jdaley90

8 minutes ago, thjeepster said:

We are in the same "boat" we decided on a low-key cheaper cruise (4-Days) for the wedding (at sea).  We are only have 10 or 11 guest besides ourselves.  Once we get back to Ft. Lauderdale everyone else is getting off and we are staying on for a B2B (second is 5-Days) with a JS for our honeymoon (wedding cruise we saved money and got a oceanview).

 

 That sounds amazing!!! I hope you have an incredible time! I wrote up a pretty detailed "blog" about my experience in a separate thread if you have any questions leading up to the big day on the planning process, save the dates, how things work day of, etc. 

Hello!

It's been a while since you posted this topic so I'm not sure if you're still trying to decide which cruise line but I figured I'd go through what my consideration factors were. 

First- we picked a line. Do you have a preference or status with someone already? I grew up cruising Celebrity/Princess/RCCL so that swayed my choice. Do you want to get married at sea or at a port of call? Do you want the wedding to be legal or symbolic? We wanted a legal at sea wedding and were partial to RCCL so that is why we chose them.

Second we picked a ship. I first did this by choosing the date I wanted- I then called the cruise planners and confirmed which ships had the date I wanted available. From where it came down to a features vs. benefits analysis. We had a younger crowd sailing so we wanted a ship that had a lot of different activities which also swayed us towards RCCL as opposed to Princess who is more traditional (IMO). When it came down to it, we went with the Liberty of the Seas because it had a lot of the "fun" attractions like water slides, the flowrider, mini golf, ice skating, the rock wall etc. and had recently been renovated. It was half the cost but still had many of the same features as the larger ships (ie: oasis/allure/etc,). Our group was very budget conscience so that ended up being how we decided. 

On 10/14/2019 at 12:37 AM, Antlove30Pipes11 said:

So I'm getting married on the Carnival Victory at the end of November 2019. I am trying to finalize my guest bags. Any good ideas would be so helpful or if i'm doing too much ;). I am already adding advil, shout packs, hangover pills, sun block, make up remover, tic tacs, recipe card (guest to fill out), Welcome card. All items would be travel size and individually wrapped. I was thinking about adding anti-bacterial wipes. The "big ticket item" is going to be a towel that I might have printed for the event or as is. Just wondering if I am forgetting anything that could be useful. We are already having a bottle of wine in each room from the cruise line. Might order some water and add that but not decided yet. Your suggestions or even the places where you got your products would be great help. Thanks in advance.

All good ideas! I know your wedding has passed but for all the future brides we had similar items in our welcome bags as well as pens/post it notes so that people could leave notes on doors, electrolytes, dramamine, and and downy wrinkle releaser. Our big ticket item was the bag they received everything in. It was a cloth drawstring bag with our wedding hashtag on it so they had a bag they could use onshore 🙂

I second this advice. I had mine done on board and came prepared with looks I wanted but I was also prepared to do it myself just in case. 

On 7/15/2019 at 4:54 PM, backofentb said:

Hello -

 

I am currently planning a cruise wedding aboard the Independence of the Seas and I have a few questions about your experience: 

 

1. Were you required to get married in the chapel, or could you select a different on-board venue?

2. Did you have the option of utilizing a wedding guest to be the officiant (if wanted?) 

3. How did you handle not having the ability to have a proper rehearsal with your wedding party?

4. Did you use your own personal music, or the music the venue had on board? 

4. If you had the chance to do it again, would you say the reception is worth the additional cost? (I have read some that cut the cake and have the champagne toast at formal dinner, instead of having a separate reception.)

5. What would be your suggestion to avoid missing your reception to have photos taken? I was thinking of having a photographer there to photograph the wedding, and the reception party, and then going back the next day to take photos around the boat, but I wanted to hear if this was a feasible option. 

 

Thanks for all your insight!

 

Sorry for the delay in answering!

1. We were not required to get married in the chapel- we could have chosen a different on-board venue. On some of the larger oasis class ships I've seen people take their vows in Dazzles etc. 

2. I think this will depend on if you want a symbolic or legal ceremony. We did a legal ceremony and so the officiant had to be someone licensed to do at sea marriages. I think that if you went the symbolic route you could probably have a guest do it but I'm not 100% certain. I do know that we had to have my FIL say his blessing BEFORE we started any other part of the ceremony because any deviation could have invalidated the marriage. We also had a tight timeline (maybe an hour) of where we could have the ceremony because we had to be in international waters. 

