Jamaica Elegant Weddings - Any comments?

[ajamieso]

Ms. Reed can you send pics to me of your reception and ceremony at ajamieso@mail.usf.edu! Thanks so much

[sorord1]

Hey guys I met with Dawn of Jamaica Elegant weddings this past weekend during my site visit.  All I can say is she is truly a sweetheart.  She seems to be very professional and is very easy to get along with.  She made notes of all of our ideas and was very receptive to our input.  She had a printout of all our previous corespondences. She also showed us pictures on her laptop of a previous wedding she had done at the site. We toured the site and she showed us different ways she can set up the ceremony and reception. We left knowing that she is going to do a superb job with our wedding.

[downtownlagirl]

Bumping the thread to see if anyone ever got a quote from or worked with pussbackfoot. The website looks great!

[catererbride]

Wow is it difficult to find planners in Jamaica!??

 

Finally after hours and hours and days and days, I also stumbled across pussbackfoot, who appear to be out of this world and leagues above the rest in style and class...but no reviews? I have just emailed them to contact me so we will see...

 

Experience thus far with others -

 

Hummingbird Hall - a one stop shop with fabulous service and attention. Lovely ladies (michelle and alisha) my only issue is that once we started to deviate from the basic fairly priced package, the quote almost doubled.

 

And we have now decided on a villa anyway...

 

Wedding Belles Bda - Jo-anne seems to be fantastic but I cannot find ANY reviews on her work or info about her. Seems very odd that when you plug her name in to google NOTHING comes up.

 

How do you know who to trust?    

[catererbride]

It seems to be very difficult to find reviews for pussbackfoot and wedding belles - this is worrying no?

 

If they were as good as they appear.....

[emapema]

My Husband and I got Married Nov 2010 in Jamaica; We had a great time,everything looked better than I had imagined. My husband and I got married ON our resort (Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) and had the reception OFF the resort (Using the services of Jamaica Elegant Weddings).

I highly recommend using the services of Jamaica Elegant Weddings, Dawn the coordinator did a fantastic job, she stayed within my budget and gave me more than what I could have hoped for in a reception. We also loved our stay at the the Hilton Rose Hall we would recommend it for a wedding ceremony or just a vacation, it was beautiful.

We decided to get married on the resort (Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) because a "free" wedding package was included with our stay, it was beautiful but with our upgrades it was not free. If we had gotten married off the resort at the same place we had our reception it would also have been beautiful.

We had our Reception off the resort with Dawn from Jamaica Elegant weddings, I think this was the best decision I made. We had our reception off the resort because the cost of a reception for 22 total people at our resort was terrible. The Hilton wanted us to pay for our guests meals even though all our guests had already payed for all inclusive, there was a set up fee,fee for an open bar, and you had to rent the area you were having you reception at 1000+, even though we were already all inclusive. So I decided to look elesewhere for our reception. We wern't going to pay the Hilton anymore money, for something that we and our guests had already payed for. I choose Dawn from Jamaican Elegant weddings because she was able to stick to my budget, and she seemed sincere.  I started planning my receptioon with Dawn in the Spring of 2010 (was married Nov 2010)  Dawn was easy to deal with via e-mail, I was nervous planning a wedding reception via e-mail and I was nervous sending money to someone we had never met. I would highly recommend Dawn's services, she stayed within my budget and had many great ideas. She gave me the elegant reception I had always dreamed of.

We had our wedding ceremony on the resort( Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) because we had a "free wedding ceremony" (although with the upgrades we used it wasn't free). Our ceremony was beautiful, we were married on the East Lawn Gazebo(which I would recommend because it seemed more private and it seemed to shelter us from some of the wind). On arrival at the hotel we made arrangments to meet with the Resorts Wedding coordinator; We met with her a few days before the wedding and we picked our flowers,location,we made upgrades to our "free package", and she told us the plan for our big day. Everything went pretty smoothly, our violinist was late 30+min, and we were still charged full price for that, which was too much. Besides the violinist being late everything else went according to plan. The weather was great,the minister was fun and full of personality, the violinist was late but fantastic( I marched down the aisle to Bob Marleys Redemption Song). After the ceremony we cut the cake(which was delicious, and included in the free package) and had some champagne, then the resorts photographer (Patrick) took more family/friends shots then he took my husband and I off to have some shots of just the two of us. He did a fantastic job!! I was nervous about using the resorts photographer because I had no idea how the photos would turn out, but  I love them.

