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michelle6114

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Posts posted by michelle6114

    My Beaches Boscobel review (long)

    in Sandals, Beaches, and Royal Plantation Resorts Weddings

    Posted

    Hi everyone, we're back, and what an awesome time we had! Thanks so much for all the advice and suggestions from this board, I would have been lost in Jamaica without all the tips I learned from here.

    It took about 90 minutes from the airport on a bus that wasn't too comfortable, but I saw a ton of buses so I think it is luck of the draw. Looking out the window at everything was a little upsetting, most residents live in shacks and it seems like a third world country. I saw dozens of emaciated dogs and goats on the sidewalks. Yet sprinkled throughout this poverty are sparkling resorts, each one more beautiful than the next. Plus, our bus driver barely said a word to us, so this trip from the airport was not the highlight of my trip.

    When we got to the resort (around 7pm) Elmo and friends along with a bunch of staff came out to greet our bus. Everybody was extremely friendly. The WC, Kamehsa met us in the lobby with "you must be one of my brides", a big hug and gave my mom an room upgrade when I mentioned that she had health conditions. This woman is a doll and did all she could to make our wedding perfect.

    We had an oceanfront one bedroom suite that overlooked the beach and Arizonas deck. It was huge and had 2 bathrooms which I wasn't expecting. The furnishings were a little run down but no big deal. The rooms and corridors I think could have been a little cleaner but again, no big deal. It must be hard to upkeep when there are always tons of kids there.

    The food-simply put..AMAZING!!! We were a fan of the Bayside buffet which was most convinient, it had a huge array of food and everything was cooked perfectly. We all went to Arizona's one night, whic was nice with the table service and a live steel drum band. My daughter got up and played the maracas with them. We had 12 people and everyone loved all the food, everywhere. The drinks at all the bars were great and there are not stingy with the alcohol by any means. The night before the wedding, we ate at the Venetian which was gorgeous. We did the basic weddingmoon package that was free with the 7 nights. I got married on the venetian terrace, there is a gazebo there but I got married against the wall overlooking the ocean. I had my own flowers made so we had asked Kamesha if I could have a 'credit' for my free bouquet to get 2 extra boutoniers and 2 wristlets for the parents. We had to pay a difference of $27.00 which was fine. I also told her I was concerned about not having decor, since we were not paying those atrocious decor prices, so she had someone drag 2 flowery potted plants up there for us to stand between. We paid $300 for a violin player who played 20 min during the ceremony and the remaining 40 min at the reception.

    Reception details- we hemmed and hawed over having the $75.00 pp 4 hour reception, which we could not justify since it was an all inclusive resort. We did pay $25.00 pp for a private 1 hr cocktail reception. I am glad we did. It was at the Piano Bar and everything was perfect. They even let us stay an exta 45 min. They had an open bar and a huge table full of scrumptious ho'dervs and fresh fruit. Our families were in there eating drinking and listening to the violinist until we were done with our pics. When we came to the door they made a grand entrance for us and we did the cake cutting and champagne toast. The WC was there making sure everything ran smoothly and it did. I had no worries and our families says it was the best wedding they ever went to. Afterward we had reservation at Elenor's, which is the fanciest restaurant on property only for adults and kids over 12. The atmosphere was gorgeous, everyone was fawning over me since I still had my dress on. They made us feel like the most important couple in the world at that moment. In fact, we saw another private wedding reception on Elenors balcony (the $75 pp one) and all their guests looked hot and bored.

    The photography- yes, I did sneak a photographer team in. I was determined to do so and only feel a little guilty for Kameshas sake. I told her I had 2 outside guests coming and we pre-paid their passes ($85.00 each) plus the $50.00 for the reception. They had no problems getting in and they met us in the hotel room to do some photos before the wedding. During the wedding one photographer sat in the chair like a guest while the other snapped photos. There was also a resort photographer there taking them as well. It took about 5 minutes for the staff to catch on but nobody was confronted or asked to leave. We saw them grumbling after a while but it went smoothly. I did go to the photography shop the next day to look at the few the resort photographer took. there were a few that I did like so we bought 6 plus the free pose on a cd, each negative on disc is $20.00. Since everyone at the resort was so sweet and accommodating, I do feel badly lying to them about my intentions but they still made money from the day passes and the cd I did buy. After getting home and comparing the discs, the ones my photographer took by far exceed color and quality compared to the resorts cd, even though they were taken exactly the same time. The Beaches photography rules and prices did not make any sense to me, nor could they tell me who would be shooting my wedding beforehand or show me their work. If picking your own photograper is important to you, then consider a resort that has no "outside vendors prohibited" rule. I was not aware of this until after we booked.

