Stella5511

Re: Hurricane Irene Statement Date: August 29, 2011 Following the passage of Hurricane Irene through the Caribbean we are delighted to report that Sandals Grande Emerald Bay came out unscathed and is open and accepting guests. Sandals Royal Bahamian and Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort Villages & Spa remain closed as we clear landscaping debris and prepare to welcome back guests. Sandals Royal Bahamian will accept guest arrivals beginning on Wednesday, September 28 and Beaches Turks & Caicos will accept guest arrivals beginning on Thursday, October 6. Prior to these dates, guests traveling to Sandals Royal Bahamian and Beaches Turks & Caicos from now until the resorts re-opening date will be relocated to another Sandals Resorts or Beaches Resorts location, pending availability. Alternately, guests scheduled to travel to Sandals Royal Bahamian and Beaches Turks & Caicos may revise their bookings without penalty and will have their current rate honored for altered reservations for up to one year after their original travel dates (excluding black-out dates). If guests cannot immediately re-schedule their travel, they will have the cost of their original stay credited toward a future booking to be used within one year of original travel dates (excluding black-out dates). We encourage all guests to work with the airlines directly to take advantage of policies that may waive change fees for those who wish to keep the same trip dates and travel to another destination. For relocated guests that would like to rebook other available resorts in Antigua, Jamaica, Bahamas or Saint Lucia, they may do so and we will absorb the air relocation fee up to $150.00 per ticket. The safety and security of our guests remains the top priority and we look forward to welcoming guests back to the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos. If you need assistance, please call Wilcox World Travel and Tours/American Express @ 1-828-210-8197, email us @ [email protected] or visit Sandals Resorts to see why Sandals has been voted the top All-Inclusive Brand year after year.

There were 28 of us all together, and it was no problem getting a reservation for dinner after our cocktail hour. They make it seem like it is risky just so you will book the 3hr dinner. But its really not at all. There are so many places to eat and they are all so accomodating. They even brought our cake back out and served it after dinner for us. We had a welcome dinner the night before our wedding on the grass near the small gazebo. It was beautiful. They provide linens and flowers for the tables, and the food was fabulous! When the sun sets it is absolutly beautiful. Our welcome dinner was free because we had booked 10 rooms. I hope this helps!

TI- What is your Facebook page called exactly? I cant seem to find it? I'm glad to hear everybody is safe and getting back to normal life in T&C!

Also, for all of you brides that love to stalk Brilliant Tropical Imaging's bolg like I do... It gave me another virus. So I would wait until they give us the go ahead to look at there beautiful bog posts again.

I just read on Beaches Turks & Caicos Facebook page that they wont be welcoming guests for the next 15 days! I hope none of the brides here have there wedding scheduled! ;( Official Statement- "Beaches Turks and Caicos wont be welcoming arrivals for the next 15 days, as the resort is assessing damage wrought by Hurricane Irene and cleaning up landscaping debris. Following this and a full review of property, we will reassess the situation and confirm the reopening date. Guest scheduled to travel to Beaches while the resort is closed will recieve a full credit, valid for one year toward a future stay at any Sandals or Beaches." So sad!

Consider yourself lucky she is no longer there.

That is so strange! Its funny, because I wanted to get married in the smaller gazebo right near there, but my husband liked the Schooners location because we had a bigger wedding party and it fit us all better. Stacey-Ann was our WC as well, and she was all for the Schooners location too. The only thing I can think of is maybe there was already a wedding taking place in that location around that time, and she was covering that up?

We also were given the option to get married on the deck in front of Schooners over looking the beach/ocean. Schonners was closed at that time(2pm) and the deck was completly blocked off, so it was private. Its a very pretty setting, and a good alternative from the beach if your anything like me and want to wear heels!

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

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.

Yea, she took us there too for pictures. I don't remember how much it was, my husband paid. But it was only like 10 minutes away from the resort.

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!

Emilie, That is what we paid for the Beaches Bride package which included that 10x10 book. It is 20 pages. You can chose 35 images which fits on the 20 pages. They give you the option to add pages if you want as well.

Thank you Melissa! We went with the Vintage style video, it came out great. Just make sure you give them a list of what songs you want played during your video. At first they chose random songs, but then I emailed them after viewing the video proof with the actual songs that we wanted and it ended up coming out very nice. As far as the album we chose from TI, our package came with a 10x10 photobook type album with 35 images. At first it was so hard to chose just 35 but we did, and it came out amazing. The book is very high quality, and the pages are more like a thick board type of page. Its bound with a beautiful fabric. You can also pay more to add more pictures, as well as upgrade. The great thing about TI is they give you the cd with all the pictures on it. You will not be disappointed!

Emilie, I would highly recommend trying to see if you could get your money back from Beaches and go with Tropical Imaging Trash The Dress package. They even have a special for Beaches brides. it was the best choice my husband and I made going with Tropical. It was so much fun and the pictures were beyond amazing! I just got our actual photo album from Tropical Imaging in the mail this week and it is gorgeous! My husband and I did purchase 18 images through Beaches before hand so we had some from the ceremony/reception. It was plenty, and to be honest the pictures my family took were just as good. I would recommend maybe getting a video through Beaches instead, ours came out really nice and we are so glad we have it to show at our AHR. Its also good because we got to see things that happened that we didnt see in the midst of it all. I promise you will not be disappointed if you decide to go with TI, it is nice to actually get off the resort and see the Island as well. Hopefully it won't be a problem to change your picture package with Beaches now that you have already paid. Maybe you could ask if they will put that deposit towards something else you have not paid for yet, and just downsize your picture package through them. Good Luck!

Hi ladies Question... Have any of you brides who have had your AHR gone through any company online where you can order your flowers and have them shipped to you? Im thinking of doing it this way to save money, but I'm nervous they will be awful...or not even show up on time. I want to have real Hydranga's and then just buy vases to put them in myself. Any suggestions would be great! Congrats Carole! The one picture I did see looks beautiful!

We did do both hot and cold. The wedding coordinator asks you what types of hot and cold you want the chef to make. We just told her to leave it up to him, and it was amazing! We had these bbq short ribs that people were raving about. Conch fritters with a yummy dipping sauce, chicken skewers, little hot veggie rollups. Then for cold we had different types of cheeses and crackers, an array of sushi, shrimp, and all kinds of fresh fruit. We even had tons of food left over and all of our guests had there fair share. So don't worry about not having enough.

This was where we had our cocktail.orderve hour. Its the Jacuzzi Deck. I will try to post more pictures of where we had dinner.

Lizzdee, There were 32 of us all together, and Stacey-Ann (the wedding coordinator on sight) actually made the reservation for us. We had two long tables set up next to each other on the ouside deck at Schooners, which is right on the water. It was very nice.

Thanks Krys! Thats good to know...even though I already sent Brilliant/Ileana a card to the Miami PO Box! Guess you will see it next year probably! Oh well.

MTruvillio, We got married at 2pm, then had pictures done while our guests got drinks and cooled down at Turtles Bar and Lounge. We then had a 1 hour private cocktail and orderves on the jacuzzi deck overlooking the ocean at 4pm. It was beautiful and perfect in every way. The food was incredible, and we had our dances and everything there. Afterward, our whole group went and freshened up and met back at Schooners at 6pm where we all had dinner and they served us our cake. I hope this helps.

Do any of you past Brides happen to have the address to Beaches T&C, or better yet Stacey-Anns? Im trying to send her a Thank You card, and cant find it anywhere....

We also stayed in the Parrot Cay Suites, room 601! It was perfect, and SO close to everything. We had the same ladies around cleaning the rooms everyday. They were the sweetest, nicest ladies and always made sure we had everything we needed.

I did Brandy:) The video came our great, except they didnt use any of the music we had given them, so that had to be changed. I just recieved an email saying that the changes have been made and it has been shipped. I dont know about you, but I am SO sad its all over and can't wait to go back!