I just got back from my wedding today. I can not say enough great things about Disney cruise line. We as a couple we were nervous about having a Disney wedding because neither of us are Disney freaks. We did not want character pictures or Disney themed elements in our wedding. With that said we managed to have an absolutely beautiful wedding that went so smoothly I could hardly believe it and did not have Mickey in any of our wedding elements.
I will try to tell the story in chronological oder and if possible when our pictures are available I will edit this post to add them in.
When we got on the ship we had our official marriage in the conference room on deck 4 we had about 20 people in attendance for this. Our wedding coordinator was Brent and he did a great job. We did bring our own photographers with us and we did not have a single problem with this. Disney did not say a single thing to us as we did pictures during the hair appointments, ceremony, on deck, and a first look on the stair case in the atrium.
My wife wanted to have her makeup done on the ship for the wedding but we were informed by Shanda that they do not do makeup on board. This turned out to be incorrect. They do makeup for $75 and I must say they did a great job. While in the spa my wife also had her hair done and the people in the spa created the exact look she was going for. The spa also handled 6 other hair appointments and makeup appointments for our party before the wedding.
While the girls got ready in the spa / my parents room the guys had some cocktails and tried not to stab each other when placing the boutonnieres on our jackets. We had a photographer with us while the girls had one with them.
Once the guys were ready we used the wave phones to confirm my bride was in my parents room dressing. During this time we went to the ceremony room a bit early and spoke with Brent and the piano player. I made sure that the music would be played in the correct order and at the correct times. We actually ended up having cake and champaign for longer than expected which exceeded the number of songs on our CD. The piano player did not miss a beat and picked up by playing some music while everyone continued to mingle and celebrate.
We were married in outlook on deck 14 and had 26 people that attended our wedding. We were married on day 2 while in Nassau by Andy a guy from the UK he did a great job. The room was a perfect size. I will say that it was a bit small for our first dance but overall it was perfect. Also my wife did not have her dress bustled before we danced and that made our dance even more difficult, so note for future brides bustle your dress before your dance.
When our ceremony was over we headed for Nassau. My wife and I wanted to do pictures on the island in a few different locations including The Cloisters and the beach. In order to do this I reserved a a stretch excursion from first choice limousine. The driver was waiting for us as we came out of the port and was extremely nice. The only problem we had the entire day though was that the AC in the limo was not working. We are very lucky that our entire wedding party took this in stride broke out the flasks we gave the groomsmen for a wedding present and made the best of it. This turned out to be the only hiccup in our entire day. Apparently we were married on election day 5-7-12 and due to this a lot of places were closed in Nassau and the streets we fairly empty. We managed to get to both locations for pictures. The cloisters offered to reserve to gardens for pictures at a cost of $1,000 for 2 hours. These gardens are open to the public and the reservation would have guaranteed that no one would be using the garden for a function. We decided to just hope for the best that no one would be at the gardens and we got lucky. We saved $1000 and got all the shots we wanted. No one from The Cloisters talked to us and we spent around 2 hours at the gardens.
From the cloisters we headed to the beach we went just past Junkanoo beach and took some shots with the lights house on paradise island and the two Disney ships that were in port that day in the back ground. The pictures turned out great, I only know because we got a look at the unedited versions at dinner the next day.
By the time we finished at the beach everyone was tired and hot and wanted to call it a day so we headed back to the ship at around 5. We decided to take a break until 6:45 when we would meet up with everyone for family photos in the atrium. We began taking photos and everything was going well until another bride appeared at the top of the stairs. The Disney photographer she was using wanted to get some shots on the stairs. So we talked with a Disney employee quickly bought ourselves 5 minutes more time on the stairs and then moved out of the way for her so that she could get her shots.
After this we had some time before dinner so the two of us and the photographers headed up to the deck for some sunset photos. These shots look amazing and the we also did some great shots using some of the lights from the boat to backlight them.
We had dinner that night at animators palate. It was a bit of a let down for a wedding night dinner. The royal palace would have been a better venue. However my brother in law works for Disney cruise line and managed to get crush the turtle to talk to my wife and I. I ended up having to stand up in the dining room in front of everyone and pronounce my love in whale. That event ended up making the dinner hilarious.
After dinner we went and changed out of the tux and wedding gown. We had been in them for about 9 hours at this point. We decided to try and get onto the match making game but the other couple that was married that day was chosen. Not a big deal to us because we got a free drink out of showing up for the show. The show was funny and worth the watch.
Overall we had an amazing time on the cruise and would not have done anything differently.
Some hints and tips for future brides/grooms.
Make a seating chart for dinner or get there early if there could be an even remote chance of someone being upset about where they are seated.the staff will do everything they can to accommodate you but they can't not prevent a problem if they don't know about it.
When you make your wedding cd for music, make it in the order of how you would like the songs played. Also write on the cd or attach a paper that has the name of the songs and the order they are in.
Get on the ship wearing something you want to have your official marriage performed in if you plan on taking any pictures.
When you park if you are driving to the terminal there will not be any help taking your dress, tuxedos and bags from the garage to the baggage handling area. My suggestion for this would be to have your fiancé take the bags you are checking over to the bag drop area it is only across the street and shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. He can then come back to help carry your carry on items.