After our photo shoot on the resort we were greeted by our wedding coordinator for our rception, her name is Dawn form Jamaican Elegant weddings(We had met with her earlier in the week to finalize plans for the reception).  My husband and I and our 20 guests boarded a mini bus that transported us to our reception, which was held at Satori Resort and Spa about 15- 20min away from our resort. We had our reception at sunset on the Lawn of  this small, newly renovated hotel; it was beautiful. The resort has a large lawn and a small private beach. Our reception was elegant, intimate and romantic. I loved the location! Dawn, the wedding coordinator did an amazing job of putting everything together. It was better than what I had hoped for. The food,decoration,flowers, the steel band, it was more than what I had hoped for.

The food at the reception by was made the chef at the Satori Resort, we had Jerk chicken,pumpkin rice ,veggies it was very good. We also had a wedding cake at the Reception which was also very good, we ate that along with fruit salad for dessert. The steel band at the reception was great, they played music all night long until it was time to go back to our resort. We had an open bar for our 20 guests, which was a big hit. We had our first dance on the private beach of the Satori resort, while the steel band played, it was very romantic and private. As a wedding favor we gave our guests Jamaican Appleton Rum and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Dawn put these together for us, they were a great wedding favor.

We had a great time at the reception, it was perfect. My husband and I couldn't be happier with our choice to have the reception off the resort. It was so private, we never seen any other hotel guests while at our reception; it was our guests and the workers of the hotel, we would never have been able to have this type of privacy and intimacy with our guests if we had stayed at the Hilton Rose Hall for our reception.

 

I'm going to post the thread to some of my pics from the Wedding and Reception, if you have any question i would be happy to help. If you have any trouble seeing my pics, send me an e-mail and I'd be happy to send you some pics. ; thorntonemma@hotmail.com

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251849&id=509684155&l=f6b9b77324     

 

 

 

 

 

 

[emapema]

My Husband and I got Married Nov 2010 in Jamaica; We had a great time,everything looked better than I had imagined. My husband and I got married ON our resort (Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) and had the reception OFF the resort (Using the services of Jamaica Elegant Weddings).

I highly recommend using the services of Jamaica Elegant Weddings, Dawn the coordinator did a fantastic job, she stayed within my budget and gave me more than what I could have hoped for in a reception. We also loved our stay at the the Hilton Rose Hall we would recommend it for a wedding ceremony or just a vacation, it was beautiful.

We decided to get married on the resort (Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) because a "free" wedding package was included with our stay, it was beautiful but with our upgrades it was not free. If we had gotten married off the resort at the same place we had our reception it would also have been beautiful.

We had our Reception off the resort with Dawn from Jamaica Elegant weddings, I think this was the best decision I made. We had our reception off the resort because the cost of a reception for 22 total people at our resort was terrible. The Hilton wanted us to pay for our guests meals even though all our guests had already payed for all inclusive, there was a set up fee,fee for an open bar, and you had to rent the area you were having you reception at 1000+, even though we were already all inclusive. So I decided to look elesewhere for our reception. We wern't going to pay the Hilton anymore money, for something that we and our guests had already payed for. I choose Dawn from Jamaican Elegant weddings because she was able to stick to my budget, and she seemed sincere.  I started planning my receptioon with Dawn in the Spring of 2010 (was married Nov 2010)  Dawn was easy to deal with via e-mail, I was nervous planning a wedding reception via e-mail and I was nervous sending money to someone we had never met. I would highly recommend Dawn's services, she stayed within my budget and had many great ideas. She gave me the elegant reception I had always dreamed of.

We had our wedding ceremony on the resort( Hilton Rose Hall Resort and Spa) because we had a "free wedding ceremony" (although with the upgrades we used it wasn't free). Our ceremony was beautiful, we were married on the East Lawn Gazebo(which I would recommend because it seemed more private and it seemed to shelter us from some of the wind). On arrival at the hotel we made arrangments to meet with the Resorts Wedding coordinator; We met with her a few days before the wedding and we picked our flowers,location,we made upgrades to our "free package", and she told us the plan for our big day. Everything went pretty smoothly, our violinist was late 30+min, and we were still charged full price for that, which was too much. Besides the violinist being late everything else went according to plan. The weather was great,the minister was fun and full of personality, the violinist was late but fantastic( I marched down the aisle to Bob Marleys Redemption Song). After the ceremony we cut the cake(which was delicious, and included in the free package) and had some champagne, then the resorts photographer (Patrick) took more family/friends shots then he took my husband and I off to have some shots of just the two of us. He did a fantastic job!! I was nervous about using the resorts photographer because I had no idea how the photos would turn out, but  I love them.

