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Quote: Originally Posted by lauren c. i know that this thread is for edr and karisma resorts, but i believe - according to what i've read on here lately - that dreams cancun is not letting future brides use external vendors. i dont have evidence or proof - just what i read here: Dreams Cancun...no external suppliers!?! They atleast have a prefered vendor list. For example, you can hire Claudia Rodriguez because she is on their photographer list. But, I don't understand why Dreams went to this policy too. I think it's unfortunate. Quote: Originally Posted by morenaindc Add Barcelo Maya to the list! I agree. All places that do not allow outside vendors should be on the list.

That was so nice of you! I wonder what our guests will think when OOT bag stuff comes from girls all over the place. I think my friends worry I've joined a cult, BDW has become such a big part of my life.

I love your "something blue." Where did you get it? I need to swap out my belly ring to something cuter before the trip. I forget I even have it now & I never put in a new one. I used to change it all the time.

Quote: Originally Posted by AnnR I would understand the defensiveness of the EDR brides if Tammy actually was saying something negative or "talking smack" about EDR - but she's not! She's actually saying how great of a resort it is, just that their policies aren't fair and are actually hurting the resort. Even the EDR brides that have a problem with this thread agree with that! So I guess I"m confused by those that have a problem with this thread, and I wonder what they'd suggest instead. Ya know? oh yeah, I agree. it's definitly not talking smack about EDR. I just understand how sometimes it's hard to hear anything negative about a place you are fond of. Even if they agree with the content, it's just hard to see it sometimes. Probably not making sense here. I don't think anything should be changed though. I even suggested a sticky thread about EDR last week. I'm really glad to see Tammy did this. But, I understand how the EDR girls might have a little trouble with it. I hope they can see it's what needs to be done though. We all love our wedding locations & want to recommend them to anyone looking for a great place to get married. Quote: Originally Posted by Nic Dragomire gottcha Morgan,, I misunderstood you. =) glad you know what I was saying now. I feel people should get to hire to best photographer for them whether they are local are flying in. The fee & restrictions make that harder. Even if people can find some ways around it, there is still a problem. I like a competitive market. It drives us to do our best. Like you said, you spend a bunch on training each year. What EDR is doing will lead to the hotel hiring a photographer who is willing to work for the least. There is no incentive for that photographer to improve their skills since they have a monopoly. The hotel is the one making the money while shutting out talented photographers. So I think that is bad for brides & bad for photographers.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nic Dragomire Well the local photographer should get better then. Im spending about $8000. in workshops and seminars in the next 12 months to be a better photographer... If the local photographers kicked a$$ then brides wouldn't be bringing photographers with them. no, that's not what I meant at all. The choice is only that one local hotel photographer. You even have to pay the fee to bring in a local photographer. So it's limiting brides to just that one guy. There are some awesome photographers in riviera maya, but EDR brides can't even hire them without paying a fee. So they can try to get around it by flying someone in. I just don't understand why a hotel would want to hurt local business like that. I'm all for a free market & letting people hire based on price & quality.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tammy Host i hope this does not offend but i think that the edr brides that are upset about this post are being too sensitive. i am not attacking your wedding location. EDR used to be one of my top recommendations...i am against their current policies on outside vendors. that is it. how else do you let them know you are unhappy with their policy? do you think an email is gonna make them think twice about their policy? probably not...but maybe exposure on a forum that have over 4000 destination wedding brides may... I think we have noticed on the forum that everyone defends their place. I get upset if someone talks smack about Mexico, Riviera Maya, all-inclusives, Texas, my hometown, my favorite restaurant, etc. I don't mean to, but I can't help feeling a loyalty to places that mean something to me. So I'm sure it's hard for the EDR brides to see something like this. But, hopefully they understand where it's coming from & it will only make things better for future EDR brides. Thanks Tammy for taking action. You have a lot of power being the owner of this ever growing forum. I know you will use it well

