Jenzkind Posted March 12, 2008 #1 Share Posted March 12, 2008 I was married on 3/1 on Carnival's Imagination, and it was absolutely wonderful!! I have no complaints at all! Here are pictures, for those interested: http://www.flickr.com/gp/24603342@N03/3AC2f1 Here's a quick review: We were married in the port in Miami before the ship left. This allowed for several friends and family to join us for the wedding even though they couldn't go on the cruise. We had 17 people join us for the wedding and 6 join us for the cruise. I am a full-time grad student and I also work full-time. So, I had absolutely no time to do any serious wedding planning. And, for that, having a wedding on a cruise ship was perfect! After I booked the wedding, I received a packet of info. I filled out a few forms and sent them back. (We did not have a wedding party. It was just us.) That's it...they did pretty much every thing else for me! The only snafu that happened (they didn't have my guest list a week before the wedding) was resolved very quickly (I just had to email it to them). Everything else went off without a hitch. When we arrived at the port at 10:30am, we were allowed to go through the VIP check-in, and we were immediately greeted by the officiant and the coordinator, who reviewed everything with us. After we were allowed to board the ship (about 11:30am), my now-hubby and I, and my posse of girlfriends, were taken to our suite to get ready. My guests were allowed to roam about the ship until 12:45. At 1pm, the coordinator and photographer came and got me (and took some pics of me getting ready) and took me to the Curiosity Library, where my now-hubby and guests were waiting. They gave me a beautiful boquet of white roses, and my now-hubby had a matching boutinere. The ceremony was short, about 10 minutes, but the room was decorated very nicely. And, they followed exactly what I had specified in the forms I filled out. All of my guests were allowed to take pictures, though the room was a little dark and the guests' pictures didn't turn out too well. My nephew even videoed it for us! After the ceremony, we posed for the traditional family pictures. Then, we were led across the atrium to the Mirage Piano Bar for the hors d'heurve reception (I had hired a pianist because I did not want any kind of DJ or canned music). The package I purchased (Deluxe Romance) included a beautiful ice sculpture (see pictures). We did the traditional feed each other cake and drink from glasses with arms entwined, and a few guests made toasts (my mom made one, but started to cry and left before the photographer could get her picture LOL). Then, we ate and drank until 3pm. The photographer offered to take us around the ship and get pictures taken in other locations, but we declined. I preferred to spend the time with my guests who couldn't go on the cruise since they were going to be leaving. The officiant and coordinator and photographer were wonderful, the photos turned out beautifully, the food was awesome (probably some of the best cake I've ever had!), and the drinks were stiff. Every single one of my guests raved about it all. Many said it was one of the nicest weddings they ever went to. I have nothing but positive things to say about the whole experience. I HIGHLY recommend doing your wedding this way.:) Jenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merocket59 Posted March 12, 2008 #2 Share Posted March 12, 2008 Congrats!! It's nice to hear when things go so well! I love your pics, esp. the ones with you and your hubby's faces in the ice sculpture! I want to take some of those! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M loves M in 09 Posted March 13, 2008 #3 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Congrats on your Wedding.... Can you provide more info on the pianist... We are booked on the Carnival Inspiration in Aug of 09, and we have booked the Piano Bar. I wanted to know how the music was, how was the Pianist, did the Pianist sing??? Thanks :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harrodsfan Posted March 13, 2008 #4 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Thanks for sharing..you have the right attitude...so many people stress about the perfect wedding..you let others do the work and didnt' sweat the details. Congratulations and best wishes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenzkind Posted March 13, 2008 Author #5 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Congrats on your Wedding.... Can you provide more info on the pianist... We are booked on the Carnival Inspiration in Aug of 09, and we have booked the Piano Bar. I wanted to know how the music was, how was the Pianist, did the Pianist sing??? Thanks :) The pianist was great. He just played, no singing. So, it was nice background music. He played all kinds, classical, jazz, blues, rock. He even took requests. When my now-hubby went to talk to him, he found out the guy was from about 45 miles away from where we live in the midwest! LOL We tried to tip him (you have to tip EVERYONE on the cruise...including the coordinator and the officiant), and he refused the tip. That was pretty cool in my book. The focus at our reception was on conversation...and I think having the pianist in the background attributed to that. I've been to weddings where the DJ pretty much takes over and the reception becomes a dance party...and I didn't want that. And, I didn't get it :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miyucruises Posted March 13, 2008 #6 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Thank you so much for the review. I am getting married on the Imagination in November, and I was having a really difficult time finding any information about that particular ship. Did you have any choice about which room to get married in? How does the ship look? I know it just underwent massive overhauls.:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mara93 Posted March 13, 2008 #7 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Congratulations! You looked beautiful! Do you mind me asking? Are these your pictures from the Carnival photog? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenzkind Posted March 13, 2008 Author #8 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Did you have any choice about which room to get married in? How does the ship look? I know it just underwent massive overhauls. No, I didn't have a choice about the room to get married in. I did read somewhere on here that if you hired a pianist, you'd get the piano bar. I did not want the disco, so I hired the pianist as a way of being able to choose the room for the reception. I thought the ship looked great. It didn't seem that old to me. I knew it had gone through the overhauls. Our room (we got a suite) was very nice and everything seemed new. The decor reminded me of a big Las Vegas hotel. Do you mind me asking? Are these your pictures from the Carnival photog? Yes, it's most of them. However, I also got several printed out copies that they did some creative things to, like add borders or make black and white. those weren't included on the CD of the digital images I bought. I orginally asked to purchase all of the prints and get a CD with the digital images, but the photographer told me he couldn't give me the digital images for some reason. So, my family and I began talking about scanning in all of the prints and creating our own digital files. Then, when he brough back the charge slip for me to sign, he said he felt bad that I'd have to do all that work to get the digital images that he'd burned them to a CD for me and charged me $5 for it. FYI, regarding the photos...they want you to use your Sail and Sign card to buy them, so if you do the cash deposit, make sure you put extra money on it for the pictures as well as alll the other stuff you'll buy on the ship (drinks!)...or if you use a credit card, make sure you have enough credit for the pictures and all the stuff you'll need on the cruise. We got the smallest package and it was around $500, but they had packages that went up to almost $3k! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollidaygal Posted March 13, 2008 #9 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Congratulations!! Since this is obviously a good review I must ask, do you remember the names of your coordinator and officiant? If so, please mention them. I'm sure they would appreciate it! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mich1121 Posted March 13, 2008 #10 Share Posted March 13, 2008 Congratulations! I can't wait my day is coming soon. 3/24... The pictures look great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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