redsoxgrl

So I'm getting hair/makeup trial and day of. I know our butler gets tipped at the end of the week but I'm not sure how the spa works Will the same person be doing my makeup both days? Do I tip for trial and day of or just once? (Guess that depends if the same person is doing both days...which I hope it would be bc how would it match the trial look??) Thanks in advance!

That is true no one said u have to put them in the most expensive room!

Yup and the sad part is, once I picked my jaw up off the ground I emailed a few of them thru their websites and didn't tell them I was getting married at sandals and the prices were almost 2k cheaper so obv sandals is making lots of money anyways off these people! Crazy. The biggest problem with sandals is the photography. Just charge a vendor fee and let your guests bring whomever they want like other resorts!! I hope you can find a option that works for you

Yea, i agree. I had heard of the photography crap before booking so i already had my contingency plan. haha. We had to get sandals bc we wanted a butler room....i can't wait for have a butler for the week! lol

I would talk to your WC and see what can be done. Sandals has photography partners which are real photographers (not snapshots ones) but they are OUTRAGEOUS. Are you super locked into sandals? I know a lot if other resorts DO allow offsite photogs. Otherwise maybe you can see if you can get samples of some of the snapshots work

Are you having a wedding with people? We are eloping (litterally just us) so that's why the local photog in Negril works for us. We just leave and take our wedding portraits all over Negril and still get a few pics of ceremony. I do know one photographer I talked to wanted to try and sneak in lol but since it would just be me and him that wouldn't work.

I hired an offsite photog and they aren't allowed on sandals property. In order for a photog to come on property they need to be a paying customer for 3 nights (I'm sure you prob already knew this). So we are having our ceremony at 3 and the snapshots people will be there and take some shots. We will pay PER PIC which I believe is 20 or 25 per pic. Directly after our ceremony my photog is picking us up and heading all over town to take wedding photos (much more fun and interesting than resort!) ending with TTD pics at sunset. They do have a cheaper package than the 1200. I know this bc I inquired before I asked the per pic price. I want to say it's between 400-600 I just can't remember. EDIT: found the email from WC Also what is the smallest photo package that sandals provides? Please see attached we start as low as 24 images on CD or 5x7 prints for $460 Can we just pay per photo? Is $20 to 25 per picture the 24 can cover the pre wedding and the Ceremony photo

I just wanted to correct you here for anyone who might stop in and read the thread. Sandals has photography partners at each resort. They are outside vendors that sandals allows on property. They are also astronomically priced lol. (I asked for a quote from one if them and it was about 2k less than the rate sandals gave me over the phone. Talk about an up charge!) http://www.sandals.com/weddingmoons/weddings/wedding-photographers/ Personally, I just ended up hiring an offsite photographer to take me all over Negril for pics after the ceremony and we will be paying per pic to have a few pics from actual ceremony.

I replied on the other thread but I see now you are getting married 5 days ahead of me lol! I booked hair/makeup trial and then hair/makeup day of. I figure it's going to be humid as all hell and they must be good at doing hair (better than I am!) and as for makeup, I was told they use MAC products. I have extremely sensitive skin so I had to do a trial here at a MAC counter and I will be bringing some MAC products with me to use from from the mineralize line. It was 265 for the trial/day of and most of it was paid by the 500 credit for me. I already booked an offsite photographer to whisk us away after our wedding for photos around Negril and sunset TTD bc I heard sandals photogs are not so good so i didn't want to spend more money and have to go off resort for hair and makeup. I figure the trial should help calm my nerves too!

When is your wedding? I booked hair/makeup trial and day of at the spa. I can report back with a review. My wedding is end of July

I spoke to my WC for Sandals Negril on Friday and asked this very question. She said steaming starts at $80 and goes up from there depending on the fabric/complexity of dress. I decided I'll bring my own hand held steamer instead of adding another cost haha. I would def check with your WC as it might be different prices on diff islands/resorts.

So glad to see this!! We booked Misha Earle for our wedding in July! She is super responsive, funny (even through email!). So excited!

We will be there July 26-Aug 2nd!

