Photographer fee

[DanielleH88]

Hey guys. New to the forum. I have a question. Need some advice. I booked my wedding through destinationweddings.. booked grand Bahia principe san juan in Puerto plata. Deposited and all that .. hired a photographer who is also a friend who is coming with my group along with his wife as guests. 

I tell the resort because I wanted to clarify I dont really need the photographer that is included in my package I'm paying for..

They are now charging me 500 dollars for my photogrphaer / friend to take pictures on my wedding day even though him and his wife are both guests of the hotel for the whole 7 days.

Has anyone heard of this before? Any advice how to get out of it I have fought with the resort wedding planner and the travel planner but i havent got anywhere so far. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm already spending 1500$ in extras, 1700 on package and bringing 24 guests for 7 days and me and hubby staying 10 days. I feel like they should not be charging me for this

Edited November 21, 2018 by DanielleH88

[TA Patty]

Hi Danielle - Congratulations & welcome to the forum!  It is pretty common for a resort to charge "vendor fees" for outside vendors to come on property, but in my experience typically they do not charge if they are staying at the resort. I would suggest you go back to the resort and check on it again and you can also ask your TA to get involved. Good Luck!! TA Patty

[DanielleH88]

Thank you for the response TA Patty. I did both of those already I asked to talk to manager and everything and the response my TA got back was from the head office of grand Bahia and that it was there policy for the resort. And my coordinator is the least helpful ever and rude. So basically it's just a mess lol. 

 

[MarieSamSanchezPhoto]

Having your travel agent speak with the resort is probably your best bet as good agents will often have close working relationships with the weddings department and can often work out an agreement with the resort as long as your photographer is staying at the resort or at the very least get the fee reduced. If that doesn't work, it may just be a cost that you have to eat unfortunately. Best of luck!