My Grand Cayman Wedding Feb 2008

[jdybnsn]

Well, here at last, is the account of our beautiful wedding on Grand Cayman on 12th February 2008.

 

THE BACKGROUND :

Cast:

Me - Judy (the bride) from Cheshire UK

Groom - Brian (the groom) from Wales

Bestman - Joe (my son from my first marriage) age 10

Bridesmaid - Vyrnwy (my daughterfrom my first marriage) age 6

 

We had originally planned to get married through Disney Cruise Line (DCL), on Castaway Cay, but fate conspired against us, and though I'd rung up to book it at the earliest possible minute, unknown to us another couple had already been promised the venue & date (they only do one wedding on CC per cruise) as they had been too ill to go through with the one they'd booked and paid for, the year before (DCL had actually refused them boarding the ship). Of course being Valentine's Day during the cruise, this had made it a popular choice to book wedding /vow renewals in any case.

Initially, I was totally gutted, but provisionally booked a DCL wedding on the ship instead. However, I wasn't really very excited about the prospect of this type of wedding - it felt like second best, and I was even less enthusiastic when I learnt that if you get married with DCL, you have to officially get married in a backroom of the terminal building, before you leave the port. So, in effect you kind of have 2 wedding days...or as I see it now, your Disney cruise 'wedding' is really quite an expensive blessing service in reality !

 

However, well before we sailed, I made friends with a fellow cruisemate called Thea, from the States, via the Disboards (Disney dedicated) discussion board.

Through chatting on line with her, I learnt of a place on Grand Cayman where she was organising a surprise vow renewal for her in-laws ; this is the place -Grand Old House ;

http://www.grandoldhouse.com/

 

Well one look on there and I was smitten !!

Not only that, but the price was about a quarter of what we would be paying DCL, plus I would actually get to be really married on my wedding day, on a beautiful island - just as I'd originally hoped !.

Plus at GOH there were endless choices and options, that were simply not available through DCL (theirs is very much 'tick a few boxes' of what cake filling/ flower bouquets you wanted nothing is really personalised)......and my other big concern, of only having a 3-4 hour 'wedding day', through DCL evaporated in an instant !

Luckily I hadn't paid a deposit to DCL for the onboard wedding, so I quickly cancelled that, and started planning my wedding at GOH!!!

 

However, all this new found 'wedding perfection' did not come without one HUGE potential drawback.........the fact that Grand Cayman is a tender port, and has something of a reputation for being missed if weather & sea conditions are not right ! :confused2 But being a wedding party of only 4 in total (bride, groom and my 2 kids from a previous marriage), and in no particular rush to marry ...we decided we could live with this - we just had a plan'B' to fly out there later in the year should the worst happen (most if not all deposits were transferable/refundable if tendering did not occur). To me it was a win-win situation...if we didn't tender, I'd just get another holiday.

 

As I got chatting over the months leading up to the cruise, Thea very kindly agreed, that after her MIL & FIL's vow renewal, which was taking place earlier that morning, her family would stay on afterwards at GOH, and her & her husband Jim would act as our witnesses.

 

THE BIG DAY :

However, pleased to say that the plan 'B' was not necessary.

We steamed into Grand Cayman on a beautiful morning.

Me and my daughter, Vyrnwy, caught the tender first, as we were headed to a hairdressers on the island called Renaissance.. There was a bit of a scary moment when one of the tender's crew decided to hang my dress up for me on a hook high up on the outside of the boat's cabin, as we began our journey to shore, it started flying almost horizonally and whipping around our heads, and I had visions of it being whisked in to the sea ! , Fortunately he took it down again. When we got to Georgetown pier, we encountered our only hitch of the day - we couldn't get a taxi to take us to the hairdressers as it was not far enough to be worth their while :( ....they were looking for cruiseship customers to take to Rum Point or Seven Mile Beach and alike...they were not interested in taking us to the hairdressers !! :( I was starting to panic, as we were starting to fall behind our time shedule.....luckily a kind local lady who was trying to sell tours on the pier, took pity on us and tried to get us a cab - but she didn't have any better luck either ! In desperation she called her friend who drives a bus and fortunate for us she came along (in her bus) and picked us up. ......so that is how we arrived at the hairdressers, and by this time we were over half an hour late.

 

I was so relieved to get to the hairdressers, not least because although it was only just after 10am (with the wedding scheduled for 11.30am), it was starting to get hot outside. The hairdressers was lovely & cool inside and at last I could begin to relax !