Quote: Originally Posted by redsoxgrl I had my first phone call with WC end of aug. I felt like it went well and she didn't try and push us to purchase anything we didn't need. We are eloping so we are having no guests..but I still wanted to plan something special. I still have some odds and ends to tie up but overall I feel like things are moving right along! The only things I have left to book are sandals photography for ceremony (going with cheapest pkg bc I hired an offsite photog to take us all over for 3 hours after our ceremony and ending with TTD at sunset!) and the candlelight dinner after we come back from photos! Quote: Originally Posted by RaynDrop That all sounds like a lot of fun No guest sounds soooo much easier!! haha Haha, yes! No guests is EASIER!!!! We just didnt want to honeymoon with our friends and fam. We also pieced together our own ceremony script and it was just approved by the officiant through our wedding coordinator. Just letting you know in case you were thinking of doing that...you are allowed to but it has to be approved by the officiant. Quote: Originally Posted by pongyang2001 Ladies What are you doing for your package? I am doing the seaside serenade. We just built our own since much of the things didn't apply. Here's a snapshot of our day... We have wedding booked at 3 (we plan on using the beachside gazebo). We will be picked up directly after (around 4) for offsite photos all over Negril. We have the offsite photog for 3 hours. We plan on doing TTD pics at sunset. We get back around 7:30-8. We take a quick shower and then we booked the candlelight dinner on the beach at 8:30pm. We just did the beautiful beginnings cake (which i plan on having them change the flower on top to a silk flower real touch topper i bring), and i guess some little reception comes with the beautiful beginnings package so both the cake and whatever else will be delivered to our room. I guess we could just eat some cake after our candlelight dinner. I forgot to mention that we are doing a very small sandals photo package. We were kinda stuck doing this because it was the only way to get any pics of our ceremony since the offsite photog isn't allowed on the resort I think the reason there are not many sandals brides is because of the COST (their room rates are expensive comparative to the amenities), and how RESTRICTIVE the wedding stuff is. They don't allow outside vendors (unless you pay for them to stay 3 night...um no). Also, the choices are expensive and limited. They wanted 1,400 for photography. Only 110 pics, 2 brag books, yadda yadda. Honestly i don't really trust them to take my wedding photos, i have seen examples online and i'm not impressed. I hired my offsite photog for 3 hours at 1500, all images with rights on cd. And her photos are artistic and professional. Unfortunately i still have to pay for a small package through sandals to get pics of the ceremony. I didn't like any of the bouquets offered. I can't use an outside vendor...so i'm doing the real touch flowers to get the bouquet i want at 1/3 of the price of sandals. Honestly, i dont know if i would have chose Sandals had i known all the restrictions, but i have worked around it and i'm pretty pleased with the results haha. So we shall see I am pretty psyched about our Butler category room!!! Its in a newer building and just recently renovated so I think that will definately be amazing!

I'm pretty much doing the same thing except I went with Misha Earle Photography instead of Brian Nejedly. They were actually the same price but Brian was located on the other side of the island and Misha is located on the same side of the island as where we are staying. We are doing the cheapest photo pkg at sandals to get ceremony photos then are being whisked away for photos all over with TTD at sunset. Pretty darn excited and I see that this is the route most sandals brides usually take for photos I don't really want pics all over the resort anyways! http://www.mishaearlephotography.com

I had my first phone call with WC end of aug. I felt like it went well and she didn't try and push us to purchase anything we didn't need. We are eloping so we are having no guests..but I still wanted to plan something special. I still have some odds and ends to tie up but overall I feel like things are moving right along! The only things I have left to book are sandals photography for ceremony (going with cheapest pkg bc I hired an offsite photog to take us all over for 3 hours after our ceremony and ending with TTD at sunset!) and the candlelight dinner after we come back from photos!

I have a running list of questions too - they are all on my iphone under the notes app. Since i'm eloping, i probally don't have the same types of questions you would ask. We originally wanted a small wedding of close family and friends, but the Negril resort isn't completely renovated, so some of the lower room categories are pretty crappy looking, and we didn't want to be responsible for feeling like people paid all this money and their room sucked. We booked the "Millionaire Penthouse Oceanview Honeymoon Suite with Ocean View", this building is completely renovated. As far as i know, there are not many rooms in our building and it is on the "quieter" side of the resort. I would have loved to book a crystal lagoon swim out room, but those were 3k more than what we paid...LOL. Have you ever stayed at a Sandals? We went through the big book of all the sandals when we were deciding to get married, and our TA told us Jamaica was the "easiest" island to get married on - LOL that was why we picked it.

