Renewal of Wedding Vows

[chel90]

Is there anyone out there that has renewed their wedding vows on a cruise? My husband and I did not have a formal wedding and we would like to renew our vows for our 5th year anniversary. I would love to hear any suggestions, comments, neat ideas for invitations and recommendations (Carnival or Royal Carribbean). Also, how soon should I start the plannning??? Our 5th year anniversary is not until July 06, but I have a huge family traveling from all over..and many of them have alot of children...so I would like to be able to provide a payment plan for all our guest. I was thinking send out a newletter to see how many people are intrested and then follow up with a more formal invite...such as a message in the bottle...or whatever I can think of...Help!! I would like to have anyones feedback.

[MandyGirl]

Chel -

Welcome to CruiseCritic! :) Lots of choices you have for vow renewal - especially since you don't have to deal with the legalities of marrying at a port of call (like going to the courthouse, etc). Many coordinators at various ports offer vow renewal packages that are worth looking into. Many cruiselines also offer vow renewal packages on board (Holland America even does their's at their private island, Half Moon Cay). You have plenty of time to plan. :) If your vow renewal is not onboard, then you can choose from a wide variety of wedding coordinators. There are some risks of not using a cruiseline wedding company (such as hurricanes diverting your ship), but on the flip side there have been many successful weddings by local/independent coordinators. I also noticed you said July - so hurricane season might be something to take into consideration. The later in the summer you go, the statistics change... We have never cruised the Caribbean during hurricane season. There have been several brides who have married on an Alaska cruise and those pictures have been beautiful! We have our first Alaska cruise in June so I hope to learn more about that area... and of course they don't have the same hurricane-season risks like the Caribbean does.

If the cruise you decide on takes you to the beautiful Virgin Islands (specifically St Thomas, St John) then here are a few websites on vow renewals you might look at. Also, there are other brides who married on St Thomas and St John who have made postings here as well - and their pictures would give you a good idea of what vow renewals on a beach might look like. You can use "Search This Forum" for key words and find various posts. St Thomas generally falls into the eastern or southern Caribbean itineraries.

I'm mostly familiar with St John since that is where we married on a cruise and have vacationed previously:

Mary (Soon2BeMrs used Mary this month): http://www.islandstyleweddings.com/

Stacy (who we used): http://www.usviwedding.com/vow_renewals.htm

Anne Marie: http://www.stjohnweddings.com/vow_renewals.html

St John is a short ferry ride from St Thomas.

We have not cruised Carnival or Royal Caribbean - so I cannot share any insight to that. However, Carnival Corporation owns several cruiselines (Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Windstar, etc) and Royal Caribbean owns two cruiselines (Royal Caribbean and Celebrity). Norwegian cruiseline is not owned by either of these companies.

We've only cruised the Caribbean on Celebrity, Holland America, and Norwegian (love the Freestyle cruising). We're ages 30/31 and not really into the late-night partying. Holland America's newer ships (Zuiderdam, Oosterdam) are really geared more towards a younger clientele, although we thoroughly enjoyed HAL Maasdam last year. TAs had told us not to cruise HAL, but we are actually going on our second cruise with them next month - we enjoyed them a lot last year. And... we're planning to return for another Norwegian cruise in June because of the Freestyle cruising (eat when you want, dress casually, etc). In fact, we haven't been on a cruise that we did not enjoy - we believe that a cruise is all about the attitude you take with you.

Good luck with everything - there's lots of good information on these boards from various perspectives. :)

[kimberli]

We just renewed our vows on the Sovereign of the Seas 10/15/04, our tenth anniversary. We started out with the intention of it being small. We invited about 10 family members to join us. We found an invitation from Carlson Craft which was a couple on the beach. It was a little over the top for what we wanted, but the informal card which coordinated with it was a plain white small card with a heart drawn in the sand and a couple of seashells. Perfect! We assembled beach bags for our guests and brought them with us. They had beach towels, tropical drink mixers, fun plastic glasses, tropical shot glasses, etc. Unfortunately our guests were not able to attend at the last minute (more on that later).

 

We debated doing the RCCL package, but didn't feel like we were really getting anything for the $400. We considered renewing our vows in the Bahamas, but due to the hurricanes we weren't sure where the cruise was even going. We ended up doing it ourselves. Since the ceremony isn't legal, we didn't really need an officiant. We decided to all wear hawaiian print outfits. We asked my sister and her new husband as the most recently married couple in the family (they were married May 1) to write our vows. They did a terrific job. They were not able to come due to their recent wedding, but were there in our thoughts.

