Well, here at last, is the account of our beautiful wedding on Grand Cayman on 12th February 2008. We were sailing off the Disney Magic 9/2/08, our second cruise with Disney.
THE BACKGROUND :
Cast :
Bride : Judy (me from Cheshire - UK)
Groom : Brian (who is Welsh - and very proud of it !)
Bestman : Joe 10 (son from my first marriage)
Bridesmaid : Vyrnwy 6 (daughter from my first marriage)
We had originally planned to get married through Disney, on Castaway Cay, but fate conspired against us, and though I'd rung up to book it at the earliest possible minute, unknown to us another couple had already been promised the venue & date (they only do one wedding on CC per cruise) as they had been too ill to go through with the one they'd booked and paid for, the year before (DCL had actually refused them boarding the ship). Of course being Valentine's Day during the cruise, this had made it a perfect choice for us to book our wedding, so the disappointment was all the greater.
Initially, I was totally gutted, but provisionally booked a DCL wedding on the ship instead. However, I wasn't really very excited about the prospect of this type of wedding - it felt like second best, and I was even less enthusiastic when I learnt that if you get married with DCL, you have to officially get married in a backroom of the terminal building, before you leave the port. So, in effect you kind of have 2 wedding days...or as I see it now, your Disney cruise 'wedding' is really quite an expensive blessing service in reality !
However, well before we sailed, I made friends with a fellow cruisemate called Thea off the Disboards Cruise Meets.
Through her, I learnt of a place on Grand Cayman where she was organising a surprise vow renewal for her in-laws ; this is the place -Grand Old House ;
http://www.grandoldhouse.com/
Well one look on there and I was smitten !!
Not only that, but the price was about a quarter of what we would be paying DCL, plus I would actually get to be really married on my wedding day, on a beautiful island - just as I'd originally hoped !.
Plus at GOH there were endless choices and options, that were simply not available through DCL (theirs is very much 'tick a few boxes' of what cake filling/ flower bouquets - its not exactly what I'd call personalised - but then not every one wants that anyway)......and my other big concern, of possibly experiencing only a 3-4 hour 'wedding day' (the service & on board reception does not last long !) through DCL evaporated in an instant !
Luckily I hadn't paid a deposit to DCL for the onboard wedding, so I quickly cancelled that, and started planning my wedding at GOH!!!
Without Thea, our perfect wedding day on the island would not have happened and I cannot thank her enough
However, all this new found 'wedding perfection' did not come without one HUGE potential drawback.........the fact that Grand Cayman is a tender port, and has something of a reputation for being missed if weather & sea conditions are not right ! But being a wedding party of only 4 in total (bride, groom and my 2 kids from a previous marriage), and in no particular rush to marry ...we decided we could live with this - we just had a plan 'B' to fly out there later in the year should the worst happen (most if not all deposits were transferable/refundable if tendering did not occur). To me it was a win-win situation...if we didn't tender, I'd just get another holiday !
As I got chatting over the months leading up to the cruise, Thea very kindly agreed, that after her MIL & FIL's vow renewal, which was taking place earlier that morning, her family would stay on afterwards at GOH, and her & her husband Jim would act as our witnesses.
THE BIG DAY :
However, pleased to say that the plan 'B' was not necessary :thumbs-up
We steamed into Grand Cayman on what was a beautiful sunny morning.
Me and my daughter, Vyrnwy, caught the tender first off the Magic, as we were headed to a hairdressers on the island called Renaissance.. There was a bit of a scary moment when one of the tender's crew decided to hang my dress up for me on a hook high up on the outside of the boat's cabin, as we began our journey to shore, it started flying almost horizonally and whipping around our heads, and I had visions of it being whisked in to the sea !
, Fortunately he took it down again. When we got to Georgetown pier, we encountered our only hitch of the day - we couldn't get a taxi to take us to the hairdressers as it was not far enough to be worth their while 
....they were looking for cruiseship customers to take to Rum Point or Seven Mile Beach and alike...they were not interested in taking us to the hairdressers !! 