I hope this helps everyone and I will add more information as a I remember additional details and I will add the pics when we get them.
I will try to tell the story in chronological oder and if possible when our pictures are available I will edit this post to add them in.
When we got on the ship we had our official marriage in the conference room on deck 4 we had about 20 people in attendance for this. Our wedding coordinator was Brent and he did a great job. We did bring our own photographers with us and we did not have a single problem with this. Disney did not say a single thing to us as we did pictures during the hair appointments, ceremony, on deck, and a first look on the stair case in the atrium.
My wife wanted to have her makeup done on the ship for the wedding but we were informed by Shanda that they do not do makeup on board. This turned out to be incorrect. They do makeup for $75 and I must say they did a great job. While in the spa my wife also had her hair done and the people in the spa created the exact look she was going for. The spa also handled 6 other hair appointments and makeup appointments for our party before the wedding.
While the girls got ready in the spa / my parents room the guys had some cocktails and tried not to stab each other when placing the boutonnieres on our jackets. We had a photographer with us while the girls had one with them.
Once the guys were ready we used the wave phones to confirm my bride was in my parents room dressing. During this time we went to the ceremony room a bit early and spoke with Brent and the piano player. I made sure that the music would be played in the correct order and at the correct times. We actually ended up having cake and champaign for longer than expected which exceeded the number of songs on our CD. The piano player did not miss a beat and picked up by playing some music while everyone continued to mingle and celebrate.
We were married in outlook on deck 14 and had 26 people that attended our wedding. We were married on day 2 while in Nassau by Andy a guy from the UK he did a great job. The room was a perfect size. I will say that it was a bit small for our first dance but overall it was perfect. Also my wife did not have her dress bustled before we danced and that made our dance even more difficult, so note for future brides bustle your dress before your dance.
When our ceremony was over we headed for Nassau. My wife and I wanted to do pictures on the island in a few different locations including The Cloisters and the beach. In order to do this I reserved a a stretch excursion from first choice limousine. The driver was waiting for us as we came out of the port and was extremely nice. The only problem we had the entire day though was that the AC in the limo was not working. We are very lucky that our entire wedding party took this in stride broke out the flasks we gave the groomsmen for a wedding present and made the best of it. This turned out to be the only hiccup in our entire day. Apparently we were married on election day 5-7-12 and due to this a lot of places were closed in Nassau and the streets we fairly empty. We managed to get to both locations for pictures. The cloisters offered to reserve to gardens for pictures at a cost of $1,000 for 2 hours. These gardens are open to the public and the reservation would have guaranteed that no one would be using the garden for a function. We decided to just hope for the best that no one would be at the gardens and we got lucky. We saved $1000 and got all the shots we wanted. No one from The Cloisters talked to us and we spent around 2 hours at the gardens.
From the cloisters we headed to the beach we went just past Junkanoo beach and took some shots with the lights house on paradise island and the two Disney ships that were in port that day in the back ground. The pictures turned out great, I only know because we got a look at the unedited versions at dinner the next day.
By the time we finished at the beach everyone was tired and hot and wanted to call it a day so we headed back to the ship at around 5. We decided to take a break until 6:45 when we would meet up with everyone for family photos in the atrium. We began taking photos and everything was going well until another bride appeared at the top of the stairs. The Disney photographer she was using wanted to get some shots on the stairs. So we talked with a Disney employee quickly bought ourselves 5 minutes more time on the stairs and then moved out of the way for her so that she could get her shots.
After this we had some time before dinner so the two of us and the photographers headed up to the deck for some sunset photos. These shots look amazing and the we also did some great shots using some of the lights from the boat to backlight them.
We had dinner that night at animators palate. It was a bit of a let down for a wedding night dinner. The royal palace would have been a better venue. However my brother in law works for Disney cruise line and managed to get crush the turtle to talk to my wife and I. I ended up having to stand up in the dining room in front of everyone and pronounce my love in whale. That event ended up making the dinner hilarious.
After dinner we went and changed out of the tux and wedding gown. We had been in them for about 9 hours at this point. We decided to try and get onto the match making game but the other couple that was married that day was chosen. Not a big deal to us because we got a free drink out of showing up for the show. The show was funny and worth the watch.
Overall we had an amazing time on the cruise and would not have done anything differently.
Some hints and tips for future brides/grooms.
Make a seating chart for dinner or get there early if there could be an even remote chance of someone being upset about where they are seated.the staff will do everything they can to accommodate you but they can't not prevent a problem if they don't know about it.
When you make your wedding cd for music, make it in the order of how you would like the songs played. Also write on the cd or attach a paper that has the name of the songs and the order they are in.
Get on the ship wearing something you want to have your official marriage performed in if you plan on taking any pictures.
When you park if you are driving to the terminal there will not be any help taking your dress, tuxedos and bags from the garage to the baggage handling area. My suggestion for this would be to have your fiancé take the bags you are checking over to the bag drop area it is only across the street and shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. He can then come back to help carry your carry on items.
I hope this helps everyone and I will add more information as a I remember additional details and I will add the pics when we get them.
