imnotarunner

I had her too. Good luck.

She sounded so soothing and wonderful during the planning call. When she gave me the personalized wedding booklet (whatever you call it) a week before my wedding it had the wrong dates, wrong food, wrong everything.

DOUBLE TRIPLE CHECK HER

like the bride said, stand your ground and be firm

don't let them rip you off. they are all about getting gringo money

Try to avoid DJ JSAV company, they are a ripoff, they don't listen, they make you fill out forms and ignore them

(Paradisus Playa del carmen July 6)

Dear JSAV,

I love how you send out pricing and then give me a quote that is almost double.  You have inconsistent pricing. Even though your brochure clearly says one price you tried to give me the runaround. Eventually I got the hotel to step in and get you to give me the price as written.

The company representative that met with us the day before the wedding said no worries he'll take care of us on the wedding day.  On the day of the wedding, he was there but he was not DJing he hired two buffoons that SPOKE NO ENGLISH.  I asked when they were ending it, they had no idea what I said.

The company representative asks for a formal list in the way of a form of songs you don't want played (he played them, I HATE cha cha slide, and the similar group songs he played every focking one of these g0dd@mn songs) ahead of time, he asked what first dance song we wanted, he forgot that and played some random song we've never heard before. My husband and I till this day wonder what song we danced to as husband and wife so that we could dance to it again on each anniversary. Have no friggin clue. thanks for stealing that moment from us.

How hard is it to find "HOME" by Michael Buble.

We told them we are going straight to the first dance after the wedding party enters. Instead dead silence no transition, meanwhile me and husband are standing there looking at each other, loking at him then they cue the random first dance song. AWKWARD silence waiting for them to put that stupid song on! The DJs sucked. THey play the dumbest songs. This is not prom or quincerera!! It's a wedding.Learn class!

Why make us fill out forms if you don't bother reading them? YOU suck balls JSAV
 

(Paradisus Playa del carmen July 6)

Dear JSAV,

I love how you send out pricing and then give me a quote that is almost double.  You have inconsistent pricing. Even though your brochure clearly says one price you tried to give me the runaround. Eventually I got the hotel to step in and get you to give me the price as written.

The company representative that met with us the day before the wedding said no worries he'll take care of us on the wedding day.  On the day of the wedding, he was there but he was not DJing he hired two buffoons that SPOKE NO ENGLISH.  I asked when they were ending it, they had no idea what I said.

The company representative asks for a formal list in the way of a form of songs you don't want played (he played them, I HATE cha cha slide, and the similar group songs he played every focking one of these g0dd@mn songs) ahead of time, he asked what first dance song we wanted, he forgot that and played some random song we've never heard before. My husband and I till this day wonder what song we danced to as husband and wife so that we could dance to it again on each anniversary. Have no friggin clue. thanks for stealing that moment from us.

How hard is it to find "HOME" by Michael Buble.

We told them we are going straight to the first dance after the wedding party enters. Instead dead silence no transition, meanwhile me and husband are standing there looking at each other, loking at him then they cue the random first dance song. AWKWARD silence waiting for them to put that stupid song on! The DJs sucked. THey play the dumbest songs. This is not prom or quincerera!! It's a wedding.Learn class!

Why make us fill out forms if you don't bother reading them? YOU suck balls JSAV
 

Good luck on getting replies. I think nothing is really planned until you are actually down there. They are overwhelmed, overworked, and understaffed.

Perla is not on her shyt. We had to go over the same details 3x.

The only person I have had success is Pilar. Pray that by the time you arrive that she will still be working there.  Otherwise it's a complete stranger planning your wedding from scratch. That's how my wedding was. I had planned it with the Miami office and one of the Wedding office coordinators in Mexico but by the time my date rolled around, NOTHING was planned.

I wasted two days prior to my wedding to plan and go over every detail. We had to do a site walk though AGAIN!

The DJ sucked. He asks for a formal list in the way of a form of songs you don't want played (he played them), he asked what first dance song we wanted, he forgot that and played some random song we've never heard before. My husband and I till this day wonder what song we danced to as husband and wife so that we could dance to it again. Have no friggin clue.

We told them we are going straight to the first dance after the wedding party enters. Instead dead silence no transition, meanwhile me and husband are standing there looking at each other, loking at him then they cue the random first dance song.

Why make us fill out forms if you don't bother reading them? they suck balls JSAV

For our honeymoon, we decided to volunteer at a Dog Rescue in Thailand. It's so sad to hear and see the stories about how the rescue can't even trust their workers and the Thai people to care for the animals.

They are in charge of over 600 animals, they provide medical help, neutering/spaying services, and room/board for these animals.

