melissa43

Wendy,

I have the June sales kit but not the foral upgrade.  I would appreciate it if you could send that to me.

Thank  you

Melissa

Originally Posted by wendy5512 

Mdcoug,

 

I sent the sales kit I received in June, as well as the floral upgrade document I was sent Friday. 

 

I hope this helps!

 

Wendy

I would also be interested if they charge for the sound system.

Originally Posted by MTruvillio 

Thanks ladies for the information about the sound system.  That's a load off my mind.  My fiance' and are big music lovers and I would hate to have to bring my little portable ippd player to use for the wedding & reception and have it barely audible over other resort noise or sound like crap.  I too would be interested if they charge to use the sound system...sounds like they nickle & dime ya for everything else ; ).  I thought about Canon in D as I really like that song but you hear it at every single wedding so I might decide to go with something more tropical and less traditional.

 

Stella - I saw that too.  I can't remember who is next on the wedding list but I sure hope there are no weddings planned during this period.  How awful.  I wonder how bad the damage was? 

 

Thanks for letting us know about the Brilliant virus.  I was one of the unlucky ones who got the virus from their site last time and I had to reinstall my IE as a result and lost all of my wedding planning favorite sites I had saved.....grrrr.  Not happy about all the time I spent bookmarking pages and now they are all gone.  I hope you didn't get the virus.

 

Mary

 

 

Brandy,

That is really nice of you to look for me. : )  I never thought about doing a search on here. 

I don't have any colors since it is only me, my FI and 7 year old son. 

I am doing the BB package.  I thought I would try to match those colors.  I don't think it is going to be that easy. 

I am seriously considering getting a Real Touch bouquet but I am concern how it will hold up traveling.  Any suggestions to order the bouquets?

Thank you

Emilie,

I am so glad that everything went great!!  I can't wait to see pictures. 

Thanks all the great info.   I google Unique but nothing came up.  Do you have a website for them?  That is crazy that she wanted to charge you $600 for something you can get for 150.00
 

Originally Posted by emiliehughes 

Hello everyone! I am back from Turks and everything went great! The wedding was great! We had a four o clock wedding and we booked our pictures with Brilliant so we skipped out on our own reception! But since it was just four of us it wasnt that big a deal. We were the talk of the resort! The wedding cordinator told us the next day that we were the very first couple who did not show up for our own reception! We did not tell them about the pictures we booked with brilliant! IT was so fun working with Brilliant! We felt like movie stars! If you have a chance to book with them DO IT!!!! Be sure to book your wedding time earlier so you can experience everything with your wedding! We booked with brilliant at the last minute so we couldnt change our wedding time! But it was all good! We also went  to an outside vendor to order our flowers because i could get what i wanted for only 150.00. Monica was trying to charge me 600.00 for something i did not want. I used Unique right on the island. We slipped up and told the wedding cordinator about using an outside vendor and she was NOT HAPPY. She tried to find out the name of who we used but we changed the subject. She kept calling to get the name but we would not give her that info. I had the florist deliver the flowers the day before to make sure its what i wanted. It was not. I sent an email and asked them to redo the flowers with what i wanted. I sent a picture a month before i arrived on the island. They were very nice and made it right. The wedding cordinator made us think that security was so tight that the florist would not be able to deliver the flowers without her approval but thats not true. The florist is the same florist who brings those pitiful looking flowers that are included in the wedding package. There are alot of politics in managment it seems. The locals stick together that arent in managment. We downsized our wedding package from 90 photos to 18 and im so glad i did. It was just enough to get the wedding. Thats all i needed. The quality of the pictures compared to Brilliant well there is no comparison! The album that you get from beaches is just that....an empty album with no photos! I thought we would get some pictures in the album! You really are just paying alot of money for a disk of pics. Beaches resort was awesome! We had so much fun. We were busy all the time! We did take a trip to Da conck shack! That cab ride cost us 80.00 round trip! But we had a good time! The water in Turks is like non ive ever seen! It is heaven on earth! We will for sure be going back to turks!!! WE loved it!!! Ill post some pics. We took a million!

This is both our first marriage.  We are both is our 40's.  I have an 8 year old son.

I had a wedding planned but canceled it.  The stress got to me.  I was making everyone (his traditional Italian family) happy but me.   I had always wanted a destination wedding so now it will only be us.

No one knows that we are planning this. 

Brandy,

Thanks for the review.  Your pictures look great.

How much did the steel pan drummer cost and how lond did he play?  I am considering having one but after your review playing a CD may be a better option.

What cd do you have?  I loved your sand you had for the ceremony.  Did you bring it or did you go through beaches?

