Kristen

TayaT~

Congrats on your wedding! When is it? I am just about done with all of my wedding plans. We are going with Cayman Weddings...very nice, responsive people. Robin listed their wed address in her post. We are getting married on their private beach on North 7MB at sunset. I decided on Cayman WEddings partly because of the package they had to offer (we just wanted something simple) and because I had read many good reviews about them. We are also using their photographer. And I am getting my bouquet through Trisha's roses.

I will have about 8 guests (family anf friends) down for the weeding so after the ceremony, we are taking everyone to the Reef Grill for dinner (I hear it's one of the best if not the best on the island. Smuggler's Cove was my other option). They are giving us a private area and are making a small wedding cake. Then afterwards the live band that plays at the Royal Palms (which is a waterfront bar)adjacent to the restaurant will play a few songs for us.

We are staying at Villas of the Galleon. We considered the Westin but decided on a condo instead. But since I liked the location of the Westin we chose VOG which is right next door. As far as other condos that are nice...Plantana, Casa Caribe and Aua Bay Club (but you will need to rent a car if you stay here). Coralstone Club and Avalon are very, very nice but they only have 3 BR units, which we don't need for just the 2 of us. If you do opt for a hotel, I would go with the Westin hands down. I only reserached the Seven Mile Beach are bso i can't comment on the East End or Rum Point areas. I will say though that if a great beach is important yo you, stay on 7MB. if you are llooking for soemthing quieter and more secluded I would definitely pick Aqua Bay Club.

Let me know if I can be of any more help!

Kristen

I just read your post more closely and saw that your wedding is in June. It would be nice if the Ritz was open by then but it doesn;t look likely...

TayaT

Kristen, thank so much for sharing details of your wedding with me! If you don't mind, I just have a few more questions for you. Where did you read reviews about Cayman Weddings? When I went to the tourism board's website, it had listed some other coordinators as well, so I wasn't sure what the differences between all of them were. Also, did you book your trip through a travel agent? Or did you buy through the internet? How far in advance did you book your trip? By the way, congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

my99999

Hi Kristin - in response to your question about VOG, I have stayed there twice. The units vary somewhat on furnishings and how well they have been maintained. We rented from a private owner who was not in the rental pool. Although the complex is not up in the same luxury category as Coralstone or Avalon or Casa Caribe, it is nice and in a great location and it would be nice as you say to be able to have more space to visit with your family than just a hotel room. Be sure you ask for a unit away from the Ritz construction! Email me if you have further questions.

Robin

Hi Taya, Plantana I'm sure will be find for us but I don't expect it to be luxury or even what I would call deluxe. Most condos on SMB are not considered luxury to many peoples standards. We don't need luxury accommodations for this trip to be great but for my honeymoon I would look for the best I could afford. Plantana has good reviews but we mainly picked this condo for the location. I'm still not 100% sure of my choice. I did find some condos/villas along seven mile beach that I would consider luxury accommodations or at least look to be much newer than many others at this web site: www.caymanvillas.com/html/7mile_home.htm

Villa Positano, White Sands, Coral Reef and even Sundowner look new and extremely nice. I may look into whats available my dates. There is even a map showing you exactly where they are located on SMB, mostly the north and central areas. Really nice, check it out!

Kristen

Hi Taya~

As far as travel arrangemnets, we had enough frequent flyer miles for our airfare and then we got a good deal on or condo just by contacting the manager. (1 night free plus 10% off the other nights). If I didn't have the FF miles, I would have probably gone through USAirways Vacations. They offer some good deals (they just had a 40% sale to the caribbean). I booked my trip to Aruba last year through them. And one of my friends who is coming down for my wedding booked her sir and hotel that way. Go to their website...www.usairways.com and check out what they have for June. Also, sign up for E-savers then they will email you specials as they come up.

9-10 months in advance. I wanted to make sure I got seats on the flight since we were using ff miles and I also wanted to make sure I got an oceanfront condo close to the Westin. It also depends on if you are going in high or low season. My trip is at the tail end of low season so I didn't have to book as early. June is also low season. Also, if you know the date of your wedding, it's a good idea to call the wedding company and reserve your date just to be on the safe side.