 

Our parents were supposed to come, but sadly both of our fathers had medical emergencies which made it impossible. My father-in-law was recently diagnosed with cancer and had to cancel. My father had a heart attack the night before the cruise, so he obviously missed it. After much discussion, we decided to go ahead with the cruise, just us. Our decision was largely due to our daughter, but also due to the realization that there was really nothing we could do for my dad at that very moment.

 

We decided to just find a nice quiet spot on the ship and renew our vows ourselves. I brought 2 small silk bouquets, one for me and one for our 7 year old daughter. I used bright pink, orange, and purple gerbera daisies. We had bought our daughter a birthstone necklace on our last cruise a few years ago, but hadn't given it to her. We decided this would be the perfect time. We found a place on the upper level of the pool deck as the ship was just setting sail. The steel drum band was playing in the background. It was very intimate, very fun, and just what we wanted and needed.

 

Our vow renewal was perfect for us, although I very much wish that our family was healthy and able to be there. Thankfully they are doing well and recovering, and should all be together for Christmas.

 

Good luck to you in your planning!

Kim

[chel90]

Wow after all of the things that happened, it turned out to be perfect! With my luck and the lack of committment from my family, it may turn out to be just my family of 5. Which may not be a bad thing. My husband and I have 2 girls and I have one from a previous marriage and that would be ideal if it were to be just us. I also like the idea about the favors! I will definetly, keep that in mind. Thanks, and I am glad your day turned out perfect!!

[Princess Bella]

I'm so glad I found this thread, I too am planning my vow renewal! I can't wait. Keep the ideas coming!!

[Lifeguard's Baby]

My DH & I renewed our vows on the Voyager for our 10th in Sept. 2003. We took our moms (his aunt had to cancel at the last minute). I took my own flowers (silk) and had 7 different, but cutomary, favors on their pillows each night. The day of the ceremony I gave them hand blown glass anchors and I had made flight bags with anchors embroidered on them for our flight. I used the theme "Anchored in Love" and everyone loved it! I did send out invitations but the cost and distance was prohibitive to our families. I used very simple card stock and tied a navy blue ribbon at the top with an anchor charm. We used Royal Carribeans vow renewal and their Social Hostess and photographer were fantastic!!

[EKELLEY]

My DH & I are renewing our vows for our 25th anniversay at Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay on 11/10/04. The price is 380.00 & includes:

 

1. Service of a marriage officer to perform ceremony

2. Male and female witnesses

3. Services of an on site wedding coordinator

4. 1 bottle of sparkling local white wine

5. 1 one-tiered wedding cake

6. 1 bridal bouquet and grooms boutonniere

7. Photo CD

 

Eileen

[worfsmom]

Well we're considering this too........ but I can't find much info anywhere on the web. I'm disgusted with the price that RCCL charges to do this, and have been trying to find a different way.

One would think that this is a piece of cake to plan but,............ if you do it on shore then you have to judge times off ship, is the whole day wasted in port to do this? what do you wear, if you want something a little formal, then you're stuck in port with that outfit on, unless you come back on board to change.....

I have found wedding planners in ports to do the service, but they too charge.

I have researched having one of them do the deed, and have a simple lunch in a hotel, carriage ride etc........... but the costs escalate.

We could do it ourselves, but I think I want someone else there to make it more formal.

Onboard, I would want it more private, not in a room full of people. I don't want to have to dress up on a night that isn't formal, only to have to repeat it another night. There hasn't been much info regarding how the social hostess does this, and I'm the type that would like some kind of thing planned before I get on board, but there doesn't seem to be any available info. I find the wedding planning site for the cruise line to be less than accomodating, they are more geared for "weddings" rather than renewals.

I think that there's big money to be made here, if they reduced the cost, and were a little more forthcoming with info. Us old dames need to know!

Will probably have the cruise ship do it, and any extra will spend on the niceites onboard.

We were planning on doing this on an Alaskan cruise, so the ports are some of the problem, even tried to find a church in port that might do it too.

I don't relish hiking for the day, after the ceremony, in a dress:eek: