Cassierose

Oh Good!! I was getting so exasperated!

so, they wont let me talk about how my stay was in this thread, you have to go look at it in the 'reviews' section of the site. This is really annoying. I copy and pasted it and i think they are holding it again, cuz it didn't pop up in the review section after i hit submit. So i give up. I had a great time and i really wanted to tell you all the pros and cons. Maybe tmw my review will be up if anyone is interested in reading it.....good luck to all you future brides- the resort is awesome!

for some reason the site is holding on to my first post....so my comments are sort of out of order here...

Oh i just remembered something else! half our party was in one wing and the other half was in the new wing exactly on the other side of the resort. The place is huge. I wished i had walky-talkys. If you have a large group, totally look into bringing some cheap ones.

Hey Guys!! I've been home for a couple weeks now and life has been hectic. I haven't had time to catch up on all of the thread i've missed but i have read a couple pages and i thought i'd help answer this question about the gazebo.... We rented the gazebo from 845-1045, minus the dj and the bartender. We used an ipod and THANK GOD my sister's boyfriend brought a docking station, because Chandlyn informed me once we got there that they did not have an ipod set up for us unless we used the dj. THIS WAS NOT WHAT HER EMAIL SAID TWO MONTHS EARLIER. But like i said, we luckily had a docking station with us anyways and the sound was AMAZING! It was not windy at night and the music was definitely loud enough and sounded great. i am SO GLAD i didn't waste my money on the dj- its not worth it. But let me back up a little bit... We ate at the Grill and the food was great. we finished dinner and got down to the gazebo and waited for the lights to turn on. And waited.And waited. after about 15 mins I went myself to the lobby to ask them to turn the lights on. Then i went back to the beach and waited some more. Someone from the hotel staff finally decided to turn the lights at almost 9:30. We were livid. 2 hours is not a lot of time as it is-especially when you're paying hundreds of dollars. Once the lights were turned on we had an awesome dance party. I assumed they would compensate us for the lost time. Since we didn't have the dj i couldn't see why we couldn't have the 45mins that we were shorted. But nope. At exactly 10:45 the lights were turned off. Thankfully, my sister's boyfriend came through for us again. He had seen how the guy had turned on the lights from the electical box behind the gazebo at the start,so Mike went back there and flipped the switch. We danced for a couple hours longer and no one even noticed Before the ceremony i had been worried about not having the bartender at the gazebo. We really couldn't afford the extra cost, but i didn't really want ppl wandering off to the pool bar all night long. So the night of the ceremony (actually, while we were waiting for the gazebo lights to come on) we sweet talked the pool bar servers and they were going to let us take a couple trays of drinks down to the gazebo. One of the girls had been eye-ing up my mom's hat for the past couple days and my mom on a whim gave it to her right there. She was so excited about it that they ended up mixing up a couple huge jugs of rum punch, and another kind of punch and set us up with cups and ice and every thing. So in the end we had our own self-service bar in the gazebo after all! All in all, our stay was incredible. The resort is beautiful and i found the rooms and the pool to be very clean. The restaurants and buffet are great. I definitely suggest having breakfast in the smaller buffet. Its never as busy as the big one. When u get your reso for the japanese restaurant ask for a Teppanyaki reservation. It was hands down our favorite. Our least favorite restaurant was the Dolce Vita. My maid of honor and i got our hair done at the salon and the girls there are awesome. Im a hair stylist myself, and they did a way better job than i could have down. My hair was beautiful. Anyhow, thats all i can think of for now......oh! about the birth certificates- we had sent her un-notarized short form copies a couple months prior. I brought the actual documents with us to show Chandlyn ( un-notarized as well obviously) and she didn't even glance at them. Said it wasn't a big deal. So all that stress about not having the right documents was completely unnecessary. That brings me to another thought. I expected to see Chandlyn again after the wedding day, just to tie everything up. She didn't contact us again at all. We were there for 4 days after the wedding and i finally went looking for her just before we left. Good thing i did, because she wasn't even sure if she had our address to send us our marriage certificate. So, to sum things up- our stay and the wedding was amazing. I would for sure go back to the resort. There were a few small glitches which were extremely annoying at the time, but they worked themselves out. I'll try to check this site more often if you all have any questions...And i'll see if i can load up some pictures as soon as i get them back from my photographer

We're not notarizing anything either. From what i understand, and i emailed her a few times to finally get this clear- you only need them notarized if you are NOT bringing the original documents with you on the trip. We sent her just a scan of our certificates (short form) and she said it was fine. Now we're bringing with us the actual documents. If she has a problem with this i'll be showing her the emails she sent me....and will be getting legally married in Canada i guess. I leave in 6 days!! I just looked at the weather forecast at it says thunder showers for 4 of the 7 days my family and friends will be there lets hope the forecast changes in Jamaica as often as it does in BC!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

i'm not doing centerpieces. Dont want to worry about having to bring down more things in the suitcases. i'm sure the tables will be nice enough on their own. So just to ask again, cuz no one replied to me- does anybody know where on the martha sewart site i can find that thing to print off so i can make a list of everyone's room numbers etc? i looked the other day but couldn't find it anywhere and i really don't want to go thru this whole thread all over again to find where it was talked about :S

Have a blast Stephanie!!!

oh also, i'd like to print up that room map so we can keep track of which rooms our guests are in but i can't remember where to get it from? Can someone fill me in?

