IrieBride08

Tianna!

Courtney!

and happy planning Karalinda! (Pretty name!)

to the forum and happy planning! I started out with destinationweddings.com but decided not to use them after having a few issues with the travel planners. I worked with Amarjit and then with another planner (whose name is escaping me right now.) They were both very nice, but I didn't find as knowledgeable about the resorts and so decided not to go with them. I kept getting incorrect information about resorts from them and was afraid to trust the information they would tell me and would find myself contacting resorts myself to double check the information they were telling me! I decided it was a headache I didn't need. I'm happy to PM you other details if you need them. They seem to work out for some people, but it just wasn't the case for me. Good luck with your planning though!

and happy planning!

Congratulations and to the forum! Happy planning!

Welcome to the forum!

Are you going to do a Sand Ceremony or Unity Candle or anything like that? You could include whichever you would be doing.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dbell That's ironic...I was just referred to someone with Your Travel Agent. It wasn't very personable - the agent told me to go to him site and put in my info and make my reservation. I found it quite confusing because I don't want the basic packages, I need adjoining rooms, discounts for minors and to be able to get all of the early booking discounts which are out there which some of the other TA's are offering I have finally decided to find a good TA and hand all of the responsibilities over to them. Good luck and let me know what you decide to do! Yeah, well don't tell my FI, but I wouldn't trust them with a wedding. If you're going to just take a simple trip, it's comparable to using Expedia or Travelocity, but it's not like they can offer you the kind of help you'd need for a wedding. Seriously, I only did it for the commission. I have no one from the business helping me (and don't think I'd want to!) PS - I live in PG County too! Right down the road from you in Largo!

Thanks Mo. I think I will. The funny thing about trying to support FI in his business endeavor is that while he's very business minded, he's not "business literate" (probably not even a word! LOL!!) I'm trying to say that he is not very computer literate (and his business is web-based...) He wants to be in charge of collecting the money, et al but do you think I trust him to maintain spreadsheets and detailed information on our guests, etc. That would be BIG NO!! This is the man who didn't know the difference between a MS Word document and the internet. I guess I just have to find a way around this problem. I do realize that it's quite a lot to take on as the bride. (What was I thinking?!?!?!) I didn't think that a TA wouldn't be interested in helping me without the promise of a commission. I guess I just have to check around and see what's feasible.

I really do appreciate all of the input from you ladies on this. I guess I just have to do more research to find out what the best option is going to be. The reason I don't have a travel agent is because my FI started his own travel business at the same time we got engaged (YTB or Your Travel Business). He really wanted to act as the TA for our wedding so we could get commissions on the group booking for the resort. Initially, this was a HUGE fight for us because he knew NOTHING about being a travel consultant, the business was new and I didn't want him "learning" on our wedding! At the same time, I was having all this trouble with destinationweddings and was having to negotiate with the resort myself. After a while, I thought about it and figured that for that part, I'd already done everything a travel agent would have done with the contract negotiation, etc. so it started to look attractive to me for us to receive a commission on the wedding booking too. That's the only reason I did it. I figured that the paypal buttons would make payments easier, but I didn't consider the fees. I think I will take a few days to explore my options because as time ticks closer, I'm already feeling overwhelmed with both work and planning this wedding and I know that I'm going to be CRAZY by February! I would love to just be able to pass all this sh** off on someone else and be a carefree bride!

Quote: Originally Posted by carlymcmullen At this point I would definately deactivate the button until you can figure it out. How many people are on your list? If it is only a few, and you feel comfortable with it, then call them and explain. I don't think anyone would expect YOU to eat 33% of their bills just to make payments easier for them. Are you paying for the trip and the guests are paying you? If that is the setup, if you didn't have the button, they would be mailing you the check, so I think reverting to the original way isn't tacky. I'm expecting 50-60 people to attend. I may have to post an update on my wedding website and maybe email others. I just want to decide a clear course of action first. We were going to use the money sent in from our guests and send in one lump payment with all of the guests names and info to register them for the trip. Maybe having them mail payments would work--however inconvenient to some. I'll have to see. Thanks for your thoughts though! I really appreciate it. Quote: Originally Posted by Christa Hmmm, I think you can still get your guests to pay you via paypal, but just in a different way. I know I can sign into my paypal account & send a friend money with out a fee. What if you do it that way? I'm going to definitely look into this. Maybe I'll call customer service this evening. Thanks for the tip! I hope to God it works! Quote: Originally Posted by Mrs.B 2008 since you are getting married at such a big resort (Sandals) can you get in touch with their corporate office and set up a payment account? BTW - i am confused as to why guests are paying you anyway I'll have to check into this as well to see if this is a possibility. The reason our guests are "paying us" is because technically, we are the "travel agents". We are mediating between the resort and our guests. I wish I had explored other possibilities before setting it up this way, but it is what it is, I guess. I'd give anything for a travel planner!

