Secrets Montego Bay Wedding W/pics- Any Questions?

[cora4600 8]

Yes, getting excited now. One thing though, I went to mail my notarized documents and they told me to send it by courier instead. Most of the mail gets lost and never arrives or arrives too late.  

 

 

We used FedEx without an issue, so I would recommend that. They used DSL to send our marriage license to us after the wedding, so if you have them in your area, you can always try them as well. 

[RandL2015 70]

Thanks!! Will do it today if possible.

[JamaicaNicole 28]

@@KG1990 my planning is going along pretty well. Thinking about doing my planning thread when I'm ~ 2 months out. Right now I post on November Brides 2015.  Waiting for my RSVP'S to come in. I don't know why people wait until the LAST MINUTE to book their room and flights. 

So I still don't have a hard count yet, but I thinking it would be around the 15 -20 people count.

Unfortunately, getting married on Thanksgiving worked for my fiancé and I, just didn't know the airfare was going to be over $600.00 round trip.

 

My fiancé told me not to worry about it. We gave everyone at least at 18 months noticed with payment plans. We figured those who REALLY wanted to come will be there.

 

Received the resort's form. Must be in 2 months prior to your wedding. My final RSVP deadline is Sept. 16th, will send their form back then.

 

I am in a similar boat albeit not as close to my date as you. I am getting married on a holiday weekend as well, July 4th, so airfare is ranging around $550-$600. I haven't had anyone book yet and it is driving me crazy I just want someone to first! The deadline is April 4th for me but it does seem that people wait to the last minute. We gave around 18 months as well and I though that would be good people would put the down payment down and then pay in installments so it wouldn't be as much money all at once, but to to each there own. It's hard because you want to start buying but don't want to do to little or to much. 

 

Just an idea and this is not for everyone but we are getting our marriage certificate in the US prior to leaving. We live in PA so which has a big Quaker population so we have a certificate called a self uniting license and that allows you to sign it with your fiance and 2 witnesses and that's it. We are going to opt for that one because we will count our wedding day as the real one this will just be us signing papers. I didn't want to deal with the hassle of having to send my documents there and the risk of them not getting there or getting lost. We also just wanted to have a US marriage certificate as I have heard some horror stories about people not really being legally married with some international ones. 

[aek03 1]

Thank you for the information in this thread. Very helpful! I'm glad to see I am not the only one frustrated with wedding coordinator communication.

 

I am getting married Dec 2015 at Secrets St. James.

 

I noticed you said the DJ was $150/hour which seems reasonable. On the "extras" sheet they provided me, they have $250/hour listed for a DJ. Did you have any experience or luck in negotiating the prices on the extras? Some of them are outrageous! Our wedding guest list is not huge, but we have 40 confirmed guests for 7 nights. I was hoping they would be a little flexible on some of the extras considering the number of people we were brining to their hotel that would not have went otherwise.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[RandL2015 70]

Doing my contract now. The DJ is $250/hour x3 hours, The steel drum band upgrade is now $300 instead of $200. The gazebo decor is $200. Yes, the prices do add up.

 

Thinking about just doing the Mento Band to save the $300.00. Does anyone have any experience with them?

[JamaicaNicole 28]

I am so frustrated with the wedding planners every little thing they either Nickle and dime or change things up on. I wanted to do just the bonfire the night before the wedding the $500 option not the party which was the $1400 option but now they are saying the $500 option is only an add on to the wedding can't be on a separate night. Cora was able to do just the bi fire though and so were other brides I hate how they make things up.

[Soon2bmzbrooks 9]

Doing my contract now. The DJ is $250/hour x3 hours, The steel drum band upgrade is now $300 instead of $200. The gazebo decor is $200. Yes, the prices do add up.

 

Thinking about just doing the Mento Band to save the $300.00. Does anyone have any experience with them?

 

Are you getting the ultimate wedding package that comes with the band?  That's what I did and they were great.  However, I think the dj is well worth it.  And for your decorations,  I brought some of my own decorations for the table just to add some color  and they didn't charge me for putting them out.  I asked if I could have my family do it for me and they agreed to do it for me for nothing.  And they were creative in making it work.

[RandL2015 70]

@@Soon2bmzbrooks  They lowered the band price back to $200 for the upgrade from the Mento Band, so I agreed with that.  I heard the Reggae band and the DJ was good.

 

I scaled back on the gazebo decor and will just have white shears on the beachfront casita. Overall, I am pleased with everything, so hoping everything will work well on the "Big" day!!  

[lyndaTRice 1]

Hey guys I just got married here in Janaica at Secrets on Tuesday Nov 10, 2015 if you have question let me know I had the best time and the staff and wedding team was AMAZING!!!

I'm here until Monday and then off for our honeymoon!!!