I was starting to panic, as we were starting to fall behind our time shedule.....luckily a kind local lady who was trying to sell tours on the pier, took pity on us and tried to get us a cab - but she didn't have any better luck either ! In desperation she called her friend who drives a bus and fortunate for us she came along (in her bus) and picked us up. ......so that is how we arrived at the hairdressers...in her bus, and by this time we were over half an hour late.
I was so relieved to get to the hairdressers, not least because although it was only just after 10am (with the wedding scheduled for 11.30am), it was starting to get hot outside. The hairdressers was lovely & cool inside and at last I could begin to relax !
My daughters & I had our hair & make up done there - my daughter just loved it (as you can probably tell from the photographs). Our photographer, Rebecca Davidson came over to meet us and took some shots - she was so nice, and really put me at our ease, and it was nice that she was originally from the UK too.
She told us she'd been down to Georgetown pier hoping to catch my groom, Brian & bestman (my son Joe), but the port authorities would not let her down there (traffic is chaos on cruise ship days).....so she was off to catch them arriving at GOH. I was excited about her getting some shots of them because I'd booked them a stretch limo as a surprise .....after telling them I'd arranged a taxi for them
Just one of a few surprises I'd planned for the day.
Time flew by and before we knew it the horse and carriage arrived outside the salon to take us to GOH. However, because we were late arriving, there was no time to have our nails done - but I was forunate as I'd been going regularly to a beautician to get them in good condition before I flew out on holiday, and they were still in excellent shape.
As my daughter and I got into the horse & carriage we became aware of a small crowd of spectators who were all waving and whistling at us ...we felt like royalty. As we made our way to the venue cars were tooting at us and people cheered us. It was a 15 minute journey and we arrived to see Rebecca busily taking pictures of us.
I had a last minute panic, thinking that I really should have met up with Thea and her family before this moment ! ....I had thought we'd meet her on the ship on the first day, when a bunch of us Dis-ers had arranged to meet but we did not see her. I did not know their cabin number so we had not actually met ! Now I was arriving at the wedding venue wondering if they had left because they'd not heard from me.
Phew - relief !!! -they were there, with their daughter Ariana, who was the same age as my son, and their cute 2 year old little boy, David (their FIL & MIL had gone back to the ship for their own celebrations). ....and of course even more relief, when I saw my husband to be, and son standing in the distance on the pier decking at GOH.
My daughter & I got down from our carriage, and we were met by the local minister - he had a few words with us, and he was so nice. He was very sincere and spoke from the heart. He asked if I was religious, and did I want to bring the lord into our special day - to which I happy to say I certainly was & did.
Then we were ready to begin....the harpist Eugenio struck up and my daughter & I set off down the aisle ....I was wondering how long it would take for my partner (who is welsh) to realise that Eugenio was playing the most beautiful version of the Welsh National anthem on his harp - another surprise as I'd sent Eugenio a CD and he learnt the tune specially for the occasion.
My partner had a tear in his eye - though I wasn't sure if it was from the sight of me in my wedding dress ? ...or the playing of the Welsh National anthem ? - hard to say.
Of course the service seemed to go by in a flash, and soon we were married in the most beautiful setting you can imagine - with azure green sea and blue sky in the background ...just PERFECT.
The minister then proceeded to give my new husband a sermon (in the nicest possible way !!) about his new responsiblities with 'our' children - not that he needed it, because he is already a super dad to them (their biological father has nothing to do with them)...and then the minister gave Thea & Jim a sermon (again in the nicest way) on keeping in touch with us to make sure that we were keeping our wedding vows -this may prove a little more tricky since we live on different continents ....but bless them, they have promised to give it their best shot !
Eugenio then played some more beautiful tunes on the harp, as we sipped champange with our newly found friends and now marriage guardians/only wedding guests. Mmmmmm ..lovely Californian champange it was too - and even as a European I have to say, much nicer than French champagne- sorry France !