3. The night before the wedding we met with our coordinator to go through the rundown of the ceremony. I had also planned a rehearsal dinner for that night and had everyone involved in the ceremony meet us in our room before dinner so we could deliver the rundown to them. I will say- the coordinators do these fairly frequently and are experts in helping to make sure everything runs smoothly. Leo made sure all guests arrived 30 minutes before the ceremony start (I made sure to make all guests aware of this the night before the wedding @ the rehearsal dinner), he lined up the wedding party in order, and told everyone when to walk so it was all pretty smooth IMO. 

4. We used both. For the ceremony you can use their music and they have it ready OR you can use your own and you MUST provide it on a USB. For the reception and special dances they are supposed to get the music for you. Our experience: For the processional we used their music, for the exit we used our own provided via USB. For the dances (1st dance/mother &son/father & daughter), we used our own. I'ms till unclear what happened and why they didn't have our songs so we had to scramble last minute and downloaded them via Spotify. I'd come prepared with your own music just in case no matter what they say. For the rest of the ceremony, we let the DJ choose what he wanted to play. 

5. I personally felt like the reception was worth the extra cost. It was fun have a space for all of our guests to celebrate and dance after the ceremony. I think it also depends on how many people you have traveling- we had 30 and I wanted to have a reception after and do things like the father daughter dance and cake cutting. 

6. I think that that is a VERY feasible option. In hindsight, I would have loved to do this. We had a second sea day after the wedding and wouldn't have minded getting dolled up again and getting to wear my dress again. The weather was windy the day we got married so I unfortunately don't have any outdoor shots and the next day the weather was much calmer. They seemed to be very flexible on photography because you're paying for it anyways. The other thing you could consider doing is a first look and doing a lot of the photos before the ceremony. My hubby didn't want to see me before I walked down the aisle which is why we didn't go that route. 

On 7/12/2019 at 12:49 PM, IrishLassie said:

WOW, you looked BEAUTIFUL & so did DH !  Loved your dress & flowers.  The pictures were so nice, thanks for sharing.

Thanks so much!! 

On 6/19/2019 at 1:55 PM, chicacruising said:

Wow - incredible attention to detail! Your dress was beautiful and you looked gorgeous for your wedding!!!

 

Can you share where you ordered your guest bags from? My email: Clara08@mail.com

 

Many thanks!

I hope this isn't too late! I ordered the bags from ThirtyOne :) I have a friend who was selling them and got me 40% off. Let me know if you have any other questions on where I got stuff!

Curious how this turned out as well! We got married on the LOS but went through the wedding package. We overall had a very good experience with the wedding planners minus a few hiccups there were solved pretty quickly.

I didn’t bring any decorations with us because I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of schlepping and storing it all. I was married on the liberty of the seas in the chapel in February and found photos early on and made the decision that what they had in there for decorations would suffice. IMO I preferred the use the money I saved on decorations for other wedding expenses like food, open bar, and guest bags for my guests 🙂 good luck! 

I got married at 1pm and wore mine until after dinner when we went to the club as I didn’t want anyone trampling on my gown. I LOVED wearing my dress every second I did- you only get to do it once so I’d say wear it as long as you can!!! I also wore my veil the entire night as it was finger tip length. 

12 hours ago, Antlove30Pipes11 said:

Your dress was absolutely beautiful! The entire wedding party looked amazing. Thanks for sharing your experience!

 

I would love the name of the ETSY shop for your flowers and the template for your cruise welcome letter loveantoinette@hotmail.com . I am also going to do gift bags/fanny packs. I've been trying to scout sites where I can purchase when I am ready. I don't want to buy too early because I am still waiting for RSVPs on my November wedding. Sounds like all in all it was a great experience though and I am so happy for you and your family!

Here is the link to her Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChurchMouseCreations

She is ChurchMousrCreations. Look for an email shortly with the template in publisher 🙂

On 5/28/2019 at 4:14 PM, Brendaflamingo said:

Hello

We are doing guest bags I will give to each couple before the cruise.

Im creating Cruise Survival Kits for them. I have a small bag with personalized sticker filled with items for hangover, sunburn, sewing, earplugs etc. Most of our guest have never gone on a cruise or don't think about bringing these things.

Funny and practical.

Brenda

We did the same thing! Everyone LOVED the bags and used them all week long as well as the contents. 

Hey guys!! I finally got my act together and wrote a thread about my experience getting married aboard Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas in February 2019: 

Don't hesitate to ask me any questions you may have!