Originally Posted by TimsWife2B 

Ok Ladies, I finally wrote my review, sorry I got really wordy - I needed to organize my thoughts by day. 

 

 

The Review 

 

Where: Beaches Resort & Spa – Turks & Caicos

Travel dates: 6/29/11-7/5/11 

Flights: American Airlines from Philadelphia, PA to Miami, FL – Miami, FL to Providenciales, Turks & Caicos

Wedding: Sunday 7/3/11 at 11am

Total number of people in our group 14 adults, 3 kids (5, 6 and 11)

 

Our flight down was ok, no major issues with the airline, however prior to traveling, American Airlines had changed our itinerary 4 times since it had been booked in September, which was distressing since they changed the original flights we booked to having long layovers in Miami with 2 small children.

 

Provo Airport Arrival – We went through customs/immigration with no issues, the airport is quite small.  We went to claim our baggage and waited some time for it to arrive on the carousel, and after it not having appeared I began to worry and started looking around to see if someone else had our bags.  I discovered one of my bags on an airport luggage cart, and our other two bags were already pulled off the belt and in random places in the baggage claim area.  I found this rather disturbing.  I claimed the bag & cart, and a man came and said let me help you with your bags, I asked him if he was with Beaches Resort, and he told me no, that he works for the airport (I am pretty sure he did not).  Naturally he wanted a tip for pushing our bags just outside the door (a very, very short distance away).  When we got outside the Beaches representative was waiting to greet us with cold water, and said our transportation to the resort would be there shortly.  Two minutes later we were picked up along with another group of people, who were being taken to another resort, fortunately we were the first stop.  The trip to the resort was short, and we marveled at the price of gas on the island at $6.39.

 

Day 1 – Wednesday 6/29

Arrival at the resort – When we arrived at the resort (we were staying in the French Village) we were greeted with cold towels to refresh ourselves, and Rum Runners for the adults as well as juice drinks for my children.  Check-in was easy, and we were escorted to our room.  Our room was nice; it was a French Honeymoon room,  high ceiling, no balcony, sliding door opened to a view of the pool.  It was nice & adequate.  My kids stayed with us (except on our wedding night) and the sofa was like a day bed, that had a trundle beneath it, so it worked well.  The bathroom had its own sink in addition to another sink just outside the bathroom.

 

We set off to exploring; the resort is very well kept, and quite lovely.  We took the kids to the swimming pool where they thoroughly enjoyed the water slides.  That evening we ate at Schooners, the food was mediocre, but the staff was friendly.  We ordered 3 different fish dishes, and they were all garnished exactly the same, and served with the same sides, the fish wasn’t very flavorful.

 

Day 2 – Thursday 6/30

We had breakfast at Barefoot by the Beach.  My daughter has an allergy to dairy which we indicated when we booked, and were told there would be no issue.  The previous night at Schooners we ordered something for her & they prepared it without dairy & there was no problem.  This morning, we were told by our waiter that we needed a paper to get anything made for my daughter.  I had no idea what he was talking about; he was very difficult to understand.  We weren’t even asking them to make anything special, we only questioned what was available to order that didn’t contain dairy.  Then we waited FOREVER for breakfast it was ridiculous, people who came after us received their food had eaten & left & we were still waiting.  Not a good start.

 

After breakfast, we went to the office to find out about this “paper†for my daughter.  I assumed it was some kind of liability waiver form.  I was told at the office that they didn’t have the paper, but they would have someone bring one over, that I should have a seat & it would be there soon.  About 20 minutes later, someone finally brought this paper.  It turns out they wanted me to choose something for my daughter to eat for breakfast, lunch & dinner each day - & indicate at what restaurant she would be eating at and at what time.  How absurd!  As if I knew when & where we would eat for each meal!  I skipped the form, utterly ridiculous.  I have never had such an issue before – Disney World chefs were wonderfully accommodating, she could order anything on the menus & they would just alter it no problem.

 

 

Our appointment to meet with our Wedding Consultant, Comaneci, was scheduled for 1:30.  The time was a bit inconvenient; we would have preferred to meet in the morning so it didn’t tie up our day. We decided to take the kids ages 7 & almost 6 to the Kids Camp while we were at our appointment.  To register them you need their passports & fill out a bunch of forms.  It was difficult to find the location of the camp, it was not clearly marked.  After asking several employees we were directed to the camp office, which no one was in.  We finally managed to get someone to call someone from the camp and a guy came out of the X-box garage to help us, though he seem thoroughly uninterested in helping us.  I managed to sign them up, but then found I couldn’t leave the kids because you had to go find where the camp was, by looking at the activity list, and take them to that location.  Naturally at this point we didn’t know our way around the resort and the descriptions of where the camp activity was rather vague like “East Lawnâ€.  We were not offered any help or an escort to the location, the person who “helped†us didn’t even ask us if we had any questions. So we took the kids with us to the wedding appointment which wasn’t ideal.

