheesecake out of the box last night and called it dinner! (Hey - I did work in my classroom all day long yesterday!!)

You're nearing the two-month countdown!!!

[Celebrity Bride]

I was married on the Mercury last year and they provided a traditional 3-tiered wedding cake for me. I used the wedding coordinator that handles Celebrity's onboard weddings.