Hi All, 

I am long overdue sharing my story about our cruise wedding. My hubby and I were married on February 18, 2019 aboard the Liberty of the Seas via the Vows at Sea wedding package. Overall our day was great. We loved getting married on a cruise and would do it again. That said, there were several hiccups that were not deal breakers but annoyances that I will forever remember. 

Why did we choose to cruise? 

My hubby and I started to plan our wedding in January 2017 after we had gotten engaged in October 2017. We were living in Boston and frustrated by the high cost of venues in MA. My hubby (Jim) has been a lifelong Disney fan so after flirting with doing a Disney wedding (too expensive) and a Disney cruise wedding (still too expensive) we settled on a cruise on a regular line. I had grown up cruising with my parents as a kid and had always enjoyed it. Prior to our wedding, Jim had never been on a cruise

Why did we choose Royal Caribbean? 

We chose Royal Caribbean because they can perform legal at marriages (vs. symbolic) unlike some other cruise lines. We've both always loved the ocean, so we decided on the Vows at Sea package. 

How did we get started?

First, we narrowed down the week we wanted to cruise. We have a lot of friends who are teachers, so we chose February vacation week. After we nailed down a week, we did picked a few different ships/itineraries we wouldn't mind doing. I completely nerded out here and a did a full-on cost vs. benefits/features analysis on each ship. After settling on a few different cruises, we called the Royal Events Line and were able to get them to confirm that the date we wanted to get married was available. This was slightly stressful because they can't offer a lot of info and someone could very well call after you and book the date. We ended up choosing the Liberty of the Seas (LOS) because it had been re done a couple of years ago and boasted features like water slides, ice skating, and the Wave Runner. We also loved their chapel- very small and intimate as well as bright and sunny. At the end of the day it came to cost, we got a lot of the "fun stuff" you see on ships like the Allure and Oasis on the LOS but for WAY less!!! As soon as we booked the cruise, we called Royal Ocean events back to lock in our date. They emailed us the Contract and Credit Card authorization forms which we were told to fill out and email back in order to reserve our date. They will hold your wedding date for 72 hours while they wait for these forms back. After they process the paperwork/charge you you are assigned a wedding coordinator who will reach out to you. They estimated that this would take 2 weeks. In reviewing my emails, we sent the paperwork in on Jan 19 and someone reached out to us on March 12 (7 weeks vs. 2 weeks). I'll call this hiccup 1. 

Once you have a coordinator then what? 

Well honestly, not a whole lot. This was probably one of the easiest weddings to plan. Ever. We had a call with our coordinator to review the paperwork. The paperwork is about 10 pages long and relatively straight forward. Our biggest concern through everything was the food. We have severe food allergies in our group, and it was my top priority to make sure no one would get sick (more on that later). We were assured that the food allergies would not be a problem. The paperwork wasn't due until 90 days before we cruised so we had lots of time to fill it out and took our time doing so. The paperwork contains everything you need from the details of your ceremony and wedding party, to food, booze, and music. 

So, what did you do in the meantime? 

I mostly focused on getting save the dates out, setting up a group with a travel agent, booking our guests, and then the traditional wedding things like buying a dress/tux, bridesmaid dresses, getting invitations out, etc. We ended up not bringing any decorations with us- we felt comfortable with what RCCL had on board. I worked with a shop on Etsy to create silk flower bouquets. RCCL only offers roses on day 1 or 2 of your cruise and I am not a fan of roses plus they are SUPER expensive. I paid less than $450 for 6 bouquets, 6 boutonnieres, and 2 corsages. I am happy to share the shop with anyone interested. During this in-between time, we not only went through one but TWO coordinators at Royal Ocean Events. To say the turnover is high is an understatement. They request all communications to be kept together in 1 threaded email and I understand why! After we submitted our final paperwork (selections and marriage license) they processed everything. The selections went to the boat and the marriage license to the Bahamian government. We received confirmation before we left that our papers had been approved by the Bahamian government before we left which was reassuring. 

OK- fast forward to our paperwork being submitted and us leaving/boarding for our cruise. 

