What to do after beach wedding?

[chicagogirl08]

I am getting married on the beach in St Thomas in April 08. The ceremony is at 12:30 and we are having cake and champagne following the ceremony. I am guessing it should only take about 1-2 hours. The ship is in port till 6 pm. I am not sure if I should set something up or just let my guest do what they want??????

[wdngcruz]

Thank you for posting this! I am wondering the same. My wedding is in the port of Cozumel (through private wedding planner). I might do hor' douvres or maybe a buffet. But the simple wedding and simple budget I was originally planning could get out of budget quickly with all the add-ons for a reception. Also, I want my guests to enjoy the island. We planned on dinner but our dinner on the ship won't be until 8 and we leave the port at 4:30. I'm also concerned about our first dance, music, etc.

 

I'm curious to hear what other suggestions we hear back about.

[fungirl76]

I'm getting married in St. Thomas also. I have made up news letters for each port we will visit and listed the highlights of those ports so my guests can go off on their own and explore. I also included what our plans are for those ports so those who want to join us can. Don't worry, just go with the flow.. After all its your day. WDNGCRUZ, you can always ask your guests to join you for a cocktail in one of the lounges between the time you get on the ship and dinner. Hope this helps.

 

Congrats to both.

[ShedQueen77]

We don't have any guests, so this might not work for you. After our wedding, we're having the limo take us to a local restaurant on the island for lunch and then the driver will be taking us on a two hour tour of Barbados.

 

It might not work, but you asked! :D :p lol I do like fungirl's suggestion though.

[kandlwed]

We were torn on that as well. Originally, we were going to have the wedding at 1 and then have a cocktail hour back on the ship at 5 the hour before dinner. Then I started to think I may feel like I missed out on a reception. So now we are going to go to a local cafe from 2-4:30. We are just going to have hor's deourves (sp) and a wine and beer bar. We don't have to pay for the space, just the food and drinks we purchase. We also got a DJ for a good deal so we can do the first dance. We will do our cake there as well. It actually was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I guess it really depends on how many guests you do have as well...

[chicagogirl08]

kandlwed- what island are you having the ceremony on? How many guest?

[sunrise2008]

wdngcruiz,

 

are you booked on RCI or another cruiseline? Just wondering how you amanged to get a 8Pm dinner. I have been trying with RCI with no luck so far at the Portofino restaurant

 

thanks!

[caribbeananne05]

I am getting married in St. Thomas in November. I have arranged for sunnylistontours.com to be our transportation. Princess was going to charge $20 per person anyway and he is charging $25 per person which includes taking guests to the wedding site, picking everyone up and taking us on on a 1.5-2 hour tour of the island and then taking us back to the ship. Another cruise critic member did this for her wedding also. She said it went great. Sunny has answered all my emails and has been reallly easy to deal with.

[caribbeananne05]

Forgot to mention- for the reception- I just made reservations in Sabatinis on the ship at 6:00 that night. So, that's what we are doing on the wedding day:)

[kandlwed]

Chicagogirl- we are getting married in Key West with 100 guest. Crazy, yes, I know. ;)

[sas80]

wdngcruiz,

 

are you booked on RCI or another cruiseline? Just wondering how you amanged to get a 8Pm dinner. I have been trying with RCI with no luck so far at the Portofino restaurant

 

thanks!

 

If you have people sailing with you, consider getting a Ta and turning this into a group cruise so you can get some perks for the group.

 

My original suggestion was going to be to move your reservation to a TA so they could make the portofino reservations for you, because I have heard that they can accomplish this. Be sure to ask any TA you are considering moving to if they can do this before you make the move tho.

[wdngcruz]

I'm getting married in St. Thomas also. I have made up news letters for each port we will visit and listed the highlights of those ports so my guests can go off on their own and explore. I also included what our plans are for those ports so those who want to join us can. Don't worry, just go with the flow.. After all its your day. WDNGCRUZ, you can always ask your guests to join you for a cocktail in one of the lounges between the time you get on the ship and dinner. Hope this helps.

 

Congrats to both.

 

Great suggestion about the cocktail party on the ship afterwards. I will have to consider that as an option.

[wdngcruz]

We were torn on that as well. Originally, we were going to have the wedding at 1 and then have a cocktail hour back on the ship at 5 the hour before dinner. Then I started to think I may feel like I missed out on a reception. So now we are going to go to a local cafe from 2-4:30. We are just going to have hor's deourves (sp) and a wine and beer bar. We don't have to pay for the space, just the food and drinks we purchase. We also got a DJ for a good deal so we can do the first dance. We will do our cake there as well. It actually was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. I guess it really depends on how many guests you do have as well...

 

We are getting married near a restaurant but it will be open to the public during our wedding. I don't mind that but I'm not sure of the situation with the wedding planner there in Cozumel. I will have to look into that. Someone also suggested that we can get back on the ship anytime. We don't have to wait until 4:30 when the ship leaves port. I would like my guests to enjoy the island though.