Hey there! FI and I are getting married at Sandals Negril in July! My first phone meeting with the WC is next Saturday and TBH I haven't looked at any of the selections yet! We are eloping, so I don't have to worry about much of the traditional stuff. So far I have written our ceremony (pieces from all over the web lol) and bought a wedding dress. we have bought our wedding bands. I don't trust sandals photographers, therefore we booked an outside photographer to pick us up after the ceremony. We are going to head to some fun photo spots, then do a TTD shoot at sunset! We are very excited! I figure, we will still have to buy a cheap sandals package, or possibly just pay per pic if we like any of the ceremony. We will have to do something, because ri want a pic or two of the ceremony! I did inquire about the professional "partners photographers" but they were OUTRAGEOUSLY priced:eek: - so after reading plenty of reviews, hiring our own and going offsite was the best idea. We also splurged on a really expensive butler room. I've never been to an all inclusive before, so I'm pretty excited about that too!

I ended up booking with Misha Earle Photography. I called sandals and asked the prices of each "partner" photographer and the prices were OUTRAGEOUS (as one would expect). We plan on leaving the resort directly after the ceremony and taking photos for 3 hours ending with a TTD shoot at sunset! She has been great with communication and her portfolio/style is exactly what I'm looking for!

I am getting married at sandals negron and I am hiring a local photog from Jamaica to pick us up after the ceremony and do wedding photos then TTD photos at sunset. I figure ill let the sandals photog take some photos of ceremony and then if there happen to be any we like we will purchase per photo. Photography was a big deal to me and FI so we decided leaving the resort after the wedding gets us the quality we want. This was an easy decision for us since we are eloping.

Does anyone know if Sandals provides witnesses for you if you are eloping? This thought just literally popped into my head haha. I was planning on meeting people there and maybe asking a few to come, but with arriving on Saturday, wedding on Monday, I don't think there will be much time to make friends!

Thank you so much lebolton! It was very helpful! I have heard the same about the WC. Thank GOD we are eloping bc I don't think I could deal with planning a wedding over the phone. I'm trying to get my questions in line now. We are just using the $500 wedding credit to make a simple wedding since we plan to go off property with the photog the minute after we sign the marriage license lol! I guess I am hoping ill like 1 or 2 pics from sandals so I have SOMETHING from the actual ceremony! I am so thankful I found this site or I wouldn't have known how BAD sandals photogs are and I would have been so upset with crappy wedding pics! Thanks also for letting me know we can plan our own script/vows! We would have loved a room in the crystal lagoon swim ups but it was almost 2500 more than what we are paying now (and even what we paid is more than I was comfortable spending!) Can't wait to see your full review! Thank you again for your help!

You look fabulous!!! AND SO HAPPY! congrats on finding the dress and getting a deal!!!

I cant wait to see your review!!!! Me and my FI have booked our wedding at Sandals Negril in July 2014. We booked the Millionaire Honeymoon Plantation Suites Ocean View with a butler for 7 nights! We are very excited. I hear these are on the "quieter" side of the resort. I really wanted something beach walkout, but my FI really liked these rooms from the pics, so thats what we went with. (most of the beach walkout rooms were much cheaper!!!) Has anyone here stayed in the room level we are staying in? Since we were so scared about the Sandals photog, we have decided to hire an offsite photog and they are picking up us directly after ceremony for wedding photos and TTD off site! I'm assuming that we would have to still buy a cheap package from sandals for the off chance that we like some of their ceremony photos...otherwise we will not have any photos of our actual ceremony! I have my first meeting with Nina in August. I dislike all our their flower options, so im wondering if anyone has requested custom flowers? I just want a bouquet of bright orange and hot pink gerber daisies. I forgot to mention that was are totally eloping, just the two of us. Does Sandals provide a witness? Can we write our own vows? I have a list of ongoing questions to ask Nina including the script for the ceremony - we aren't religious, if allowed - i would love to pick out my own ceremony script. Also as for the spa...i plan on makeup/hair trials before the big day. I know at the end of the week i tip my butler...but who else do you tip while you are there?? Is there any excursions we MUST do while in Negril? We def want to do Rick's cafe. I want to do a catamaran cruise. We want to do horseback riding thru the water. Thanks in advance!

Hope you ladies are having a great WEEKEND(not wedding!) is there a way to edit a post (for future reference)?