We sat down to lunch at GOH - and we asked Rebecca to join us, as we got on so well - she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to ...but then we did not have a very big wedding party.... it was good to boost the numbers a litttle !! The food was to die for - I thought the cruise ship food was good - but this was something else ! I had the coconut & spice prawns, but I also tasted my DH's conch fritters.....oh wow !!!
Please, if you ever get the chance go for lunch at the Grand Old House on Grand Cayman, go there - you will NOT be disappointed !
After the meal, Thea and Jim, and baby David, returned to the ship.
Ariana, their daughter, wanted to play with Joe & Vyrnwy so we all piled into Rebecca's car and headed to the local beach, at Smith's Cove...although its only 5 minutes away, it was by then too hot to walk the short distance along the road.
Then we spent the next hour doing some 'Trash The Dress' shots and getting wet. It was lovely to cool off ...and there are not too many brides that have been swimming on their wedding day (lol). As you can imagine the kids needed no encouragement to do the same !!! We had a few surprised looks from the locals and the few tourists that were on the beach at the time.
All too quickly, the horse & carriage returned to pick us up and take us back to the Magic. I quickly changed into a spare duplicate dress (thank goodness for Ebay !) and then we all headed back the the ship.
Once we boarded the ship we changed out of our wedding clothes - the bag of soggy wet, sandy clothes went off to the ship's dry cleaners ...and by late seating dinner we were wearing them again ! I cannot praise enough the ship's dry cleaning service ........ quite what they made of our bag of wet clothes I can only guess
..... !!!
On returning to our cabin we had a further surprise from another one of our Dis board friends - a lovely bottle of wine which we enjoyed with our wedding meal on board the ship that night....what a lovely touch
And of course I must mention on here, before I finish, yet another Diser had provided us with a beautiful Disneyfied magnetic door sign celebrating our wedding - so thoughtful. What wonderful friends you meet on here !
We went on celebrating our wedding for the rest of the week, with a couple's choice spa package, and Palo dinner on Valentine's Day.two days later
Just a final note to say that thanks to all our Dis board friends we had the most perfect wedding.
Here's the photos - thanks for looking :
http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slide...hguev1.joemuttl&Uy=1k1y2h&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB
THE BACKGROUND :
Cast :
Bride : Judy (me from Cheshire - UK)
Groom : Brian (who is Welsh - and very proud of it !)
Bestman : Joe 10 (son from my first marriage)
Bridesmaid : Vyrnwy 6 (daughter from my first marriage)
We had originally planned to get married through Disney, on Castaway Cay, but fate conspired against us, and though I'd rung up to book it at the earliest possible minute, unknown to us another couple had already been promised the venue & date (they only do one wedding on CC per cruise) as they had been too ill to go through with the one they'd booked and paid for, the year before (DCL had actually refused them boarding the ship). Of course being Valentine's Day during the cruise, this had made it a perfect choice for us to book our wedding, so the disappointment was all the greater.
Initially, I was totally gutted, but provisionally booked a DCL wedding on the ship instead. However, I wasn't really very excited about the prospect of this type of wedding - it felt like second best, and I was even less enthusiastic when I learnt that if you get married with DCL, you have to officially get married in a backroom of the terminal building, before you leave the port. So, in effect you kind of have 2 wedding days...or as I see it now, your Disney cruise 'wedding' is really quite an expensive blessing service in reality !
However, well before we sailed, I made friends with a fellow cruisemate called Thea off the Disboards Cruise Meets.
Through her, I learnt of a place on Grand Cayman where she was organising a surprise vow renewal for her in-laws ; this is the place -Grand Old House ;
http://www.grandoldhouse.com/
Well one look on there and I was smitten !!
Not only that, but the price was about a quarter of what we would be paying DCL, plus I would actually get to be really married on my wedding day, on a beautiful island - just as I'd originally hoped !.
Plus at GOH there were endless choices and options, that were simply not available through DCL (theirs is very much 'tick a few boxes' of what cake filling/ flower bouquets - its not exactly what I'd call personalised - but then not every one wants that anyway)......and my other big concern, of possibly experiencing only a 3-4 hour 'wedding day' (the service & on board reception does not last long !) through DCL evaporated in an instant !
