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Michelle & Adrian Dane Trip Report
Silver Sands May, 2004
Our trip was fabulous! While we were walking around the villas one of our friends commented that, "this must be how the stars vacation." I don't know whether it was the time of year we were there or what, but we (35 people) were practically the only ones at the resort! We felt like we owned the place and the beach was completely ours.
We arrived on Wednesday, May 12, 2004. Kay was at the airport to meet us and had cold Red Stripe on the bus (though nearly not enough!!). Since I had never been to Jamaica and, therefore, had never been to Silver Sands, I had several moments of panic as we drove from the airport &endash; I had booked the entire wedding sight unseen and had 35 people coming from England and America. I can't tell you how relieved I was as we drove through the gates of the resort and I saw Silver Sands.
We walked around to get the "lay of the land" and immediately decided that we would not have the wedding at the gazebo on the jetty (our original plan) because of the wind and sea spray. We found the gazebo in the park and fell in love. As much as I would have liked to have gotten married on the beach, this turned out to be the perfect location. We had shade, less wind, and it was just beautiful.
Angela (from the office) was so accommodating. She came by our villa the morning after we arrived and took us on a tour of several villas that were empty. She also took us to see Honeycomb Villa so that we could see where my family would be staying (my family had to be moved because Primrose Path had some problems). Angela also arranged a golf cart for my grandfather to use because of the distance between Honeycomb and the rest of our party.
The rest of our party arrived over the next two days. We had quite a few problems with coordination of airport arrival transfers, but, Angela came back to the villa before everyone left to help me sort out return transfers for all 35 people so that we didn't have to pay anything extra. I truly appreciated the time she took to help me with this.
On Friday night, there was a welcome party and we kept the Beach Bar open as long as the bartender was willing to stay. The welcome party ended up being a perfect "rehearsal dinner" for my entire party.
The Wedding:
Thelma was fabulous. We communicated exclusively by e-mail
until we arrived in Jamaica. Thelma came to our villa on
Thursday morning and we went over the final details of the
wedding (including the location change). She was happy to
conduct a rehearsal on Friday (which I highly recommend).
After the rehearsal Thelma took us to the grocery to
purchase the booze for the wedding. The total cost for the
drinks was far less than I would have expected (and we have
some serious drinkers in our party!).
Thelma was also extremely accommodating. We actually changed the location wedding location once and the reception location three times &endash; the last being the morning of the wedding!!
We had our "spa services" taken care of at our villa. Thelma hired two women come to The Orchid House to provide manicures and pedicures for the bridal party the day of the wedding and then had a hair stylist also come to the villa to do our hair. Can I tell you how relaxing it was to just have everything in the villa?? I didn't have to panic about anything. All the women did wonderful jobs. It was like having our own personal spa. I must have been the most relaxed bride ever!
The wedding was at the gazebo in the park and it is definitely the place to have your wedding. Thelma decorated it beautifully. We had a mento band and used a civil registrar instead of a minister. We were so nervous about the photographer and the videographer, but both were brilliant. The pictures and dvd (we paid extra for the dvd and they gave us the vhs tape as well) were beyond what we expected and we are so happy with the pictures.
Everyone loved the mento band too! They were such a nice touch at the ceremony and the reception.
Rum Jetty was the perfect location for the reception. After the wedding we had pictures taken on the beach while the guests had appetizers in the courtyard and the bridal party hung out on the back porch. We had a great time doing the pictures here and got to have a bit of fun with our bridal party in the process (without all the guests!). The courtyard and tables were decorated beautifully! The food was excellent (we had the Jamaican menu) and thanks to Thelma's suggestion, the staff served the bridal party before everyone got in line for food. This is also something I highly recommend &endash; otherwise you may not get to eat!!
Let me tell you about the wedding cake!! We had a chocolate cake with coconut cream frosting and it was by far the best cake I have ever had &endash; I crave it every time I see the cake cutting pictures!
The party went well on into the night and I know that everyone had an excellent time! I can't thank Thelma enough for all that she did.
If you are the type of person who wants a "no worries" kind of wedding then this is for you. People will remember our wedding! I would be happy to answer any questions and share all of my pictures with any prospective clients who would like to see them.
The Villas
The Orchid House is the perfect villa. We enjoyed Nadine,
Margaret, and Marcia so much! They made our vacation
perfect, not only with their fabulous cooking and service,
but with their company! We enjoyed talking with them and
having them around. They made their best attempt to do or
get anything we asked for (even my crazy request for nail
polish remover!). Did I say the food was fabulous??? I never
knew tuna sandwiches could taste so good. Also, Margaret's
key lime pie was to die for! They were always accommodating
with our ever-changing amounts of people who were joining us
for meals. They took such good care of us. We are already
talking about coming back next year.
Endless Summer housed several couples and singles in our party. Since the majority of our party was in this house, it was very convenient having them directly across the street from The Orchid House.
Rum Jetty housed two couples and is one of the best villas except for the lack of air conditioning! Since we had the reception here, we spent the day after the wedding at Rum Jetty. The private beach was perfect for our party. Everyone brought picnic lunches and we ate and drank all the leftovers from the wedding reception. We would love to rent Rum Jetty again, but without air conditioning, I don't think we would.
My family ended up at Honeycomb Villa (they were originally going to be in Primrose Path). The only drawback to Honeycomb is the distance, but the views from the pool are awesome! The villa is also very beautiful.
My husband's family stayed at Tu Mac Villa. Tu Mac was also great and we spent many days at the pool here.
We had friends stay at Ebb Tide (we found out that we actually know one of the owners of this villa who lives in Dallas!). Ebb Tide was beautiful and in a great location.
Other villas rented by our party were Queen's Cottage (very rustic with a beautiful location on the beach) and Dreamin' (which I never saw).
Words of caution:
Do not come here looking for night life unless you
intend to make one yourselves! With 35 of our closest
friends and family it wasn't hard to make our own night
life! It was perfect for us.
Do not arrive in Jamaica without having the chef prepare a meal for you upon arrival. We had one party arrive late and they hadn't asked their chef to prepare anything for them. They were starving when they finally made their way to our villa. Needless to say we fed them with what we had, but it could have been a grave mistake for them!
Make sure that if you have a large party traveling separately (and staying in separate villas) that you attempt to coordinate transfers. This became an issue during the arrivals (see above).
Remember that you are on "island time" and that everything is slow. If you really want something on time, ask for it to be ready 30 minutes before you really want it! This seemed to work for us.
Things we would do
differently:
Ask that the house be stocked with booze/mixers before we
arrived. We would also have the house more stocked with late
night snacks. Most evenings there were leftovers from dinner
which we munched on, but some nights we really would have
liked snacks! Once darkness falls, other than the bar, there
is nothing!
We can honestly say that we don't see ourselves ever going to an "all inclusive" touristy type place ever again. We all sincerely enjoyed our time at Silver Sands and we plan on coming back soon!
Thanks again for everything!
Adrian and Michelle Dane
Texas, USA
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