Oh Heidi! I am so very sorry for your loss. When I read the thread I audibly yelled NOOO!!! in the middle of my office. I hope the doctors can find out what the problem is and fix it. My thoughts and prayers are with you and Reggie. I'm sorry.

Ok, it's my turn to officially have issues! For starters, I'm planning my wedding and travel plans myself. The only coordinator I have is my resort planner (who won't email me back, but that's another issue!). When I was first engaged, I signed up with destinationweddings.com and it wasn't a good experience. I had two different travel planners who made everything difficult for me--from confusing my wedding plans with other brides to continually giving me incorrect information about various resorts I was trying to research. Ultimately, I ended up negotiating the contracts and group rates for both the resort and airfare myself and I think I did a great job under the circumstances. The thing I missed most about using DW was the idea of my guests being able to make payments on the wedding trip online, etc. Well, I decided I would do it all myself and added payment capability to my wedding website via Paypal. Things have gone fairly smothly, except I had the hardest time creating the payment buttons (since I'm not an expert in html code, etc.) but I finally figured it out and got them working. Well, I just realized that Paypal charges a small fee on each transaction that is made. For example, I tested the buttons and paid $1 to make sure everything was working properly. How about a .33 fee left only .67 cents in my account! I knew there would be a fee, but I didn't think it would be that much! That .33 is a BIG dent out my dollar! How much will the fee be on the $969 per couple for the wedding trip?!?!?! I need all of that money to pay for the wedding trip. I created a wedding account and attached it to Paypal specifically for that purpose. I can't allow my guests to use the buttons and have Paypal take huge chunks out of the payments! FI and I are paying for this ourselves and our budget is small! Now I don't know what to do because my wedding website and the STDs that I sent out last month all say that payments can be made online, and my guests are starting to RSVP and want to begin paying for the trip. I feel like I've backed myself into a corner with this and don't know what to do. I need another way to allow my guests to pay for the wedding trip. I even considered asking them to mail payments to me (and I could deposit them into the wedding account), but I don't know how tacky that would be. I wish I could afford to just subsidize the difference ourselves, but I'm afraid it will put us far beyond our budget. At this point, I'm REALLY missing having a travel agent/wedding coordinater to help me sort through this mess, but I don't think I can afford one at this point. I need help ladies!

Welcome to the forum and congrats!

from another Jamaica bride! Congrats and happy planning!

It's definitely worth it to go. They had one here in Washington, DC a month or so ago. My advice would be to not bother with trying to get to the store when it opens. Go a little later after the crazies clear out (between 10-12pm) There will still be TONS of beautiful dresses on the racks and you don't have to compete with the crowds. I actually went after work and stayed until they took the dresses away at 9:30 that night and there hundreds and hundreds of dresses still available! I tried on a BEAUTIFUL Ramona Keveza dress that was only $499, but the alterations would have been wayyyy too expensive so I let it go.

Quote: Originally Posted by Smelikai They actually want $15 per cake. Daayum! well, ok then! Well, it does suck. When we heard we'd have to pay for a tasting, we decided we didn't need one. I'm still undecided about whether to use the "free" cake included in the package or upgrade. (These resorts sure do nickel and dime you for EVERYTHING!!) I just re-read your original post and I do think that if you're going to come out of your pocket for a $400 cake, they should just give you a tasting for free!

My resort doesn't do free cake tastings either. If we do request one, we will have to pay for it. I believe it's for the inconvenience of having the baker create sample cakes, since it's not like they keep on hand. I'm not sure what the norm is, but I personally don't think $15 is unreasonable to sample three cakes. I have a feeling they charge more than that at Sandals!

That completely sucks! Also, so unprofessional of the shop! Did you atleast get your money back?

Welcome to the forum!

to the forum and happy planning!

to the forum! Kauai sounds like a dream!

How about a $50 Amex Gift Card or Cheque so that she can buy what she chooses? (I always LOVE these!)