Luckily I hadn't paid a deposit to DCL for the onboard wedding, so I quickly cancelled that, and started planning my wedding at GOH!!!
Without Thea, our perfect wedding day on the island would not have happened and I cannot thank her enough
However, all this new found 'wedding perfection' did not come without one HUGE potential drawback.........the fact that Grand Cayman is a tender port, and has something of a reputation for being missed if weather & sea conditions are not right ! But being a wedding party of only 4 in total (bride, groom and my 2 kids from a previous marriage), and in no particular rush to marry ...we decided we could live with this - we just had a plan 'B' to fly out there later in the year should the worst happen (most if not all deposits were transferable/refundable if tendering did not occur). To me it was a win-win situation...if we didn't tender, I'd just get another holiday !
As I got chatting over the months leading up to the cruise, Thea very kindly agreed, that after her MIL & FIL's vow renewal, which was taking place earlier that morning, her family would stay on afterwards at GOH, and her & her husband Jim would act as our witnesses.
THE BIG DAY :
However, pleased to say that the plan 'B' was not necessary :thumbs-up
We steamed into Grand Cayman on what was a beautiful sunny morning.
Me and my daughter, Vyrnwy, caught the tender first off the Magic, as we were headed to a hairdressers on the island called Renaissance.. There was a bit of a scary moment when one of the tender's crew decided to hang my dress up for me on a hook high up on the outside of the boat's cabin, as we began our journey to shore, it started flying almost horizonally and whipping around our heads, and I had visions of it being whisked in to the sea !
, Fortunately he took it down again. When we got to Georgetown pier, we encountered our only hitch of the day - we couldn't get a taxi to take us to the hairdressers as it was not far enough to be worth their while ....they were looking for cruiseship customers to take to Rum Point or Seven Mile Beach and alike...they were not interested in taking us to the hairdressers !! I was starting to panic, as we were starting to fall behind our time shedule.....luckily a kind local lady who was trying to sell tours on the pier, took pity on us and tried to get us a cab - but she didn't have any better luck either ! In desperation she called her friend who drives a bus and fortunate for us she came along (in her bus) and picked us up. ......so that is how we arrived at the hairdressers...in her bus, and by this time we were over half an hour late.I was so relieved to get to the hairdressers, not least because although it was only just after 10am (with the wedding scheduled for 11.30am), it was starting to get hot outside. The hairdressers was lovely & cool inside and at last I could begin to relax !
My daughters & I had our hair & make up done there - my daughter just loved it (as you can probably tell from the photographs). Our photographer, Rebecca Davidson came over to meet us and took some shots - she was so nice, and really put me at our ease, and it was nice that she was originally from the UK too.
She told us she'd been down to Georgetown pier hoping to catch my groom, Brian & bestman (my son Joe), but the port authorities would not let her down there (traffic is chaos on cruise ship days).....so she was off to catch them arriving at GOH. I was excited about her getting some shots of them because I'd booked them a stretch limo as a surprise .....after telling them I'd arranged a taxi for them
Just one of a few surprises I'd planned for the day. Time flew by and before we knew it the horse and carriage arrived outside the salon to take us to GOH. However, because we were late arriving, there was no time to have our nails done - but I was forunate as I'd been going regularly to a beautician to get them in good condition before I flew out on holiday, and they were still in excellent shape.
As my daughter and I got into the horse & carriage we became aware of a small crowd of spectators who were all waving and whistling at us ...we felt like royalty. As we made our way to the venue cars were tooting at us and people cheered us. It was a 15 minute journey and we arrived to see Rebecca busily taking pictures of us.
I had a last minute panic, thinking that I really should have met up with Thea and her family before this moment ! ....I had thought we'd meet her on the ship on the first day, when a bunch of us Dis-ers had arranged to meet but we did not see her. I did not know their cabin number so we had not actually met ! Now I was arriving at the wedding venue wondering if they had left because they'd not heard from me.