[wdngcruz]

wdngcruiz,

 

are you booked on RCI or another cruiseline? Just wondering how you amanged to get a 8Pm dinner. I have been trying with RCI with no luck so far at the Portofino restaurant

 

thanks!

 

I was talking about just the generic dinner on the ship. We are planning to dine at 8 rather than 6. We are traveling RC. Do you think it's tacky to have our dinner/reception at the public dining room?

[wdngcruz]

If you have people sailing with you, consider getting a Ta and turning this into a group cruise so you can get some perks for the group.

 

My original suggestion was going to be to move your reservation to a TA so they could make the portofino reservations for you, because I have heard that they can accomplish this. Be sure to ask any TA you are considering moving to if they can do this before you make the move tho.

 

Yes, my fiance is the TA and we have booked a group. How much per head at Portofino?

[fegan01970]

I was talking about just the generic dinner on the ship. We are planning to dine at 8 rather than 6. We are traveling RC. Do you think it's tacky to have our dinner/reception at the public dining room?

 

I don't think so at all! My friend did this aboard RCCL and it was beautiful! When they entered the dining room everyone clapped and came over and wished them well. It was really great. Very unique!

[fairbrot]

Yes, my fiance is the TA and we have booked a group. How much per head at Portofino?

 

It's $20 per person which covers the gratuity. We are having dinner at 8:00 for our group. We're using the credits from our "free" cabins to cover this cost.

[wayneandwaynetta]

Great suggestion about the cocktail party on the ship afterwards. I will have to consider that as an option.

we got married on St Thomas last december cruising with NCL. There were 12 of us in total and after the champagne and cake on the beach we were taken back where we took the cable car up to paradise point - that was fun - amazing photos and everyone clapped and cheered us!! We walked back from the cable car to the shop which attracted more clapping and cheers - its always great to be centre of attention isnt it!!!!! In the evening we ate at Cagneys NCL waved the cover charge and all our drink for the evening was complimentary - I couldnt have wished for a better wedding - I watch the videos over and over again............Delice

[ante2001]

Yes, my fiance is the TA and we have booked a group. How much per head at Portofino?

 

how did you get your group reservations at the same time andhow did you get it at 20 pp.I have the same situation and we want to take our group there for a reception

[wdngcruz]

I meant that we have booked a cruising group for the wedding. We have not made any arrangement for dinner on the ship. I think we are going to wing it and do it at the public dinner. It really depends on the size of our group and right now we are still getting a head count.

[fairbrot]

how did you get your group reservations at the same time andhow did you get it at 20 pp.I have the same situation and we want to take our group there for a reception

 

 

I'm the one that got the reservation in advance through our

TA working with the group dept. at RCCL. The normal price is $20 per person - regardless of whether you are a group or not. I just asked her to make the reservation for XX people at 8:00 and it was done.

[NYgirl23]

My husband and I were married at Bolongo Bay on St. Thomas. We had about 40 guests with us, and as another poster suggested, we hired Sunny Liston to pick up our group and take them to the ceremony location (while hubby and I went to get our marriage lisc.- then we met them there).

 

After the ceremony, we took pics and everyone watched & hung out while having drinks at Iggies (cute little beachfront bar that was right there on the beach). Sunny picked us up about an hour after the ceremony and took everyone for a fun tour of the island, after which he took us all back to the ship.

 

We did photos from 5-6 with the ship photog, and then met everyone for dinner at Sabatini's afterwards. It will be a pretty packed day, so just be sure to leave some time to relax :)

[Irisheyeskb]

Thank you for posting this! I am wondering the same. My wedding is in the port of Cozumel (through private wedding planner). I might do hor' douvres or maybe a buffet. But the simple wedding and simple budget I was originally planning could get out of budget quickly with all the add-ons for a reception. Also, I want my guests to enjoy the island. We planned on dinner but our dinner on the ship won't be until 8 and we leave the port at 4:30. I'm also concerned about our first dance, music, etc.

 

I'm curious to hear what other suggestions we hear back about.

 

Hey Wdngcruz!

 

My DF and I are getting married in Cozumel too! We are using Cozumel Wedding Planner, you? We decided to take our group, after the beach ceremony at Mr. Sancho's and cake/champagne, to Pancho's Backyard restaurant. I contacted them directly to find out what they could put together for our group, and they offered us a pretty good deal for $18 per person. So, we will be taxi-ing our guests to the restaurant after the morning ceremony, and then letting them do their own thing until the ship leaves Cozumel around 5pm.

 

We will be on the Voyager, how about you? Also, our cruise leaves Galveston April 6th. What ship are you on, and when are you cruising?

 

Great to meet a fellow Cozumel Bride!

 

Kelly :)