shelbs97

I see what you mean....however I don't think he's taking advantage of brides at all, I know that the other pricing I got from others was still quite a bit of money and the quality of products they used and their portfolio didn't come close. After meeting with Fernando in person, he is the sweetest man ever, both my mother and I feel in love with him. Palace Resorts have the most inexpensive weddings around, so paying a little more for the hair/makeup wasn't a huge deal, for us anyway. I had budgeted $2000 for myself and bridesmaids for hair and makeup though, so he fell under that. Just like anything in life, there are so many different tiers of pricing. People think Del Sol Photography is expensive, but really, I think you get what you pay for.

My hair and makeup through him is $510 for just me. The bridesmaids prices weren't too bad, $90 for makeup and $75 for hair. He's one of the best, so he can charge those prices. It's definitely high, but it depends on how important that part of the budget is to you.

DJ Mannia, $900.

An outside vendor fee????? Nope, never even HEARD of it!

LOL, another bride on here gave me the info. That's why this is a great website. I'll PM you.

I didn't have to press for it. I asked my WC, she said no, so then I went to her boss. It took me about 48 hours to get it approved.

I had Pilar and then Lisa, and Lisa was always VERY fast to respond. I'll send you a PM about something you might be able to do.

I complained and got a different WC out of Miami. I was dealing with Pilar, who does Member Weddings. She was SO RUDE to me. I said I would cancel outright if they didn't give me someone else, so they switched my WC to Lisa Lizano who is the Supervisor of the weddings dept. Lisa is awesome! (Pilar no longer works for Palace Resorts, I believe she left about a month ago).

Well, considering they botched our site visit, won't answer emails, scheduled a corporate outings Beach Olympics at the same time as my beach ceremony, and actually had the nerve to ask ME to change my wedding date after invitations had ALREADY gone out, they're definitely not on my list of people to trust. I'm glad you aren't having a hard time...I know 4 other brides who have been having nightmare experiences at Palace Resorts. It may have to do with the fact that they're the least expensive resort to hold a wedding at....but regardless, they should be a little more accomodating, especially since my invite list was 215 people and I was bringing them a lot of business.

Hi - in the contract is states that outside vendors are not permitted on premesis. I had them modify the contract to say "Exception has been made for Bride and Groom to use outside vendors". I just asked my WC from Miami, Lisa, and she took care of it. It is in our signed contract : )

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Nope, it's the same for all the Palace Resorts. Tt was written in my contact that there are no outside vendors allowed too. You have to request that you contracts states you can use whoever you want. That's how they take advantage of brides unfortunately. I personally think Palace Resorts does a TERRIBLE job with their weddings. I've been working with them for 9 months and I don't know how they stay in business. A few other brides on here gave the huge heads up to get outside vendor clause in the contract or you end up spending a lot more money. You can obviously use theirs, just trying to help brides who don't want to get ripped off.

Your WC is lying to you. You don't HAVE to use any of their preferred vendors. If they can get you to use them, they make more money, because they get a kick back. I had it specifically written into my contract that I could use whoever I wanted.

Hi Burlia, Once we signed a wedding contract we asked for the 2 night comp. It was a pain to get it, but I pushed and we got it. They took very good care of us during that time as well.

I've totally fallen off the wagon thru the holidays ....urgh!!!!

After doing a lot of research, ALL of their "preferred" vendors are very expensive. The decor company they wanted me to use is DOUBLE, yes DOUBLE THE PRICE of everyone else! Beware!

We are calling my brother and his girlfriend (both are in our bridal party) to meet us for dinner - and their friend is able to legally marry us so we'll have him meet us there, we'll sign the papers, and it's done! I don't even want my parents knowing when it happened because our "real" date is our Cancun wedding. I think a lot of people get married before their DW because I know at my resort in Cancun, it's required that I have a marriage certificate for the wedding to take place.

We didn't pay for the bridesmaids dresses or groomsmens clothing. The BM's dresses were only $180 - and we all went together and they decided on the dress AND the color. (I didn't care about color). The groomsmen clothes we picked out in August 2010 for our May 2011 cause all the summer clothing were on sale, so we got $200 outfits for $90 each. BUT - we paid for $500 towards each attendants room at the resort - and we're still getting them thank you gifts, so in total we're spending about $4200 on our 12 attendants.

We're giving our attendants their gifts the morning of the wedding while we're getting ready in our respective suites....our photographers will be there so they can capture the moment.

I'm actually really torn on who to use for my decor and rentals. I was all ready to go with Planner1 Events, BUT - when I asked the specific questions - "are all the pictures you've emailed me actual weddings that Planner1 has done?" The response was this - No, sometime we can´t take photos from our set ups, but sometime the photographers send us pictures from our events. Almost all of the pictures included in our presentation and price list are ours and the others are from our suppliers or sent by other brides. This concerns me!!! I only asked the question because they have a picture of a cake that I printed off theknot.com MONTHS ago! It's the exact picture. So now I'm not sure WHAT to do. I can't really find any reviews of great decor companies!

Shanna, Your wedding slideshow is one of my favorites by Vincent. He's shooting our wedding in May and we are so excited. Thanks for writing this, as my husband to be also does NOT like being photographed. Congrats!!

Honestly, if you are already having issues, you don't want to hire these people. The photographer that isn't communicating - that's a bad sign. I know when I send Del Sol an email, I never wait long for a response. Usually within 24 hours, but sometimes Matt will reply within minutes to me. For the photographer that wants all their money up front....that spells trouble. The photographers that are raved about on this website are raved about for a reason. They are good, they are professional, and they know what they're doing. About 20% of our budget is going towards photography. It's a lot of money, but I'm not gambling with my pictures. I will cherish those pictures for years to come....I'd rather gamble on something else...

I think it just depends on who you want to use and how busy/in demand they are. If you want one of the top wedding photographers, they aren't going to negotiate their pricing. We went with del Sol and didn't even ask, as they're worth the money they charge. But - if you just want someone with a camera snapping photos, or if your wedding is in the off season, you might have some luck with this. I'm in the process of negotiating with my videographer right now, and it's working out so far. Good Luck!

I really don't think Points Plus is too different. I mean, they changed a bunch of points which was annoying, and the whole no points for fruits and veggies makes me nervous cause they HAVE calories in them, but I know the plan has been tested, so it must be okay. I REALLY don't like that wine went from 2 points to 4 points though!! lol. The e-tools is great if you don't have it. It actually ends up being LESS each month than just going to the meetings or going to the weigh ins...and it has the calculator on it. The iphone app is awesome too, I log all my food and activities on it. I didn't do that great last week, only down 0.6, but at least I lost. I expect this week to go MUCH better. Just hoping for a solid 2 pounds!

This is really great information. Thank you Playa Weddings for posting. Too bad you're booked for my date : ( Now I have to ask these questions of someone else.