Phew - relief !!! -they were there, with their daughter Ariana, who was the same age as my son, and their cute 2 year old little boy, David (their FIL & MIL had gone back to the ship for their own celebrations). ....and of course even more relief, when I saw my husband to be, and son standing in the distance on the pier decking at GOH.
My daughter & I got down from our carriage, and we were met by the local minister - he had a few words with us, and he was so nice. He was very sincere and spoke from the heart. He asked if I was religious, and did I want to bring the lord into our special day - to which I happy to say I certainly was & did.
Then we were ready to begin....the harpist Eugenio struck up and my daughter & I set off down the aisle ....I was wondering how long it would take for my partner (who is welsh) to realise that Eugenio was playing the most beautiful version of the Welsh National anthem on his harp - another surprise as I'd sent Eugenio a CD and he learnt the tune specially for the occasion.
My partner had a tear in his eye - though I wasn't sure if it was from the sight of me in my wedding dress ? ...or the playing of the Welsh National anthem ? - hard to say.
Of course the service seemed to go by in a flash, and soon we were married in the most beautiful setting you can imagine - with azure green sea and blue sky in the background ...just PERFECT.
The minister then proceeded to give my new husband a sermon (in the nicest possible way !!) about his new responsiblities with 'our' children - not that he needed it, because he is already a super dad to them (their biological father has nothing to do with them)...and then the minister gave Thea & Jim a sermon (again in the nicest way) on keeping in touch with us to make sure that we were keeping our wedding vows -this may prove a little more tricky since we live on different continents ....but bless them, they have promised to give it their best shot !
Eugenio then played some more beautiful tunes on the harp, as we sipped champange with our newly found friends and now marriage guardians/only wedding guests. Mmmmmm ..lovely Californian champange it was too - and even as a European I have to say, much nicer than French champagne- sorry France !
We sat down to lunch at GOH - and we asked Rebecca to join us, as we got on so well - she said it was the first time anyone had asked her to ...but then we did not have a very big wedding party.... it was good to boost the numbers a litttle !! The food was to die for - I thought the cruise ship food was good - but this was something else ! I had the coconut & spice prawns, but I also tasted my DH's conch fritters.....oh wow !!!
Please, if you ever get the chance go for lunch at the Grand Old House on Grand Cayman, go there - you will NOT be disappointed !After the meal, Thea and Jim, and baby David, returned to the ship.
Ariana, their daughter, wanted to play with Joe & Vyrnwy so we all piled into Rebecca's car and headed to the local beach, at Smith's Cove...although its only 5 minutes away, it was by then too hot to walk the short distance along the road.
Then we spent the next hour doing some 'Trash The Dress' shots and getting wet. It was lovely to cool off ...and there are not too many brides that have been swimming on their wedding day (lol). As you can imagine the kids needed no encouragement to do the same !!! We had a few surprised looks from the locals and the few tourists that were on the beach at the time.
All too quickly, the horse & carriage returned to pick us up and take us back to the Magic. I quickly changed into a spare duplicate dress (thank goodness for Ebay !) and then we all headed back the the ship.
Once we boarded the ship we changed out of our wedding clothes - the bag of soggy wet, sandy clothes went off to the ship's dry cleaners ...and by late seating dinner we were wearing them again ! I cannot praise enough the ship's dry cleaning service ........ quite what they made of our bag of wet clothes I can only guess
..... !!!On returning to our cabin we had a further surprise from another one of our Dis board friends - a lovely bottle of wine which we enjoyed with our wedding meal on board the ship that night....what a lovely touch
And of course I must mention on here, before I finish, yet another Diser had provided us with a beautiful Disneyfied magnetic door sign celebrating our wedding - so thoughtful. What wonderful friends you meet on here
!We went on celebrating our wedding for the rest of the week, with a couple's choice spa package, and Palo dinner on Valentine's Day.two days later
Just a final note to say that thanks to all our Dis board friends we had the most perfect wedding.
Here's the photos - thanks for looking :
http://www.kodakgallery.co.uk/Slide...hguev1.joemuttl&Uy=1k1y2h&Ux=0&localeid=en_GB
