2017 Brides!

For wedding invitations what time are you going to put? The time we have to be on the ship or the approximate time of the wedding? Since we don't find out the time until a few weeks prior.

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For wedding invitations what time are you going to put? The time we have to be on the ship or the approximate time of the wedding? Since we don't find out the time until a few weeks prior.

 

 

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I put the time to be on the ship so everyone knew not to be late. I also stressed the time constantly. On our wedding website we put the wedding wouldn't begin until 12:00, but everyone needed to be at the port at 10:00. It worked out very well. Nobody was late, and when everyone got on the ship, the coordinators told my guests they could browse the ship or go to the buffet as long as they were back at the lounge by 12:00.

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For wedding invitations what time are you going to put? The time we have to be on the ship or the approximate time of the wedding? Since we don't find out the time until a few weeks prior.

 

 

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I put 1:00 on the invites because that's what the carnival wedding department told me. I included a detailed explanation about arrival to the port on the enclosure card.

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I put the time to be on the ship so everyone knew not to be late. I also stressed the time constantly. On our wedding website we put the wedding wouldn't begin until 12:00, but everyone needed to be at the port at 10:00. It worked out very well. Nobody was late, and when everyone got on the ship, the coordinators told my guests they could browse the ship or go to the buffet as long as they were back at the lounge by 12:00.

 

 

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What cruise line are you getting married on? Did you pay additional for the buffet or did they just tell your guests to go ahead? Carnival is charging me an extra $10 per non-sailing guest for the buffet (an extra $500 for us!)

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What cruise line are you getting married on? Did you pay additional for the buffet or did they just tell your guests to go ahead? Carnival is charging me an extra $10 per non-sailing guest for the buffet (an extra $500 for us!)

 

 

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We got married on NCL last month. We didn't pay anything extra, they just told our guests to go ahead. We had 56 guests. My girls were helping me get dressed in my cabin, and my husband and his guys were in my mom's cabin getting ready. While we were getting ready, everyone else was free to browse.

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What cruise line are you getting married on? Did you pay additional for the buffet or did they just tell your guests to go ahead? Carnival is charging me an extra $10 per non-sailing guest for the buffet (an extra $500 for us!)

From my understanding this fee only applies if you are not offering food during your reception.

From my understanding this fee only applies if you are not offering food during your reception.

Thanks! I'll look into it. We have the Time to Celebrate...Big package so we will have hot and cold h'ors d'oeuvres.

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Can anyone give any details on the wedding cake that Carnival provides? Wondering about the filling, what that is like? Thank You.

Can anyone give any details on the wedding cake that Carnival provides? Wondering about the filling, what that is like? Thank You.

There were multiple filling options - Bavarian cream, fresh strawberries and chocolate ganache were all options. We chose the Bavarian cream, and I can report back on what it's like in about two weeks.

Hi, according to the posts from last year, it seems quite a few of you should be married now. Can you give advice and things? I will be getting married in 2018. I would really like to know about the receptions too. What did you do, did you decorate, how did it work with drinks if you only have like 1 or 2 servers and the bar isn't open? Thanks

Ok ladies...I was not pleased with the pricing on the silk flowers at our port. They quoted me $180 for a bouquet and boutonnière in silk flowers. I've decided on silk because we are getting married in port in Baltimore and then we are having a private photographer do a beach shoot in Bermuda. Since live flowers can't be taken off of the ship we're going with silk rather than paying twice for flowers. I found some bulk roses on amazon and put these together. Honest opinions please!

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Ok ladies...I was not pleased with the pricing on the silk flowers at our port. They quoted me $180 for a bouquet and boutonnière in silk flowers. I've decided on silk because we are getting married in port in Baltimore and then we are having a private photographer do a beach shoot in Bermuda. Since live flowers can't be taken off of the ship we're going with silk rather than paying twice for flowers. I found some bulk roses on amazon and put these together. Honest opinions please!

 

 

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These are so lovely! They look like they were done by a professional!

Hi, according to the posts from last year, it seems quite a few of you should be married now. Can you give advice and things? I will be getting married in 2018. I would really like to know about the receptions too. What did you do, did you decorate, how did it work with drinks if you only have like 1 or 2 servers and the bar isn't open? Thanks

My wedding is on Sunday, and when we get back I plan on writing something up since I don't think I've seen anything from someone who was married on the Vista yet.

My wedding is on Sunday, and when we get back I plan on writing something up since I don't think I've seen anything from someone who was married on the Vista yet.

