Wedding Cruise Day Review
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We decided to have our wedding on the second day of the cruise. It was the “on sea” package. The wedding would not have been amazing without all the Princess staff. Especially Dusko who was our wedding point of contact on ship.
Wedding Party Preparation
Wedding day preparation started the night before because Ryan and I agreed to sleep in separate cabins the night before the wedding. Luckily, one of Ryan’s groomsmen had an extra bed in his balcony cabin and Ryan slept there. Ryan packed an overnight bag including his wedding attire while my maid of honor Devin slept in our mini suite. I called room service to order breakfast to arrive at 9 AM for my bridesmaids and myself.
The bridal party arrive to our mini-suite at 9:00 AM.
Why did we start getting ready at 9:00?
We scheduled to have pictures with Alex at 12:00 PM and 6 women in one room with limited mirror space and outlets is the reason. I knew that we would be running late and so I created some buffer time so that we could make it on time.
Tip: If your bridesmaids plan to curl their hair, bring a power strip and be prepared to be hot in the room. We had our room and balcony door open to circulate the air.
At 10:00 AM I had my hair and make up appointment at the Lotus spa with my mom. I was lucky that my hairstylist was also an amazing make up artist. I did not have a make up test day. I told her I wanted to look like Jasmine from the movie Aladdin and she exceeded my expectations.
Mom and I after our hair and make up.
Tip: The make up appointment was not guaranteed prior to boarding the ship. Princess Cruises do not have a standard make up artist appointment. As a bride this is stressful, and you should be prepared to do your own make up or bring a friend/make up artist along. I brought the makeup onboard to use for the wedding.
At 10:00 AM, Ryan, the groomsmen, and Emerson got ready in one of the groomsmen’s balcony cabins. The groomsmen lived in different parts of the U.S. (Washington state, North Carolina, and New York) so we made it easy for them. They needed to bring a white dress button up shirt, Men’s Warehouse gray pants, and black shoes. Ryan and I gave the groomsmen their suspenders and bowties as a gift.
First Looks
1:00 PM – We were an hour behind schedule and took our first look, wedding party, and family pictures on the floating bridge on the ship. During this time, Dusko the ship’s customer service manager and my wedding point of contact gave me my wedding bouquet and boutonnière that was included on the “On Sea” wedding package. My friend and I created the bridesmaids and groomsmen bouquets and boutonnières. Click here (POST LINK) to learn how!
Wedding Ceremony
3:00 PM – Our wedding ceremony was on the Horizon Terrace (Deck 16 Lido). DJ Shea took care of the ceremonial music and Dusko was on the deck ensuring that everything went without any problems.
The ceremony was perfect for us – it was short and personable. We did not have a wedding rehearsal and it was the first time we met the captain. He was easy to talk to and enjoyed our ceremony. There was laughing and crying from Ryan, myself, and a few guests.
After the ceremony, Ryan and I took private pictures with the Princess Cruise photographers- we were able to go to the bridge. Which is where the captain steers the ship. It was an amazing opportunity because the public is not allowed. During this time our guests used this time to prepare for the rest of the night. They freshened up, got a few drinks, and if they signed up for anytime dining they got dinner.
5:30 PM – First dining our guests who signed up with first dining with us ate dinner. It was a quick dinner for the wedding party because we needed to get ready for the reception at 7 PM. We notified the maitredee and the waiters that we needed to eat dinner fast and they were so accommodating.
6:30 PM- The wedding party rushes to Club 6 to prepare for the reception. Dusko our main man brought our guests wedding favors, guestbook, and caterers were right on schedule. We did not have a rehearsal dinner to figure out the kinks so at that time we worked with the DJ to figure out where the wedding party will be for announcements and how we would do our first dance.
7:00 PM – Reception. We had a 2 hour reception at Club 6. The reception was emceed by DJ Shea. Our reception schedule lasted about 25-35 minutes and then we used the rest of the time drinking, dancing, and more drinking!
Photo Credit: Alex Shiu Photography
Scheduling Tip: Typically receptions are only one hour and happen directly after the ceremony, however if you would like to have it after dinner or would like to pay for the extra hour you will need to submit the request early to ensure that the area is available.
For the reception package we chose the cheapest appetizers and spent more on the liquor package. We could not opt out of appetizers so we had to pay for the food, unfortunately since we had dinner before it was not touched. Private parties guests are not allowed to use their all you can drink package. We made sure that our guests know that they had 2 hours to drink as much as you can. During our reception schedule every time we moved to a different part of the schedule we asked if our guests had a drink in their hand. Thank you to the bartenders! We had 3 bartenders and 2 servers. I saw a drink in everyone’s hand and the servers were getting guests who were not by the bar. The bridal party was extremely happy with the service and wait time. By the end of the reception, we believe we got our moneys worth 😉
Cake Tip: Our wedding coordinator before the cruise recommended that we get a two tier cake because of the number of our guests, however our guests were so full from dinner they barely made a dent on the first layer.
Reception Schedule:
- First Dance
- Cake Cutting
- Daddy and Daughter dance
- Bouquet Toss
- Mom and Son Dance
- Boutonniere Toss
- Speeches: Best Man, Maid of Honor, Father of the Bride, Mother of the Bride, Mr. and Mrs. Metzker Thank you Speech
- Drink and Dance
Clean Up: We had an AMAZING coordinator because I was ready to have my maid of honor help move our wedding items (guest book and cake topper), however Dusko said that he would take care of it for me. So the next day, he brought over our wedding certificate, guestbook, cake topper, and the leftover cake to our cabin. He really went above and beyond!
9:00 PM- The lounge was open for the public and we were still dancing and drinking! I stayed up till 1 AM and Ryan stayed up later catching up with his family.
Ryan and I danced with 2 couples after the club was open. They joked saying that they wanted to crash it, honestly we were all having a good time and we hung out with them after and during the trip that if they crashed it I wouldn’t have mind.
Overall, we had an amazing wedding day. The Princess staff really made it above and beyond to make Ryan and I feel special. I can’t wait for our 50th anniversary to do this all over again.
Photo Credit: Alex Shiu Photography
Group picture with Dusko the day after the wedding.