 

We went through some of the details of the wedding, and quite honestly they aren’t as organized as they should be, several things fell through the cracks, and it sounds as if I was way over-charged for my photo package.  Many things were not even addressed.  Comaneci showed us the choices of wedding locations, she showed us the small gazebo which is obscured by bougainvillea vines near Schooners, a larger gazebo with a wrought iron top that was free of debris near Arizona’s and offered the beach as a third location.  We finally chose the larger gazebo because the beach was just packed with people & the beach isn’t terribly wide.  We were offered only one location for the reception which was the “boardwalk†location, which I was happy with since it was right next to the gazebo but I would have liked to be offered other options.

 

Today some of our guests arrived, but my husband’s mother, aunt & brother were all stuck in Miami due to weather.  My brother-in-law was able to make it in the next day, but my husband’s mother & aunt were stranded until Saturday.  HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!

 

Tonight we ate at Mario’s, there was about a 30 minute wait for a table, which seemed odd because there were plenty of empty tables, but apparently they didn’t have enough staff despite the resort being fully booked.   The food was ok; they had a nice large antipasto salad bar.

 

Day 3 Friday 7/1

Today we spent the day at the pool & beach – more of our guests are delayed at Miami airport – we all can agree on one thing, we will never ever fly through Miami or fly American Airlines again.  Tonight we had an impromptu group dinner at Schooner’s.  They were very accommodating with the size of our group, we had no problems getting seated they already had a table together for a large group.  Again the food was mediocre.  Dessert was ok.

 

Day 4 Saturday 7/2

This morning we went on a scheduled tour.  It was supposed to be the Blue Hills Splendor & Conch Farm tour.  10 of our group were on the tour together.  The tour was booked online in advance and there was very little information about where we were supposed to go for the tour.  We found a tour desk at the Caribbean village, and finally found out that we would be meeting there.  The tour was supposed to start at 10, but they asked us to be there by 9:45 to check in, which we did.  At 10:15 they finally loaded us in the van for the tour, and the tour operator told us that he would be back in a minute, we waited another 15-20 minutes in the van, getting quite irritated and finally a representative from the tour company came out and said that the plantation we were supposed to be going to was closed.  We had an option for a refund or to continue onto the conch farm and receive a partial refund.  Our group voted to go on. 

 

At 3pm I had my mani/pedi & trial hair & makeup.  My daughter had a mani/pedi next to me as well.  If you are getting your nails done at the spa, bring your nail color with you, because the spa has very limited colors.  If you don’t want a French manicure, the other colors they have are mostly reds & oranges…some really dark colors or nail polish that looks like it was left behind from previous guests.  I was satisfied with my mani/pedi, but I must warn you that my daughters got ruined in the pool later that afternoon.  Despite making her sit forever while her nails dry, the high humidity & pool chlorine killed the polish job. L

 

We ate at Giuseppe’s for lunch; it was a meditterean buffet, which was good.  Desserts were just ok.

 

We received a call from the front desk this afternoon, that they had a room upgrade available for us starting tomorrow in the Italian Village.  We were supposed to get an upgrade for having 5 or more rooms booked under our group code, but when we checked in they told us they were fully booked and nothing was available.  So we figured better late than never.  I packed up all our belongings to be moved on our wedding day.  It was a little difficult to coordinate this along with the wedding but I made it happen.  We were being moved to a DaVinci suite with a kid’s bunk bed in a separate room. 

 

We did Schooners for dinner again tonight, it seemed like a good choice now that the balance of our guest came in, so we could all be together.  Our experience tonight wasn’t as good as the previous night.  I think our waiter was overwhelmed, and tired – towards the end of the evening he was getting rather rude.

 

 

Day 5 Sunday (Wedding Day) 7/3

This morning I got up early, our wedding was supposed to be at noon, but the day before we left for our trip Beaches called us and moved the wedding to 11am because the minister would not be available at 12.  So they moved my hair & make up appointment to 8 am.  When we were about to go to the spa, we looked out the window to find a complete & total torrential downpour.  I could have cried, but just hoped it would clear off, but it didn’t look good.  My mother was also having her hair & make up done as well, and my daughter too. Arlene did both my mother & me, and Marilyn did my daughters hair.  They did a great job; don’t forget to tip for any service you are paying extra for!  All of our hair & make-up services were pre-paid when they were booked as required by the resort, however the spa insisted that my mom hadn’t paid for her make-up, and charged her again.

