I have to do a quick celebration dance with you ladies because I just got the confirmation email from Meredith with our planning guide and that our wedding with be on Nassau day (2/7/14)!!!!
We just put down the deposit last night after continually going back and forth between an Escape and
DCL wedding, but I felt that it would be easier for the people that (actually) come to just get on a cruise and enjoy.
However now I actually have to start working on welcome bags, figuring out if we can do Palo private dining room (is it bad that I'm hoping we will only be a group of 14 total??
), and finding a dress (which has been the nemesis planning item so far).
YAY!!
Welcome!
Congrats on booking your DCL wedding!!! I was an onboard bride married at Nassau! (When I see commercials for Atlantis on Paradise Island, I always say... I got married near that!!!) I honestly think that being on a cruise is an easy way for your guests to be in one place- and it costs a lot, but you have to remember that a cruise is your hotel, your food, your entertainment, your transportation... It's all-in-one!
I got great feedback from my guests and it was a very memorable occasion!
I worked on my welcome bags for MONTHS! I have tons of posts about what I put into my bags, a lot of which was homemade (I'm a crafting nerd) and I also found a TON of nautical themed items from the Dollar Spot at Target last year! Here's a list of what I put in my bags- a clear zip baggie that had 2 Disney band-aids, 1-time use polysporin, 2 individually wrapped hand wipes, and 1-time use sunscreen. I made two types of Mickey soaps- one in the silhouette shape of Mickey, and one that had a Mickey face embedded into an oval soap. (Some of the DIS brides were envious and I wound up making soaps as favors for 2 other events, too!), I got post-it notes and made a post-it note cover with shimmery cardstock paper and a custom logo made by a DISigner. I made personalized magnetic Disney character nametags for each of my guests doors as well as an "I'm here for Jillian & Michael's Wedding" from another DISigner. I put in WDW pens (I have a gazillion accumulated from over the years!) and some nautical pens and a nautical themed pad of paper, I made vials of Pixie Dust, I ordered personalized matchbooks (theknot.com), Ring-pop candies, chapstick/lip balm...
I think that's about everything... I had tons of other ideas, but you can only do so much, right? I wish I'd spent more time on a welcome letter to put in the favor bags with a personalized itinerary on when our group planned to meet in which places. I also wish I'd spent more time working on an index of our guests with their room numbers for easy access for the Wave Phones.
As for newsletters (and more welcome favor bags) check out Ginger's PJ- her newsletter that she posted was GORGEOUS! I only sent out text only e-mails to all of my guests with information that I thought would be useful and relevant. I also started a wedding blog (which I did not update NEARLY as often as my PJ!) and I made a page on facebook for our wedding cruise. We used those 3 forms of communication to spread the news around!
Anyways, CONGRATS again! My wedding was onboard (although in the D-Lounge b/c of my large group) and I posted about all sorts of subjects in my planning journal and there's tons of photos in the trip report at the end. Check it out if you get the time! Good luck in your planning!!!
I was surprised by how quickly I got this. I've been reading the thread for a while now and I just assumed it would take a long time to get information. I didn't get the specific time/room (like outlook vs meridian) yet, but based on the cruise itinerary (with us being in Nassau on 2/7 and Meredith said it will be on Nassau day) that should be our date. She sent me everything in one email, the planning guide, huge block of text w/ info on the wedding/cancelling/etc, so maybe they're starting to streamline! We're also sailing at a low season time so that could also be a factor. 