I've been to Asia, third world countries do not value dogs or cats as pets or treat them like family like we do here.  They are treated like parasites and often get abused by tossing hot burning cooking oil on them.

I would like to see if anyone would want to donate old towels, collars, etc. Things that your furbaby has out grown or no longer needs.  I'm going to lug as much stuff over there as I can.

our pets here certainly are lucky than those in Vietnam, China and Thailand.

I'm not sure where else to reach out to.

Prefer pick up.

These sparklers arrived several days late so needless to say I didn't get to use them for my wedding.

Paid 25

I'm  in MD/VA/DC area

I would just go to your local courthouse and get it done. That's what I did. I didn't trust their gov't and the use of our "blood" in their tests after reading about another bride on BDW who did the bloodwork, heard nothing back and had to assume it was ok.

Seriously what do they do with that blood?

are there any photographers or makeup/hair stylists you would recommend? I am thinking about getting honeymoon pics done

Thanks!

Originally Posted by jennmariegarcia 

 

I had the same problem when I booked my wedding, my 1st choice was the Gazebo but they told me that they would not be able to confirm this location until it got closer to my wedding day in case there was another wedding scheduled then this would be the ceremony site. Fortunatley no one else booked there wedding for the same day as mine and since I kept bugging them about it they confirmed this location for me 8 weeks prior, which wasnt a lot of time to give you a piece of mind but we had my cocktail hour at La Palapa at La Perla and it was vey nice location as well. Not as private feeling as the Gazebo but it was beautiful and the set ups that they can do in there look spectacular. I can send you some pictures if you like, hope this information helps!

If I were you I'd double check. Do they really mean La Palapa the restaurant? They offered me a "palapa" which is a hut essentially (it's acutally one by the pool on La Perla side that sometimes house the cooking demos or the ping pong tables, there's a few) Don't want you to be disappointed.

Originally Posted by ReeBik 

 

The pictures in the link above - I'm assuming the room pictures are the bridal suite?  If so, you're right, it is beautiful!  Lots of space for all the girls to get ready.  What's the temperature like in there?  I've read reviews on some other resorts and brides/bridesmaids ahve said the temperature was too warm once they got a tons of people in there.  Also, the "hut" looking place with the white lounge furniture on the beach: is that the Sunrise Grill that others have talked about in previous posts?  Did you hold your reception there?  Was it sit-down or buffet?  Where is that located in relation to the pool?  Is it somewhat secluded and private from the rest of the resort?  I'm worried about wedding crashers or just other guests hanging out like we're fish in a fishbowl.  Is this on the adult-only side or the family side?  Also, where is it in relation to the Gabi Bridge?  The resort has a photo on their website that shows lounge like white furniture similar to what you have in some of these pictures (and based on the furniture, I'm assuming it's the same place)... in their photo, the tables glow from underneath.  Is that the case in "real life"?

 

I had a map of the resort, but I can't find it.  Does anyone else have the map?  It only shows the two resorts (La Esmeralda and La Perla) in relation to each other... doesn't give detail on where the bridge is, or the individual restaurants, but I'm still thinking it's a good thing to have on hand.

 

Also, I've seen some discussion on weather in June/July.  How is it in April/May?  Are there really that many mosquitos during any of those months?

 

My fiance and I are sitting down this weekend to go over all the information I've gathered on this resort and a few others so we can make a final decision on location, date, etc and send out a notice email to our "must-have" guests so that they can start saving and planning.  Hoping I can get answers to the above questions so that he feels more comfortable making a decision.

Originally Posted by ReeBik 

 

Sorry... I meant Gabi Beach Club not Sunrise Grill.

I was never offered even a look at the bridal suite, had no idea there was a bridal suite.

First week of July it was 90s, humid. Not pleasant in a bridal gown trying to take pics, probably picked the wrong dress, should have gone with a simple easy gown. I was sweating and my makeup was about to melt.

Gabi Bridge is right by the Gabi Club. To rent that darn thing is 10k just for that club. It's ridiculous but it's pretty. It's also open no windows so it's really hot and there are mosquitos. The hotel is on a mangrove. My guests got bit and so did I. It wasn't too bad but noticeable for sure.The white furniture does "glow" there's some lighting mechanism there.

It was UBER annoying to have stupid idiots by the end of the gabi bridge in their swimsuits just stand there during the entire thing and just stare. I hope they get cropped out in the pro pics. In my family and friends pics they were right there. Seriously. GET OUT. NOSY bodies. Or atleast stand in the Gabi Club like the rest of the on lookers? Do you HAVE to stand on the bridge? ugh. Rant over.

