review: Carnival Pride wedding 6-6-10

[bree12345]

Just got married on the Pride out of Baltimore on June 6th 2010 and wanted to share my experiences because I had a terrible time finding info about other brides' experiences in baltimore specifically - it was truly amazing!!!!! If you have specific questions feel free to ask - but the general things-

 

1. The whole experience goes pretty quickly, but from the moment I got there, everyone was on top of the plan. A Wedding For You uses two ladies in Baltimore named Mary and I think the other was Linda, both officiate the ceremonies as well so they had my ceremony program, they went over any changes, confirmed name pronunciation, and made sure the other details like flowers, cake topper, music cd, etc. all were in order. They went over the plan with my wedding party (order of processional, etc.) So in general I felt like they actually did a good job coordinating with the Carnival wedding officiant who made sure my guests were in the right place, we were at the ceremony site on time, etc. So that was a relief.

 

2. I had plenty of time to get ready in my cabin which had been opened for me and my ladies. They also opened a second cabin for the boys on a different floor, so that was nice.

 

3. Flower upgrades through A Wedding for You were GORGEOUS - I had just gotten roses but they were beautifully arranged, complete, and they lasted all through my cruise and still looked amazing. I had also ordered two large floral arrangements to take the place of Carnival's silk flowers at the alters and these were gorgeous too. Totally worth the money spent there.

 

4. Got married in the Butterflies Lounge and reception was in the Ivory Piano Bar. The piano bar was perfect reception venue, especially if you don't want dancing - we had a pianist playing for the hour. Butterflies is beautiful, private, a little brightly colored but still I was very happy with the location - I had had my heart set on the wedding chapel but we had too many people - it is definitely very small and would have been hard for the photographer/video guy to get the quality of photos we had. As it was some people still had a tough time seeing the ceremony because of the photo/video guys and the officiant being in front of us. The other bride got married in Starry nights lounge which was beautiful, but has all glass windows on a main deck so I heard that cruise guests were staring in at her wedding, etc - would just ask the coordinators if you have your wedding there to see if they can block the thoroughfare.

 

5. Photos/video - my biggest worry was the quality of the pictures heading into this - let me say that I am absolutely THRILLED with my pictures. Carnival is obsessive-compulsive about photos anyway throughout their cruises, and my guy took 312 pics- a couple dozen of wedding party at the pillars right after the ceremony, he took a few in my stateroom of the girls getting ready (had to ask for that specifically), we took a bunch at the reception (this is the time to get the non-sailing guests for sure), and then after that he took the sailing guests which were our families and me and Jason (groom) for portraits - I didn't think I would want the ones in front of backgrounds and that I wanted more pictures around the ship, but it turned out that he took hundreds in front of the backgrounds and they are BEAUTIFUL. Baltimore is not the prettiest background while still in port, plus it was very windy and overcast. We wound up getting plenty of pics later on the ship with the two of us, not in wedding attire but as far as formal wedding pictures go, I was super happy with the quality of the pics. The only thing that was painful is that they print off all your pics on either 8x10 and 5x7, and then we had to go through 300+ pics in print and decide what we wanted. We got an expensive package ($2000) but talked them into giving us ALL the photos in digital format on CD, and then we had plenty of prints to pick from. that package came with 3 canvases, 2 DVD slideshows of our favorite pics, and plenty of prints too. It was just too hard to pick out the best ones and figure out how many prints, so we were SUPER happy they agreed to give us all the digital images (free of any copyright restrictions and 3.5 mb each pic so good quality.)

 

The video came out great as well - they did this pre-wedding interview with us where they asked us questions about how we met, etc which was definitely stressful at the time (trying to get ready) and then they wanted to film us walking around the ship days after the wedding and do more post-wedding interview questions, which we actually declined to do. (personal choice) - we had seen the DVD of the wedding and reception footage at that point and it was good enough for what we had wanted. Definitely would recommend getting that, because you will want to see the ceremony again and hear the vows (goes by in a blur) and you can copy the DVD or post the video as well for family and friends who couldn't see or hear everything in the ceremony or who couldn't be there.

