Was it easier through a cruise?

[TampaJules]

Just started thinking about getting married at sea... I have helped a few friends with their weddings and they were so stressful. The planning, the DIY lists, the coordination. I tend to micro-manage things and get stressed when handling something important and I just don't that for what is supposed to be my happy day. All I really want to have to think about is getting a dress and showing up to a location on the ship at a certain time. I assume we'd have about 10 sailing guests and the wedding would be at sea (Princess does that, I know).

 

So for those of you that have already taken the plunge at sea, was it better than having a regular wedding at home? Was it easier\less stressful knowing that the ship's planner handled everything? Or hard to hand the reigns over to someone? Do these planners really care or are you just wedding party #434, you know? Was the cost worth it? If you could go back and change things, what would you want different?

[lizbeth927]

I haven't had my wedding yet (7 days to go!!!), but I will say that if you are a planner or a person who likes to be in control of things, it can be a bit hard to hand over the reigns. I have had very limited contact with both Carnival and The Wedding Experience...in fact, The Wedding Experience has STILL not returned my phone calls and we sail a week from tomorrow! It's also been a little difficult dealing with both Carnival AND TWE, because even though my Carnival wedding consultant has been helpful, she is not the person who will actually be at my wedding! That being said, I knew all these things going in to it, and it really has been so much less stressful than what I imagine planning a large wedding at home would be. Not to mention much less expensive! I'm hoping that once we sail I will have no regrets :)

[bellasteena]

If you are concerned about giving up control you might want to consider an on island private WC. I am gettting married in Jamaica and I am using Tropical Wedding Jamaica. They have pictures of all of their options online and I get to have full control on all details but everything is handled through TWJ so the stress level is reduced. I just have to go to the website, scroll through their pictures and make my choices. It is also a lot cheaper than the cruise lines charge. I think that it is the best option.

[TampaJules]

Thanks for your input. I wouldn't mind doing it at an island and using a local planner, but I don't particularly want it at an island. I want it at sea. And my options for a short cruise out of FL (especially Tampa) are very limited (basically just Cozumel).

 

Anyone out there already married? I guess once its over with, there is no need to visit this forum!

[Michele M]

I am getting married in January at Sea on Island Princess 10 day Panama Canal cruise with only 2 sailing guests. I don't mind giving up control at all for the stress free planning. So far I faxed in my initial paperwork and payment. I had a confirmation e-mail in 2 days. Last week I mailed the rest of my paperwork required. I received another email confirmation that they received everything. Included in that paperwork were choices for vows, music, and cake flavors filling and frosting. All I had to do was check the correct boxes and all my work was done. The hardest part was choosing the music because I didn't recognize the names for a lot of it, but I just went on I tunes and listened to a sampling of each.

 

When I get on board and meet the wedding coordinator, I plan to add additonal photgraphy time as we want lots of pictures taken around the ship, and possibly add to my bouquet. We plan to have dinner in the Specialty restaurant the evening of the wedding. I am basically easy to please so I'm sure I will be very happy with our small, easy wedding.

 

So far Princess/The wedding experience has been very easy to deal with. They returned both my phone calls promtly and the email confirmations have been fast. The only thing I wish is that I could find more recent pictures on line of Princess at sea weddings and the cost of photo packages. I have done searches and viewed what is available, but most of the pictures are at an on shore location or a different cruise line.

[WineDown17]

I used A Wedding for You.. and we were married in Barbados while on an X cruise.

 

It was AMAZING.

 

And having done it both ways- I definitely preferred this experience more.

 

I am not a control freak, and probably spent less than an hour total planning the wedding.

 

It was incredibly meaningful as it enables us to focus on the meaning of the marriage, and not the wedding. I would not change a single thing.

[TampaJules]

Wow, an hour? I think my problem is I say I want it easy and I don't want to worry about the details, but then I'll still want the know everything, plan everything. But I guess if its already done for me there is nothing I need to arrange. It would just be more work if the families were sailing too, to get their travel plans set and organized on the ship as far as where to be, when, etc.