My daughters & I had our hair & make up done there - my daughter just loved it (as you can probably tell from the photographs). Our photographer, Rebecca Davidson came over to meet us and took some shots - she was so nice, and really put me at our ease, and it was nice that she was originally from the UK.

 

She told us she'd been down to Georgetown pier hoping to catch my groom, Brian & bestman (my son Joe), but the port authorities would not let her down there (traffic is chaos on cruise ship days).....so she was off to catch them arriving at GOH. I was excited about her getting some shots of them because I'd booked them a stretch limo as a surprise .....after telling them I'd arranged a taxi for them ;) Just one of a few surprises I'd planned for the day.

 

Time flew by and before we knew it the horse and carriage arrived outside the salon to take us to GOH. However, because we were late arriving, there was no time to have our nails done - but I was forunate as I'd been going regularly to a beautician to get them in good condition before I flew out on holiday, and they were still in excellent shape.

 

As my daughter and I got into the horse & carriage we became aware of a small crowd of spectators who were all waving and whistling at us ...we felt like royalty. As we made our way to the venue cars were tooting at us and people cheered us. It was a 15 minute journey and we arrived to see Rebecca busily taking pictures of us.

I had a last minute panic, thinking that I really should have met up with Thea and her family before this moment ! ....I had thought we'd meet her on the ship on the first day, when a bunch of us Dis-boarders had arranged to meet, but we did not see her. I did not know their cabin number so we had not actually met before this day ! Now I was arriving at the wedding venue wondering if they had left already, because they'd not heard from me.

Phew - relief !!! -they were there, with their daughter Ariana, who was the same age as my son, and their cute 2 year old little boy, David (their FIL & MIL had gone back to the ship for their own celebrations). ....and of course even more relief, when I saw my husband to be, and son standing in the distance on the pier decking at GOH.

 

My daughter & I got down from our carriage, and we were met by the local minister - he had a few words with us, and he was so nice.

 

Then we were ready to begin....the harpist Eugenio struck up and my daughter & I set off down the aisle ....I was wondering how long it would take for my partner (who is welsh) to realise that Eugenio was playing the most beautiful version of the Welsh National anthem on his harp - another surprise as I'd sent Eugenio a CD of it so he could learn the tune specially.

My partner had a tear in his eye - though I wasn't sure if it was from the sight of me in my wedding dress ? ...or the playing of the Welsh National anthem ? - hard to say.

 

Of course the service seemed to go by in a flash, and soon we were married in the most beautiful setting I can imagine - with azure green sea and blue sky in the background ...just PERFECT.

 

Eugenio play some more beautiful tunes, as we sipped champange with our guests (mmmmm ..lovely Californian champange it was too).

 

We sat down to lunch at GOH - and we asked Rebecca to join us, as we got on so well - she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to ...but then we did not have a very big wedding party.... it was good to boost the numbers a litttle !! The food was to die for - I thought the cruise ship food was good - but this was something else !

 

After the meal, Thea and Jim, and baby David, returned to the ship. Ariana, their daughter, wanted to play with Joe & Vyrnwy so we all piled into Rebecca's car and headed to the local beach, at Smith's Cove...though its only 5 minutes away, it was by then too hot to walk.

 

Then we spent the next hour doing some 'Trash The Dress' shots and getting wet. It was lovely to cool off ...and there are not too many brides that have been swimming on their wedding day (lol). As you can imagine the kids needed no encouragement to do the same !!! We had a few surprised looks from the locals and the few tourists that were on the beach at the time.

 

All too quickly, the horse & carriage returned to pick us up and take us back to the ship. I quickly changed into a spare duplicate dress (thank goodness for Ebay !) and we headed back the the ship.

 

Once we board the ship we changed - the bag of soggy wet, sandy clothes went off to the ship's dry cleaners ...and by late seating dinner we were wearing them again !

 

Here's the photos :

http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=2zrhguev1.joemuttl&Uy=1k1y2h&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB

 

 

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[chirpy007]

Wonderful photos, you all look gorgeous. Congratulations :D :D :D

[sas80]

I'm so jealous!

 

Everything looks so wonderful!

 

You had a REALLY GOOD photographer!

 

Congrats!

[Fantasy_Bride]

Your pictures are beautiful.

[DNineMoons]

What wonderful pictures, it looks like a dream! I love the trash the dress shots, that looks like so much fun!! Also, your kids are adorable :).

[harrodsfan]

What a beautiful family...Congratulations and best wishes for a happy life together...

