Kingston,Jamaica

[Glogirl68]

Happy weekend everyone. Not nice to see that updates have been reversed what are they doing there. Someone needs to take a good look at what KG does with files. Everything will work out ladies and those updates will be correct.
For those of you in T.O where is a good decent Jamaican grocery store so hubby can get decent stuff cause Hamilton is limited, there is only one here that we go to and they don't have much. And we all know Food Basics Fortinos No Frills aren't exactly into having alot of Carribean food.

We are heading over soon for a wedding. Not sure where the wedding is cause we still have not gotten a invite. Wedding is in 3 weeks, hubby says we don't need one, we just go. Its his friend from home so I guess thats how they run. All I know is I want that invite in my hand so I don't look a fool when they say sorry no room at the inn..lol

 

[chelley]

Glo.. In Toronto, your best bet is nicey's I think.... There's one on Victoria park north of finch and another deeper in scarberia on either Lawrence or eglington... Alternately, try some of the little grocers on eglington west, a few blocks west of the Allen... China town has a lot of the produce and would be a fun culture shock

As much as I dislike Brampton, we are beyond spoiled here... I can get yellow yam in no frills and when we want cho cho or jackfruit or something it's a trip to seasons or oceans (oceans is closer to be, like 5min walk... Hubby likes seasons better)... Both sell all the produce and most of the package goods.. They are both chain stores (well I know oceans is and seasons is set up like one too)... Large Chinese grocers that have most Caribbean stuff too... Prices are really good for the produce..

Just got back from oceans... Got some yam and sweet potato....

 

[kc416]

Glo, I live downtown toronto and i think the best place to go is kensinton market at spadina and college area - and they have the best patty shop too.. you can pretty much get any and everything and its fun to walk around that place.

You can also go to no frills at sherbourne and bloor look it up, they have everything there.. its where I shop... pumpkin, yella yam, dasheen, okra, plantain, green banana, salt beef in the bucket, bok choy, cho cho, ox tail, goat, salt fish, canned ackee, cassava.... everything...

i dont even concider vic park and finch toronto.. i think its north york!!

 

[chelley]

Lol it's all toronto when you don't live there anymore.... Miss it sometimes, used to live at church and dundas...

What I like about niceys is that it's a Jamaican store true and true... You can buy the tastee cheese cut up in little bags when you're too cheap to buy a whole can... Lol... They also carry like 743 different kind of plain crackers lol but yes, there are much better placed to buy produce than niceys..

 

[Vanny]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I greatly appreciate it. We are probably going to have something small. I want to keep it that way.
I didn't know that at Grand Palladium they charged you for a whole nigt/day pass! That's crazy !!
Andyou need to book a room for 3 days in advance :S

I might try the Hilton, seems okay for the price and I think the rooms are cheaper...
although Palladium has a picturesque scenary!

We'll see, I'll go check it out next weekend.
The Gold country club seems nice, I passed by there last month on my way to negril
and they have a nice park.

Does anyone know a nice updated restaurant in mobay? Maybe we can hold a reception ther.

Too many options,so little time!

I used to live on Eglinton West, there are a few jamaican shops and the No frills.. Eglinton west/vaughan has a great patty shop!
They taste like the ones from ja. Also Maiesha has yummy strew chicken with rice and a drink for 5$.. hehe
on tuesday it's 2,25 $ tooney tuesdays lol In the evening they grill jerk chicken outside in those
metal drums.. yummmy!!
Perhaps the one at weston and jane, lots of carribean stuff. you can also try the chinese grocery stores..too
I couldn't believe all the carribean items they had.

 

[chelley]

It's probably not what you're looking for vanny, but we were married on the cliffs in Negril... Tensing pen... A private ceremony (what we did, just the two of us) is reasonable and phenomenally beautiful (the property is one of the nicest in Negril IMO)... If you want guests it gets outrageously expensive (they make you rent the entire property)... We decided to just keep it the two of us since things were just complicated and a bit on the rushed side (the week he proposed I got pregnant lol)... While it would have been nice to have family, I wanted to do something small and private but still special and memorable, so we chose tensing pen... I strongly dislike Negril so it must have been partially hormonal too lol

Good luck wherever you end up!

 

[lonely_wife]

Hi everyone... Wow yes already sunday... man this is the first time in my life that I hate weekends lol ;D ;D ;D whenever thrusday afternoon come I get a little sad and when sunday comes then I am pumped... Waiting for Kingston to call back... I am hoping for hubby to get a call back this week at some point ;D

I am starting to feel sick My throat is killing me (I hope it's not a throat infection)... If it doesn't get better by monday I will see a doc cause I wouldn't want to be sick and go visit hubby...

How is everyone weekend so far??? Anything interesting happening??