I'm getting SO EXCITED!! We leave for Jamaica in 18 days!!!!!!!!!! I feel like i have been planning FOREVER! I'll be at the resort from April 19-26, which of you girls will be there at the same time- i can't remember.... Also, i'm going to Couples Swept Away for my honeymoon April 26-May 3. Will anyone coincidentally be there too? I'm trying so hard to not stress about everything, i know by the time we get there things will work out great. Our best man only JUST bought his ticket a couple days ago, and then the day after the return flight filled up. And still, another groomsman hasn't got his ticket yet. Why is it men are so irresponsible? I went for a makeup lesson (and somehow spent $100 on 2 lip glosses and a lipstick ) and bought a new bathing suit yesterday. I'm told that a bride should have a white suit, and i needed a strapless one so i wont get tan lines before the big day. Hopefully everything else will fall into place and our trip will be amazing....

I was just going back thru the emails i have from Chandlyn from the past few months because i was under the impression that if we brought our ipod they would set up a sound system for us in the gazebo so we don't have to pay for a dj. Here is the email i sent, and her replies. I'm kind of concerned now, cuz i don't wanna get down there with only my ipod and find out i have to pay for a dj, on top of having to pay DOUBLE what brides will be paying next year for the EXACT SAME SERVICES! The more i read this thread, and the more i think about this the madder i get. I haven't heard back from Chandlyn yet about the price of the package, but there really should be something they can do for us regarding this. Hello Chandlyn, I had just a couple more questions regarding the reception. If we don't want to use the DJ and just play our own music from an ipod, will we have to bring our own stereo equipment other than the ipod or cd's?We would set up the system with speaker and microphone and Ipod connection. Also, are we free to buy our own alcohol and mix and serve ourselves, so long as we clean up after ourselves? We would really like the opportunity to have our own bar, but feel that the price is too much.You may bring your own alcohol and we will provide a table for you. Lastly, we will be having some guests come for the wedding from outside of the resort. I understand they have to pay a fee to stay for the day. My question is, as we will have more guests than our package includes, will we have to pay AGAIN for those guests not staying in the resort to eat, or does that 'outsider's fee' include them for the wedding dinner? There are two options for your outside guests. With the supplement fee we offer a special wrist band which permits them to come to the wedding ceremony and reception. They will however not have access to the amenities of the hotel as this band limits them. The other option is to purchase a pass at a cost of US75 per person. Thank you for your time, Cassie So, someone pls correct me if i'm wrong- but does that not lead you to believe that they will provide the system with an ipod connection? Cuz damned if i'm bringing a whole stereo system with me all the way across the country!

So, has anyone found out if we can get these new prices for this year yet? I haven't paid my deposit yet and would obviously LOVE to get the discount. Im going to email Chandlyn today and tell her that i think it's only fair. I do have a question for you guys though- does anyone know the dimentions of the gazebo? I'd like to string it with xmas lights for our reception after dinner, cuz i've heard it's pretty dark out there. I think a bunch of lights would look really pretty. I've asked Chandlyn already, but she didn't answer the question. SO annoying.

Omgosh, i've been sitting on the edge of my seat reading the last couple pages of this thread. I haven't been on for a few days and this is the first i've heard of Beverly leaving and the strike. Hopefully the strike really IS over and wont affect us at all. Also Tris, Chandlyn was always the one who replied to my emails from Beverly, so after i while i just started sending them straight to her. I've been emailing the resort since September and i don't think i've actually heard from Beverly herself at all. I'm a little bummed that i won't get a chance to meet her, from the sounds of it she did a wonderful job ( except for keeping up with her emails obviously). But, Chandlyn seems very competent and i don't think any of us have anything to worry about. On another note- I would also REALLY like to know if the resort has a steamer. I assumed they did, but now i'm concerned. I really really don't want to have to buy one and pack it with me. They aren't cheap. And the small ones don't necessarily work all that well. I wonder what the deal is about the long form birth certificates. I asked Chandlyn and she said we don't need them. So, why do the forms say we do? Who exactly does need them? Is it a matter of where you're from maybe? I've always thought this was weird and its not explained very well at all. Lastly, I went for my final dress fitting today!!!!!!! I am SO EXCITED!! 56 days to go!!! A friend of mine is staying at the resort right now. If she has anything noteworthy to say about it i'll be sure to post it when she gets back

i love that song! We're planning on using it for our first dance. I haven't decided on other songs yet, but we're definitely gonna use 'today was a fairytale' by Taylor Swift at some point during the ceremony