I read the Cayman Wedding reviews on www.gotocayman.com (under trip reports) and on the caribbean online message boards. You can do an archive search. I also talked to a really nice I met on the COB board named Nate who who told me all about his experiences with them when he got married a year and a half ago. He even sent me some pictures from his ceremony (unfortunately I can't find them but I can email him). Also, after talking to both Cayman Weddings, Heart of Cayman and Celebrations, I just got a better feeling from Cayman Weddings....they seemed smaller and more personalized. But if depends what you are looking for. We just wanted a small beach ceremony at sunset (nothing fancy)and theys eemd the best suited for that. The other companies seemd more suitable for larger, fancier weddings. I know Celebrations also takes care of the recetion if you wnat them to. But I wanted to arrange the dinner myself so what Cayman Weddings had to offer was perfect for us. Another place you may wnat to try is Grabnd Old House. they were also very nice but I really wanted my dinner at the Reef Grill or Smugglers. But I hear GOH is very romantic...you get married on their beach or in their wedding gazebo and then they wills erve you dinner in the gazebo on the water. It's definitely worth a look.

Fell free to ask more questions if you have them. And let me know which way you are leaning!

Kristen

Kristen

My99999~

Thanks for your info on VOG. I get alls ettled with my decision and then I read a not so great review and start wondering. I am really happy with the location and the beach it sits on. I just want a nice place and I think it will be that. It won't be luxury but I didn't find too many 1 BR luxury condos and I can't see paying for a 3 BR.

Casa Caribe was the other condo we were considering. have you stayed there?

TayaT

Hi Robin,

Location is probably our biggest factor in deciding where to stay. We're leaning towards staying around the Westin area. After reading reviews, we're considering the following condos/hotels: Plantana, Westin Casuarina, Villas of the Galleon, and Casa Caribe. Coralstone Club also seems nice, but all are 3-bedroom units!

TayaT

Hi Kristen,

Thanks for the travel tips and additional websites for GC info! If you don't mind, can you please email Nate for his wedding pictures? My email is: [email protected]

I also want a small beach ceremony with a private dinner afterwards, but I don't know how difficult that will be with 20 guests. So, I'm going to contact Cayman Weddings, Celebrations, and Grand Old House and go from there.

My fiance and I enjoy eating good food, so The Reef Grille sounds great. Have you heard how the food was at the Grand Old House?

Taya

Kristen

Taya...I think the food at Grand Old House is supposed to be very good. What I liked about the reef Grill is that they have live music at the Royal Plams in the evening so after our dinner we can just move out there.

I will email Nate for those pictures and send them to you as soon as he responds. I'll also look through old emails more carefully to see if I can't find them from when he originally sent them.

my99999

Hi Kristen - in response to your question about whether we have stayed at Casa Caribe - no we have not stayed there, but have a two bedroom reserved for Christmas week this year. Some friends of ours stayed there last year and we spent some time with them and were able to see the complex, their unit and some of the others and it is VERY nice. The reason we decided to move down the beach to Casa Caribe from VOG was because the unit we had been renting for the past few years was directly next to the Ritz construction and we wanted to get away from it. Casa Caribe is more expensive, but we decided to try it this year. Email me if you have further questions.

TomCayman

Glad to hear of several people thinking of weddings in Cayman.

I will put a word in for Cayman Weddings too, we use them at our resort for officiating...we kind of fell into doing weddings over the past year or two, as our suites are ideal for honeymooners and people who like the beach, and Cayman Weddings are very professional at their side of things.

I want to try to be objective about this, even though The Reef Resort is my place , so if you want to be in the middle of things, go for something on Seven Mile Beach....feel free to post some questions with what your key requirements are and I can give pretty good recommendations for condos, resorts, restaurants etc.

Having found these boards, I intend to hang out here a fair bit and be an ambassador for Cayman, as I am truly proud of the place and love to tell people what a beautiful and special place it is.

If some of you come to visit The Reef, so be it, but I will try to remain as fair as possible, in the spirit of bulletin boards postings.