Natalie79

Good luck ladies!! I'm just in the 2nd week of my training so nothing too tough yet. Can't wait to hear how it went

I met my fiance on eHarmony! We had both done it on and off for about a year, then a couple weeks into what I said would be my "last time", we were matched! We met up about 2 days after we started communicating and have been inseparable ever since. We got engaged 4 months after meeting and by the time we get married we will be together 14 months. I would have told anyone who did that that they were crazy! haha. But I am 100% sure he is my soulmate & my best friend. Go eharmony!!

 Hi Eunice! Looks like we are on the same boat....I have my dress fitting on Sunday, yikes! I'm scared I'm going to get it altered and then it will be messed up, and I'll be screwed before the wedding, but I'm prob being paranoid. haha.  You can bring tylenol & sunscreen etc...I got tylenol & alka seltzer for everyone and packing it all in my luggage for the OOTs. You just can't bring food or "natural" things...like shells, plants etc.

Thanks Lisa!! Great pic...I can't believe they want $100 for putting some candles out, crazy!

Hi Laura, I am 90% sure that 15 people is considered an event. I'm doing a "rehearsal dinner" for 10 of us the night before the wedding and was assured it shouldn't be a problem. I hear Maria Marie's is great for a nice dinner, that's where we're doing our rehearsal.

Thanks everyone! Â My travel agent, Maureen, did just contact me she reiterated her apology to me, that she did not intend to hurt my feelings, but to explain the situation. Â She asked for my suggestions, and I just had some suggestions on how to improve the contract. It was not specific enough and needs improvements.

Jess....WHOA! That is really rude!! I can't believe how unprofessional that is. I am lucky at least that everything is finally done. We even booked our honeymoon through her, which I now regret. What I wrote below was my response to Maureen (my TA). Â This is what I wrote her back. I was SO upset. All I wanted to know was if I could change the names on the room if we booked it. I knew the rooming list was due on the 16th. I am not dumb. I'm sorry if your commissions have decreased, but I don't know how that works in the travel industry. You are OBVIOUSLY very upset about dealing with my group, and If I knew booking these rooms was going to be such a pain for you & me I would have never done a group block in the first place. I appreciated all the work you have done, and am very upset by your email. Apparently you are very resentful towards me, when all i wanted to know is if we could change the name on the room! You don't think I have been stressed on my end dealing with all this as well?? It's supposed to be the best day of my life and 90% of my stress is dealing with people not booking rooms and having this money looming over my head. My fiance and I have gotten into several fights just because of having this room block. Â Also, we booked our honeymoon through you because I was very happy with the job you were doing and I wanted to help your business. If we had booked it on our own we would have gotten a cheaper rate. I will let you know about the room today. I'm sorry you still have to deal with me. Â She basically replied to this "Let's cut the drama & work together". THAT really infuriated me because she was the one that instigated this. After that, I have only communicated with her as little & basic as possible.

I also used Sand n Sun! I will also be posting a thorough review...the past month was horrible! She was acting like we were burdening her. This is an email from her a few weeks ago. Do not use them! We did drop the number of rooms from 20 to 12...but I followed ALL the contract deadlines! This is what happened... Â ALL I DID was ask "Can we put names in the room and change at a later date?". She replied "Your rooming list is due August 16th." Then I replied "I would just like to know if I can change the names, i understand if there is a fee. It doesn't make sense to not be able to change a name". Â After the 2nd name change question. This is what she replied..... You signed a contract and agreed to certain terms and conditions of this group booking. When you contacted me you could not wait for the original agent you contacted to get back because you so wanted this group contract. Since then you have not abided by terms and conditions of that booking. We have reduced the contract down by 8 rooms and I waived all of our Sand and Sun fees for you in doing that caused me to do more work with no compensation. I have done my best to accommodate all the changes you wanted and keep the fees on you to a minimum. I even noticed that the Jr. Suite Ocean Fronts were running on low inventory. I knew you were really wanting to get upgraded to that category but the upgrades do not get determined until all guests pay in full. So to make sure you got the room you wanted I had them add that room category to the contract in place of your Jr. Suite Ocean View and had the significant price differnce taken from my commission. As I stated the final rooming list is due to them on August 16th as is clearly stated in the contract you signed. So you need to either cancel the unbooked room at a 2 night penalty or book someone into it so that I can submit their name(s) in the rooming list. IF booking the room, $35.00 per change fee applies to any changes made and if you book people into the room and there are any cancellations (either of a guest or of the entire room) within 40 days prior to arrival they are in full cancellation penalty. If a guest or a room cancellation occurs before the 40 day prior mark there is a 2 night cancellation penalty. Please let me know if you would like the room cancelled or give me the name(s) of guests to place in that room. Â