[Gingee]

Congratulations. I love your picture. My son had a beach wedding in February and he only ACTED like he was throwing his wife in.

 

By the way, I briefly saw a picture of some girl in a green flowered dress. Do you know if she got that at David's Bridal?

[jdybnsn]

By the way, I briefly saw a picture of some girl in a green flowered dress. Do you know if she got that at David's Bridal?

 

 

I asked my friend from the US, and she has just confirmed that it is indeed from David's Bridal.....that's very observant of you !

.....actually, I think it is a lovely dress too - she looked really nice in it and it looked like it was really cool to wear.:)

[Gingee]

Well the reason it looked so familiar is that my daughter-in-law bought it to be her wedding dress this past February. They had a wedding on a beach in Florida and that is the dress that she picked. We have lots of pictures of that dress. LOL

[mscrad2009]

Hello jdybnsn

 

I have reviewed everything and have finally booked with GOH. I placed my deposit. I will have a million and one questions for you in thefuture. I hope you dont mind. Here is the first wave

the pictures with your package - did the photographer give you the pictures after he finished or did he have to mail them to you?

Did your wedding cake come with the package or did you have to order a special cake?

Did you get the wedding certificate before you left or was it mailed to you?

I will probably email your personal email for additional questions in the future. You have truly helped me make a stressful decision.

 

Thank you,

[jdybnsn]

Hello jdybnsn

 

I have reviewed everything and have finally booked with GOH. I placed my deposit. I will have a million and one questions for you in thefuture. I hope you dont mind. Here is the first wave

the pictures with your package - did the photographer give you the pictures after he finished or did he have to mail them to you?

Did your wedding cake come with the package or did you have to order a special cake?

Did you get the wedding certificate before you left or was it mailed to you?

I will probably email your personal email for additional questions in the future. You have truly helped me make a stressful decision.

 

Thank you,

 

Hi no problem - fire away with the questions :D

 

We customised our day so much that we ended up buying the basic package and just adding exactly what we liked to it...that's one good thing with GOH - you can have it as packaged, or as customised, as it suits you.:)

 

The photographer we used we hired ourselves through a recommendation on another discussion board; Rebecca Davidson http://www.picturethis.ky/ - it was our one big expense ...we hired her for well over 4 hours ! GOH have their own 1 hour/40 print photo package (I'm sure this can be extended if necessary) but I'm not sure who they use. The photos were ready to view online by the time we got back to the UK a week later, but not available on the day. The photos had to be mailed (you get a print credit included in the overall price) but we also bought the CD from her too, so we could print our own. We also had a free canvas print by mentioning that we got a link for her off the Grand Cayman Activity Guide website (the forums on there are a good source of local information !). Being such a small wedding party we probably spent as much on the photos as the rest of the wedding put together lol !!! - but we were still saving so much over a UK wedding, and we felt that the photos were such an important element to us ...especially given our intentions to do the "Trash The Dress" shots in the water ! In total we have around 450 photos of our day...some are very similar but it does enable us to pick & chose the very 'best shots' for our albums/ picture frames !!

 

Depends which package you picked if the cake is included (and what size) -its included in all but the basic package..but you can add it to the basic package if you wanted.

We did order a larger sized cake than is standard, as we had bought a sandcastle cake topper with us and were worried it may not fit the cake...but in actual fact, we could have easily used the smaller size one with hindsight - especially since we had such a small wedding party. We did have it customised with chocolate sea shells - nothing very elaborate, so it was not very expensive (certainly not compared to most wedding cakes in the UK anyway !).

 

We did get our wedding certificate to take away with us. I have to say, the minister was so nice - he made the wedding so special - he really talks from the heart and I felt every bit as married as if I were in a church !

 

Please feel free to email me at jdybnsn@aol.com if you (or anyone else) have more queries that you think I can help with - glad that things are less stressful now, and hope you have the most fantastic wedding day as we did, on Grand Cayman . :)

[vowsatsea]

Your photos are absolutely gorgeous!!

 

I'm so jealous...you had one heck of a photographer!

[frye79]

Well, here at last, is the account of our beautiful wedding on Grand Cayman on 12th February 2008.

 

THE BACKGROUND :

Cast:

Me - Judy (the bride) from Cheshire UK

Groom - Brian (the groom) from Wales

Bestman - Joe (my son from my first marriage) age 10

Bridesmaid - Vyrnwy (my daughterfrom my first marriage) age 6

 

We had originally planned to get married through Disney Cruise Line (DCL), on Castaway Cay, but fate conspired against us, and though I'd rung up to book it at the earliest possible minute, unknown to us another couple had already been promised the venue & date (they only do one wedding on CC per cruise) as they had been too ill to go through with the one they'd booked and paid for, the year before (DCL had actually refused them boarding the ship). Of course being Valentine's Day during the cruise, this had made it a popular choice to book wedding /vow renewals in any case.

Initially, I was totally gutted, but provisionally booked a DCL wedding on the ship instead. However, I wasn't really very excited about the prospect of this type of wedding - it felt like second best, and I was even less enthusiastic when I learnt that if you get married with DCL, you have to officially get married in a backroom of the terminal building, before you leave the port. So, in effect you kind of have 2 wedding days...or as I see it now, your Disney cruise 'wedding' is really quite an expensive blessing service in reality !

 

However, well before we sailed, I made friends with a fellow cruisemate called Thea, from the States, via the Disboards (Disney dedicated) discussion board.

Through chatting on line with her, I learnt of a place on Grand Cayman where she was organising a surprise vow renewal for her in-laws ; this is the place -Grand Old House ;

http://www.grandoldhouse.com/

 

Well one look on there and I was smitten !!

Not only that, but the price was about a quarter of what we would be paying DCL, plus I would actually get to be really married on my wedding day, on a beautiful island - just as I'd originally hoped !.

Plus at GOH there were endless choices and options, that were simply not available through DCL (theirs is very much 'tick a few boxes' of what cake filling/ flower bouquets you wanted nothing is really personalised)......and my other big concern, of only having a 3-4 hour 'wedding day', through DCL evaporated in an instant !

Luckily I hadn't paid a deposit to DCL for the onboard wedding, so I quickly cancelled that, and started planning my wedding at GOH!!!

 

However, all this new found 'wedding perfection' did not come without one HUGE potential drawback.........the fact that Grand Cayman is a tender port, and has something of a reputation for being missed if weather & sea conditions are not right ! :confused2 But being a wedding party of only 4 in total (bride, groom and my 2 kids from a previous marriage), and in no particular rush to marry ...we decided we could live with this - we just had a plan'B' to fly out there later in the year should the worst happen (most if not all deposits were transferable/refundable if tendering did not occur). To me it was a win-win situation...if we didn't tender, I'd just get another holiday.

 

As I got chatting over the months leading up to the cruise, Thea very kindly agreed, that after her MIL & FIL's vow renewal, which was taking place earlier that morning, her family would stay on afterwards at GOH, and her & her husband Jim would act as our witnesses.

 

THE BIG DAY :

However, pleased to say that the plan 'B' was not necessary.

We steamed into Grand Cayman on a beautiful morning.

Me and my daughter, Vyrnwy, caught the tender first, as we were headed to a hairdressers on the island called Renaissance.. There was a bit of a scary moment when one of the tender's crew decided to hang my dress up for me on a hook high up on the outside of the boat's cabin, as we began our journey to shore, it started flying almost horizonally and whipping around our heads, and I had visions of it being whisked in to the sea ! , Fortunately he took it down again. When we got to Georgetown pier, we encountered our only hitch of the day - we couldn't get a taxi to take us to the hairdressers as it was not far enough to be worth their while :( ....they were looking for cruiseship customers to take to Rum Point or Seven Mile Beach and alike...they were not interested in taking us to the hairdressers !! :( I was starting to panic, as we were starting to fall behind our time shedule.....luckily a kind local lady who was trying to sell tours on the pier, took pity on us and tried to get us a cab - but she didn't have any better luck either ! In desperation she called her friend who drives a bus and fortunate for us she came along (in her bus) and picked us up. ......so that is how we arrived at the hairdressers, and by this time we were over half an hour late.

 

I was so relieved to get to the hairdressers, not least because although it was only just after 10am (with the wedding scheduled for 11.30am), it was starting to get hot outside. The hairdressers was lovely & cool inside and at last I could begin to relax !

My daughters & I had our hair & make up done there - my daughter just loved it (as you can probably tell from the photographs). Our photographer, Rebecca Davidson came over to meet us and took some shots - she was so nice, and really put me at our ease, and it was nice that she was originally from the UK.