 

5. Reception is just too short - we had one hour, would definitely recommend the 90 minute one, but if you get that package your wedding will be first - we were late getting on the ship, so I imagine that bride did not have much time to get ready although if your dress is simple and everyone else is ready it will be worth it to have more time. My guests had an hour to explore the ship before the ceremony; my friend took some great pics of my guests up on the Lido deck with a series of a dozen cocktails! they all want to cruise now -

 

We did a Bon Voyage party instead of the rehearsal dinner in Baltimore the night before, which allowed us to spend more time with non-sailing guests, because you will not have time for much more than a hi and a photo shot in the reception - that way they knew they would have to leave quickly from the ship too and wouldn't be as upset. was still really hard though. Food was good but I didn't eat much, and the cocktails were plentiful and colorful for the guests!

 

6. Cake was GREAT! very yummy and although it was only white, it still had some detail in the frosting decorations. Bring your own cake topper because it adds to the pictures/personalization. Also bring your own customized napkins, easy to give the coordinator and they set them up for us. Would not recommend bringing guestbook, favors, or slideshow for the reception - too little time and too complicated to make sure everything gets there. Also recommend if you do a reception the night before, use that time for toasts, dancing, etc - just keep the one on-board as simple as possible to optimize the time you can spend with your guests. We essentially walked in, (they announced us), did champagne toast and cake-cutting, and then we were able to walk around, eat, mingle, take pics.

 

anyways - sorry this is long, but I tried to focus on the key worries/anxieties I had heading into this - it was overall an amazing experience and the excitement you feel getting on the boat (especially for me since it was my first cruise) is just absolutely unbelievable - incredible rush. We had our families and friends join us on the cruise afterwards for a week, and it resulted in a week of memories that I don't think we could duplicate with any other style of wedding. I will eventually get my pics online on my photo-site, if you are interested email me at breelynann@hotmail.com and I can send you the link. also let me know if you have any other questions about the pride/baltimore in particular.

[shortnsweet7676]

Great review... I am glad you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see your pictures! Weren't you completely shocked when you saw the prices for the photos? I spent way more than I planned to on photos. We too had a difficult time choosing from the 5X7 and 8X10 prints.

[hunniebee724]

Thanks for your review, and congratulations! Sounds like you had a wonderful experience! Our wedding will be our first cruise too....we're soooo excited!

[hunniebee724]

Great review... I am glad you had a wonderful time! Can't wait to see your pictures! Weren't you completely shocked when you saw the prices for the photos? I spent way more than I planned to on photos. We too had a difficult time choosing from the 5X7 and 8X10 prints.

 

Are the photo packages not the same as the ones Carnival sends when the wedding is booked?

[cabanners]

Wow! I'm sooooo happy you posted this review! I was beginning to think no one got married on the Pride :) I am getting married on November 7, 2010! My reception will also be in the Ivory Piano Lounge (one hour like yours) and I have requested the Taj Mahal for the ceremony, although they did tell me that it might be in the Butterflies Lounge depending on how may guests we have. How many guests did you have? We have invited about 70 guests (18 are sailing).

 

We are also having a bon voyage/"rehearsal" dinner the night before the wedding at a restaurant in Baltimore for the wedding party. We are wearing our wedding clothes to dinner on the first night of the cruise as like a part 2 reception. Did you do the same?

 

A few other random questions--How did you get to order the floral arrangements for the ceremony? What time did you board the ship and what time was your ceremony? Did you do a first dance?

 

I am thrilled that you had a great wedding! It sounds like you all had a wonderful time and it makes me even more excited for mine.