About 40 mins after my ceremony ended, it poured like crazy luckily everyone was already at cocktail hour indoors.

The other option of having cocktail was by the pool under a gazebo, where they typically have ping pong tables. It's not close to the bridge. Quite a walk. Nothing is close to the bridge except Gabi Beach club.

I was worried about the company so I placed two separate orders

one for Flores Riviera for my centerpieces and the bridesmaid bouquets/groomsmen boutonnieres/flower petals for tossing through Cherry Blossom. 

They turned out great. The bridesmaid bouquet were kind of overpriced for a small plain bouquet but they were still a lot cheaper than buying them through Paradisus' event company.  Cherry Blossom matched my flowers exactly like the pictures I gave them. However Flores Riviera did not. I sent them one of their own pictures of a certain flower, instead I got yellow roses with red/orange trim. It was close enough but that's not what they promised. They had a name for the one I ordered and said they definitely had that in stock as opposed to the roses I got.  Overall they were pretty and they fulfilled the request.

Nope. NOT EVEN FOR A DAY but we expected it since we have people flying from all over just to see us. So it was fine but definitely not relaxing at all. I want another vacation just to recoop

http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/products/samuel-luna-photography/reviews/7493

Not sure if anyone has found a photographer but Samuel Luna was a joy to work with. Will write up a review today.  He made everyone feel at ease and we had so much fun taking pictures.

I love how he captures the moment instead of just doing the usual poses. He made it a memorable experience for us.

Originally Posted by imnotarunner 

 

I bought day passes for her and a hairstylist to circumvent the vendor fee and it worked.

30 bucks for a day pass per person, I paid through Pilar.  I was told by Jessica it was like 140 bucks for a day pass.  Sara and her hair stylist both ended up with a white bracelet.

I bought day passes for her and a hairstylist to circumvent the vendor fee and it worked.

I hired Sara Tamargo she was amazing and FAST.  I had my free one done by the hotel the next day for TTD shoot and it was twice as long to do hair and makeup and was not as natural or elegant.

PS.  so like I said Jessica made me fill out this lengthy document on May 29th, it had my wedding info on it.  One week before my wedding she sends me this "planner" with my photo on it with the WRONG DATE, wrong invoice, wrong colors, wrong food, etc. NO ONE reads or checks their work. So what exactly does Jessica do?  She obviously doesn't take pride in her work and is not detail oriented.  Perla from Alquima sends me a ridiculous invoice too. on the top Perla wrote something like 32 chairs, on the bottom of the invoice it says 27 chairs. The top of the invoice it says white canopy with white veils, the bottom says ivory veils.  I went from being extremely patient to flying off the handle.  I can't believe it. a week out from my wedding and she still can't get the most simple info down like my wedding date? 3 days out and she couldn't tell me where my cocktail hour was.  So I told her I wanted it at Gabi bridge, she is quick to tell me no.  I told her well you better suggest a place then. I think having this planned since Dec it is not a lot to ask for to have some of it detailed and documented, is it? 

At that point, i broke down at home. I had no confidnece in these people. They simply didn't give a sh*t. My fiance had to calm me down and told me he was taking over all correspondance because the back and forth was taking a toll on me.  We both agreed once we get down to the resort we had to plan the whole wedding from the beginning becauase at this point it was a hot mess. We weren't sure what was relayed to Mexico. That's how we approached it down there that way we couldn't be disappointed even more.  So when I met the team down there I gave them the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't their fault and acted accordingly. I didnt' show my ugly bridezilla side or demand the red carpet be rolled out to me. I remained calm and tried to walk  them through it.  By the end I just broke down because this is not how it was supposed to be.  I do not and NEVER have expected a perfect wedding, I expected it to not be perfect but not be a bloody disaster.  I don't care if they mess up the food, the songs, but if you can't even get the dates,  time, location and my guest's food allergy down, what can I expect from you?  This resort charges THE MOST in fees, yet they can't even deliver the most simplest requests or return emails or relay info to the people who need it.
 