 

By the time my hair & make up was complete the rain slowed significantly.  Every room has an umbrella in it, which I was so grateful to have.  I headed back to the room to get dressed.  I quickly got the remainder of our items together to be moved to the other room; I was dressing to get ready when the cleaning lady tried to enter the room around 10:15 without having knocked.  She assumed we had already checked out since they were moving the room.  Check out is at 11 am.  I finished dressing and went to the lobby to wait for Comaneci to pick me up.  By the time she finally came to get me, the rain had stopped and she handed me my bouquet.  It was supposed to be Cherry Brandy roses w/ white orchids.  Cherry brandy roses are yellow on the inside and a coral pink on the outside, they are my favorite and they guaranteed they could get them, and I even sent photographs ahead to make sure they got the right ones.  The roses were a hot pink & ivory color.  They were nice, huge buds, but not my flowers.  I saw another bride the previous day with the same roses in fact.  The white orchids in the bouquet were sparse, and wilted & crushed looking.  I mentioned to Comaneci that they weren’t the right roses, and she said she would check into it.  Nothing to do about it now though…the show must go on.  We were the only ones getting married this day, so I thought this would be a good thing since the coordinator shouldn’t be overwhelmed.

 

We headed to the wedding location and she had the groom turn around while I got in place.  The swept the water off the walkway so my train wouldn’t get too wet.  The steel drum player played Pachelbel’s Canon, which we didn’t pick out – we didn’t even get to review music choices with our wedding coordinator.  I assumed when it was my turn to go down the aisle the steel pan player would change to the Bridal Chorus (here comes the bride) which he didn’t.  I was very disappointed about this; I had so been looking forward to hearing that, in fact I even bought a steel drum wedding CD and had been listening to this for months.  He didn’t play the recessional Wedding March either.  Again, there was nothing I could do about any of that the “show†must go on.

 

During our wedding appointment I filled out a form checking off pictures I wanted, and I swear the photographer NEVER looked at it.  He photographed things I didn’t want (signing of the registry) and didn’t take pictures of the things I did want like individual photos of bride, & groom separate.  I am an amateur photographer, and when I take a portrait session I always take about 300 photos, that’s how you get great photos.  The photographer asked where I wanted group photos, and I suggested the boardwalk overpass in front of Schooners, and also said I would like photos of the wedding party on the beach.  He took a group photo and then said, “What else do you want?† So I tried to think of all the combinations I wanted, and pretty much had to tell him what to do.  Then when I got the group photos, he dismissed my guests – I never got the wedding party photos on the beach.  He instead took us & my kids to the beach for photos.  He missed so many adorable candid shots -  I urged him to catch some things like the kids playing in the sand, or my son on the steps of the boardwalk.  My dress got sandy & wet, and I figured at that point we might as well get wet, and suggested some shots in the water, but he wasn’t all that creative.  We never got any photos sitting in the sand either.  The photos we do have of the hearts in the sand, and sitting on the dock were all my idea.  I didn’t like the photos he took with our backs facing the camera, or the ones where he has me awkwardly holding my husband’s chin or face, and there were some others that were odd too that I didn’t have put on my CD.  He took a total of 278 pictures.

 

After photos I was very wet, sandy & uncomfortable, and intended to go change into another dress, but alas they hadn’t moved our luggage yet.  So we went on to do our cake cutting & first dance.  When we got to our reception location, the first thing I noticed was that instead of the 3 piece Calypso band I hired, there was a man with a keyboard singing American songs.  I questioned the Wedding coordinator and she tried to tell me this was the Calypso band.  No way!  He didn’t even play the right song for our first dance.  I was annoyed that we didn’t have the band we paid for, I mean really 1 man does not equal a band, and had they said to me that they were unable to get the calypso band I would have been able to have the steel pan player instead which would have been preferable to the “wedding singerâ€.  When they brought the cake out, it was hysterical.  The wedding coordinator was more upset than I was, but our fondant cake looked like it had been stung by bees & was swelling up!  The fondant had these huge blisters on the side of it, it looked just awful but by this point I just didn’t care, I said let’s just turn it so you can’t see it in the photos & cut the cake so I can change clothes.

 

After that our lunch buffet was opened.  We had bar service that was beyond the beer, wine & champagne that was supposed to be included with our reception.  If the bartender didn’t have supplied for the drink you wanted he went to one of the bars & made it & brought it back.  He was great, and I felt bad that I didn’t have any money to tip him.  He made me a drink he called a “wedding day†which was his on concoction that was fruity & light.