After our photo shoot on the resort we were greeted by our wedding coordinator for our rception, her name is Dawn form Jamaican Elegant weddings(We had met with her earlier in the week to finalize plans for the reception).  My husband and I and our 20 guests boarded a mini bus that transported us to our reception, which was held at Satori Resort and Spa about 15- 20min away from our resort. We had our reception at sunset on the Lawn of  this small, newly renovated hotel; it was beautiful. The resort has a large lawn and a small private beach. Our reception was elegant, intimate and romantic. I loved the location! Dawn, the wedding coordinator did an amazing job of putting everything together. It was better than what I had hoped for. The food,decoration,flowers, the steel band, it was more than what I had hoped for.

The food at the reception by was made the chef at the Satori Resort, we had Jerk chicken,pumpkin rice ,veggies it was very good. We also had a wedding cake at the Reception which was also very good, we ate that along with fruit salad for dessert. The steel band at the reception was great, they played music all night long until it was time to go back to our resort. We had an open bar for our 20 guests, which was a big hit. We had our first dance on the private beach of the Satori resort, while the steel band played, it was very romantic and private. As a wedding favor we gave our guests Jamaican Appleton Rum and Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, Dawn put these together for us, they were a great wedding favor.

We had a great time at the reception, it was perfect. My husband and I couldn't be happier with our choice to have the reception off the resort. It was so private, we never seen any other hotel guests while at our reception; it was our guests and the workers of the hotel, we would never have been able to have this type of privacy and intimacy with our guests if we had stayed at the Hilton Rose Hall for our reception.

 

I'm going to post the thread to some of my pics from the Wedding and Reception, if you have any question i would be happy to help. If you have any trouble seeing my pics, send me an e-mail and I'd be happy to send you some pics. ; thorntonemma@hotmail.com

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=251849&id=509684155&l=f6b9b77324 

[downtownlagirl]

Here is my pussbackfoot experience: I was really excited to find pussbackfoot - they seemed to be the "only game in town" with a truly high bar for design. Aiesha seems great, fun and personable and has lovely taste, but unfortunately it took a very, very long time to get a quote from her - actually, a proposal- I never did get a quote. I let her know that we were in a time crunch and needed to decide on a planner (this was December - the wedding was in 4 1/2 months!). Finally I told her I needed to decide right after Christmas (this was like a week before Xmas). I got an amazing proposal from her on New Year's Eve. The proposal, which I had waited a month for, had absolutely no pricing attached. She had a copy of our budget - she knew we were in a time crunch - and not even a mention of $. I asked if this would fit in the budget and she said "it would probably go over".  At that point I hired a planner in NY to work at a distance. In retrospect if she had just told me it would take so long, or warned me that there would not even be pricing information for her services,  I would have gone ahead with someone else and would have saved some time. I still think the pussbackfoot aesthetic is great, but I asked for costings in case we wanted to hire them as planners on the ground or for decor - and I have heard absolutely nothing since. I get "island time", but not when my wedding date is four months away.

[catererbride]

Thank you for your replies...

 

Downtownlagirl - what a shame that people don't follow through because if pussbackfoot did, they would get some business! And hence it's not surprising that I couldn't find any feedback on them as I am sure you are not the only one that had that experience. How was it going through someone that wasn't in Jamaica? Presumably you had to fly them out and pay for their hotel? How did it work out with vendors etc?

 

Emapema - thanks for your story! I have read great things about Dawn but I have to be honest, her website pics put me off a bit. Too much fabric everywhere - very very 80's in my opinion - hence drawn to pussbackfoot. If I were to go on feedback alone, I would go with Dawn. If I were to go on website pics, I woudn't.

 

  

What makes my life harder is that I am a catering & events manager in Bermuda and so having been involved in many weddings myself...I am even more particular and quick to criticize. There is a wedding planner out here for example who does destination weddings only and the poor brides have no idea what a con artist she is. She is very charming via email but on the actual day does little to nothing and the disaster stories are too many to mention!

 

What can I say...I'm lost!

[downtownlagirl]

Catererbride, I was having a hard time finding any information on weddings at my venue, and I was getting a bit nervous as the hotel WC was really unresponsive...then I ran miraculously into a bride who had married there and had a very cool, different event.  It is her planner I am using and she is setting it all up from a distance. She has done multiple weddings at the venue, knows the WC is difficult,  has done many, many weddings in Jamaica overall and has it wired. Knows all the vendors. But I was hoping to also have someone like pussbackfoot to be here for the day and maybe provide flowers and rentals. Now I need to assess whether I can rely on the distant planner and the WC.

It must be hard to be an event pro and deal with all the flaky people for your own event. I run a marketing company and I know it amazes me that people don't get back swiftly. I've spent so many nights up late finishing proposals in order to respond quickly and get the business!