Cruise Weddings

Princess_Bride_2011

After reading through alot of bios from this board I am seriously considering a cruise wedding. A good chunk of my family and my fiance's family live in Southern California so I am thinking of a cruise leaving out of Long Beach or San Diego. Anybody have suggestions or is anyone doing this type of wedding? Devon doesn't want to get married on a cruise ship but I know we don't have to have the wedding on she ship is this right? I know I have 15 months to plan this all out but I figured I would get a head start on this. TIA

brian&shelli

Hi. We're actually doing exactly just that. We're going on a short 5 day, 4 night cruise aboard the Carnival Elation. We depart out of San Diego on Monday; we have a full day at sea on Tuesday, Catalina Island on Wednesday, Ensenada Mexico on Thursday and back to San Diego on Friday. We opted not to get married on the ship because we wanted to get married on a beach. We chose to have our ceremony on Catalina once we port. Our wedding is not affliated at all with Carnival ~ we're DIY'ing it ouselves from start to finish. This way we can have the ceremony WE want and personalize it to our wants and needs. As of right now, we have 15 cabins booked in our group and I'm thankful that everyone that has booked will be coming. It means alot to us!!! If you have anymore questions, please let me know. I'd be more than happy to help you if I can.

Future.Mrs.H.

This is exactly what we are doing. We are taking a Mediterranean Cruise and getting married ashore on the French Riviera. We decided not to plan the wedding with the cruise line for many reasons, including the fact that they still haven't answer the e-mails I sent a year and a half ago, and because it was cheaper just to do it on my own. I found the place I wanted to get married at and hired a local wedding coordinator recomended by our venue. So far it's been a great experience and everyone is very excited about the trip. Now...my only concern is that I hope that the port doesn't change or get cancelled...but I'v edone the research and that is not one of the ports that they change frequently and since we are tendered not docked there chances are we are not gonna have trouble.If you have any questions, just ask...there have been quite a few cruise brides on this board and they are all awesome.

Princess_Bride_2011

Thank you for all the tips. I have another question(s). If we were to have only close friends and our family members attend the cruise with us we would be able to have a reception at a later date right? In that case we have family in California and a ton of friends on the East Coast. How can we make it fair on both ends? With the people who are going to attend the cruise for the wedding would I need to do some sort of reception for them as they are going to be with us for the rest of the cruise? I'm sorry for asking too many questions. I am trying to visualize this all before I approach Devon and my future mother in law who by the way is not very keen on a destination wedding at all. You all seem very helpful. TIA once again.

brian&shelli

What we're doing with regard to our AHR's (At Home Receptions) is this ~ our Cruise is in the last part of April. We're having an AHR in California in May and an AHR in Minnesota in June. This primarily is for all of our family and friends who were not able to join us for our Cruise, and also a way to thank those who did. All of FI's family live in Minnesota along with his best friends, and my family is in California and Hawaii. So, we decided to have two AHR's and for the most part, I'm happy with that decision. I know it may sound like a PITA, but it's something we want to share with all of our family and friends so...... As far as those that are cruising with us, what we're doing is immediately after the ceremony, we're going to a local bar and we're having one round of cocktails. Then we're going to let our guests explore Catalina Island on their own until it's time to re-board the ship. I have reserved one of the lounges on board for an hour and at that time, we'll have a little mini cocktail reception (mind you it'll be prior to our dinner... nice). However, if for some reason, the weather isn't kind to us and we aren't able to have the ceremony on the beach as planned, we're going to utilize that reserved time in the lounge to have the ceremony. So, bad weather or not, we're getting married on that day!!! With regard to your FMIL, I can only say that I would hope you and your fiance do what YOU guys want to do because after all, it is YOUR wedding. I'm not sure if your in-laws are contributing financially or not, but nevertheless, it should be something you as a couple should decide on. Trust me when I say there are a number of Knotties here who are having In-Law problems.... when it comes down to it, they're doing what they want to do because it's THEIR wedding. We are all bound to hurt someones feelings or piss someone off, but you can't please everyone and you need to do what is going to make YOU happy because this is YOUR wedding. Sorry for the long reply.

CNN in 2010

We're not having a ahr after our dw cruise so I can't really help you there. But, we are having a small reception in the afternoon right after our ceremony. We have a preset lunch menu and we're doing a 1 hour bar maybe 2 depending on how the afternoon goes.  After that everyone is free to go tour PV or passenger vans will take them back to the ship.