     

    Ok, here are the minor cons of the resort-

    Bees- All around the bottles of alcohol and soda machines, trying to climb inside spouts. Although I am sure they are cleaned, it still grossed me out.

    Floating Ganga Jo-Jo and the outside vendors right outside beach- these people are agressive as heck and if you buy something, they claim "not to have change" and tell you to grab a bracelet, shirt, whatever in order to justify not giving your money back (this is not affiliated with the resort though)

    Lack of towels- there never seemed to be clean ones. But that is because guests will leave them on the chairs all day.

    All in all, considering the price we and our guests paid, we are thrilled that we did it this way and at this resort. The staff really is wonderful and we had an awesome wedding and vacation. If there is any questions, ask me, I can go on but this is getting long lol.

    Sandals GOR - Outside attrations and travel

    in Sandals, Beaches, and Royal Plantation Resorts Weddings

    Posted

    Hi, we just went to Dunns river falls 3 days ago. We stayed at Sandals DR, and paid 40$ pp which included transportation and the guided tour. It was awesome. We saw people walking up by themselves (they paid 15 pp) but I would not recommend it unless you've done it before. The tour guides are hillarious and really make it fun. We bought the video too. A word of caution about this place...EVERYONE wants a tip or donation. As soon as we entered, a guy started carving my name into a wood head and told me he would give it free, then wanted my husband to pay 25$ for a matching piece. We gave him 10$. The inside vendors are very aggressive and will not leave you alone. They even tried to steal our key so that we would not get the $5 deposit back. There is a guy with a donkey who lets you take pics (this poor animal is covered in flowers) and then demands a donation. Be sure to have plenty of ones and fives and do not be conned into buying anything that you don't want.

    We had to tip the tour guids 20 each, because that is all we had. I think 10 would have been sufficient since that was part of the package price.

    Dunns river was a great experience. Definitely do that!!

    Rave review- Diana /Richard Campbell (Negril area)

    in Jamaica Wedding Vendors

    Posted

    These photographers are absolutely amazing. 6 months ago I got Diana's name from this website and sent her an email requesting information. She called me within 2 hours and spoke to me for over 20 minutes. I booked her for my wedding this past weekend in Ocho Rios (not being familiar with the geography of Jamaica), and she gladly accepted. I literally had no idea that this woman and her son had to drive 3 HOURS EACH WAY to my hotel and never once even mentioned it. Throughout the shoot she posed us, wiped our brows, fixed my dress, ect while Richard snapped over 500 photos. Now that I think about it, this really cut the shooting time in half and we got awesome shots while being able to return to our reception quickly. They stayed in our hotel room and edited the photos, and gave us 2 discs about 2 hours later. They were gracious, professional, and were willing to do anything to make us happy. I cannot say enough good things about this team. I was so worried about getting beautiful wedding pictures and she really came through. I would recommend Richard and Diana for anything, anytime. We hope to visit Negril in a couple of years and see them again. Love them, love them!!! Thanks, guys!

    My FMIL deliberately bought dress same color as bridesmaids!

    in Destination Wedding Dresses, Wedding Attire & rings

    Posted

    Wow I have to say I am shocked at some of these responses. I have never heard of a situation where fmil takes it upon herself to match the bridsmaids, It just simply isn't done. The bridal party is supposed to stand out in the photo.s Now the only one who will be "standing out" is my poor mother with no green dress.

    On another note I remember a recent thread where the FMIL bought a dress the same color as the brides mother, and oh there was quite an uproar about that.

    Personally I think this is more about the dress, I think she's trying to give me hints that she is /will always be the center of attention in her son's life and there is nothing I can do about it.

    My FMIL deliberately bought dress same color as bridesmaids!

    in Destination Wedding Dresses, Wedding Attire & rings

    Posted

    She strikes me as a total airhead, so I don't know how offended I should be. But if she shows up in silver sandals too, it's going to be me and her throwing fists right there in the sand. But this really annoys me. 12 people total and almost everyone is going to be wearing green? Ridiculous.

    Then she also had the nerve to tell me not to make her son rent a tux for the AHR because she deoesn't think it's worth the cost. I had no intention of him wearing one, but now I am tempted to have him go out and rent the most "bling" tux available... two can play this game.

    My FMIL deliberately bought dress same color as bridesmaids!

    in Destination Wedding Dresses, Wedding Attire & rings

    Posted

    Isn't it common knowledge that you NOT go out of your way to match the wedding party?

