MikkiStreak

Glenda, Holy cow--- it doesn't surprise me that some jewelers cut corners. And God knows retail always cuts corners. (example: when you take your vehicle to a retail chain like Firestone, they may advertise their ASC certified, but only 1-2 mechanics are in the shop and they aren't usually the ones doing the work). So it makes me wonder about some of these jewelry chains now--- are they really hiring professional jewelry people in their service shops, or do they hire that $8/hr person and have them supervised by a jewelry pro? It sure wouldn't surprise me. Leigh, Definiately working on it already--- I'm pulling out the receipts from the purchase, the exchange they did with the permanent band and am going to begin writing down all the experiences... right down to bad toupee guy rolling his eyes at me when I asked to see the serial number inscription. I found the customer relations (not typical Customer Service) on their website and I'll start there. If they don't step up to the plate, then I'll simply head to the store on a Saturday and wait until they have several couples looking at the engagement rings and *then* I'll walk in to request a manager and start explaining everything. And if that still doesn't get any results, I'll start tracking down the district manager and work my way up. I appreciate all of you guys sharing your input--- I really wanted to know if I was just being nit-picky or whether there was a valid concern on my end about the quality of the head/prongs.

Christene, I was wondering about that. I knew Kay and Jared were owned by the same parent company and planned on calling to see if everything could be transferred. I could kick myself in the rear because we went to Jared first and were treated like royalty and then we went to Kay and were treated pretty mundane. The only reason we bought it at Kay is because their corporate office had mis-priced the diamond and we got it for about $1500 less than it's actual value (D color diamond priced at H/I color price). I'll definitely check into switching it over. Thanks for looking that up--- we went out for dinner tonight and on the way to the restaurant, we drove past a new Jared's just down the road from us and we even commented on switching everything over. (ahhh---- the hope is restored!!!)

Fortunately, we purchased the lifetime repair plan, so everytime I want it sized or need repaired, I don't have to pay a cent for it. Which is why I've been taking it back to them. They set the head lower in the setting this time and I know that will help, but it still pisses me off because I liked it higher. If I were having problems banging it against stuff, I wouldn't have a problem with it being set lower. But heck, I've been so gentle with this ring that it doesn't even have a single scratch mark anywhere on it yet, even after 6 months of wear. That's why my opinion has always been that it's a quality issue with the head of the ring--- I wasn't real happy with them thru this process either. It's like they've made changes to the ring without even telling me. When we picked it up for the first time, the stone was put in a temporary band until the permanent one was made, which they told me could take up to 6 months to make. Well, the temp band (which is what I wanted at the time) was 4mm. When they got the permanent band in, they called the wrong phone number and when they didn't reach me, they sent the permanent band back. 3 months later, I just happen to call and check on whether they've gotten it in, and they tell me they sent it back because they couldn't reach me. So they order the permanent band again and it arrives in 2 weeks. But when it shows up, it's 2mm and because it's been more than the 90 day return period, they tell me I can't return it. I just have to keep this one and if I want the other band (4mm), I have to purchase it too. BTW--- retail sucks---- don't ever buy from Kay Jewelers. We spent 4K on this thing and for that amount of money, they should have their noses permanently embedded in my ass, as far as I'm concerned....

Ok, I need opinions on this, because to me this doesn't seem normal and the jewelry store acts like I'm crazy and I'm beating the hell out of my ring. I got my E-ring back in September. In the last 6 months I've had it, it's been in for repair twice for issues with the prongs bending. It has the typical platinum head and 4 prongs, but the mount has set up high from the band. The first repair was done because one of the prongs bent sideways and I have no idea how because I didn't whack it on anything. And it *really* pissed me off because it happened a couple days before our "birthday" party where we surprised all our family and friends by announcing our engagement. So all night long, people kept approaching and grabbing my hand.... but nothing was there. (The jewelry store apparently doesn't "expedite" even when someone offers to pay for it.) We took it in for the second repair because one of the prongs had bent about 1/8 of an inch away from the diamond. Which happened when I took a 3lb hand weight at Wal-Mart and put it back in the cardboard box on the shelf. (Picture it like this: The weight was sitting in the palm of my hand and I moved my hand over top of the box to let it roll into the box on the shelf). The cardboard box was like a box you ship things it--- that egg-carton, soft cardboard material. I brushed it so lightly that I barely even felt the ring move. So when I went back to the jewelers and told them something was wrong with the head and the platinum prongs, they thought I was full of crap. I insisted they replace the head and they did, but kept the ring for 2 weeks and when I got it back, they shortened the head so it looks like it was cut off at the base of the ring. And to top it off, they didn't get the ring back on the deadline they gave me, so I missed another special event to show the ring to people. I wound up having to tell the manager that if she didn't get the service manager to drive his happy ass over to the shipping facility and dig through the boxes to locate it, she would wind up with one extremely pissed off woman in her store on that Saturday throwing a hissy fit in front of all her customers. When they finally got the ring back at the store, I told the guy I wanted to see the serial number inscribed on the diamond and he rolled his eyes at me. That guy was so lucky I didn't jump across the counter and rip off his really bad toupee at that point. Well, glad I made him do it because the inscription wasn't present and they had to send it back to the service center again to have the diamond moved to see if it was under the prongs. Took another 2 days.... Yes, I'm still pissed. But seriously, have any of you guys had issues with the quality of the head/band your diamond is setting in? Does this sound normal for it to break so easily?

