meghan

btw, I just saw that someone posted a couple pics of Amy's wedding on facebook! She looks gorgeous and looks like they had a beautiful blue sky!

Quote: Originally Posted by chong Has anyone done the Family Dinner Option? I think that's what we are leaning towards for our reception. Pick & Choose Dinner Option sounds great but there are more choices on the Family Dinner Option. Any thoughts? Chong I have not even heard of this option... Quote: Originally Posted by suzannepdc Hey everyone! Lurker here - back and married! Just missed Wendy by ONE DAY at the Azul Beach!!! And thank you for the sweet note - it made my day! Wedding was wonderful - I really do love the resort and it was absolutely perfect for my family (we only had 16 guests - all immediate family) - it was their first AI experience and well, you really can do nothing better than the service at AB, in part due to its size. My Mom was so in awe that she could just sit on the beach and someone would bring her glass after glass of champagne. I just wish that the Lomas people in Miami were not so frustrating to work with - we had a big issue with our reception location (which was finally fixed after MUCH fighting by my TA) where I would have moved the wedding - despite the fact that I loved the resort (we did a site visit in October, which is when we fell in love with the resort). To answer lots of questions that have come up in the last few days - yup, there's a free kids menu for the reception. I just assumed that it was free and dealt with Tiffany in that way - my niece is 3 and two others were both 5, so their rate to stay was minimal, so I wasn't randomly paying for them to have dinner. The people there are also amazing. We had the flan as the dessert, which none of the kids were too excited about, so they brought them all brownies and ice cream and brought my niece who doesn't like chocolate something completely different - without being asked or prompted, they just did. (and I will echo Wendy's comment about the cake - it was REALLY good - and I figured it was worth the fight to bring it to the room - damn, I would have!) Photographer issue - I agree, it's super annoying, but I also understand a bit where they are coming from and I think even charging people the $500 fee was not helping in trying to maintain their relationships with their preferred vendors. I know that some places (I think some of the Sandals, but I could be wrong) do not allow ANY outside vendors, so you have to pay a game that they are part of your family, which would make me very uncomfortable. We flew someone in who rocked, but she's a little expensive. There are some photogs that have fairly reasonable rates and do not charge much more than the cost of having them come down. I am more active on theknot destination weddings board and I know that several recent brides used Jaye Reilly (Jaye Reilly Photography San Diego, Minnesota, and Destination Wedding, Boudoir, Birth Photographer) who is a former destination wedding bride herself and I think she is reasonable. You may also want to pop over there and look at people's planning bios for names of other photographers that they are flying in from the U.S. to various destinations for weddings to see your options. I really do think you can do it for $2000. Oh - our pics in case you want to see a small AB wedding - just some teasers are at Leah Stafford Photography Oh and for the person having 90 people, they can do it, but I would check on the location of the actual ceremony. We got married on a Tuesday and there were weddings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (so of course, we left to the honeymoon resort on Thursday and missed them all!) but Mayra, the on-site person mentioned that one of them was for 80 people and the ceremony was in the Blue Terrace. Okay, that was just WAY too long! Just happy that I finally have time to get to check in with you guys! Thanks for giving us that review and your pictures are beautiful! What an awesome photographer!

oh, i did see those a long time ago! gorgeous...don't know how i forgot! I loved the pink and grey.

ohhh, I don't think I saw those for some reason! just the fb ones. I will look now

Quote: Originally Posted by Afrommert UGH, I know excatly what your feeling.., this was totally furstrating for me. I ended up using Caribe photography. They ended up doing a great job, so I do recommend them. however< i will say this, its nothing like claudia and some others that I have seen in comparison. Is there anyone getting married same weekend as you that maybe you can work out a deal with for a good photographer? Amy, where are those beautiful photos?? Quote: Originally Posted by cjb0arder13 I'm glad to hear you were happy with Caribe, because that's who I'll go thru if they are sticklers on this rule. The reason I want a good photographer is because my FI *hates* having his picture taken...he says he's really un-photogenic and that he "ruins" every picture that he's in, and I want someone who will make him change his mind. I want him to be PROUD to show people his picture, and I think it'll take a good photographer to make him see. That's so sweet of you to want a good photographer so your FI will be proud of his photos. Quote: Originally Posted by cjb0arder13 That is such a big bummer! I guess I won't hold my breath. Luckily it worked out for you though...like I said before your pictures are so amazing I guess I'll just have to try to get more comfortable with Caribe. At least I'll save some money...silver lining, right? You will love your photos either way and they are not bad photographers...you can always have something better no matter who you get. Keep thinking of the positive that you will be saving a lot of money and you will still have beautiful photos in the end.

Quote: Originally Posted by chong I thought we got the best deal... it's about $160 per person per night for the Jr Jacuzzi Suite at Azul Sensatori after the group agreement (20%). We booked through the destination wedding. Anyone got better deal? I am curious... chong I'm not sure if I was clear in that post, but our price of $1499 is for the resort and our flights...not just resort stay. For our gift bags, we ordere travel mugs off of discountmugs.com. They actually just arrived Friday. Everyone will get a mug and we will put on things in them. NOt sure yet, but maybe cigars for the guys, tea, lip balm, sweets, candles, etc....we'll see what we can find. I've heard of people giving beach towels as a wedding favour and I think that is a good idea.

