Wedding on a Cruise?? Good or Bad?

One thing to consider is your potential guests and their ability to take vacation time. Personally, I love cruises. But it also requires all guests to take off the same amount of time. Whereas with an island resort, guests have more flexibility. Some may want to stay for a full week, while others may just fly in for a few days. Also, assuming that the cruise would also be your honeymoon you would be spending that time with all of your guests. ETA: @BeachyLauren, jinx lol

It depends on if you do the ceremony in the departure port or at one of the vacation ports. If you're doing on of the vacation ports, your guests will have to pay for the cruise and take the time off work. If you do the departure port, your guests can decide whether or not they want to go on the full cruise. If they decide not to, their trip will be much shorter and cheaper.

Good points. My travel agent 1st quote was $160- $200 per person per night for Montego Bay. She then tells me $225 per night would be the price. I was just weighing options before I set everything in stone.

Departure port?? Can you explain a little more? @Ms.B

I wouldn't want my family on my honeymoon with me

Departure port = the place you leave from. Miami, Houston, Tampa, Mobile... Etc.

You can get married in port on the boat before you leave. So if people didn't want to take the cruise, they could just come to the ceremony and then get off the boat.

@Lorraine - the port your ship is leaving from. For example, if your cruise departs from Miami and travels to Nassau and Freeport, you can choose to have your ceremony in Miami before the cruise actually leaves, in Nassau, or in Freeport. If you choose to have the ceremony on the ship in Miami, your guests can attend the wedding, then disembark the ship before it leaves. If they choose to do this, they don't have pay anything (other than how they travel to and from the ship).

FH's best friend did this and it saved a LOT of money for the guests. Only 10 of the 40 guests actually paid to go on the cruise.

My guests paid nothing to attend my wedding. We had the wedding prior to embarkation.

Get married in the United States if you're going to be living here.

For those who had weddings in the departure port, were you also able to hold a mini reception on the ship as well?

Ohhhh ok thanks for clarification!! Long story short but my fiance has 2 kids & we're still not sure how we are going to do this. We agreed that if the kids are in our room then we will do a " real honeymoon " a few months later.

@BeachDreams - yes. The one FH attended had a short reception. About two hours long, if I remember correctly. They had just enough time to eat lunch, have cake, and dance to a couple songs.

I had a ceremony and cocktail reception. Any guests not sailing left after that.

If the wedding is in Miami is it done right by the ship? Or nearby beach or hotel.

It would be done on the ship. Everything would be included as well. Ours was a top shelf open bar, food, cake, officiant, and decor included

@celia the plan was DW in Jamaica. Legal wedding would be here in Nj before we leave.

On the ship.

The main issue was alot of family wouldn't be attending the DW. If I go for the cruise and leave from port in NY/NJ family can still attend the on/off ceremony. Thanks everyone it's still up in the air but still a good option.

I loved our wedding. It was a wonderful experience. If you need help or have more questions please contact me.

@lorith Im going to definitely look into this. The big issue was alot of family not attending. So doing it that way takes off some stress. What was the time frame of the ceremony? &What the area secluded on the ship?