Hi Brides,
So excited to have found this thread. We're planning on doing our wedding here June 2017 and are going for a site visit at the end of this month (will post pictures!). I've been working with a TA at modern destination wedding (https://moderndestinationweddings.com/) and have had a really positive experience so far. They make the process a lot easier and will price match rates that you might find on Orbitz/Expedia/etc... As another bride mentioned, their packages include round-trip transfers to and from the airport which i personally find convenient. I also found that my travel agent is able to get me answers from the on-site wedding coordinator pretty quickly.
The $500 outside vendor fee is a bit steep, have any other brides had experience with negotiating this rate? Seems insane to pay so much to bring in your own photographer/videographer/etc..
Happy planning!