 

She told us she'd been down to Georgetown pier hoping to catch my groom, Brian & bestman (my son Joe), but the port authorities would not let her down there (traffic is chaos on cruise ship days).....so she was off to catch them arriving at GOH. I was excited about her getting some shots of them because I'd booked them a stretch limo as a surprise .....after telling them I'd arranged a taxi for them ;) Just one of a few surprises I'd planned for the day.

 

Time flew by and before we knew it the horse and carriage arrived outside the salon to take us to GOH. However, because we were late arriving, there was no time to have our nails done - but I was forunate as I'd been going regularly to a beautician to get them in good condition before I flew out on holiday, and they were still in excellent shape.

 

As my daughter and I got into the horse & carriage we became aware of a small crowd of spectators who were all waving and whistling at us ...we felt like royalty. As we made our way to the venue cars were tooting at us and people cheered us. It was a 15 minute journey and we arrived to see Rebecca busily taking pictures of us.

I had a last minute panic, thinking that I really should have met up with Thea and her family before this moment ! ....I had thought we'd meet her on the ship on the first day, when a bunch of us Dis-boarders had arranged to meet, but we did not see her. I did not know their cabin number so we had not actually met before this day ! Now I was arriving at the wedding venue wondering if they had left already, because they'd not heard from me.

Phew - relief !!! -they were there, with their daughter Ariana, who was the same age as my son, and their cute 2 year old little boy, David (their FIL & MIL had gone back to the ship for their own celebrations). ....and of course even more relief, when I saw my husband to be, and son standing in the distance on the pier decking at GOH.

 

My daughter & I got down from our carriage, and we were met by the local minister - he had a few words with us, and he was so nice.

 

Then we were ready to begin....the harpist Eugenio struck up and my daughter & I set off down the aisle ....I was wondering how long it would take for my partner (who is welsh) to realise that Eugenio was playing the most beautiful version of the Welsh National anthem on his harp - another surprise as I'd sent Eugenio a CD of it so he could learn the tune specially.

My partner had a tear in his eye - though I wasn't sure if it was from the sight of me in my wedding dress ? ...or the playing of the Welsh National anthem ? - hard to say.

 

Of course the service seemed to go by in a flash, and soon we were married in the most beautiful setting I can imagine - with azure green sea and blue sky in the background ...just PERFECT.

 

Eugenio play some more beautiful tunes, as we sipped champange with our guests (mmmmm ..lovely Californian champange it was too).

 

We sat down to lunch at GOH - and we asked Rebecca to join us, as we got on so well - she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to ...but then we did not have a very big wedding party.... it was good to boost the numbers a litttle !! The food was to die for - I thought the cruise ship food was good - but this was something else !

 

After the meal, Thea and Jim, and baby David, returned to the ship. Ariana, their daughter, wanted to play with Joe & Vyrnwy so we all piled into Rebecca's car and headed to the local beach, at Smith's Cove...though its only 5 minutes away, it was by then too hot to walk.

 

Then we spent the next hour doing some 'Trash The Dress' shots and getting wet. It was lovely to cool off ...and there are not too many brides that have been swimming on their wedding day (lol). As you can imagine the kids needed no encouragement to do the same !!! We had a few surprised looks from the locals and the few tourists that were on the beach at the time.

 

All too quickly, the horse & carriage returned to pick us up and take us back to the ship. I quickly changed into a spare duplicate dress (thank goodness for Ebay !) and we headed back the the ship.

 

Once we board the ship we changed - the bag of soggy wet, sandy clothes went off to the ship's dry cleaners ...and by late seating dinner we were wearing them again !

 

Here's the photos :

http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=2zrhguev1.joemuttl&Uy=1k1y2h&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB

 

 

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Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

 

I've been looking into having our wedding ceremony (we're actually eloping) at GOH and your little report has SOLD me!!!

 

Thank you for sharing your wedding experience!

[jdybnsn]

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

 

I've been looking into having our wedding ceremony (we're actually eloping) at GOH and your little report has SOLD me!!!

 

Thank you for sharing your wedding experience!

 

 

Wow ...eloping !!!! that sounds like a wonderfully exciting wedding :D

 

Please tell us more of your plans !!!! (separate post if you like).

 

Meantime any questions you have please ask away..........

[jag27]

Your photographer did amazing work! It seems that they were worth the money you paid! Very beautiful photos! You really have a beautiful family! Now I wish I had a Caribbean wedding!;)

[frye79]

Wow ...eloping !!!! that sounds like a wonderfully exciting wedding :D

 

Please tell us more of your plans !!!! (separate post if you like).

 

Meantime any questions you have please ask away..........