    I am so annoyed by this. I don't know if she did it to pi$$ me off, or just honestly has no clue, but sheesh??

    I told her many times that the bridesmaid dresses were a sage green chiffon and silver sandals. When she asked me a while back what kind of dress she should get, I just said "no black" (trying to keep it tropical). well, my FMIL just informed me that she bought not one but TWO sage green dresses to bring so she can wear which one matches better. Um, hello? Isn't this a faux paux? I am going to bite my tounge but this really aggravates me. I am quite sure if she had showed up to her daughters $80,000 wedding (which fmil paid for) in a dress that matched the wedding party, her own daughter would have had a fit. But she is planning on rolling into my beach wedding (and contributing not one cent) with a matching dress? And I have to be the nice lady and not say anything?

    I think I will have a talk with the photgrapher beforehand so she is not in too many photos with us. WTF? And to top it off, my FI thinks this is hillarious!

    my oot bag pics!

    in Wedding Registry, Wedding Gift Bags, and OOT bags

    Posted

    Thanks! I thought the guests would feel more comfortable using them after the wedding if our names weren't on them, too. I had fun at the dollar stores! It is amazing what you can find in them. We have this one dollar store around here, I swear they must jack their merchandise from supermarkets during the night. Every time I go in there I end up getting all exciting and spending $20.00.

    My FI is glad I don't have expensive taste, lol.

    Is anyone taking a limo to the airport?

    in Random Thoughts

    Posted

    Ok so maybe this is cheesy but we are taking a white 12 passenger limo to the airport. It is a 2 hour ride to JFK so I wanted us all (well, the 4 of us lol) to be comfortable. I have never taken a limo anywhere before so I feel this is a justified cost since everything will be done on the resort in JA. It took a while to find a white stretch that would accomodate 8 peices of luggage but I am almost as excited about this as I am about getting married! Plus, my daughter will get a kick out of it. I plan to make the most out of it, complete with dorky white "bride" tank top. Hee hee.

    So, has anyone else done this?

    I love Crest Whitestrips Advance-seal!!

    in Beauty, Exercise, Diet

    Posted

    These things rock!!

    I used the regular ones 5 years ago and couldn't stand them. Strips would slide off from excessive drooling, twice a day was a pain, ect. So these new whitestrips are only once a day, for 30 minutes. They stay on so well you need to rip them off and I haven't really tasted anything bad (so, no extra drool lol). Today is the 5th day and boy, Whooo-hooo I am so glad I got these things. I still have 8 more packets to go, but they are no hardship compared to the great results I am seeing. Just wanted to share!

    my oot bag pics!

    in Wedding Registry, Wedding Gift Bags, and OOT bags

    Posted

    The totes from vistaprint were about $7.50 during some sale they had. Everything else I have been grabing from dollar stores for the past few months. I think total per bag is probably about $20.00? Not bad. I had no idea what an oot bag was until this site and I am so glad I know now! FI and I were just going to have small floral arrangements sent to the guest rooms previously but how practical is that? They will need to be thrown out when the guests leave. I may add a few things before I go, I am trying to find 2-pack mini lint rollers for a 1$ and anti-hangover stuff lol.

    Surprise!!! Oops, I feel like such an A$$

    in Wedding Registry, Wedding Gift Bags, and OOT bags

    Posted

    My sister and cousin threw me a surprise beach-themed bridal shower this weekend. My poor FI has been listening to me go on for months complaining that no one cared enough to do so. They actually told me that I was not entitled to one, since the majority of my family will not be there (at the wedding in JA).

    Anyway, I was in shock for the first hour! They did such a great job decorating and the cake even looked like a beach. They had a pina colada station (my favorite drink) and my cousin made these gorgeous gel candles as favors. I feel sooooooooo bad bitching for the last few months.

    I am really touched that that worked so hard on it. The whole beach theme came together beautifully. They even made a custom bingo game on a computer.

    Gosh I feel like such a jerk!! But what a great surprise and it is leaving me with such an sentimental feeling as I get ready for next week.

    So, even though they have no idea that this board exists, I just wanted to say..."I'm sorry family!!"

    RSVP ettiquette?

    in Just venting or funnies

    Posted

    My RSVP deadline is in 2 days and we are still waiting for 17 cards back. Some of these people claim they are coming but hey, why should I have to pre-pay their meal, make seating arrangements, and assume they will come after all this, when they can't even bother to send back a card??

    I wish guests would take this into consideration before they decide they cant ba bothered to send back their rsvps!!!

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