The food was ok, and one of the dessert cakes on the buffet was actually much tastier than our wedding cake.

 

Our reception concluded & finally I got out of my wet sandy dress.  That night my kids stayed with my parents & we got to go to one of the adults only restaurants.  Our best man is a chef, so we let him select the restaurant.  We went to Sapodilla’s.  We only took the wedding party and two of our late arrival guests.  The food was excellent, the staff was excellent and this was the best experience I had since we arrived.  I so enjoyed this evening.  Yummy appetizer’s including a complimentary sweet potato soup “shot†from the chef that was very tasty.  At the end the waitress that was taking care of us had the chef make a special dessert plate for us that said “Happy Birthday Brandy†at the top & Congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Miller on the bottom in chocolate.  The staff sang happy birthday to me.  It was very sweet & somewhat embarrassing but nice. 

 

After dinner we dressed to go dancing…LOL!  We decided to go to Club Liquid; boy did we feel old when we walked in.  Our crowd was all in their 40’s (except me- just turned 37 that day) and everyone in Club Liquid was 15-18.  FYI – legal drinking age in Turks & Caicos is 18, but we saw kids being served that were definitely under 18.  There was no dancing in Club Liquid either so we left.  We ended up going over to Cricketer’s and learning how to play Snooker on a huge pool table which is apparently a snooker table.  This was hysterical.  There was an Aussie guy in there who taught us the rules of the game and it was really funny, there were so many rules we thought for sure he was making them up…as the game went on, and on and on and we had more to drink we added our own rules too!  Too funny!

 

Day 6 Monday 7/4

Today I went to review our photos, they were nice, but not what I was hoping for and certainly not the quality of Tropical Imaging.  I wish my husband would have agreed to go with them for photos but that would not have happened.  The photos my guest took were as good as the photographer’s in my opinion.

 

That afternoon we booked the free snorkeling tour, which was a lot of fun, my 5 year old daughter took to snorkeling like a fish to water, and my 7 year old son had gotten the hang of it towards the end. We also rode the aqua bicycles, which was a good way to burn off some of the calories we have been consuming; however you only got to use them for 10 minutes at a time.

 

Tonight we were supposed to have dinner at Kimono’s but we needed to increase the number of people in our group and they weren’t able to accommodate the request, so we opted for the sushi bar which was ok.  Some of our guests went to Kimono’s that night and as it turns out the table was empty & we all could have gone anyway.  They had nice fireworks for Independence Day!

 

Day 7 Tuesday (Going Home) 7/5

So our baggage was supposed to be picked up at 8am.  Our flight was scheduled for 3pm, and I thought we would be able to go swimming, but we didn’t since that would have meant carrying wet swimsuits in our carryon baggage.  Instead we went to breakfast at Mario’s and then souvenir shopping at the market just outside the resort (entrance is near the pizza place).  Souvenirs outside the resort were still really expensive.

 

We grabbed a pizza & headed to the Departure Lounge where our transportation was supposed to take us to the airport at 1pm.  The picked us up at 12:30 instead, and we went the airport.  When we arrived at the airport and got our boarding passes, checked our luggage & went through security we got to “the†terminal and found more people than seats – there was nowhere to move, no place to sit.  It was packed.  After about 2 planes took off we finally got seats.  Then our flight was delayed 1.5 hours.  My kids were starving, but there really wasn’t any place to eat. 

When we finally got to Miami it was such mess.  We had to go through immigration/passport control which took forever all the while my little girl really had to use the bathroom; I am still amazed she didn’t leave a puddle on the floor for as long as they made us wait.  Non-American passengers coming into Miami were all photographed & fingerprinted & this really slowed everything down.  Then we had to take a hike & pick up our baggage & check it all over again, and go through a really long security line.  Finally, when we got through all that we found out that we needed to go clear to the other side of the airport on the sky train, and more walking thereafter.  By the time we did all that we had about 30 minutes until our next flight, and only had time to grab sandwiches to eat.  We will NEVER fly through Miami ever again or fly American Airlines.

 

We were so glad to finally arrive in Philly at 11:30 pm, only another hour or so drive to get home!

 

Overall reviews;

 

Resort Property: A+   Very well kept, neat & pretty

Restaurants: C+ Just ok, other than Sapodilla’s which was wonderful – great taste & presentation.  Most close at 9:30 which seems too early to me.

Resort Staff: B- Most were friendly & helpful, Not necessarily quick, and there were certainly those who were more interested in chatting with their coworkers than helping the guests, and they often speak another language in front of you which seems rude.

Beach: A+  Clean & neat, beautiful.