Thank you! I look forward to reading your review. Congratulations!

Can anyone give any details on the wedding cake that Carnival provides? Wondering about the filling, what that is like? Thank You.

I just wanted to give an update, since I forgot to mention it here.

We had two tiers - chocolate and vanilla, both with the Bavarian cream filling. I was surprised that the Bavarian cream came in both chocolate and vanilla flavors (corresponding with each cake flavor/tier). It was amazing! One of my guests had only had chocolate at the reception, and was surprised that the vanilla cake she had in the dining room was our wedding cake. She raved about it all week!

Does anyone else have any reviews or info they can share about their weddings? I'm particularly interested in hearing from brides who were married during the cruise in a port. I'm getting married on the beach in Grand Cayman with my reception back on the ship (Carnival Vista) and was curious about how that process compared to the people who got married on embarkation.

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We did a port ceremony with a reception on the ship. We loved it! We planned the port ceremony ourselves, did dinner in the main dining room with our guests, and then booked a private area of one of the lounges/bought an open bar.

What specific questions did you have?

We did a port ceremony with a reception on the ship. We loved it! We planned the port ceremony ourselves, did dinner in the main dining room with our guests, and then booked a private area of one of the lounges/bought an open bar.

 

 

What specific questions did you have?

That's EXACTLY what I want to do! How long did you book the open bar? Do you fell like there were enough servers to get everyone the drinks they wanted? (I was told the bar in the lounge wouldn't be open. so the servers would have to go to another near bar to get the drinks) If I'm paying per person, I don't want people to only be able to have like 1 drink. What exactly did you do in your lounge area? (I want to do announcing the wedding party, 1st dances, toasts, garder/bouquet throw, and maybe some group line dances. Hoping there's enough time in my 1 hour). Also, how long before did they guarantee you the space and time.

Lastly, how do you think the MDR dinner went? Did you feel sectioned off enough? Did you do table placement or just let everyone sit where they want? I guess a good question would also be how many pep went with you? (I have so many questions. Thanks SO much in advance)

That's EXACTLY what I want to do! How long did you book the open bar? Do you fell like there were enough servers to get everyone the drinks they wanted? (I was told the bar in the lounge wouldn't be open. so the servers would have to go to another near bar to get the drinks) If I'm paying per person, I don't want people to only be able to have like 1 drink. What exactly did you do in your lounge area? (I want to do announcing the wedding party, 1st dances, toasts, garder/bouquet throw, and maybe some group line dances. Hoping there's enough time in my 1 hour). Also, how long before did they guarantee you the space and time.

Lastly, how do you think the MDR dinner went? Did you feel sectioned off enough? Did you do table placement or just let everyone sit where they want? I guess a good question would also be how many pep went with you? (I have so many questions. Thanks SO much in advance)

How long did you book the open bar?

2 hours. We finished up dinner in the main dinning room and then made our way to a boat themed bar/lounge on the Coral Princess.

Do you fell like there were enough servers to get everyone the drinks they wanted?

Yes! I was actually a little surprised by this part. Our wedding was on the 4th day of the cruise. Our group had become attached to a specific bar by this point and was on a "wave" basis with the bartender there. We all had drink packages. Someone would give Jake the thumbs up and he'd make something up on the spot and bring it over. We loved him so much we asked the group cruise director (who we requested to meet to go over final arrangements) if we could have Jake as our server. They made it happen. But we also had people that just handed out cake. People who just handed out champagne. And then Jake and another person was added to the bar just to handle our drinks, plus people to just walk them back and forth. It was actually great because people who don't normally like/drink were able to order all kinds of fun stuff and try it. If they didn't like it they just got another drink since it was all covered.

What exactly did you do in your lounge area? We hung out, drank, did the cake, and danced. We didn't book anything specific. I was ok with not having traditional events. The band definitely played us a first dance though and if we had wanted to do toasts/garter toss, etc we could have. I'll also note we didn't decorate or anything. I didn't want to travel with extra stuff and I figure everything on board is already professionally decorated. I will say that the band was totally whatever was normally scheduled and other guests could have danced if they wanted too. Song requests were also ok. It wasn't super popular after dinner, I think because we had the earlier dinning time so half the boat was still at dinner. We basically had the place to ourselves.

Also, how long before did they guarantee you the space and time.