We booked a suite and would do the same thing all over again. We ended up sailing with 30 guests and it became our hub and central meeting point. There are no bridal suites/getting reads rooms on board so having the suite served as the perfect location for my bridal party and I to get ready. On the day we boarded the ship, we found a letter in our room from our on-board coordinator asking us to meet him at 4:30PM to review the details of the day. The name of our onboard coordinator was Leonardo (Leo). Prior to boarding we were told that some coordinators will announce the names of the wedding party entering while others won't because of their varying degrees of the English language. It's up to their discretion. Fortunately for us, Leo was a real pro who had done this many times. If you end up with Leo you are in good hands! I decided that I wanted to hair salon to do my hair, so I had an appointment for a haircut on embarkation day and explained that I was getting married the next day. I shared photos of what I wanted my hair to look like and we were off and running with no issues! The planners will tell you that the ships spas don't officially do make up and to be prepared to do your own. It all depends on if they have people on board who have makeup artistry skills- they don't hire makeup artists but will have hair stylists who are also trained to do make up so it's not a guarantee. I was fortunate and when I made my hair appointment, they confirmed that they could also do my makeup! This was honestly the biggest relief of the entire experience. 

Day of the wedding timeline

6am- Hubby and I are wide awake, so we get up and get breakfast

9am- I have my hair appointment at the spa

10am- I have my make-up appointment at the spa

11:15am- I finish hair and makeup and head back to our suite to get ready with the rest of my bridal party

12:30pm- Photographer arrives to take "getting ready" photos. They will do this for you if you ask on your selections. There's an additional charge of $150 for this because they need to hire a second person to be in the room. Prior to my arrival they had been doing ready getting photos with my hubby in a second room and this is where hiccup 2 happened. There was never a second person who showed up to accompany the photographer, so they were late getting started. In the end it was Leo who was the second spotter for my hubby. When timing got tight to the start of the ceremony he left and left us alone with the photographer. With the exception of the bridal party and I all guests were asked to be present for 12:30pm

12:50pm- They call for my bridesmaids and I to start heading to the chapel

1:00pm- Ceremony starts on time

1:09pm- We were officially married at sea by 2nd in command Autun 

1:30pm- We head to Olive and Twist for our reception

Ceremony

Overall the ceremony is pretty uncomplicated and quick. We chose to say traditional vows and do a ring exchange. We also had my hubby’s father say a blessing before we kicked everything off. We were done and had all the paperwork signed in 20 min. 

Reception

This is where we had most of our issues. We opted for 3 hours of open bar so that drinks would already be poured and waiting for our guests when we arrived at 1:30pm after the ceremony. Hiccup 3. They did not have enough staff to handle the amount of drinks our guests were looking for. To start it was only 1 server and guests were unable to get drinks up at the bar. After hubby complained they brought on a second server and the whole process became much faster. We found out early that the DJ for whatever reason did not have our music for our dances (first, mother/son, father/bride). In the forms you indicate the songs and they will provide them for the day of. Fortunately, we had Wi-Fi and were able to download them quickly. This was hiccup 4. In addition to the drink/music hiccups, we also had a hiccup with the food. I exclusively ordered food that was gluten free due to severe allergies with several of my guests. I cannot tell you how many times I cited the need for the labeling of all ingredients on the food not only to the pre-cruise planners but also the planner once onboard. I was assured every time that they would be able to accommodate us with no problems. One of the appetizers was marked as gluten free and then served on normal gluten filled crackers. Hiccup 4. No one got sick because we are all very diligent in checking our food and could tell by the way it looked that it was not gluten free. When I asked the planner to double check with the kitchen, he told me everything was gluten free before checking. I asked him to check again and this is when he confirmed it was in fact not gluten free. Overall the food was very good- my advice is if you have food allergies to contend with, check on everything with a careful eye.  I do have to give them props for the cake- they made us a 3-tier cake (included in the package) that was entirely gluten free and had multiple flavors in it. After ~45 min at our ceremony we left to take photos around the ship. We took photos for ~1 hour -1.5hours. We’re so glad we have the photos we do but everything felt rushed and we missed most of our ceremony which is our one regret. 

Marriage License

I was surprised how easy this process was- big props to Royal Ocean events here. We sent our paperwork in in the fall and found out at the start of the new year that they’d been accepted by the Bahamian government. We received our marriage license about 8 weeks after our wedding. One hiccup with the license was that when we submitted the paperwork, I hadn’t had my birthday yet and we had also moved. Prior to the license being issued, they asked us to confirm all the data and I brought these 2 things up. They said that they had passed the info along, yet the marriage license still arrived with my incorrect age and address on it.

Guest Gift Bags

I didn’t give our guests gifts at the wedding, but I did give everyone “welcome onboard” bags that had cruise must haves. The bags contained pens, post it notes, Dramamine, Excedrin, electrolytes, downy wrinkle releaser, shout wipes, antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen. 

Welcome Letter

I found some basic ideas online from past brides but created my own. Happy to share! I included info on the itinerary, wedding day info, and general cruise info.

How was our planning experience?

