CSS Wedding...Help/Advice Needed Please...

[COLOR="Magenta"][FONT="Comic Sans MS"]I'm getting married at CSS in November which when we booked was just for the two of us...nice and easy!:) However, now things have changed and we are having 9 guests...so I'm starting to panick a bit about what to do with everyone!:eek:
I would really appreciate any help/advise people would like to offer...

1) When we booked we planned to marry in the Gazebo which looked lovely and intimate, however with 9 guests and a photographer I just don't think thats going to work now. Has anyone else got married at CSS with guests that can give me some advise? Where did you do it?

2) We currently have the 3pm slot booked as we wanted to have a late wedding so we had plenty of time to get ready, could have some photo's taken at sunset and would be able to go straight to the evening reception afterwards. However, after reading though the message boards everybody seems to recommend a morning wedding as everything's much clearer and there is less chance of rain. I have several concerns with this though:
-Isn't the beach much busier in the morning?
-Will I have enough time to have my hair done and do my make-up?
-What do you and your guests do for the rest of the day?! Has anyone gone on one of the boat trips?!
If we did move it to the morning we would probably go for the 11am slot.Any advise on time of wedding would be appreciated...

3) Anybody who has had a wedding with guests, what did your guests do while you were having your photo's taken? We were planning to have 3 hours of photography and want plenty of photo's...but it seems a bit rude to go off and leave your guests for so long!

Sorry I know I've rambled on a bit, but if anyone can help me with any of the above I would really appreciate it.:o

Thanks :D

Jen

We got married May 21, 2009 and had 6 guests. We were supposed to be married on the beach at 2:00 in the afternoon, however due to pouring rain the wedding coordinator was able to put us under the exercise pavillion so that we were still outstide. It turned out beautiful. They set up a table for our guests so that they could toast and have cake with us. After we had cake and toasted, our guests went and did their own thing until we met back up for dinner.

If you don't want to be married on the beach there is a larger gazebo by the spa area which is really nice. The only reason we did not get married there is because it rained so hard that it was wet under that gazebo as well. Just talk to the wedding coordinator when you arrive and she will be happy to make any arrangements that you ask for.

Make sure you go to see Tessa at the hair salon for your hair and makeup. She is amazing. I just showed her a picture of what I wanted and she was able to do it no questions asked.

CSS had a wonderful staff, I can't say enough about them.


Sue

Hi Sue
Thanks for your advise, is that larger gazebo the one by the big chess board? I did think about that as a possibility.
As much as I would like to get married on the beach I don't think I would like there being lots of other people there watching...although I probably wouldn't be paying much attention I suppose!
Thanks for the tip on the hairdresser....I was a bit concerned about my hair! Is there more than one hairdresser that works in the salon?
Jen

Jen,

I am not getting married till July 2011, but I am such a big planner that I have my day all planned. I am having 14-18 guests. I booked the 10 A.M. time slot. I have read that you can book the salon for your hair about 6 ,months in advance and they will open at 730 or 800 am for you.

This is what I have planned for my day

10 ceremony on the beach
1030-1130 cocktail hour on the beach (I am having hors d'ouvres and steel drum band)
1130-? pictures after the group/family pictures the guests can go back to their rooms or have lunch whatever they want
2-4 I am looking into a private catamaran (I am pretty sure CSS does not offer the catamaran so I have contacted another company for this)

630 - we will be joining the Starlight Gala since we are getting married on a Friday.

The next day I am doing my TTD hopefully at Dunn's Rivers Falls

I am also hiring a outside photographer!

As far as onlookers I don't think the beach would be that busy yet in the morning and I have read that the onlookers are very careful to stay out of the way. They do the beach wedding at one end of the beach so its really just one side you have to worry about.

I hope I answered some of your ?

As far as onlookers I don't think the beach would be that busy yet in the morning and I have read that the onlookers are very careful to stay out of the way. They do the beach wedding at one end of the beach so its really just one side you have to worry about.

Let me just say as I have several times before, I've been to 3 weddings at Couples, one being my own and the beach is busy all the time. We got married at 10am. The beach will be busy at 10am as it will be at 4pm. With that said, people are very respectful and make sure to stay out of your way. But we did have several people gather and watch and even took pics with their own camera which was somewhat awkward but not too big of deal unless you're wanting a completely private setting.