I'm going to have to dig into my emails on this one, but it was pretty far in advance. I know that the 3rd part wedding companies don't really do much until 2 months in advance. We were able to get a tentative schedule further out than that...6 months? It was 60 days prior when got everything confirmed. Once we were on board we also called the main desk and requested a meeting with the onboard group coordinator for the cruise line itself. Just so we could go over everything. Once you're on board they have A LOT more power and ability to do things :-).

Lastly, how do you think the MDR dinner went? Did you feel sectioned off enough? Did you do table placement or just let everyone sit where they want?

I'm SO GLAD we did the main dinning room. We had 30 people sailing with us and we were all in the same area every night. We made it clear to our guests that if they missed dinner during the cruise that was totally fine, but the reason we had the set setting was so we all had a guaranteed spot for wedding night itself. This worked out great. There were nights where guests missed the earlier dining time while doing excursions in port but in general most people were at dinner every night. Hubby and I made a point to switch seats (we had a collection of tables in a portioned off area) so that we could visit with all our guests. When the night of the wedding came, it was formal night. So everyone in the MDR was dressed to the 9s. The maitre d came and serenaded us, which was an unexpected and sweet touch. Also, by this point in the cruise, the other people in the dinning room recognized us as the group that was always in that one corner, plus we had done our bachelor/bachelorette party and everyone on the cruise knew us from that as well. When we left dinner to go to the reception/bar the whole dining room stood up in a standing ovation (encouraged by the staff) when we left. So special.

I posted a bunch of pictures in a recap on wedding bee http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/destination-wedding-alaska-recap-lots-of-pictures/

We have posts of our wedding reception there if you want to get more of an idea of how it'd look. Ignore all the spelling mistakes, wedding bee wouldn't let me edit :(.

Wow, thank you SO much. Such detail and answered EVERYTHING you are amazing. I'm going to look at your link now. You're WONDERFUL :*

I remember how hard it was to find ANYTHING concrete on cruise weddings when I was planning. Best I could get would be a vague 1 page article on "5 reasons to consider a cruise wedding". I'm a researcher by nature though and stalked this forum and everything to do with my cruise line/destination/itinerary :-). I'm happy to help!

Hello everyone! I'm so excited to finally be able to post on this board. We got engaged in March of 2015 and will have our wedding cruise aboard the carnival paradise in February of 2017. We are actually planning the ceremony in Cozumel with Magic Memories weddings in Nachi Cocom. We are not sending save the dates, rather invitations a year in advance with a link to our wedding website where guests can rsvp. We are working with a travel agent that specializes in cruise weddings and she has been super helpful, she has a cruise wedding herself! I just bought my dress and am feeling relieved but a little sad that that part is over and I still have over a year. I have to keep off dress sites now!! Since we have so much time there isn't a lot to do besides send out invites which we just got in the mail. Tracking down addresses was a little insane, we are inviting everyone we would to a regular wedding. No inkling how many people plan on attending. Congrats to all the brides and grooms!

My fiance and I are looking into doing a cruise wedding for 2018 and thinking about Cozumel for our ceremony. How was Nachi Cocom and your overall experience?

We are booked on the Carnival Magic out of Pt. Canaveral on Dec 23, 2017 and getting married prior to sail away.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a Hair Salon in the Pt. Canaveral area?

We used electronic Save the Dates (I just can't bring myself to call them by their initials... I guess I've read to many OBGYN medical records.

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Here are some of my random notes from checking out different CC Boards....

Thank you envelopes for tips - officiant, coordinator at terminal, coordinator on ship, bar staff, photographer, etc.

Bring important documents:

Copy of contract

Copy of photo package price list

Remember you can Broadcast the wedding on FB Live for family not able to attend

Plan getting to the Port:

Designate who travels in what vehicle, with what luggage, etc.

label luggage, know where your wedding items are located

Designate who will be responsible for what

Flowers

Collection of any items from reception

Prepare a Wedding Day time line

Prepare a Wedding Ceremony time line

Give direction for wedding line up to enter and exit ceremony

Give direction for photographer

assign someone to assist in identifying family

Remember, Lunch won't be until 1:30, you need to eat

Rehearsal - do you have one the night before at hotel

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The tipping situation is giving us the biggest headache. There just isn't much information out there pertaining to a cruise wedding. So what information have you ladies found about tipping, and the general amounts (or percentages)?

AdoptAtty, I'll be getting married on the Magic 2 weeks before you, and a friend of mine will actually be spending her honeymoon on your cruise. congrats!