I'm getting married next month, and I would say most of our guests booked in late July, which was about 3 months ahead. It was a HUGE pain...especially since my deadline on the invitation said June 30th. I still have people calling me about rooms. Luckily, they are the same price now as the group rate I got. I even told most people when they called that I had personally put a deposit down to reserve their room. People don't care! Â Definitely start calling people about booking about 3 months before your wedding. Also keep an eye out on the rates for sure. Â Good luck!! I know this part is SOOO frustrating but it all works out in the end

 I definitely had issues with the wedding office. The person who I booked with isn't there anymore, and it was about 4 months before my wedding date when I was put into basecamp, then I emailed my coordinator a few times before she responded with all my questions, which was about 2 weeks ago. I'm now at 50 days before the wedding and I'm still waiting for the final bill, I turned in my checklist about a week and a half ago.

I'm running the Palm Beach half marathon on Dec 5th. If I get the bug I might even do the Disney half, which my sister is doing. Â Thanks so much for the tip!! Â

I'm getting married on Oct 30, and was trying to lose weight on my own without any results. Needless to say I joined an amazing gym that is very reasonably priced for what they have, basically unlimited personal training. Anyway....she basically coerced me into a half Marathon in December, yikes! HAHA. I'm excited but nervous. Will it be bad if I miss a week of training during the wedding?

We are going to Belize after our wedding in Playa del Carmen. If you are getting married near the Riviera Maya, it's a great place and it's fairly easy & cheap to get to get to Ambergris Caye (a gorgeous Belizean island) from Chetumal, a city on the Mexican Border. Â We are taking a bus from Playa del Carmen to Chetumal (4 hours), the bus is very safe and very nice! Then when you arrive in Chetumal you take a cab to the Main Port where they have 2 very reliable companies that have daily water taxi trips directly. The water taxi is an hour and your in beautiful Belize! After staying 3 nights on the island we are flying inland (only $40 pp) and staying in the jungle in Belize for 4 nights at a very romantic treehouse suite. I'm SO excited! Then we fly from Belize back home. Â PM me if you'd like more details!

I went for my site visit on a Fri - Sun, so it was busy! But I can't see it ever being dead with all the resorts & activities in the area.

My fingers are crossed!! I sent in mine yesterday, waiting now for the final bill. I hope everything is added up correctly according to the package I got. I have a feeling something will be messed up, haha. Â Some good news is that I got my OOT Bags, Tumblers, & Playing Cards in this week. I will take some pics and put them up. They look good! The tumblers don't match my color theme (teal & coral)....they are Orange & Blue, but that's to celebrate the Florida Gators big game that weekend, hehe. Â

I finally heard back from Angie with some questions I had. Here are some of the answers... Â Chivari Chairs - they don't have them Hot Apps for Cocktail Hour - they don't do that anymore "Cocktail Hour" - $10 for cold canapes, champagne, open bar (2010 pricing) Entrees - You have to tell them exactly who is eating each and you also have to denote on place cards Chairs - Standard set up is white covers with white sashes (included in price) Tables - round, seat max 8 people

 You don't need to bring any documentation unless you started changing your last name before you left. I'm not going to do that until we get back from the honeymoon so I don't have to deal with the hassle.  I know for my property, they call it a "Symbolic" ceremony if it's not legal. That is what we are doing  I haven't found suits at all! I need to start too ASAP. Â