Hi Sunstarmoon
Yes you've been really helpful thank you :)
That all sounds amazing, thanks for the idea's! The Catamaran sounds like a brill idea, I doubt we could afford that though :(
So you're getting married at CSS too then? Who is your photographer?

Brittanystar, thanks for the tips too...I think I would be a bit embarressed having everyone watch me and take photo's!
When did you get married? Are your photo's on here? I'm trying to look at as many pics as poss!

Thank you both for your help :)

Jen, I booked Marcia Roberts for my photographer

Hi! I got married at CSS June 09 and it was wonderful! We had 20 guests. We choose the beach and the 4pm time. The beach was pretty much cleared out by that time, but honestly, if it was packed, I would not have noticed. Some of my guests told me some people were floating on their rafts right by the arch area and my guests politly asked them to move (for the pictures and all) and as far as I know everyone was respectful. Personally I think the beach is a lot more crowded in the morning. When we were there, it would start to get busy around 9-10 at the beach.

The way I worked the time out was after the ceremony all our guests went and did their own thing (most went to the bar) and had a great time chatting while we did our pictures. Couples is so relaxed, no one will care if you go for a couple of hours and take pictures! Then we meet again with our guests later that night for a private dinner. It all worked out great!

I hope this helps! Feel free to email me if you have any other questions, hamm.kt@gmail.com

I can email you my pics if you'd like and the Catamaran cruise is included with your resort stay so it's no extra money. That's actually what we did with our guests. We were married this past November at 10am at CN. We started taking photos around 10:30 and it lasted until about noon. During that time our guests went and lounged on the beach or got in the pool and then we all met back up for lunch at 1:00pm. Then we hung out and went on the 3:00 catamaran cruise which ended at 6:00pm and it was soooo much fun and really cool! They take you on a huge booze cruise with about 20 other people and there's even a slide off the boat. They drive you out about 30 minutes away from the resort to these caves and you go swimming and jumping off the boat and cave climbing for about an hour or then they take you back. On the way back it's around 5:30-6:00 so you literally get to watch the sunset and we got the coolest sunset pics that day! Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure only CN and CSA offer this though but I could be completely wrong so you should check into it! Oh, and then we were back in time to get ready for our dinner reservations at 7:00! Just an idea though, I'm sure there's several activiites that are inclusive with your stay that you and your guests might really enjoy, or maybe your guests can go snorkeling while your doing your pics. There's a lot they can do!

Hi Katie
I think I've seen you're photos on the message board! Thanks for your advise, I think the afternoon slot definately works better...I just don't want to miss out on the pretty blue sea for my pics!

I guess it is normal for everyone (guests) to just do their own thing while photo's are being taken then...

Brittany, I don't think CSS does the cataraman cruise :(
If you would be able to share your pics that would be great, my email address is jen.redfearn@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks everyone for your help x

Jen you are right CSS does not do the catamaran cruise. I wish it did, it would save me a pile of money!

Regardless of the time you chose how can jamaica not be beautiful in pictures at any time of the day!!

I just got married at CSS last week at the 4pm time slot in the gazebo and we had 2 other couples with us. It rained in the morning and was partly cloudy in the afternoon. Pictures actually turn out better if its not totally sunny. We had our cake on the "man-made" beach in front of the fitness center and that was really nice. If you wanted to have your ceremony there that would work too. There was a wedding on the main beach one afternoon and all of us watched but kept our distance. Everyone applauded at the end which I thought was nice since the couple was on their own.
We used a resort photographer and Albert was wonderful. We really had a great time and lots of fun taking the pics and he went along with everything. The photographers really like to do things that are different so while you're there the first few days think about where you'd like some pictures taken.
As far as the gazebo question I would also suggest using the gazebo over by the spa for a group as large as yours if the gazebo setting is what you want.
No matter where it is you're going to love it. Antoinette, Lil Portia and the other wedding coordinators were wonderful and made our wedding everything I wanted and more! Best wishes!!!