Carnival Inspiration Wedding Review. July 26, 2013. Exceeded all Expectations!

[Anasu25]

Carnival Inspiration Wedding Review. 7/26/2013

 

 

I woke up at 6am. Showered & made coffee. My hairstylist came over at 6:50am. He did an amazing job. Got compliments from everyone. Since I live about a mile from the Long Beach cruise terminal, I told my parents & my brother to park at our place and we can all take a taxi. They arrived on time, but I wasn't even done packing. We left our condo around 1015. Got to the terminal exactly on time at 1030. There, we saw tons of our guests. To me, this was the most hectic time. Everyone was helpful & helped us with all the things we were carrying including my dress, decorations & party favors. As we were walking to the back of the Queen Mary, where our guests were processed, our coordinator, Anita, saw us and escorted us to the Captain's lounge, where we checked in. She then sat with us and went through the day. Ceremony, order of family procession, decorations, music, etc. She was wonderful!!! Since we had a big guest count, we were given a second coordinator, Nikki. While Anita was helping us out, Nikki was helping all of our guests check in & informing them of how the day would progress. Nikki then came over to introduce herself to us. She knew exactly who had what. Your brother has your dress. Your cousin has all the bouquets, corsages, boutonnieres, etc. Gino's stepdad has the decorations. I was immediately calmed that she knew where everything was and with whom. We then met with Eric, our officiant. We couldn't be happier with him. He went through everything. He made sure he pronounced our names correctly. He went over this Chilean ring exchange custom & gave us a suggestion, which we loved & went with. By the time we were done talking with Eric & the coordinators, it was time to board. Where did the time go? Security was uneventful in a good way. Both my sailing (48) & non-sailing (33) told us the check in process was smooth. No issues. I will be honest that I was so afraid there would be problems. Guests arriving late, issues with birthdays, license #s, etc. Luckily, it all worked out. I had my maid of honor, my mom, my aunt, & a friend who did my makeup come with me to my cabin. I will describe the cabin later because it deserves its own paragraph. I had only an hour to work with. At this point, my mom was starving. She has diabetes so I told her & my aunt to go get food. My friend quickly did my makeup. Now, to put on the dress. At the bridal shop, it always was easy putting on the dress. But those ladies know what they are doing. With 2 novices & my hairstyle, it was quite the challenge. The social hostess, Tatsiana, came & introduced herself. She brought my bouquet. She helped tie in the ends of my corset. The phone rang & it was the photographer, Rama. He asked if he could come in. Rama took pictures of me putting on my jewelry as well as my friends fixing my dress. My parents & my mom came in so he got pictures with them as well. At this point, my family & friends left to go to the rehearsal. The videographer, Kosco, came in after & did a short interview with me. And then it was time. Tatsiana was at my door ready to escort me to my wedding. Eeek!

 

We got married in the Paris Lounge, the main theatre. We had 83 guests and the Paris Lounge was perfect! One of my favorite memories was walking down the stairs and then having my dad escort me the rest of the way to my groom. I'm not sure whose idea it was, but it turned out beautifully. The ceremony was perfect. We loved our officiant, Eric! He was so poised & professional. It seemed like we knew him from before. Everyone loved our ceremony & it far exceeded my expectations. We got the videographer & to be honest, did not expect much. I was pleasantly surprised that there were 3 video guys. One focused on each of us & one on the 2nd floor of the theatre. When I met with our photographer, Rama, earlier I had asked if there was any way we can get a group picture with all of our guests. He said the best way to do it was to have everyone stay where they are and face the stairwell, where he would stand to take the picture. We quickly took a few more group shots before everyone had to go to the reception.

 

We had the reception in the Rock N Roll Disco and had booked the DJ. Gino & I had a choreographed dance so we quickly practiced before going in. We were introduced & were immediately greeted by all of our friends & family members. I could not believe the positive energy that surrounded us. I quickly looked around and saw that everyone had drinks in their hands, the food table & all the food looked amazing! We did our first dance & did a good job. After, we invited everyone to join us on the floor. We did a combined parental dance (father/bride, mother/groom). Based on our guest size, we had a 4 layer cake. The top two were vanilla with strawberry. 2nd from the bottom was red velvet with cream cheese and the bottom was chocolate with cream cheese. I'm not a big fan of cake but those who had it said it was terrific. His mom & dad each gave a speech. They were terrific. My dad then stole the show with his speech. He had everyone in tears laughing, including all of the Carnival staff.

