My daughter is getting married in April @ Cherela and after inviting 200 people 130 have decided to come!
80% of these have never been to Negril so we will be busy that week hosting and answering ?-s.
People whom we thought were not coming have told us they have booked flights and hotels including my
brother with his disabled wife (head crushed by horse 6 years ago)
Question , does anybody know if they rent beach wheelchairs?
Negril will never be the same with this crew!
Happy Holidays Farmer
WOW! This is amazing. You and your family must be loved by many for them to travel to a country where they have never been. Congratulations to your Daughter (and you of course). Gee I might even drop in and say hello if that's OK because I should be back in April.
Sorry don't know about the wheelchair.
Irie Sue
Congrats!!!! Where is the honeymoon??? Ha, just kiddin .....
Congrats to your daughter.
Re wheelchair, it might be wise to rent in America. I know there is a store in Kingston that I went to that had disability items, but they were only for sale. Don't know of any other place.
If your dream doesn't include the "impossible", it's too small - Joel Osteen
I was at sandals about 10 days ago for the day and saw a beach wheel chair. You might want to give them a call . We were staying at g.p. congraulations
I would contact the Charela about a wheelchair. They are very helpful with helping guests with disabilities.
I agree with contacting Charela. I have seen them put out a portable walkway before.
I have seen several beach wheelchairs this season (big inflated tires). I asked one couple where they got theirs from and they told me they brought it with them from the states. I was very happy to see how easily it went thru the sand.
Good luck with the wheelchair and congrats on the wedding!!
I googled beach wheelchairs and came up with a chair made of PVC piping that can be taken apart in 2pieces
I have seen them on the beach but thought they were homemade ,cost about $1200.I showed my bro and he seemed
interested so maybe that will work.Thanks for all the suggestions!
Farmer
Congradulations Dad. Your post triggered a lot of memories of our daughters wedding in 2008. Wow 130 that is a number.
As I reflect back I can think of a few things we did that seemed to work, I am sure you have thought of them:
1. I sat up a group e-mail and shared out information over a few month period. I looked at it as nothing can be to simple to share. Sometimes we that have been there many times do so much as a second nature that we have to realy concentrate to think of the things we do that soften the ride for newbies. We shared our favorite web sites and if I saw a thread that seemed pertinent I would flash it to the group.
2. I worked up 4 music play list and shared them out. To some I snail mailed CD's over a period of time, a new 1 each week or so, to the tech savvy I shared my play list in i-Tunes/Napster. A lot of the guest told me that as listened as they went about daily life in advance of the trip they would get excited thinking that themselves and the other guest were on the same link as yhey anticipated the trip to come.
3. If we did not have our roots dug in so deep at Mariposa, Charlea would have been our choice to share the event with friends. The restaurant on site, the beach location are perfect. Our wedding was on the 3rd full day in, I made a real point of setting up dinner and running a van load of folks with me as I chored the the first full day in to acclimate them to negril and gambios and the overall lay out, we shared a beach party then rehearshal dinner on 2nd, and the wedding took up the 3rd. By the 4th day everyone was pretty well self sufficient and we could quit being the host and thrill in the stories as seen through our newbie friends eyes. I kept my igloos stocked with cold drinks and an i-pod docking station on a patio and that was a central gathering point for folks on their way to and from (it also become the late night fun zone).
4. I can not say enough good about the live web cast of the ceremony and reception. I had to buy and run 500 feet of cat 5 cable. But the inclusion and being able to talk to folks back home was priceless.
5. Coleen gifted little stuff for a couple months in advance. Bottle openers, key floaties, doo rags, etc, those little things we have in our travel packs that make life simpler.
6. Not a thing that a dad would think about but we rented a pampering room for the bride and wedding party the day of the ceremony, hair, nails, pedicure, beaded jewelery made on site. The beauticiians were from a big all inclusive and provided by a long time friend. It was a great investment.
7. We had a proffesional photographer from Negril and she did a good job, but 90% of the pictures that made the wedding video were from friends and their DLSR's, I took a lap top down with a Sony card reader and would ask folks to let me download their cameras, exceptional quality from friends.
Farmer I have followed your travels over the years and I know you are an old hand. You understand the ways and runnings. I think I do also. Coleen and I went down for a week a month in advance and even though we were going for simplicity we still had a lot of i's to dot and t's to cross. And I have watched weddings in the states over the years so I am not saying this is a Jamaican thing it happens everywhere, but a few of the things that we thought were planned just fell apart and being far away means that we could not just run up to the studios and grab another sound system, etc. I would like to think that how I acted re-acted to certain situations set the tone for our guest, turn on a dime, there is no problem if there is "no problem mon". By the way that's not sand in your eye at the ceremony, that is a tear of pride and happiness.
I have won many awards in a lifetime of competition and service. But the highest was offered without plaque or fanfare on a hilltop in post Ivan Jamaica. A true Rasta and a dear friend observed "Chet you are like a father of men, you see need and fulfill that need without being asked". Let us be travelers and not tourist.
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