Wedding Tips / Help

[jessning]

Hi everyone!

My fiance and I will be getting married onboard the Carnival Splendor on embarkation day. It's just going to be my finace and I, and both sets of our parents. After trying to plan a BIG wedding and getting too stressed out about money, we decided on something small and fun!

This is our first time cruising so everything is VERY new as far as do's and don'ts. So, I could really use some tips about first time cruising but mainly tips on Carnival Cruise weddings!

 

Any tips on saving money on photography?

 

Thanks!!!

[GranysT]

Sorry, but the only way to save money on photos, is not to look at any. We renewed our vows, for our 50th anniversary, and the pkg included 1 free 8x10. He snapped pics of us during the ceremony, cutting the cake, doing the toast, and so forth. He then said, we could go around the ship for various other pics. We declined on doing that, because we knew we couldn't afford to buy a lot of pics, so why waste the time. He still had several pics to show us, and we did buy 3, plus our free one.

 

The ship photographers are very good, and they take great pictures. So if you let them take a lot, you'll want to buy a lot, and they are not cheap. Thus my advice, curb how many photos you let them take.

 

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding, and have a wonderful cruise.

[Loudermont]

No tips .. just a big congratulations!!! I foresee anniversary cruises in your future :)

 

 

Have had the pleasure to enjoy:

Carnival Celebration 07

Carnival Victory 16

Carnival Valor 17

[easyboy]

For more idea, you can also post on the Honeymoon and Wedding Forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

 

Congratulations!

[Drazil65]

One way is to make sure someone is taking their own pix (ie: one of your parents) with a nice camera. Of course they will be in some of the pix but for the most important pix of you and DH, they can be snapping away. Then you have much more and can go through them at home once you come back. Then you will only need to set your limit with the photos on board. Congrats!!!!

[ABQrobin]

Definitely, get lots and lots of photos of yourself and wedding party done onboard the ship. They have really great photographers, IMHO. Wedding photographers are expensive anytime, but this is an important occasion. Go for it. And have a great cruise!

[Carnival_Brides]

Any tips on saving money on photography?

 

Thanks!!!

Buy a package and prepare to pay for it. We got married four years ago on the Pride with the old photo packages which we thought were pricy then. However, my Mom reminded us that if we had gotten married on land (in the area we live in) we would be looking at 3k for comparable photographers and that was before we bought images. We ended up spending $800 on 41 photos and got the digitals. It seemed like a lot since we got married at-sea doing a vow renewal that cost us $800, but it really wasn't that bad. We had our wedding for $1800 including photos, reception entertainment, and 2 hours of open bar.

 

Helpful hint: We did our engagements pictures with the Dreams photographer on the Glory 6 months before our wedding and figured out that the picture quality changes greatly when the images are scanned. We made sure that whatever package we purchased came with the digital files to not alter the quality when we shared them on social media.

[TiferyJL]

First - Congratulations!

 

My brother and sister-in-law got married 2 1/2 years ago on the Imagination and it was fantastic! They had about 40 people at the wedding, a little more than half of us were cruising but the rest were only on for the wedding and reception before being escorted back off. The Carnival photographers captured amazing photos during and after the wedding, and then did a video over the next day or so of them around the ship, and asking/answering questions about each other. I don't know how much it all cost, but will say it was all very much worth it (in my opinion). You will not be able to capture those images another time. To this day I have regret over pictures I didn't get at my own wedding 15 years ago!

 

Enjoy your wedding and your cruise!

[nychad10]

We were married on the Conquest in June and had the big package. We thought it was great!!

unfortunately we cant give you any tips on how to save on photography. But we can tell you that it's not cheap. We expected to get the $999 package. When we actually sat down to look at the pictures they were way better then we expected. So I guess we do have a tip for you expect them to up sell you once they know which one your considering. One they know they will throw all kind of different packages at you. We ended up spending $1500.

Edited March 19, 2017 by nychad10

[jessning]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful hints and congratulations!! We are getting more and more excited the closer it gets!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jocko4279]

I DJ weddings for a living, most of them are cookie cutter and very forgettable. I myself was married on the Legend 11 years ago. You made an excellent choice! Getting married on the ship makes for a wedding that no one will forget, it's a great experience.

[cruiseonthebrain]

I agree that the photographs are incredible. I wish we had budgeted more for the pictures because they were so much better than what I had expected. I also wished that we had skipped the videographer and video (which I was less than happy with) and put that money towards the photos.

 

Another thing that saved me a ton of stress was arranging to have my hair and make up professionally done and then bringing the hair and make up artist onboard for touch ups before the ceremony and reception as a "guest" at the reception.

 

Congratulations!!!