 

Oh and I'd like to email you to see those pictures! Thank you for sharing! :D

[Star930]

Just got married on the Pride out of Baltimore on June 6th 2010 and wanted to share my experiences because I had a terrible time finding info about other brides' experiences in baltimore specifically - it was truly amazing!!!!! If you have specific questions feel free to ask - but the general things-

 

1. The whole experience goes pretty quickly, but from the moment I got there, everyone was on top of the plan. A Wedding For You uses two ladies in Baltimore named Mary and I think the other was Linda, both officiate the ceremonies as well so they had my ceremony program, they went over any changes, confirmed name pronunciation, and made sure the other details like flowers, cake topper, music cd, etc. all were in order. They went over the plan with my wedding party (order of processional, etc.) So in general I felt like they actually did a good job coordinating with the Carnival wedding officiant who made sure my guests were in the right place, we were at the ceremony site on time, etc. So that was a relief.

 

2. I had plenty of time to get ready in my cabin which had been opened for me and my ladies. They also opened a second cabin for the boys on a different floor, so that was nice.

 

3. Flower upgrades through A Wedding for You were GORGEOUS - I had just gotten roses but they were beautifully arranged, complete, and they lasted all through my cruise and still looked amazing. I had also ordered two large floral arrangements to take the place of Carnival's silk flowers at the alters and these were gorgeous too. Totally worth the money spent there.

 

4. Got married in the Butterflies Lounge and reception was in the Ivory Piano Bar. The piano bar was perfect reception venue, especially if you don't want dancing - we had a pianist playing for the hour. Butterflies is beautiful, private, a little brightly colored but still I was very happy with the location - I had had my heart set on the wedding chapel but we had too many people - it is definitely very small and would have been hard for the photographer/video guy to get the quality of photos we had. As it was some people still had a tough time seeing the ceremony because of the photo/video guys and the officiant being in front of us. The other bride got married in Starry nights lounge which was beautiful, but has all glass windows on a main deck so I heard that cruise guests were staring in at her wedding, etc - would just ask the coordinators if you have your wedding there to see if they can block the thoroughfare.

 

5. Photos/video - my biggest worry was the quality of the pictures heading into this - let me say that I am absolutely THRILLED with my pictures. Carnival is obsessive-compulsive about photos anyway throughout their cruises, and my guy took 312 pics- a couple dozen of wedding party at the pillars right after the ceremony, he took a few in my stateroom of the girls getting ready (had to ask for that specifically), we took a bunch at the reception (this is the time to get the non-sailing guests for sure), and then after that he took the sailing guests which were our families and me and Jason (groom) for portraits - I didn't think I would want the ones in front of backgrounds and that I wanted more pictures around the ship, but it turned out that he took hundreds in front of the backgrounds and they are BEAUTIFUL. Baltimore is not the prettiest background while still in port, plus it was very windy and overcast. We wound up getting plenty of pics later on the ship with the two of us, not in wedding attire but as far as formal wedding pictures go, I was super happy with the quality of the pics. The only thing that was painful is that they print off all your pics on either 8x10 and 5x7, and then we had to go through 300+ pics in print and decide what we wanted. We got an expensive package ($2000) but talked them into giving us ALL the photos in digital format on CD, and then we had plenty of prints to pick from. that package came with 3 canvases, 2 DVD slideshows of our favorite pics, and plenty of prints too. It was just too hard to pick out the best ones and figure out how many prints, so we were SUPER happy they agreed to give us all the digital images (free of any copyright restrictions and 3.5 mb each pic so good quality.)

 

The video came out great as well - they did this pre-wedding interview with us where they asked us questions about how we met, etc which was definitely stressful at the time (trying to get ready) and then they wanted to film us walking around the ship days after the wedding and do more post-wedding interview questions, which we actually declined to do. (personal choice) - we had seen the DVD of the wedding and reception footage at that point and it was good enough for what we had wanted. Definitely would recommend getting that, because you will want to see the ceremony again and hear the vows (goes by in a blur) and you can copy the DVD or post the video as well for family and friends who couldn't see or hear everything in the ceremony or who couldn't be there.