 

I had hoped to dance the rest of the reception but with such a limited time, guests wanted to take pictures with us & congratulate us. Just like every other review I've read, the biggest complaint was that it was too short & it flew by. I could see that the non-sailing guests were sad to leave & wished they would have cruised. We got so many compliments. I really think that they were not expecting much & were pleasantly surprised at how nice everything was. I cannot express enough how great a job Carnival did. The coordinators were amazing. They took great notes & made sure everything went smoothly. Our officiant was terrific. The DJ played all the songs we requested. The photographer & videographer were exceptionally professional. We had tips prepared for all of these & we had some more for the waiters, bartenders, etc. I thought we would get one bartender & a few waiters. I had no idea we would have over 20 staff serving our guests. We later saw in the video that as guests walked in, they were greeted with a glass of champagne. What a great way to set the mood!! Another thing I loved was that the waiters came around with Pre-made drinks!! Our guests didn't have to get up to have a drink. However, if they wanted something specific, they can go to the bar & order. If I were to describe our wedding in a few words, it would be beautiful, classy & fun!

 

After the reception, we quickly said goodbye to our non-sailing guests & Told our sailing guests we would see them at dinner. We then took pictures with our photographer. Rama was fantastic! Loved the way the pictures came out. Dinner every night was at 8:15. We looked forward to it every day. During the day, we would run into a few of our guests, but it was always nice to know we were going to see everyone at dinner. It felt like our reception lasted for 3 days!! We had plenty of alone time in our honeymoon, but we loved spending time with our guests. I could not be more pleased.

 

We originally booked a grand suite. About 2 weeks before, we got an email asking if we wanted to upgrade to the owner's suite. It was an extra $1250 so at first we thought no. But then we saw pictures of the suite & realized we had to get it. We won't get another chance like this so why not go for it. The suite was HUGE and overlooked the Lido Deck. It was 1,000 sq ft & had a balcony, living room, sitting area, bedroom, walk in closet & spa bathroom!! We had originally thought about booking another party with Carnival to thank our guests. Once we splurged on the suite, we decide to throw a party after dinner the last night. It was great having everyone over.

 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but if anyone has any questions, let me know. I have pics in a CD but haven't had time to upload them yet. Hopefully soon I can share a link. Here are a few pics in the mean time. Enjoy!

[Anasu25]

Here's a pic with the 2 wedding coordinators, the officiant & the social hostess.

[Anasu25]

And one of us entering the reception.

[CCMS14]

Thank you for the great review, it sounds like you had a wonderful time. Your pictures look awesome!

[lightskinedgyal]

COngrates!!! i remember we were both at a very high number last year! lol so happy for you! Great review

[Guest fyree39]

I've sailed the Inspiration a few times and always love to find there's a wedding party boarding. I make my way back to the Paris Lounge (with DH in tow) and hang out so I can see the bride. I love weddings and wedding dresses! You were truly beautiful on your big day. Your husband looked fantastic in his tux! I'm glad you had the perfect wedding. Please post more pictures, :)

[dst]

Thanks for sharing your special day, we are getting married on the Breeze and this gives us a good idea of how our day will go - we are Platinum cruisers but are not sure what to expect on our special day

 

CONGRATs!!!!

[tinkerbell_82]

Congrats! Great review- thanks for posting! :)

[cruiseonthebrain]

Great pictures! I am so glad you had a wonderful time!

[cascole]

BEAUTIFUL!

 

Welcome back & I am so happy everything went off without a hitch for you! (The coordinator(s) you had were not the same one I had on July 5...) Hopefully you'll share even more photos with us! :D

[Honeymooner15]

Sounds absolutely amazing. Hope mine is just as great. If you don't mind me asking, how much did you tip everyone?

[Shatima]

Congratssssssssssss and Thanks ALOT for sharing with us.... and DANNNNNG that was a NICEEEEE Suite :D

[Anasu25]

OMG. I normally get an email notification when someone responds to either my post or a thread I commented on and this time nothing. I'm back at work today and since between appointments before the wedding I would be hooked on this site, I missed it and decided to check what was new. Sorry for not looking sooner. I will work on posting more pics or a link to pics since that is probably easier. Till then, here is one of my favorites from Rama. Enjoy!

[Shatima]

Oh Yeah this is a Nice one....

 

OMG. I normally get an email notification when someone responds to either my post or a thread I commented on and this time nothing. I'm back at work today and since between appointments before the wedding I would be hooked on this site, I missed it and decided to check what was new. Sorry for not looking sooner. I will work on posting more pics or a link to pics since that is probably easier. Till then, here is one of my favorites from Rama. Enjoy!