Towel supply: D - They were always out of towels both at the beach & pools

Pools: A+  Lots of fun for everyone!

Kids Club: D  I finally did drop the kids off once for 30 minutes and stood nearby to observe, they were not very attentive to the kids. 

Tour: C  - disappointed that they seemed so unorganized on a pre-booked tour, and part of the tour was unavailable.

Wedding Coordinator: B  Felt there was much that should have been reviewed that wasn’t, but she made every effort to resolve the main issues that occurred afterwards.  I spoke with the supervisor for the wedding’s department in Florida and it sounds like they will be refunding my money for the calypso band & for the flowers.

Photographer: C We got some good photos, but they aren’t worth the $2000 we were charged for the 200 wedding CD.

Videographer: TBD he was friendly enough, we will see later what his work looks like.  They put me down for a Traditional wedding editing style, which we did not select.  I asked the wedding coordinator about selecting these items, but she told me that we would select them later.  When I talked to the “Snapshots†office after the wedding they told me it should have been selected with the wedding coordinator prior to the wedding because they would have shot differently.  We wanted the contemporary editing style, along with the raw footage as our 1 free add-on that was included in the Deluxe video package for $900

Room neatness & style: A+ Cleaning staff does an excellent job of making everything look great – just perfect.

Provo Airport: C too small, uncomfortable with someone having removed my bags from the baggage claim belt, then being pushy about taking it outside.

 

In Summary

 

• Plan on being organized & micro-managing your wedding if you want them to get all your details correct. 
• Make yourself a checklist to go over with the wedding coordinator so they don’t miss anything important to you. 
• Make a list of the photos you want for your wedding & go over them with the Beaches photographer personally, don’t expect them to read it on their own.  Meet with the videographer prior to the wedding to let them know what you want.
• Make a list of songs you want bands to play & give it to the wedding coordinator – but don’t hold your breath!
• Give yourself plenty of days to enjoy after the wedding to relax without appointments!
• Bring copies of all your prepaid charges/credit card statement.
• Cover your butt – put everything on a credit card that will back you up if necessary
• Buy travel insurance, either from the resort or on your own, I have used Access America on other trips.  My Mother-in-law lost 2 days of her trip, & her tour & everything because she didn’t have travel insurance, and on top of that they had to pay for a motel while they were stranded in Miami.
• Carry on anything important to you, your dress, make-up, jewelry, medicine.

How was the food?  Would you go back to eat? 

Originally Posted by Stella5511 

We went to eat at the Conch Shack on our own a day after we had our pictures done.

I did not know that.  I will make sure to get some pictures there.   Why did your husband have to pay to the Con Shack?  They don't provide transportation to the places for the pictures?  do you know how much Beaches charges pictures?  I don't think I am going to buy a package.

Originally Posted by Stella5511 

I do recommend getting a few shots there, it has an island feel. Since Turks is known for there conch, it was fun having a few pictures taken there.

I have seen pictures that Ileana has taken at the Conch Shack.  Do you recommend having pictures there?

How much was the cab ride? 
 

Originally Posted by Stella5511 

Emilie, that is so exciting! You are going to be so happy you did this. If there happen to be more than 18 images you want from Beaches, you can always chose to buy them afterwards.

 

I'm so excited for all you ladies that have upcoming weddings!! It truly will be the most amazing time of your life, I still think about ours everyday and we can't wait to go back!

 

Emilie, if you get a chance to get off the resort other than with TI, I recommend going to the Conch Shack. It is an easy cab ride away and it is awesome! You probably wont want to leave the resort at all because there is everything you could ever want there, but that is one place that is very cool to visit.

 

Good Luck with everything, have so much fun, and I can't wait to hear all about it!

Carole,

I just saw pictures on the TI site.  WOW!!  I love the edgy  look.

Who did your make up and hair. 

Love it!

I am so psyched that I booked TI.  I can't believe how great (this is an under statement) everyone has looked. 

I am glad to hear you are happy with your video.  What style did you go with?  I see there are 3. 

We are doing exactly what you recommend.  I have booked TI.  I will be getting the video but buying the pictures separately. 

BTW

Your pictures from TI are amazing.

What type of album did you get?   

Hi Michelle,

Would you mind sending me the file for the sales kit?  I would love to see the current prices.  I am trying very hard to stay in my budget.

Thank you.

Brandy,

I am very excited for you.  Have a great time!! 

Originally Posted by Michelle-2 

How exciting Brandy, you leave in two days   I attached a copy of what Monica sent to me this past Friday.  Hope it helps you.

 

Love to see photos!  Espically of different types of room categories.  Can;t wait to hear your review when you get back.
 

