Hi Char, which sailing are you on? Somebody I work with has a son
getting married on the Explorer in November, also. They, too, are
getting married on the beach in St. Thomas.

I was married on a cruise three years ago. We had 52 family/friends
that sailed with us, as well as about 8 others who attended the wedding
only. We opted to get married onboard the ship before it left the Port
of Miami to facilitate those who couldn't sail with us but still wanted
to be able to attend the wedding.

Some pointers I can give you. As my TA notified me of new guests who
had booked, I periodically sent out "Cruise Bulletins" letting
everybody know who was going and in which cabin they were booked. I
also updated everyone on flight plans, rehearsal dinner, precruise
hotel, etc.

As our guests were spending their hard-earned money to attend our
wedding (although we did book a 5 night cruise to make it more
affordable for all involved), we wanted to cut down on their expenses
wherever possible. All our guests (at our suggestion) arrived in Miami
the day prior to our sailing and most of us were all on the same
flight. Since we were flying into Ft. Lauderdale but staying overnight
in Miami (since our cruise left from Miami), I didn't want all my
guests to incur the traveling expenses from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami.
We had a 45 passenger bus meet us at Ft. Lauderdale airport and
transport all of us to Miami. We blocked off rooms for a great rate at
Best Western Marina Park Hotel in Miami (now Holiday Inn Port of
Miami). It was a great location, and the night before the ship sailed,
we had a "rehearsal dinner" for all our guests at Bubba Gumps
Restaurant across the street from the hotel at Bayside Market. Nobody
had to worry about transportation, as Bayside is right across the
street from the hotel. We had a pre-set dinner menu, but everybody got
to choose their entree (from a selection of about 8 different entrees).
At the manager's suggestion, rather than paying for an open bar ($13
pp per hour), we just had everybody order whatever they wanted to
drink, and we picked up the tab. The manager was right; it was far
less expensive this way.

The next a.m. all our guests had a free breakfast at the hotel
(included in the group rate we got), and we had hired shuttle buses to
take all our guests to the ship.

Also, I had our TA make arrangements through the cruiseline that all
our dinner seating arrangements would be done so that we all had tables
next to each other at dinner. That worked out well.

As far as wedding favors, we had dolphin shaped bottle openers with our
names and wedding date engraved. We placed them in little taffeta gift
bags, and the wedding coordinator handed them out at the reception
onboard the ship.

Also, since we didn't really need invitations, since those that were
coming had already booked the cruise, I went to a website
www.bottlemeamessage.com and had our wedding invitations made up there.
They were printed on parchment paper, rolled up and placed in corked
glass bottles. The bottles had sand and real tiny seashells in them.
Each family who was coming on the cruise had one mailed to them prior
to the cruise,along with a little pocketbook I ordered at amazon.com
called The Essential Little Cruise Book.

During the cruise itself, everybody was pretty much left to do their
own thing. In port (Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios) we had made
arrangements for excursions, and we invited anyone who would like to
join us (they paid their own excursion costs). We did a private tour
in Ocho Rios, and in Grand Cayman, we booked a snorkel/stingray
excursion with Captain Marvins. Most of our guests came with us.
During sea days, most of us all met at the pool area and hung out.
Since we had a large suite (as did my brother and SIL, right next door
to us), we had an "open door" policy for cocktails in our cabins before
dinner. We just kept our cabin doors open, and everyone meandered in
and out having a cocktail.

If there are any other things I can help you with, don't hesitate to
ask. We had an absolute blast, and we are so glad we decided to get
married on a cruise. It was so much fun and no stress involved.

Jo-Ann