Crown Princess Wedding Review

[steele]

Hello all,

 

I've finally found the time to write a review of our wedding! I figured it's only right to pay it forward, and give my review so that future brides can benefit ;)

 

We were married on April 30th, on the Crown Princess in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm only reviewing the wedding itself, not the cruise - way to much to say (but all good things! Princess is such a great line). We were married on the day of embarkation and here's how the day looked:

 

7 AM - Hair appointment at hotel (for myself and MOH) by beautybynoel.com - he did an awesome job!! 2 hours to do hair.

 

10 - 10:30 AM - Arrive at the Port. It started POURING right at the time we were packing up the car to drive to the port (only 5 minutes from the hotel) - go figure. So we ran a little late - we were the second to last of those checking in at the port. The Port was a little confusing, and I will say that no one was very nice to us (the security kiosk, the workers at the port). Once we parked the car, a TWE coordinator named Christine met us right outside. She was great from the first moment. She took my dress and carried it for me - I had so much stuff with me and was super stressed about being late and the rain. I was pretty flustered from the morning, but she helped us get through security very fast, and that literally took 10 minutes (from going through security to getting our cabin keys). We were the first group to check in for the ship due to our event, so we had the massive check in room all to ourselves. They staged us in a section of the port to sit while we waited to board, and the TWE coordinators went over lots of details regarding the ceremony, verbiage, timing, etc. The officiant, Christine, (yes there were two Christine's - and one other whose name I can't remember) lead the discussion and was very professional and proud of what she does. I started to get pretty emotional at this point realizing that it was our wedding day, and all that goes with that. But the coordinators were great - very kind to me while crying in a port waiting room...

 

11:15 - 11:30 - I'm assuming the time on this one, but I know that we were able to board the ship incredibly fast after we got to the port. The Princess coordinator, Sheila, who was in charge of our boarding, got us on so much faster than I anticipated. TWE tells you to get to the port no later than 10:30 AM - believe me, don't fudge on this. Everything goes so fast, so don't be late. We were able to carry on a variety of things from a carry on bag, another bag for the favors, and our wedding attire. No hassle from security on that.

 

Since we were boarding, they had the normal "first picture boarding the ship" for us. It was pretty funny since everyone looked awesome in their wedding attire, and the groom and I were in shorts and t-shirts since we were getting dressed in the cabin - a funny picture.

 

11:30 to Noon - Jonathan (groom) was the first to use the cabin to get dressed, while I waited in my MOH's cabin for him to finish. Once he left the cabin, I was able to dress and we stayed in the cabin until Christine came to get us. She took us up to SkyWalkers were my father was waiting for me at the elevator. Side note - we had a guest list of 36 people, which was too large for the chapel. But honestly, we were happy with SkyWalkers because of all the windows/sunlight, and the chapel didn't appeal to us personally. Plus, once the ceremony was over, our guests didn't have to make their way to another part of the ship for the reception.

 

Noon - 12:15 - Ceremony. Super short and sweet - just what we wanted. Christine did a great job, and we were very impressed.

 

12:15 - 3 PM - Reception. Once the ceremony was done, we could finally relax!! Once we were finished taking tons of "portrait" photographs, they immediately brought out the food. We chose to have an open bar, and our guests had no problem helping us get our money's worth :p very glad they were able to enjoy it! I on the other hand, was only able to drink half my champagne, and then I lost is somehow, and didn't have time to drink again! The food was awesome, it really was. Everyone raved about the food - we reserved pretty much everything they offered for the hot plates and appetizers. The fruit was great, lots of cheeses, and the hot appetizers were delicious. The servers in SkyWalkers were wonderful, they did a great job keeping everyone happy, and remembered us for the rest of the cruise - such nice people work up there. I would definitely recommend any of the food offerings you can book. And there was plenty of it to go around for 35 people.

 

About 30 minutes later, the coordinators called for everyone's attention for the toasts, and we all gathered around the dance floor. After that, it was the cutting of the cake. The cake was beautiful - 3 tiers, marble and butter cream cake with buttercream frosting. The cake was mainly white, with a few flowers that matched my bouquet (white, yellow and ivory roses) - simple and perfect for us. We didn't have our own slices at the reception, but they were able to bring our cake to us when we had dinner at Sabatini's that night. However, the cake was really too big (we would've been fine with a two tier, maybe less), 35 people barely put a dent in it. So we gave it to the staff to enjoy.