 

Best of luck!!

Michelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MS Wedding Sales Kit Beaches Turks Kit 6-16-11 (2).pdf

Believe me I can relate!! 

Originally Posted by LaurenMarie 

Please excuse the typos and repetitive nature of my post...I'm trying to do too many things at once..lol
 

 

I never thought of Ebay.  Thank you

Originally Posted by timswifemom 

I found one for my grandson on Ebay under boys linen suite.

I am now on the hunt for outfit for my FI and 8 year old son.  Like everyone else would like linen and cotton blend tan pants and cream color long sleeve shirt.  They have to match.  Any suggestions on where to get them.  I looked on line at Island Importer and wedding tropics. 

Brandy,

Did you ever get your DVD?  How did it come out? 

Hi Carole,

Congratulations!!  Thank you for posting all this great info.  Between you, Brandy and all the other brides it makes it a lot easier to plan.

I am also going with the BB and adding the upgrades. 

Did you book the DVD and the arch prior to going to Beaches or when you got there with everything else?   I read that you were able to get the arch for $350.  Do you know if that is now the going rate?   I know that I defneately want the sand ceremony.  I want to include my son in the ceremony.  We have no guests.  Just the 3 of us.  The DVD will also be important for that reason.  What style of DVD did you get? 
I would also love to see the pictures.  Can I send a request? 

Originally Posted by caroleandchad 

Hi there! Yes feel free to request me. Oh and yes I saved alot of money doing the BB and upgrades. I did add the white arch, rose petals on the sand, decorated the other 2 tables with bb, the Galpso band for 1 hour, the 2 hour private dinner, and the DVD. (and of course the sand ceremony that they forgot) no big deal. I did not do any photo package ahead of time however I bought like 38 when I was there and it was about 750.00 for that. I didnt want to purchase anything til I saw them. I also did my own hair and make up just because I was scared I would end up not looking like I wanted. I was fine with that. It was actually kind of fun because the girls came to my room and we kind of got ready together!

Hi,

Join us on the Beaches T&C thread.  Lots of info.  I booked Ileana from TI for the photos.  I am so excited the pictures are great.  Lots of brides on other thread have shared their pictures..

I also booked Shenque for my hair and makeup.  I had heard that some of the hairstylists at Beaches are good and some not so.  I did not want to take a chance since

I am uncertain of exactly what I want.  Ileana works with Shenque so I figured she would know what looks great in pictures.  Pictures are very important to me.  I have a wall devoted

for these pictures. 
I am jealous of your room.  I have my fingers crossed for an upgrade.  I would love the Parrot Cay suites. 

See you on the Beaches Thread.

Originally Posted by MTruvillio 

Hi Melissa43 and the other ladies getting married at Beaches T&C.  I am new to the threads.  I am getting married on June 2, 2012 to Beaches and am so excited. 

 

I started looking at rooms in March and after spending hours looking at pricing, pictures and room info, and trip advisor reviews we orignially decided to book 2 rooms for me and my FI and my two teenage boys (16 & 14) in the French Village. We really wanted some privacy since this was our wedding and honeymoon ; ).   Our room was going to be the One Bedroom FV Suite which has a separate living room and the boys were going to have the lowest priced room in the FV.  The one bedroom suite does count toward the premium room and thus the free wedding.  The rates were pretty good although somewhat high.  I got really busy at work and didn't book the rooms at that time like a dummy. 

 

When I went to book the rooms in the beginning of May the rooms had gone up $2K!!  For that price, it was almost the same as booking an Imprerial Sutie with a butler in the Italian Village for just a little more so I booked the Medici Imperial Oceanview Suite.  I can't wait to be spoiled by the butler   .   The room will have two separate bedrooms with separate doors so it will give us a bit of privacy but not as much as having two separate rooms.  Sandals sent an email the next day asking for our food and drink requests for the butler service....sweet! 

 

Melissa - are you getting your hair and makeup done at Beaches or from someone outside?  Who are you going with for the pictures.  I am looking to book both of these things too. 

 

Looking forward to hearing about your amazing wedding and seeing pics when you return!

 

Mary 

 

Hi,

Thank you for the review.  Your pictures are great.  Can't wait to see more.  How did you get the upgrade to the Parrot Cay?  Have you ever been to a Beaches or Sandles before? We also booked the Honeymoon Caicos Premium king hoping to get an upgrade to one level.

We are getting married Jan 2012.   I have my fingers crossed to get the Parrot Cay Suite.   
 