 

I don't have any plans, just yet. I just know that I want my ceremony at the GOH!!! And your journal confirmed it for me.

 

I do have a question, or two, for you:

1. The pictures that were at/in the water, was that Smiths Cove?
   
2. If you don't mind me asking, how much did Rebbecca charge; the reason I am asking is because I, tentatively, ordered the one hour photography package through GOH and was curious if the price was comparable to yours from Rebbecca
   
3. Did you have to pay the entire balance before the ceremony or after

Thank you, again, for sharing your experience with GOH.

[jdybnsn]

I don't have any plans, just yet. I just know that I want my ceremony at the GOH!!! And your journal confirmed it for me.

 

I do have a question, or two, for you:

1. The pictures that were at/in the water, was that Smiths Cove?
   
2. If you don't mind me asking, how much did Rebbecca charge; the reason I am asking is because I, tentatively, ordered the one hour photography package through GOH and was curious if the price was comparable to yours from Rebbecca
   
3. Did you have to pay the entire balance before the ceremony or after

Thank you, again, for sharing your experience with GOH.

 

1. Yes, the beach photos are at Smiths Cove whilst it is a very small beach, popular only with locals, we liked the fact that it had an intimate feel about it unlike the very huge 7 Mile Beach. There were a few people around, that afternoon, but as you can see from the photos not enough people to get in the way of the great photos. The beach is very close to GOH but due to the heat, and depending on your wedding attire, its not very practical to walk there along the road. There are also (very small) restrooms there which allowed me some dignity to change into my spare dress for the return trip to the ship.

2. Rebecca was not cheap ! but we did have her services for 4 hours !! and we bought more photos from her than we needed too since we did buy the CD off her too. Infact I have to say we spent nearly as much on the photos as the wedding :eek: ..but the photos were always going to be such an important thing to us...plus we were still saving so much money over a traditional English wedding we did push the boat out -I'm sure we could have cut down considerably on what we spent with her if we really tried but since we were saving so much anyway, I was determined to have exactly what I wanted for the wedding without being contrained by a budget as such (and I did).

These were her charges as agreed last year ;

"ci$550.00 for the first hour and ci$200.00 each additional hour

so 10-12pm for photography from ship to finish which would total ci$750.00 and would include 150 4x6 in an album or a print credit to be used towards canvas or digital album. The CD is ci$400."

3. We paid the entire balance by CC with GOH (including our sit down meal) just before we left for our Smith Cove shots (ie right at the end of our time there).

[frye79]

Thank you, again, jdybnsn! You've been very helpful.

 

I am getting so excited about our plans to elope at GOH! I just hate having to wait 10 whole months; but it gives me time to find a nice, not too formal, dress for the event.

 

How long did it take to find your dress?

[jdybnsn]

Thank you, again, jdybnsn! You've been very helpful.

 

 

 

How long did it take to find your dress?

 

 

We got engaged Valentines Day last year but didn't really start looking for a dress until around November as I was determined to lose some weight (which I did luckily) !

Unfortunately by then it was winter here in the UK and just before Christmas, and very definitely not bridal season in the shops !:(

 

I was also confined to getting an 'off the peg' dress because I did not want to spend a lot of money when I knew I was going to be trashing it !!!....also the travelling, the hot weather, and the fact that it was a second wedding (for me anyway), meant that something a little less fluffy and floaty was going to be more appropriate.:)

In truth there were not many places to go to look !... and having sent for one from a mail order firm & sent it back as the style of it was too constricting & tight fitting for a hot climate. I saw another on a shop's website (a shop called Monsoon) and went into Manchester to take a look at it 'in the flesh'.

I saw it on the peg and thought "ohh dear !" it was alot more bronze looking than on the website, and I was worried that it did not look weddingy enough :confused: Anyway my friend who went with me, made me try it on ...so glad she did, because the minute I put it on I had one of those 'this is the one!!' moments.

Although we spent the rest of the day looking high & low among the department stores, I never did see anything remotely appropriate or appealing.

When I go home I was further delighted to find that the same dress was also widely available on Ebay...so given the trash the dress plans, I purchased another one to change into for later, and as a back up if the original was completely ruined by the sea water.

 

Happy to say the orginal is still in perfect condition, despite its dip in the sea and the fact I have washed it since ...and despite the 'dry clean only' label !

 

PS if there's one bit of advice I could give about the dress, then it would be make sure you are going to be cool & comfortable - it is very hot on Grand Cayman ...even in the morning !