linda1972

Hi I sympathise completely with you. I got married on Friday 22 June 2012 and spent the morning in tears because of the weather. We had travelled thousands of miles from Scotland for my perfect wedding to get married outdoors with fab photos on the beach. At my pre wedding meeting with Zaray she conviced me to change from the Bugambilias Gazebo to the Tucan Gazebo as the longer aisle would be lovely we agreed to this then about lunchtime on the day of the wedding she phoned to say that due to the heavy rain I would probably be best going to the Bugamibilias Gazebo with the shorter aisle. Then with about an hour to go she said it was flooded so the only option was the chapel. I am not a religious person so didn't want anything symbolic on view so she kindly removed anything like that. Unfortunately te wedding dept doesn't have a supply of any umbrellas, not even one so we had to spend the morning running around trying to locate any an thankfully got hold of two. Zaray then informed me that the horse and carriage we had paid for would not be used due to the bad weather and we did not get any money back for this. We had upgraded the photo package and committed to 3 hours of pics and while there are some really nice indoor ones its not what I had envisaged. Therefore 3 days later, early in the morning we put our outfits back on and got photos taken about 0900hrs. Our guests just took the photos and they are nice but obviously my hair wasn't the same but hey. I got my hair done on the wedding day at the Nizuc sction and I was staying in the Sunrise. My kids were getting their hair done in the Sunrise section at the same time so my friends husband collected them and took them back to his room at the Nizuc section. Time was pressing on by the time we finished and the rain was so heavy so we asked for a golfbuggy to take us by the room where the kids were and then to drop us at our section and explained it was my wedding day however I was told the buggys were only for the convention centre or the spa. We ended up putting towels over our heads and running through the more than ankle deep water. It certainly wasn't the wedding day I spent a year planning but the weather can't be controlled and at the end of the day I got married to the man I love with family and friends with me. It does annoy me a little though that the resort could have been a little more helpful on the day. It has to be said though that for the rest of our two week stay the service was amazing and I would go back.

In response to your entry I can only suggest that people speak as they find the situation and my experience of Joannis and the Miami office has been shocking. The fraud aside which now thankfully has bypassed any Miami investigation or rather lack of it is being dealt with at a management level elsewhere.We booked and paid our deposit for our wedding and secured our time over one year ago and when we eventually got in contact with Joannis to secure our ceremony location we were told this wasn't available and to get the location we wanted we would have to change our time until 4pm. Reluctantly we did this and rearranged hairdressing appointments, horse and carriage and photographer. Joannis sent the confirmation email.Two weeks ago Zaray got in touch to introduce herself but she didn't have 4pm as the time for the wedding. When we pointed out this had been changed and approved by Joannis she said there was no way we could get married at 4pm as this time slot was already booked. She suggested a 6pm wedding which we turned down and now we are getting married at 3pm at the location we first asked for! So pardon me if I have no faith in Joannis or the Miami office. I am sure there are people who have a good experience however the overwhelming experience of most people on this forum and I have read every page over the last year is that they are poor.

Hi, Just to confirm what everyone else is saying 'do not pay Joannis.' It was 2 days after sending her a small payment that she demanded, that our credit card was fraudlently used in Miami. We have not heard from Joannis since and I have no confidence in her as a planner for our wedding. Several months ago she contacted us to say that we couldn't have our requested location for our 3pm ceremony however if we changed our wedding to 4pm then we could. We agreed to this and rebooked the photographer, horse and carriage, hairdressing appointments for 4 people. Now 13 days away from our wedding our Moon Palace planner has been in touch and the paperwork said our wedding was at 3pm. We emailed her back to say the wedding time was changed by Joannis and confirmed (paperwork to prove it) only to be told 'no' not possible for 4pm. We leave in 9 days and are staying for 14 nights, I have no confidence that I will even come back married as the level of service is shocking. Linda x

Hi, Our wedding is on the 22 June and Joannis has been the most unhelpful contact ever. The only time she replied promptly was when we requested a few extras to our package which incurred additional costs so within hours she sent an invoice demanding payment. We unfortunately paid this straight away using our credit card and two days later our card was used fraudently for thousands of pounds at various stores near Miami (we live in the UK). She has been difficult about any request we made for our wedding and honestly we are not having a big lavish day. She has only been in contact once since the fraud and that was only responding to our angry e mail and she said she had passed it to her supervisor who eventually got in touch to tell us its not their fault and its never happened to anyone with them before. Thanks to this forum I know that to be a blatent lie. I really would cancel the whole wedding if other people hadn't paid so much money to make the trip and I live in hope that the other brides who have got married there say the on site wedding co ordinators are totally different from the Miami office. If they just at least let tou know a contact for the hotel then it would take much of the stress away. x

previous entry should read £3000 gbp with £3500 still pending x

sorry should have said £3000 gbp with £3500 still pending x

Hi, I have been reading the forum for the past few months and picked up some really good info from you all. Joannis is our Miami contact and billed us last week for the horse and carriage and extra flowers about $200 approx. We paid by credit card and our card has now been used for various transactions to the total of £300 gbp with £3500 transactions pending all spent in various shops in Miami despite us living in the UK!! To say we are not happy is an understatement so please be warned. Whole experience been awful, hardly any contact from Joannis and anything she does say is negative, wanting us to change locations, times, not informing us we were eligeble for cocktail hour as we have 10 guests staying for 14 nights each. Hair dressing request in but no confirmation received. There is so much to stress I only hope what all the brides say is true that on site at Moon Palace they aim to please because if it wasn't for the fact that other people have spent so much money to go I would definitely be cancelling. Anyway just don't pass your credit card details. x

Hi everyone. Just thought I would post a few lines in relation to my experience with Palace Resorts, Miami office in relation to payment for horse and carriage and flower arrangements. Joannis, at the Miami office, insisted that we pay $203 for the above services and forwarded a form which we completed and returned to her via E. Mail. This E. Mail contained credit card details. The payment for $203 was debited from my account a few days later. Today, I checked my banking transactions and found that 14 seperate payments had been authorised on my credit card for various goods purchased in the Miami area. The total amount was approximately £3,300 British pounds with a further amount of £3,500 still pending. The obvious questions are what security measures are in place to protect our personal details which are quite clearly inadequate,and how did someone get my credit card details. I have forwarded a lenghthy E. Mail to Palace Resorts requiring some answers. I will re post when I have any further information. Just thought it was worth warning everyone. Linda