 

Another 30 minutes later, Christine asked if we were ready for our dance. We brought our our CD with three songs so I could be sure that they had them for our first dance, the Father-Daughter dance, and the song they played after we were married and they introduced us. Then the DJ played great music for everyone to dance to. We requested a pretty random list (Motown, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra...), but everyone had a great time dancing.

 

The TWE coordinators wanted to let us know that the photographer (who we booked for 2 hours) wanted us to come with him for ONE HOUR to take photos. I was not going to budge on that - we wanted to enjoy as much time as we could with our guests. The coordinator's warned us that the photographers want to be able to take as many pictures as possible so the chance of us purchasing more pictures goes up. I was firm on only letting him take us away for 30 minutes. He was a great photographer, a little hyper. He took us to the deck (my choice), got some of our best photos there. Then he asked if he could take us to the studio area where there is a black background. We hesitated at first, but the pictures turned out beautiful. Then he took us to atrium for some other pictures, and to meet all of our guests. We took some pretty memorable and funny pictures in the atrium and we were definitely on display for all around to watch.

 

We decided to purchase just the wedding CD for $1K, but it's well worth it to have the digital copies.

 

Honestly, the wedding went by without one single issue or disappointment. Our guests are still raving about what a fabulous time they had. We are so happy with our experience, and while the booking process with TWE has been an issue for some other couples, we were quite lucky with who we worked with, including the three coordinators. I would definitely recommend getting married onboard a cruise ship - it was the greatest day of my life, and wouldn't change one minute of it (other than to have more time!).

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this long thread! Since the wedding was a few months ago, I'm sure I missed something that you might have a question on - so feel free to ask.

 

Best of luck to all the future brides out there!

[Denise2000]

Great review and congratulations! Do you have any pictures you would like to share?

[bluewater723]

Thank you so much for this awesome review!!

[Lipz]

Thanks for coming back.

Sounds like you had a great experience and a wonderful wedding!

[Mara4166]

Thank you so much for the review. I am getting married on the Crown Princess in November. You are the first person that I have heard from that also was married on the ship!

 

I have a couple of questions if you have some time to answer.

 

How long did you book your reception for. It looks like it went on for almost 3 hours (minus the 15 minute ceremony)?

Did the photographer take any pictures before the ceremony (e.g. of you getting ready)?

When did you know the location of your ceremony? Mine will probably be inthe chapel since there are only 14 of us.

 

 

I would love to see some pictures if you have them.

[steele]

I chose a few pictures to post to Shutterfly, and it's on a shared website that I haven't played with. The 27 pictures there are ones I thought others could benefit from seeing :)

 

If the hyperlink below doesn't work - copy and paste this: jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

http://jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

[Denise2000]

I chose a few pictures to post to Shutterfly, and it's on a shared website that I haven't played with. The 27 pictures there are ones I thought others could benefit from seeing :)

 

If the hyperlink below doesn't work - copy and paste this: jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

http://jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

Thanks for sharing! Beautiful pictures!

[Bride2Be0911]

I chose a few pictures to post to Shutterfly, and it's on a shared website that I haven't played with. The 27 pictures there are ones I thought others could benefit from seeing :)

 

If the hyperlink below doesn't work - copy and paste this: jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

http://jksbigday.shutterfly.com/pictures

 

You look very beautiful and it seems like you had a great time. Congrats on your new marriage and thanks for sharing. ;)

[Lipz]

I love picture # 20. It's so natural, and you guys look so happy.

Congratulations!

[steele]

Thank you so much for the review. I am getting married on the Crown Princess in November. You are the first person that I have heard from that also was married on the ship!

 

I have a couple of questions if you have some time to answer.

 

How long did you book your reception for. It looks like it went on for almost 3 hours (minus the 15 minute ceremony)?

Did the photographer take any pictures before the ceremony (e.g. of you getting ready)?

When did you know the location of your ceremony? Mine will probably be inthe chapel since there are only 14 of us.

 

 

I would love to see some pictures if you have them.

 

 

We booked 2 hours for the reception. But honestly, it felt longer since the wedding was short and the reception started right after, and our guests didn't have to leave till after 3 or so. We are so glad we booked the two hours versus one.

 

The photographer met me right when I got off the elevator to meet my dad at SkyWalkers. So the start of the photos did not include getting ready. My MOH was with me while I got ready and she got some great pics.

 

We were told the location of the ceremony about a month prior to the wedding. I've heard that you can request to get married on the deck, but TWE doesn't seem to advertise this as they have to check with the ship, and it needs to be requested asap.

 

Hope this helps! Congrats on your wedding and I'm sure you'll love the Crown :)