I had my wedding July 6th, it was a nightmare until July 4th where I sat down and planned it out line by line with Pilar, who is wonderful to work with.  The Miami office is a nightmare to deal with and frankly what they "do" is a joke. I did the LOVE AT FIRST SITE in December, spent 1k on airfare, took 2 days off work, paid for 4 night stay, went over all the things I wanted in the wedding with Maria, while Ana attended, it was Maria who took charge and assured me "everything will be taken care of, don't worry" 

During my site visit a cotton candy machine lying around by the pool unused, I asked Maria, how much to use it for the reception night, Maria promised me a free cotton candy machine because it was already owned by the hotel. I was estatic. I didn't mind paying a small fee but free is better.  We discussed all the details down to the food, the colors, the locations, food allergies, etc.  I mentioned I wanted a photobooth.  At the time in Dec i was told since they did not have a vendor for photobooths the ridiculous $1000 vendor fee would be waived.  Sweet! I told Maria I would bring my own photographer and would pay for his 3 night stay, as well as I would bring my own florist since Alquima is ridic in wanting to charge me $150-200 a centerpiece. I asked Jessica and Maria over email if I could avoid the vendor fee if I had my bridal party meet them at the lobby and not let them step foot into the hotel itself.  Jessica said yes as long as they meet at the front gate (which is a far walk from the hotel itself) I said ok.

So come May 29th I get my planning call with Jessica who is super nice but later I found out is incompetent assured me she will take care of everything. Things that were discussed during my Love at First site had to be reminded to Jessica.She said she would look into it. Two minutes before my planning call I get a lengthy 5 page document asking me for: wedding date, time, location, food, flowers, colors, etc. I told her she should have this info from Maria.She tells me all brides have to refill all this redundant info.  I asked why? That should have ben documented from the Site visit.  Well folks, Maria left. Not sure what happened but NO one bothered to tell me even when I asked Jessica from Miami's office on May 29th. Then finally I emailed Maria and it bounced back in error.  Then finally it was revealed that she no longer worked there. I found out through this forum that Ana didn't work there either. What the? Oh well. I fill out the darn thing and just hope for the best. 

Although my wedding was a month away  I still remained calm even though NOTHING had been planned and I just had to redo my entire wedding and go through all details with Jessica.  I asked her when I would be assigned a wedding planner. She said 30 days out.  Well 2 weeks before the wedding most of my questions were unanswered by Jessica, she'd tell me "I'm still waiting for an answer"  HELLO

Now everything was in question, cotton candy machine is no longer free it's 300 bucks for 40 candies, um for 300 bucks i better get unlimited candies, dang it!  she tells me they have a photobooth vendor, So I ask if they could price match so that I could avoid the vendor fee, this question gets dragged out for two weeks. Two weeks I hounded her asking if she could book me her photobooth in order to avoid the vendor fee and she can't tell me yet.  She tells me there's no fee for this and that.  Two weeks out from the wedding she tells me this. About 1 week out I get really angry and agressive, asking her who is my wedding planner. She still can't respond. She said when I get there she'll tell me. I escalate it to her supervisor who is dumb as a box of rocks.  She can't help either. Cristina is her name. Dont' waste your time trying to fight these two.  You won't get anywhere. Go to the resort and talk to the Romance office yourself.

July 4th I spent the whole day planning my wedding from top to bottom with Pilar.  She told me a florist regardless of where she is, I have to pay 1000, photobooth is another 1000, etc. I told her Jessica should have relayed all this to her. She said no she got nothing from Jessica. Thanks jessica for wasting my energy. If you gave me PIlar's name from the start I wouldn't have to go through you. What a waste of a middleman.

I glanced on Pilar's desk and the other couple's files were thick. Mine was thin as can be.I asked to look in mine, it was emails from the past week. What the heck? I got so upset taht I had to go over every detail that I could remember off the top of my head when I was expecting a less stressful wedding because it's a destination wedding.  Boy was I wrong!!

The manager of the hotel came by and I broke down because I'm emotionally and physically exhausted trying to communicate to Jessica and her team.  I would understand if the Mexican office didn't know due to language barrier but you're in Miami you're American, I'm speaking in English. What is the deal?

I am very disappointed in the Miami office and looking back I would have not chosen this resort. I paid a premium to stay at this place, I paid for almost a dozen rooms out of my own pocket, they still managed to jack up the room list.  Jessica asked me a week before my wedding if I had the room list if I "hadn't given her one already".  Wendy from BDW sent her multiple copies as did I.  My fiance was livid and hes' the calm one.  He said she should have atleast asked Mexico's office before asking us for the millionith time.  Well when we all checked in, my in laws had 4 people in a room with ONE bed. as in UNO bed.  My two friends who are women and are NOT in a relationship, had ONE bed.  My relatives had 3 adults in one room, they too had ONE bed.  They wouldn't do anything but offer a rollaway bed.  Thanks a bunch. What a classy hotel. I'm glad Jenn from this forum got an upgraded swim up suite I really wanted that but didn't want to step out of my bounds to get one. 

The wedding overall was a beautiful day. The DJ SAV (vendor of Paradisus) screwed up my playlist. I specifically spelled out songs I didn't want played. The transition to first dance was NON EXISTENT so we just stood there like idiots for 3 minutes. Then it was some random slow song never even heard of. It was fine, not a big deal but we spent money and time to learn dance moves for a specific song.