Originally Posted by TheHogans 

Hmmmm....I guess the pictures posted! We had originally booked the Honeymoon Caicos Premium king, but we were upgraded to the Parrot Cay Honeymoon suite. All of my guests were in the turquoise rooms, and even those were very nice!!!! Our room was wonderful with one exception....we had ants ALL OVER the bathroom wall/sink when we first arrived. We called the concierge desk and they came in and sprayed them with something and then told us, "Close the door and don't go in for a bit." We weren't too happy at that point (to say the least), but didn't let it get us down. We went out to dinner, and when we came back the ants were gone...no further problems for the rest of our stay. 

 

The food on the resort was awesome! I've stayed at plenty of all inclusive resorts and have always found the food bland and repetitive. Beaches was sooooo different. The food was fantastic! My bother in-law and hubby LOVED the jerk station, and I pretty much had pizza every day for lunch. 

 

I had Evette as my wedding planner....she was friendly and nice, but seemed too busy to give us her full attention. We had to track her down the day we left to get a copy of the marriage certificate we had signed at our ceremony (I guess they are supposed to automatically give it to you after the reception) and our sand ceremony. I honestly don't think we would have gotten either had we not found her. May is a really busy month, so I know she had a full plate. Also, there were weddings going on everywhere, but they did a good job of making us feel special. The actual wedding ceremony was a complete blur, but the marriage officiant was really wonderful. He added nice touches to the vows that really made it sweet and meaningful even though we did not write them ourselves. We had the "Island Paradise" theme and the arch was absolutely GORGEOUS. We were married on the beach at 6:45pm, and it was just perfect. I'm waiting for pictures from my photographer, and will post them when they arrive. I was not too impressed with the bouquet that came with the package....it was kind of small and just really underwhelming. I ended up using a bouquet from Wedideas that I had brought with me. We did a 2 hour seated dinner after the wedding. The place settings and cake were very pretty.....I've heard mixed reviews about the cake flavors, but we LOVED ours!! We had vanilla on both layers and it was delicious

 

There is just too much to write!!! I'm sure I'll think of some other details to add! 

I just put my deposit down for Ileana from TI.  I am so excited for this.  I love everyone's pictures.  You all look so beautiful.

Hey Meliss
Yes, the wine will get you all the time.  I can totally relate.  Don't sweat it.  You will have so much fun with your friend in LV. 

Just join me back on the wagon when you return. The 2 Melissa's will succeed.   

Originally Posted by Mwise17 

From one Melissa to another

 

I am doing OK....just feeling guilty and want to exercise, but having trouble finding the time!!! 

I agree, I am only in Vegas for 4 days, so I am going to have me some fun!!

I think its the alcohol thats getting me too....you know, a little glass of wine here and there....OK, maybe a little more

 

I try to stick to only having a glass or two one night on the weekend....but with my bridesmaid visiting, it seems to be wine night every other night!!!!

I felt more motivated after reading this today as well, so feeling like I can make it work, and give myself a bit of a break instead of being so hard.

Lets get back on track together.....the two Melissa's!!!

 

 

I have also fallen off the wagon for about a week.  I was travelling for work.  Reading all the posts has motivated me again.  I need to go to WW and start working out 5-6 days again.

I am only able to do 45 mins a day in the morning.   I  am also trying to walk for an hour at lunch.  It seems to slowly coming off. 

How have you been Mwise?  Don't worry about your trip to LV.  Have a great time!! 

Hi,

Thank you for chiming in with all the information.  I did realize that a deposit is needed for the date.  I just wanted to know how quickly vendors needed to be booked. 

It sounds like you have a very close group.  That is always nice to see. 

I will be sending in my deposit and contract soon.
 

Originally Posted by Tropical Imaging 

Just to chime in, we don't hold dates for anyone until a deposit is paid.  It's first deposit come first booked.  I know we had a bride here a while back that thought that by talking to us, we were "holding" her date and was surprised when the photographer she wanted was already booked.    You can choose your photographer when paying your deposit and that is locked on the calender (as long as they are not already booked).  We do have brides on the books for 2012 already and we've had quite a few dates this year already that everyone is booked, so when you place your deposit is up to you but if you want to book someone in particular sooner is better than later.   However all of our photographers have been with us for more than 6-7 years, are all friends (actually 3 of them bought houses next door to each other LOL) and we make sure we do continuing classes and master classes with them trying to challenge them.  We're a pretty tight bunch!

We are definitely getting the video.  We are not having any guests.  We want to be able to share with our families.

I am going with the BB package.  No video is included.  What package/style has anyone gone with?

I spoke with Ileana yesterday.  I am so excited to use her.  All of the pictures are so beautiful.  How far in advance did anyone put their deposit down? 

Thanks