Jamaica - Ocho Rios - Place & Wedding Planner

[Cat137]

Hi there! We are recently engaged and trying to plan a wedding in Ocho Rios for August 2008. I am from the US and my fiancee is from Jamaica. We think we'll have between 20 - 30 people (adults and kids) fly in from the US and a whole bunch of Jamaican family and friends. We're guessing somewhere between 125 - 150 guests. We are trying to find a hotel in or around Ocho Rios for our reception and our guests. We're having a really hard time making sense of a lot of mixed reviews of some different hotels (including Sunset Jamaica Grande, Riu, Bosocbell, ...) and the Ruins (on top of Dunn's River Falls). Any insight anyone has into wedding sites and wedding planners in Ocho Rios would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! All the best to each of you planning your wedding and to those helping us stressed out brides ...

[TripsDownTheAisle]

Congratulations on your engagement! As an owner of a destination wedding planner who is a Certified Jamaica Specialist from the Jamaican Tourism Board, maybe I can give you some helpful information in your search.

First of all lets start off with your guests who live in Jamaica. If you look at an all inclusive resort like the RIU or Sunset Grande, not only will there be a cost for them to come on the resort that ranges from $80 - $150per person, but also the cost of the wedding dinner and/or cocktail party which could range from $25 - $55per person. You could have the guests stay over night in the resort, for the night of the wedding, however it is very hard to get a one night stay at an all inclusive resort. I would say about 98% of them want a 2 night stay. So that leaves you with a question of who is going to pay for that cost.

I did a wedding a few weeks ago with the same type of situation but in the Dominican Republic. The bride is Dominican with many family members. And they picked an all inclusive because the price was right for the traveling guests. Since the resort had a 2 night rule, the bridal couple paid for the two nights at the resort for those guests. Then picked a resort that did not have a wealth costs for the wedding packages. So that is an idea of maybe one or two nights.

Secondly is the size of the wedding and what you want to do with it. There is not a wealth of all inclusive or resorts in the Ocho Rios area that cater to all ages without breaking the bank, however most importantly is the size of the wedding, how you want to personalize it and if the resort can handle a wedding over 100 people. For that I have to say the resorts in Ocho Rios are not the best choice.

With the RIU resorts there is no way to reserve an area to have the wedding dinner private and outside of the buffet no place to have more then 60 people at a time. Plus they are not really good about personalizing your wedding. They want you to fit their packages which is great for weddings under 50 or 60 people but once you get over that, it goes out of their comfort range. The same can be said for the Sunset Grande. You could have a beach dinner here but with August you truly have to look at all angles and that means having a backup plan for bad weather. The other all age all inclusive is Beaches Boscobel, which has the same concerns as the other resorts.

You could have the wedding and dinner all outside of the resort there are a few places in the Ocho Rios Area that can handle your size of wedding or there might be a villa you can use, but those are getting rare because too many wild parties.

To truly fit the amount of people you are looking at you better off going towards the Montego Bay area. The resorts there can handle them and do so more frequently. You don't want a resort that does not have a wealth of experience in larger size weddings. There are two resorts that are not all inclusive and one that is. What you could do is offer a timed transportation setup for people that don't want to drive or drive drunk from the wedding. I had a bride get married at the Catholic church in Ocho Rios but stay in Montego Bay this past October. She had the same problem due to the size and what she wanted to do for the wedding. The transportation cost for the mini vans was very reasonable and they had different departure times.

Lastly the guests that are traveling down for the wedding. I would try to put everyone in the same resort, then as a suggestion, the day after the wedding the two of you could check out and go "honeymoon" at one of the Couples or Sandals resorts nearby. I love the Sandals Dunn's River or Couples San Souci, both are excellent resorts. The Couples Ocho Rios is not going to be open this August due to a whole resort remodel going on until mid-December.

Now out of the three all age resorts that you suggested here I would go with the RIU Ocho Rios. First of all price. They are very good with the prices plus you get extra added features like all rooms have some sort of Ocean view, mini bar in the room, more ala carte dining room choices, a newer resort then the other two since it opened in 2006 and finally the best reason is the beach. They have the best beach in the Ocho Rios area! The resort is built right along the beach so it is a nice size walking. Other resorts like the Sunset Grande the beach is at Ocho's main port in more of a bay so the water can be questionable. And Beaches Boscobel has a very short beach. All of the resorts in the Ocho Rios area has only the area in front of their resort as their beach. It is not like Mexico or Negril where you can walk down the beach in front of the other resorts.

As for our past clients who have stayed in the resorts either as a honeymoon couple and/or wedding guest, the best results have been from RIU Ocho Rios. And I have to say that this is echoed by my own travels down there. Sometimes we travel with our larger weddings so I have seen it from the side of being with a wedding and just as a vacation. The RIU really gave so much more for the cost. I felt the Sunset Grande was very tired resort with a beach that I did not care for at all, especially when the cruise ship came in and blocked all of the waves. I liked that the RIU faces the ocean not a bay like Sunset. And the Beaches Bocobel is ok but the beach is very tiny that gets filled up fast. Honestly is a tad bit over priced.

So hopefully this helps you give a start on your wedding planning. Sorry for the long winded posting but I wanted you to have the honest information to make the right choice. If you would like to see some pictures of weddings at these resorts or another area in Jamaica just email me at lindsay@weddingsonthego.com I would be happy to send some your way. Best wishes!

Take Care
Lindsay
President
Trips Down The Aisle - Weddings on the go!