The beef tenderloin that I paid $15 per person to upgrade was not edible by anyone in my party. I asked for Medium a while ago but did not confirm with Pilar because it's the last thing on my mind July 4th.  It was all well done and had been sitting out drying.  It was so gross I gave up. The charred taste was disgsuting. I left it alone and just talked to my guests. the waiter was very attentive and quickly got me another one even though I said no.  I don't care if my steak tastes like dirt but I was embarassed for my guests who eat it Medium. Again I let it go, what's done is done.I'm sure there's other brides who's had great experience but I got caught in the middle of when they had high turnover in employees.  The manager waived the cotton candy machine cost and upgraded my chairs to chivari gold chairs.  I didn't really want anything else. 

I wanted to get it over with.  I am so exhausted. This is not even half off what I went through.  Since the manager tried to make right I don't feel the need to go and rip them a new one.  So potential brides you might get lucky and not have to deal with this. Just pray that they don't lose any more planners. 
 

Olympus tours is the biggest scammers and they scammed my family and friends. Marco is one shiesty jerk. he charged robs parents 45 dollars per person to A 10 minute can ride to 5th avenue. They charged 20 per person with my family. He downright lies to anyone he sees with a white band bracelet he feeds lies to people saying others in the bridal party are doing an excursion so they should book too he is preying on people so that they would book thinking their friends booked and spread the word. My friend Suzie compared prices for a tour and he gave them a very high price so naturally she went elsewhere then he found out and told her he was pissed thy booked elsewhere. This guy will smile to your face I'm about to go off on him if I hear one more scam out of this guy. He called my mom telling her she needs to check out her entire family today because her transportation to airport was arriving at 11am she sai no my flight is tomorrow. She told him to call us to confirm he refused. I went down to tell him and read his list it clearly was in his handwriting that they were leaving tomorrow the 8th. I asked him why did he tell my Mom this he said his office said ya te 7th but I said we'll when we arrived at resort we cleared this up and you wrote 8th pointing to the list why didn't you call that day to correct it he said he forgot and smiled I didn't cause a ruckus because it was correct but the fact he is preying on people's money I'm going to not be nice. I don't like the scam he is running.

Thank you for your honesty

I'm kind of worried that they don't have any reviews

Originally Posted by DestinWed 

 

Hi ladies. I chose this resort about 2.5 months ago and have been contacting or I should say "trying to contact" the miami people to book my wedding for April of 2012. I wanted my wedding to be in the first week of April of 2014. For the past 2.5 months, Cecilia from Miami who is the Room Specialist for the resort that hte prices for rooms for 2014 are not out yet and they have to come from the headquarters. I've been contacting her almost every week to follow up and still no room prices. I fianlly checked today on their website and wanted to get a rough estimate of the room prices outside of the "fall in love package" and the entire week is booked at the La Esmerald. I called the hotel and they confirmed that there is a group coming in and they have reserved all the rooms (514 rooms) in La Esmerald. I got so mad that the hotel is not able to give me the room prices and they already gave room prices to a group and the entire week is booked. They said that "group prices" are different than "wedding prices" for the rooms and maybe that's why Miami office has not given me the prices. That is just nonsense to me. I got the contact information for the office manager for the Maimi office and left her message today. I hope she gets back to me and has explanation for this. Now it seems like I either have to change my wedding date or the venue. I really like this resort but after this lack of communication from their part and some of the posts from this blog, I am rethinking my venue choice. Maybe I should just try to find another resort so I can keep my date. Is there anybody out there with 2014 wedding date that has received the room prices for La Esmerald and La Perla? Thanks

This is just a taste of what's to come. Be glad you're able to not be locked down like some of us are. When I inquired about prices last year, I got an answer "we have new prices coming out soon, you may want to wait" What does that mean to you ladies? Doesn't it sound like ooh it's a better deal if I wait?  So I kept the old prices in my email file.  I waited for a month and finally after hounding them I got the new prices, they were MORE $. Why would you tell me to wait when I could have used the previous pricing?  They do not make sense. it's ridiculous. WHO DOES THAT? I still have that email.  The funny thing is, not ha ha funny, the dates for the old price and new pricing overlap. So if your date falls in between which mine did, why wouldn't you go for the old pricing?  Why would you set a new price on dates covered by the old pricing?? Why not create new pricing on the date after the old one expires? Make sense? 

has anyone used or heard of Cherry Blossoms they do flowers in Playa del carmen?
Their prices seem too reasonable to be true!

I can't find any reviews from other brides