Came across this website a couple days ago--- seems like the prices for glassware that can be used for centerpieces is pretty good. Granted, my only frame of reference at this point is when I glanced at some at Michael's last week... so I might be wrong on this.... Party & Event Supplies

A great source for photos also is TripAdvisor---- when you look up a resort, right in the info is "Candid Photos" that were taken by guests. I like it because then I get to see the resort through the eyes of the guests, not through professional photos the resort paid to have done...

Hey Melissa, that's my FI's birthday too! The cool thing for that he was born 10/10 and is the 10th grandson on both side of the family. We havent' settled on a date. We both want sometime in January, but I want a Saturday so our guests can fly in for the weekend without having to take a bunch of time off, so we're willing to adjust the date, depending on which resort we finally choose...

Those are all what I've been looking for, but without the charm loop at the top. I have a photo of the invite at home that I'll have to upload, but basically, on the outside of the pocket folder, they had a ribbon and then they took some beachy looking string and looped it through the holes in the sand dollar to hold it. I've found some site selling small sand dollar's pretty cheap that I can use as a last resort, but I really liked the look of the silver ones. Heck, I may just have to use the real ones because the silver ones are probably going to be so much more than the real ones...

Ok, I'm on the quest for small silver sand dollars that I can use to liven up our invites. Cheap is the key word. Every website I come across is for real sand dollars, which is not what I want. If anyone comes across a website selling them, please let me know... Thanks all!

Those are *amazing*--- my God, they look like they would have taken forever to make and then to put together! But those are really going to leave an impression on people when they receive them! Imagine when they get a box in the mail and when they open it, it's a wedding invite! People are so used to getting regular envelopes--- they will be *floored* by the class this shows!!! Fabulous job!!!!

Definitely the manager... The WC would have to take your requests to the manager for approval and how she presents the information to him will affect his decision. But tell the WC you appreciate her efforts but plan on contacting management as you realize she is just relaying the booking information to you and she probably doesn't have any authority over the bookings side of the business. That way, she isn't put off by your action if you continue to pursue having the wedding there and she winds up still being the WC for you. Prepare yourself with facts--- how far in advance you've booked your wedding, how many rooms you wanted to block, how many guests you expected, and what you were expecting to spend yourselves and as a group in his hotel. Tell him/her your expectations for resolution (ie- providing alternate wedding site at sister hotel with accommodtions, serious discount in your pricing, freebies, etc...) and *aim high* as a start to negotiating. Expect to be led to a desk supervisor or way-layed from speaking with a manager. Normal business procedures with most companies. Leave a message if you have to with an expectation of a return call (ie, need to hear back within 48 hours or else you'll have to look elsewhere for your wedding needs). You can do it--- remember, Mexico is known for negotiations!

We have been considering MP for our wedding too. I was one of the people who had heard negative things from someone who had been there recently for a wedding. We're looking at other resorts after hearing from our friend, but haven't excluded MP, either. I would say to check online with some photo websites (like webshots)... you'll get photos taken by guests, not the pros who doctor things and make them look better. Also, check Trip Advisor and read their reviews. Everyone always has something to complain about, but what I do is look for the consistant complaints and that tells me whether it's valid or not. It's always a risk--- someone is going to fall through the cracks with customer service and someone is going to shine in the spotlight. It's the nature of service industries...

If you know what you would like to see happen for an outcome to this and you feel like she isn't getting even close to that outcome, don't hesitate to ask for a manager and play the nice role with him/her. In a situation like this, I'm actually surprised she hasn't gotten someone above her to step in for assistance since she hasn't been the WC for long... A manager is going to have the authority to resolve the issue and is going to be more willing to see a happy resolution because I'm sure he gets a nice little bonus/commission for all the bookings they have throughout the year. To him, you'll be revenue, to the WC, you'll be more work...