Chong, here is a website for caribe photo...not sure if you have seen it Caribephoto

So we have a new wedding date...July 1st....could I have my date changed on the list Nicole, please Our travel agent has been working on getting everything sorted out for us. We can't use Claudia as our photographer anymore, but they got someone else from her team...still not pleased, but can't do much and at least we like her team. We still don't know if we can have the same location for our ceremony and reception...when I talked to my TA yesterday her response was...."we are working on it and will let you know monday". Now I'm having to deal with many of my guests calling and asking what is going on and complaining about all of this. People are telling me to demand a full refund and cancel the whole thing! They don't understand that we have planned this wedding for 2 years and we will be out money if we cancel and book somewhere else...some people are even saying to cancel and do a wedding in toronto!! I really don't want to listen to other people's complaints about this right now. I think I'm gonna have Matt call our TA today and tell them that they need to give us some more info and they need to start contacting our guests to let them know what's going on.

Suzanne, do you have the emails saved or anything in writing that says you could have the location for the reception you wanted? If you do, I would start talking to Fabio and send this emails to him. I had the resort try to go back on an approved photographer last year, but I once I showed fabio my emails from the resort saying I could have the photographer, he had to let me use her still, even though she was no longer approved.

Anneliese, so glad to hear everything went well, can't wait to see pictures!....it seems like its been quite rainy there which is worrying me.... I am also concerned that there are 2 weddings per day there and we don't have a wedding date as of right now.....how are they going to fit us in I'm having a hard time we will get our venue we requested etc...

Thanks Amy...we hope it gets sorted out quickly too. I was just looking at those pictures too! Looks like it was a beautiful day!

Quote: Originally Posted by thefuturemrslutz Meghan, can you up date us I have been thinking about you!!!! Lindsay, I am so happy to hear you had an awesome bd shoot and can't wait to see pictures if you share them!! ...you were so cute asking if you could call anyone! ...I don't think you can but thanks for the offer The owner of our travel agency called and apologized for the way this situation was presented and she is being very cooperative in helping us get this sorted out. It will not work for us to leave on the day we had planned, so we have to change our wedding date. Due to the hassle of changing the flight, they are reimbursing our guests $150 and upgrading our room. However, because we have to change our wedding date, we have to get our engravings on our rings changed, and our photographer is no longer available. The TA said they will pay for our deposit if we lose it, but I'm going to expect more than that because I still can't have Claudia who I wanted. A lot of things are still up in the air, but the TA is working on it....I'm not even sure if I can still have our reception at the venue we want with the date changed. i will keep you updated. thanks for listening and your support!

Quote: Originally Posted by taylorwd OMG Meghan that is TERRIBLE!!!!! Is there nothing they can do? I mean really someone must be able to pull some strings somewhere! Can you pay a fee and change your reservation? And did your TA just nonchalantly spring this on you with no prior warning? Can't she do something for you? I would think she'd be on the airlines 24/7 trying to get this fixed for you. Taylor, after telling them this is completely unacceptable, they offered to change our departure date to June 28th. This allows me and matt to have an extra day after our wedding, but presents problems for everyone else coming. We all have a package deal to leave on the 27th. People have already booked off work, etc, and after talking to some guests, they can not get that extra monday off work at this point. The other option is that matt and I go on the 28th and the rest of our guests go on the 26th, but this does not work for us either, because that means instead of us having 7 days together, we only have 4 and our guests still have to leave early after our wedding. Last option is to change our wedding date. However, we have booked Claudia as our photographer, and we don't know if she is even available on another day! Plus, I'm not going to be impressed if after 2 years of thinking our date is July 2nd, being on our invitations and everything, it ends up being changed. Quote: Originally Posted by amybermuda There is no hungover - you wont be able to sleep if you have to fly out at 530am - what the hell?! Can you fly out the following day at 530? That means a 3am pick up from AS and if you are flying direct, youd be back in TO around 9am, right? What airline is this? Meghan, we have all had our "surprises" and usually they turn for the best.... so I am defo keeping positive for you!!!! I feel that a lot of TAs are lame and tell you, the bride, ridiculous things before investigating. I bet this is a stupid ass false alarm!! Not to be demeaning, but from my experience (and on this thread) TAs are not good customer service people. You will need to fight, but I have faith that there is a fix to this!!!! Most are not trained to be DW TAs -- those are few and far between!! Given you have over a month to go, you should be able to get diff flights. Let us know how it goes!! We are working with a travel agent who got us a package deal with the resort and a flight. I think this has happened because the airline they were working with went bankrupt so the flight on the 27th is no longer there. Quote: Originally Posted by thefuturemrslutz WTF!!! This cannot happen...call the airline directly and explain you have a legal ceremony, etc, and cannot fly out til later. Worse comes to worse, cancel this flight and rebook. You may lose some money but it will be worth it. What was the reason We can't call the airline directly because our Travel agent got us a package deal with the resort and an airline. We can't change our flighton our own. We would have to get all our money back, book the resort and flight separately, and that would cost us and all of our guests a fortune. I'm not prepared to lose a ton of money as well as make our guests suffer. I will keep you all updated.