 

5. Reception is just too short - we had one hour, would definitely recommend the 90 minute one, but if you get that package your wedding will be first - we were late getting on the ship, so I imagine that bride did not have much time to get ready although if your dress is simple and everyone else is ready it will be worth it to have more time. My guests had an hour to explore the ship before the ceremony; my friend took some great pics of my guests up on the Lido deck with a series of a dozen cocktails! they all want to cruise now -

 

We did a Bon Voyage party instead of the rehearsal dinner in Baltimore the night before, which allowed us to spend more time with non-sailing guests, because you will not have time for much more than a hi and a photo shot in the reception - that way they knew they would have to leave quickly from the ship too and wouldn't be as upset. was still really hard though. Food was good but I didn't eat much, and the cocktails were plentiful and colorful for the guests!

 

6. Cake was GREAT! very yummy and although it was only white, it still had some detail in the frosting decorations. Bring your own cake topper because it adds to the pictures/personalization. Also bring your own customized napkins, easy to give the coordinator and they set them up for us. Would not recommend bringing guestbook, favors, or slideshow for the reception - too little time and too complicated to make sure everything gets there. Also recommend if you do a reception the night before, use that time for toasts, dancing, etc - just keep the one on-board as simple as possible to optimize the time you can spend with your guests. We essentially walked in, (they announced us), did champagne toast and cake-cutting, and then we were able to walk around, eat, mingle, take pics.

 

anyways - sorry this is long, but I tried to focus on the key worries/anxieties I had heading into this - it was overall an amazing experience and the excitement you feel getting on the boat (especially for me since it was my first cruise) is just absolutely unbelievable - incredible rush. We had our families and friends join us on the cruise afterwards for a week, and it resulted in a week of memories that I don't think we could duplicate with any other style of wedding. I will eventually get my pics online on my photo-site, if you are interested email me at breelynann@hotmail.com and I can send you the link. also let me know if you have any other questions about the pride/baltimore in particular.

 

 

 

How many packs of napkins did you buy?

[tricy99]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Once again another cruise bride is satisfied.:)

I am very concerned that I only requested the 1 hour reception. Does the videographer tape the reception as well? I love your review thanks for your tips as well. I would love to see your pics tricy99@yahoo.com

[merocket59]

Congrats!!!! It sounds like an amazing time :)

[New2cruisen]

Wow this site is amazing!

So happy I found this thread! I am a soon to be Carnival Bride. Our cruise wedding is in March 2011 on the Carnival Dream in Port Canaveral. Although my wedding is on another ship it's nice to hear from someone who has done a cruise wedding!

 

I am concerned about the 1hr reception we have booked as well. I think I will email my coordinator and ask about doing it longer. You answered some of my worries in your review. Thanks!

[crislen]

Congrats! It sounds like your wedding was gorgeous! It makes me more excited about mine.

 

I have a question about the piano player... we're looking at booking one as well for our hour and a half reception; Did the play and sing... or just play? As well, did you guys do a first dance, mother/son dance etc? Did you use a CD for that or just do it to the piano?

 

Thanks!

[sassy_1782]

Thank You! Thank You! I have my wedding set for February on the Pride and had been searching for others who were married on the Pride. I just needed some sort of feedback to squash the few uncertainties I had. My only real worry is getting everyone to the port on time. What time did you all have to be there? I've gotten a few different times. Well that and how i'm going to get my hair done early on a sunday morning. lol. What did you do if anything?

[VM_Mom]

I am getting married on the Legend in January and would love to see your photos! Although it is a different ship, I think they are both Spirit Class ships. dawgma64@yahoo.com. thanks for posting and congrats!

[Iluvshoes531]

I am getting married on the pride July 10, 2011. Thank you so much for posting this...it was a huge help!!!

[stacyj]

Congratulations and thank you for the great review! I am getting married on a different Carnival ship in September, but I would love to see your pictures. My e-mail is stace120@hotmail.com. Thanks much!