OMG! I admit, I would go ballistic if I were in your shoes! I know it's a good starting place for them to offer the $50 reduced fee, but I'd have a hissy fit because you shouldn't even have to pay it at all since you're guests would have been staying at the same hotel as you. If this is their starting offer, it might be good to keep chipping away at them---- come up with a list of 'demands' (so to speak)---- ie, if you had your way, this is a list of what they would do to compensate you (credit towards your stay, upgrade your room, etc...). Use it as a starting point to negotiate with them--- then maybe they'll offer something more for you as a solution and you can meet somewhere in the middle. I, personally, would be such a huge *b-tch* about this. It's absolutely assanine that they didn't warn you to block rooms or something. To me, it's a matter of ethics. I know people say to kill them with kindness and that's a good place to start, but don't hesitate to jump heads and go to managers to get things resolved to your satisfaction. I had to do that this weekend about my E-ring and I wound up getting a service manager in their repair shop to drive his butt to DHL and dig through boxes on a pallet to retrieve my ring and deliver it to the store that same day for me. Niceness can only take a person so far...

Quote: Originally Posted by redwards Which designer is that dress by? I think I may have seen one similar when Monica and I were out shopping over the weekend. Also, what's your price range for the BM dresses? AND I notice you're from Dallas! I live quite near Dallas and would be happy to reccomend some shops that I liked when planning my wedding...what area are you in? Hi Rachelle-- I'm in Plano. I don't remember too much about the dress except it was in "The Knot" magazine for the winter issue. If I remember correctly on how they categorized the dress, it was over $1500. I've found a couple of similar styles, but they never wind up being in the color I want (teal/turquoise). If you have recommendations for gown/dress shops, I'm all ears!! I'd probably want to stay somewhere in the $150-ish range, just because I know that my MOH is shelling out big bucks on her own 25th wedding anniversary this year and wasn't even sure they'd be able to make it to the wedding until just recently. So I'm trying to keep the cost down as much as possible. M.

These are some we're considering--- we won't decide until April when one of my BM from Iowa will fly down for a weekend to dress shop with everyone else. This one is *way* too expensive, but I absolutely love it... I'm trying to find something in a smiliar style that is the right color tho...

Ok, so here are the adjustments. The color of the wording in each one is what I'm not sure of. Partly because we aren't sure if our colors will be fuscia and sky blue or that sunset red/orange and sky blue. Opinions appreciated....

You could also do the decoration as white chocolate instead of fondant. There are seashells, seahorse, etc... molds that you could buy and then make the chocolate yourself. I'm doing some stuff like this for the favors...

What about a small mini-cake for the hand-feeding and then cupcakes for everyone else? Word of caution learned at our engagement party---- watch out for dye stains on your skin from colored frosting. We had blue frosting on our engagement cake and we had to work at getting the stains off our mouth/lips...

I didn't have any info on whether the photographer was native or flown in from the states. I'm glad those who are flying people in can keep their photographer on premise tho. We have been tossing around the idea of Moon Palace for a week or two now, but I came across some photos of the beach on Webshots.com that verified the condition of the beach and my friend who was there last weekend brought back about 300 photos of the wedding she attended and the beach had seaweed everywhere in all her photos. And I noticed in the background of one of the photos, that the bridal party was doing a formal shot with the gazebo in the (close) background and they already were conducting another cermony there and all those people were in the photo. Now, granted, that's just a photographer and timing issue, but there's just something about the idea that this is supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event and the hotel is cranking them out like an assembly line----

Our budget won't allow for a formal welcome dinner either. But we want to do something for the very reason Tammy mentioned---- to kickstart the weekend and allow people to mingle and get to know each other. So one thing we're going to ask the resort about is if the casual food/bar places at the resort are open late enough, can we just have everyone in there doing appetizers and drinks? If we can't do appetizers in a bar/lounge setting as part of the AI that everyone is paying for, then we'll probably do a rehearsal with the wedding party and just ask everyone to meet us in the bar later in the evening after dinner...

Amy, Thanks! I *really* like that!! That would be perfect because they're compact, attention-getting, and would save a lot of money on ink. I'll have to play around with that this weekend and see what I get... M.

I'm just going to print each puzzle on a 5x7 piece of cardstock that I trimmed in our wedding colors and put one of our monograms at the top. The front will be one puzzle and on the back will be the solution for that puzzle. I'm not going to bind them, since it's cardstock, it will be heavier and won't fall over in the bag. Wal-Mart has cardstock for under $5 for 150 sheets of 8.5x11. I'll trim them down with the paper cutter at work. We bought the cheap white cardstock for these puzzles, the STD (since the whole image is going to be in color) and newsletters, place cards, table cards, menu's, programs. The invites will be done on colored cardstock from an online vender...

I'm curious how the beach looks and well maintained it is. I know someone who was there for an extended weekend last weekend and she said they aren't maintaining it like they used to--- (ie, they only cleaned the beach of seaweed twice in about 5 days). Also, she said that now that they are doing weddings on the hour all day long, that they are getting more strict about bringing in outside venders. In fact, at the wedding she attended, MP kicked out the photographer the couple had brought with them.

These are what I've made so far. I'm curious how many people did an 8.5x11 size STD or something smaller? I don't want to burn through ink cartridges printing these, but I also want a good background image and don't want to lose size to make the details easily visible... Thoughts anyone?