OMG!!, I am having a huge melt down right now!....my TA just emailed me our flight reservations and they have been changed!! This now means that we get married on July 2nd, and have to be up at 5:30 am the next morning to go home!! We were supposed to have the whole next day and night after our wedding and a honeymoon breakfast! We don't even get a honeymoon night now cuz we have to be up so early! Who is going to want to be packing all drunk and hungover and exhausted, and how am I supposed to get ready for a wedding as well as make sure i'm ready to go home in 12 hours!!OMG!!

Amy, so glad to hear everything is going so well! Thanks for keeping us updated

I love that I am in the 1 month mark now on my ticker!!

Quote: Originally Posted by Maidofhonour8 Hi Ladies, We have booked! We fly out 22nd June 2010 - not got the confirmed wedding date yet, but hopefully 29th or 30th June! Soooo excited! This thred is just amazing & you ladies are all soo helpfull, thinking of Katie & Amy, hope all is going as the imagined! Just wanted to check something our TA has said, we have booked a beach cermony @ Sensatori, with the gold wedding package, but she has said that we have to have the reception at Blue International restaurant @ Azul Beach?!? Can't really understand why this is? Only have a small party 9 adults & 1 child (incl bride & groom) so not like we can't fit into one of the many reception areas at Sensatori!? Has anyone else experienced anything like this? Thanks girls & happy planning! Congrats on booking! That seems strange that they are telling you to move to azul beach for the reception. I have not heard of anyone having to do this. I am wondering if it is because you are with such a small group. I think the private events at sensatori require a minimum amount (more than the group you have) but I thought you could have a semi private event at the Spoon with up to 40 people. I hope this gets sorted out and I would question them as to why they are moving you. Quote: Originally Posted by Maidofhonour8 Whooops! Thats supposed to be 22nd June 2011!! Getting too carried away wishing it was this year not next!! lol I was thinking, wow! they leave in just a few weeks! quickest planning ever!

Katie and Amy, have an awesome time in mexico!!!! i will be thinking of you both this week

Quote: Originally Posted by amybermuda Hi Katie! You must be getting so excited! You leave this weekend, right? Typically brides put their E-ring on their right hand ring finger for the wedding ceremony and then switch it over for the reception. Mine fits OK that way but my best friend could not get hers on her right hand so I think her Mom held it for her during the ceremony and then gave it to her afterward. That sux that your AHR is making you stress out! I am doing an iPod and no photog kind of event, caterer will do everything for me - linens and chair rental, glassware, etc. - so its kind of a one stop shop. I am excited to do the food and wine tastings though - and the cake. We are going to Maryland June 25th to do it all - and together - which I kind of missed with planning a DW. I just noticed it is one month today for you!!! so exciting!

Quote: Originally Posted by ~Katie~ hey girls, just a quick question... what are people doing about their engagement rings on the wedding day? is anyone leaving it on, or are you taking it off? just trying to decide what to do myself!! I was planning on taking my engagement ring off for the ceremony. Hadn't thought about reception, but I like the idea of putting it back on with my wedding ring.

Amy, your planning thread is awesome!! Wendy, your photos are beautiful

Also....how many lanterns did you or are you getting?

For anyone who has or is getting paper lanterns, what sizes are you getting or did you get?

Quote: Originally Posted by rkf1046 OK, so I am a little unsure of myself now...I had a conversation with a co-worker about why would I register for gifts if I am not inviting everyone to the wedding. We are having about 25-30 people hopefully and I am inviting few work friends and not much of the our extended families. I am curious if everyone else registered. I of course don't expect that everyone will get us gifts especially those who are coming but I also know that people who aren't coming or understand the logistics of a destination wedding may want to buy us a gift. What has everyone else done? I don't see the big deal if you don't want to buy a gift than don't. The conversation just made me start second guessing our decision...I am pretty sure I read some postings about this before, but of course I can't find them. Hey, I registered and I would say if you want to as well, go for it. My mom and sister had a wedding shower for us where about 70 people came, and all got us gifts. If people don't want to buy a gift, they don't need to, but I would suggest registering.

Quote: Originally Posted by KittenHeart Meaghan, I'm just gonna walk down the aisle and keep going down to take photos and yes the whole wedding party is going to follow us down the aisle. I figure people know the ceremony is over and I've instructed the coordinators to guide people down to the beach for the cocktail reception. Sorry, I meant to ask about the song when just you walk down the aisle. Maybe I called it the wrong thing. So when you walk down the aisle (before you are married) are you going to have a 3 minute song play?