Overall, the planning experience was pretty painless compared to some of the past wedding reviews I've read using Royal Ocean events. I've always been a planner and to say I was nervous about the entire experience would be an understatement- especially after all the negative things I'd read about Royal Ocean events. Minus the few issues which we were able to resolve quickly everything ran pretty seamlessly. This is a great option If you are relatively relaxed. For someone who needs to be involved in every decision, the process can be hard because there is so little communication and high reliance on planners sending the right information over. If I had to do it all over again, we would still choose to get married in the same fashion. My advice would be to be really tight with your paperwork and know what you want. Don’t be afraid to be a pain and reach out for updates when you want them. I didn’t go crazy with decorations and focused my energy on dresses, gifts for the wedding party, invitations/STDs, flowers, welcome letter, and guest gift bags.

Mulligan Wedding Welcome Letter FINAL.pdf

On 3/2/2019 at 12:09 AM, LklandCruiser said:

Hi & Congratulations! How did it go? I am getting married on the Liberty on 5/17/19. Any advice to pass along? Thanks! 

Hi! Everything went great! You are going to have a great time. I have been slacking but am planning on doing a full write up detailing my entire experience. I will try to do it this weekend and then will post the link:) 

11 minutes ago, Antlove30Pipes11 said:

 

The ship i’m getting married on told me they don’t do make up. My hair will likely be in braids or some kind of an updo so not worried there. My niece and sister will do my make up. They did my engagement picture make up and everyone thought it was professional so I feel like i’m covered there. 

Hi! I got married on the LOS in Feb 2019. They also told me ahead of time that they don’t do make up on board because they don’t have MUA but that said, there is usually someone who does do make up working in the spa but it isn’t their primary job. One of the ladies in the spa DID do my makeup on the day of my wedding :) I went in prepared with the type of look I was going for, brought my day to day makeup, and she also used her own makeup as well. I loved my look and it came out absolutely perfect! 

On 9/19/2018 at 6:58 PM, Lipz said:

 

You've got it!

If you're still sharing the template, I'd also love a copy... getting married at sea aborard of the liberty of the seas on 2/18/19! jennifer.t.daley@gmail.com

On 10/3/2018 at 9:57 PM, rriceesq said:

Would love to chat more. My fiancé (Missy) and I (Rick) would love to stay in touch and compare notes. We’ve been selecting music and flowers and looking at the cake options. We are getting married on the first sea day and will have the cake and bubbly with dinner that night since everyone will still be dressed. As a result we are considering not doing a reception after the service. We have about a dozen going with us. We both have teen kiddos so this is not our first venture down the aisle. I thought the maritime license was a cool idea so that’s what prompted the plans we have made.

 

Have you guys done the paperwork for the maritime license yet? We got everything we needed the week before last and went to our planner but have yet to hear back... I'd thought they do all the paperwork for us but I could be wrong! Just want to make sure I'm submitting it if that's what we need to do... 

Anyone else gotten a legal at sea maritime license? How does the paperwork processing happen? 

We are booked to get married on the LOS 3/18/19. I’d be interested in comparing notes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Absolutely! So far it's been pretty painless. We've been working with Kayla at ROE. There's not much back and forth between us but she's efficient in answering our questions and accommodating us with questions like "how big is the cake, I need to order a topper". We're getting married in the Chapel and are having our reception at Olive or Twist. We're up to 26 guests and working through the paperwork/selections. I'm frustrated with a few things right now but it's fine. We've been told that there is no rehearsal prior to the actual event so I'm slightly concerned about how we'll all walk in and where we'll stand but I've been assured that the onboard day of cruise planner will help us all get it sorted. We're also unable to book hair/makeup before getting on board which is fine but I'm annoyed that the day we get on board the ship we have to do so much since we get married the next day. I'd rather just relax and have a cocktail :) Happy to chat further here or offline!

I'd also love a copy of the welcome letter if anyone has it! jennifer.t.daley@gmail.com

still works :)

Hey Party People!!

2019 bride here too! Getting married 2/18/19 on the Liberty of the Seas! Have about 20 people booked so far!

Awesome news! I also wouldn't mind peeking at the documents they sent you. My email is jennifer.t.daley@gmail.com

This is so helpful- thank you for posting! My fiance and I are booked aboard the Liberty of the Seas departing 2/17/19 and hoping for a wedding at sea on the 18th. I've sent my forms to Royal Events and am currently waiting for them to assign me a coordinator, take the deposit, and send the full book of options that was mentioned in this thread. Fingers crossed for me- planning with them sounds like a nightmare!