  What an amazing deal for Bubba Kegs!!! I bought one a while ago for the beach and I love it! It keeps drinks cold FOREVER. Â

 Hi Everyone! I just found this thread, woohoo!! I'm getting married 10-30-10 at the Royal Playa del Carmen. I can't believe it's getting SO close!  Cathe - We are getting our legal done a week before the wedding. You can do it either before or after...but I didn't want to go on our honeymoon without really being "married". I think it's nice to do a quickie legal one here so when you do the ceremony in Mexico you know its 100% real  P.S. Those are EXACTLY my thoughts on RSVPs!!! Soooo true....why do people not RSVP? Only about half of ours did it on time. It's like pulling teeth! Adding wayyyy too much unnecessary stress!

 Hi 101010! I'll be getting married 10-30-10 I just ordered all this yesterday, I can't wait to get them in!  Here is what I'm doing for my bags...  Jute Bags - http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/tote-bags/2014/jute-bag-with-rope-handle.htm  Travel Tumblers - http://www.discountmugs.com/nc/travel-mugs/66/16oz-stainless-steel-insulated-travel-mugs.htm  Margarita Mix - http://www.weddingfavorsunlimited.com/blended_with_love_-_swaying_palm_trees_drink_mix.html  Playing Cards - http://www.weddingfavorsunlimited.com/Custom_Theme_Playing_Card_Favors.html  I also ordered Advil, Alka Seltzer, Purell Wipes and Chapstick from Amazon.com...they have good prices for the sample size packs.  I'm also going to make a brochure from Vistaprint to put in each bag. I'm going to give 1 bag per person...there are about half singles/half couples so I thought it would be easier for everyone to have their own bag.

 I ordered mine from Amazon...good prices!  http://www.amazon.com/PFYBXAV50-Advil-Tablets-Reliever-Refill/dp/B000LDL3RA/ref=pd_sim_hpc_5  http://www.amazon.com/PEPTO-BISMOL-25-PACKS-50-TABLETS/dp/B000VR7CA8/ref=pd_sim_hpc_1  http://www.amazon.com/Chapet-Lip-Conditioner-Assorted-Flavors/dp/B000Q2TKNU/ref=sr_1_22?ie=UTF8&s=beauty&qid=1281449823&sr=1-22  If people do individual bookings, then the TA will quote them a price. But I believe quotes are only good for 1 or 2 days max.

 My advice is to go with individual bookings. We ended up getting a group of 20 rooms and it was a big mistake. And yep...the "cant guarantee after the group fills" is standard procedure.  The 1st problem is that we really overestimated the amount of people who were going to come. About half the people who told us they were "definitely" coming, aren't coming at all. The typical rule is about 20% of invitees to a destination wedding actually come, and that is true with our group.  The 2nd problem is that people do not book on time. Group bookings deadlines for all inclusives are very early, and people don't get that you are totally f-ed if the rooms don't get booked. We had our original "deadline" in mid-July and only about 4 rooms were booked by then.  The 3rd problem is it is SUPER stressful! This has been the cause of almost all my stress with the wedding.  We ended up canceling 8 of the rooms (the max we could without penalty)...and luckily our TA didn't charge us an administration fee.  The only reason I would ever do a group is if you are getting married during a very popular time of year down there...which seems to be around March - mid-May or around the holidays. In that case, I personally would get 10 rooms based on every 100 people you invite.  Hope this helps! I don't want anyone to go through all the stress I have booking these group rooms.

 That's what I'll be paying if I choose a minister. My FI's friend performs weddings here and we offered to pay for his flight if he will do the ceremony, but he is still thinking about it. I really hope there is not an outside vendor fee for that! I'm going to ask my WC in my next round of questions.

  Very true! It would be nice to get everything done and be able to relax with the girls instead of potentially stressing if it takes a while.  Thanks!

 I'm using them too! I haven't heard anything bad about them and the prices are very reasonable. I'm planning on taking a few pictures of the type of hair & makeup I want too.  How long before the ceremony is good to get Hair & Makeup done? I'm getting married at 5, with pics starting at 4. Is 1:00 a good time to start??