 

Hmm. I guess the other thing is it seems like a lot of money for very little. Approx $2000 for a small ceremony, a small bunch of flowers, a bottle of champagne and a small cake. In Florida, a notary can marry you and I know several notaries. I just don't know...

 

My DBF said, why don't we just elope. Maybe, but then I think I'll still think the same things...

[WineDown17]

2K??? We have been married 6 years.. and the price for all that WAS $900!! Now I am curious...

 

OK..I just checked A Wedding for You's website and their Barbados wedding is up to $1500.. but It was well worth it I thought.. I would do it again for that price...

 

 

There really is very little to plan.. so it is like eloping.. but maybe more special becuase of the location..

 

The lack of stress around it all really makes for a special day as well...

 

i am sure you will be happy whatever you do...

 

(PS- here are some of the pics from barbados from the website.. We are in BARB025,26,26.27 and29..the location was truly magical)

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/album.sfly?sid=8CaNGzhmxbNlg&startIndex=0&fid=ccb92e4edad630f9

[jerrycat]

We got married on Celebrity with A Wedding for You. It is very easy. You still worry because it just seems so easy you keep thinking something will go wrong. My other worry is that you can't touch and feel everything. You can't see where you will be getting married, you can't see the cake or meet the photographer. The lady kept telling me that there was nothing to worry about, they do them all the time and she was correct. I even remember going over the service with her. I probably drove her crazy.

 

We had a blast and even today when we go to other weddings, we always whisoer to each other that our wedding was more fun. Let me know if you have questions.

[Mrs.C05]

Hubby and I knew we wanted to do a cruise for our honeymoon, but I don't know why we didn't just roll it into one! Looking back, I would've done a cruise wedding in a heartbeat had I know how much fun cruising was. Maybe a renewal vows cruise in the future? LOL!

[MarinerBride]

For me, it was much easier. We had already planned the cruise vacation with our family, so the date, location, etc. was all set. We decided 2 months before the cruise to go ahead and have the wedding onbard. We quickly invited all of our family - some chose to sail with us, some just attended the wedding. All I did was make a few phone calls with TWE/RR to finalize details, made some decisions on wedding package, reception package, music (not required), and a few extras (also not required). I also picked out my dress, I let my sister pick hers, and my husband chose his tux based on my guidelines.

 

It's true that I didn't have much control over what happened, and some things I didn't even really know what was going on until closer to the date, or even the day of. However, the lack of stress made it 100% worth it for us!

[teankc]

I think it may be a little hard for a self proclaimed micromanager to let go of the all details ;) but remember there are still some you will have to control (the invites ugh, the attire fun, gift bags if you want them, etc etc...). Go with the ship wedding because it's different, it's fun and it's exciting for your guests too. Ours took place in April and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I'm still looking at our video and pictures everyday.

Make your selections and let the wedding planners do their job. Some brides do complain about the process but all love their weddings. Have fun!

[flhokie]

We got married at sea on Princess last year. It was wonderful! We had 50 sailing guests and got married the first day at sea (7 day western Caribbean). As others have said, you do have to give up a lot of control, but there are still plenty of things to keep you busy (dress, special touches for the wedding, etc.). While there was some stress around everything going as planned, we tried to focus on the fact that we were getting married to each other and had family and friends joining us. I personlly feel that getting married at home, with all of the details, would have been extremely stressful and overwhelming for me and I would not have enjoyed my wedding (which I definitely did).

 

We had an 11 am ceremony in the wedding chapel, lunch in Sabitinis and an afternoon reception in Skywalkers with drnks, snacks, cake, dancing, etc. For the number of guests we had and the food, drinks, etc. it was much less expensive than the same thing at home!

[Scubadiva77]

My thing is to write up a list of pros & cons. Going from budget to what you want at your wedding. Both are good choices but it all depends on what you expect. I went with the TA on the island because I know I can contact them and they will respond right away. I felt my experiance with the cruiseline is lack of communication. They still do a great job but if you want an answer right away you dont always get it. Best of luck on your wedding plans. To get 100's of brides input on each topic another forum you could check out is

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/index.php?referrerid=14365

I have never had anything but millions of ideas for my wedding. :)