 

[CharlieD10]

Good morning forum family!

Hanging about in the lobby of RIU Montego Bay, my cousin had his wedding here yesterday. Vanny, you could look into the RIU properties too, the room rates are not very expensive for all-inclusives and they are located on some nice beaches in Negril, Mo Bay and Ochie. The passes were $75 per person for those guests who didn't stay over at the hotel. PM me if you want a review of how the hotel handled the wedding.

LOL, Lonely_wife, I am going to try not to get into that mode where I hate weekends because I am dying to hear something from KG. I treasure my weekends, they restore my sanity after a week at work. If I get to the point where I add "immigrationwaititis" (thank you, Sickntired for that term!) to my list of stresses, I will surely go off the deep end!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

 

[Godblesswife]

Vanny a wedding can be a very stressful event, but if you want to make it as simple as possible, and you have already decided on a small event, then you may want to look into doing something at a beautiful church grounds or similar sorrounding. (for picture Purposes)
and then to keep the family happy, you could do a little reception for them at a hall or a Family home if there is enough space. and just get the food catered in and you and Hubby alone can spend a few days away by yourselves at a Hotel of your Choice with the money you saved.
but if you and hubby dont want to handle the work of organising the food etc. then you may just want to do the hotel package.

Hubby and I were looking into a Hotel Wedding too, but we found it cheaper to Organise it ourselves, and then take the extra money for the guests and had our getaway, then the extra cash we saved we used to send off our application. and it turned out really beautiful.
as with most Jamaican weddings some people you invite dont come, but there will always end up being twice as many people you equally did not invite, so self catering helped us big time, (with the help of my Uncle who is a good cook we pulled it off.)

Whatever you decide on doing though, start planning early as it can be overwhelming in the final days leading up to the big day.

 

[ladyposh]

Godblesswife..I agree with you about the small wedding. Hubby and I planned our own because when I made calls to places in JA from here (canada) the prices they were quoting me was ridiculous. So we had a small reception at the condo we rented the day before our wedding with food we ordered from a local chef and then after the church, the next day, we went back to the condo and had a small cake and champagne reception. I rented a condo in Columbus Heights ocho rios for 1 week out of my 2 week stay in JA. Our pics were beautiful from a local photographer who charged about $9000JMD for our album with a CD of the pics. The food for about 20-25 ppl cost about $18000 JMD and we bought our alcohol at the local wholesaled shop. I bought my dress ,tuxedo and bridemaid dresses and decorations from here and the bouquets was ordered once I reached JA. It was small but very tastefully done

 

[Godblesswife]

Ladyposh, We had about a Hundred people, but we did not spend much more than you, since Uncle didnt charge for the catering. he just enlisted my brother to help him cook and that was it. 2 wicked cooks in the Kitchen and the food sell off thats all we needed.
We just bought our own liquor from the wholesale and rented the hall which came with music, cake and Decoration which was tastefully done.
Dresses suit Etc, I had bought those from the UK So we didnt need to spend on that again.
I also bought some decorations, but didnt end up using them.

The people we rented the place from were really good with the decor I could'nt have done it better myself.
The hall came with most things, tables, Chairs, table covers. turned out Cheaper in the end, compared to all the quotes we got. plus we had enough food to feed all the people who ended up showing up.
we didnt want to pay for food at a Hotel if people may not show up to eat it, or not pay for it and then people would want to come or show up and then not have enough. all in all, doing it Self Organised was the Cheapest and best option for us in the end.

 

[togirl2011]

hi everyone. I'm new to the board. been watching updates for a while now and decided to join the discussion.

My hubby and I were married in Jamaica in August 2010. A great place for a wedding. I agree with some of the others. Book something local and you will save a bundle. We had 35 guests at a local inn and they took care of decorations, minister and food. We bought the alcohol and they provided a server. My husband organized everything and got good prices. I'm sure the price would have been higher if I called. I ordered the bouquets the day before and they turned out beautiful. Tip - if you want local flowers the florist will need more than a day ...lol. I think mine picked the flowers off the tree in their yard but they did a great job. Most of our guests were locals but we were lucky. Only those invited showed up.....although my hubby didn't advertise things and the inn was not in his community but was convenient for guests. Good luck Vanny with planning your event.

Here's hoping for some phone calls from Kingston office. Have a great night!

 

[Godblesswife]

Welcome Tori2011, Welcome to the Forum, how far along in the process are you Hun?

 

[CharlieD10]

Hi and welcome Tori2011

I will add you to our Updates list tomorrow, feeling a little lazy as I watch the Superbowl with hubby right now.

As we always tell newcomers, stick and stay!

 

[lonely_wife]

Welcome aboard togirl2011... ;D ;D

OMG WE ARE MONDAY YOUPI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope kingston start making calls from early today