Quote: Originally Posted by jfwolfe72 Not sure if this is the right place to post this, so mods please feel free to move it to the appropriate place.... I'm scheduled to get married at EDR this month. Luckily, I was "grandfathered" in at just having to pay the $500 fee, (even though it was not in place when I originally booked back in January of 2007) but I let my TA know how outraged I and the other girls on the forum have been since we feel that the resort continues to take advantage of us. Here's the feedback I received from her after she met with the wedding coordinator for Karisma: "Just got back in late last night. I met with Raphaella for two hours for lunch on Monday. You were right; she is in charge of all weddings at all Karisma resorts and is based out of El Dorado Royale. She really knows her stuff, you’ll be very pleased with her and her staff. She’s been in the business for 25 years & has things running like clock work at each of the Karisma properties. She is very nice, smart as a whip, VERY knowledgeable & VERY organized. She did inform us of their new policy; if a vendor is staying at the resort for three nights they still need to pay $500 BUT it is NOT mandatory for the vendor(s) to stay at the resort for three nights, that is optional but if they do stay they will stay have to pay vs. the past “either or†option. Meaning if the vendor is not staying at the resort the resorts does not require them to do so, they just pay the $500 vendor fee. Raphaella also informed me of something I did not know in the past; I am sure Monica already informed you of this but just in case she didn’t --your vendors will need to show their work permit(s) to the wedding coordinator that you meet with the day after your arrival. Needless to say we were quite shocked about the new policy as well & wondered if it would affect their destination wedding business but Raphaella and the owners of the properties assure us they feel the policy is need to keep service at its top level. Apparently a lot of unprofessional “uncle whoevers†have been claiming to be professional and are not which consequently turns the big day into a big disaster for the bride and groom. The stories were unbelievable and I can honestly completely see & understand why the resort is implementing this new ruling. But again, not to worry, it does not affect you in any way. I want to assure you & Kevin that I still 100% feel that they really do perform THE BEST job of DWs over any other resort line in Mexico. I am always just thoroughly blown away by their performance and level of service… Once again the resort continues to amaze me, SOOOOOO beautiful & the staff is so on top of everything; service, rooms, food, entertainment, resort grounds, spa… I still give it 2 thumbs up & 6 stars! You won’t be disappointed. As for your wedding; you are already booked so they will not change anything in your contract. I did address the $48 charge with Raphaella & she explained to me that this fee will not and can not be waived. The reasoning is that the vendors will have the guest day pass so that permits them to eat at any of the restaurants and drink at any of the bars during their time there but not for private events since the resort incurs cost for service, food preparation and set up for each person that attends a private event. She commented that most brides & grooms will allow their vendors to have a break or two throughout the events so they may eat and drink at any of the other restaurants via their guest day pass alleviating cost of the $8 per person cost for both private events. She explained there is no form of negotiating on this policy as the resort incurs the cost & provides the service so they must assess & collect the costs they incur for the service. I’ve already talked to my friends, Flor Rodridguez (resort’s sales manager) & Sabrina Filatow (Karisma Resorts Director of National Sales) about you & Kevin & your group & they will take great care of you all so please do not worry about a thing. I KNOW you guys will love everything and will have the best time. You will see, you’ll be recommending the resort to everyone when you come back. It will all be sooooo worth it. Promise!! ;-) Let me know if you have any other questions at all. We’re getting closer!!!!" I just can not believe that is their reason for the fee. To keep unprofessionals from ruining the wedding? They won't let people bring in photographers that are clearly professional. if this was really how they felt, they could have an approved vendors list. Many places do this with caterers, etc.

Quote: Originally Posted by Nic Dragomire Im not so concerned about it being fair to photographers because Im not the one going to foot the $500 tariff. The bride and groom are going to have to pay it in addition to a photographer fees. Lets face it EDR saw a another way to stick it to the bride and groom. I wonder who gets the $500. Im sure the hotel photographer won't see a dime. It's hurting local photographers though. Brides are flying in photographers to avoid the fee & be able to say they are a friend. It's just one hotel & the local photographers can probably get plenty of business at other hotels. but, if we don't put a stop to it, more hotels could pick up the same policy. It also impacts traveling photographers because when a bride has to pay that $500 fee, that cuts into their photography budget. It also looks like they are trying to increase the restictions so much to not allow any outside photographers. Their policy keeps getting more & more restrictive & expensive.

If someone knew the policy & still booked their wedding there today, we wouldn't treat them any differently as a BDW member. We all get attached to our hotels & it's hard to hear someone talk bad about it. But, for EDR it's just about the policy which I think everyone agrees is not cool. If the policy goes away then we can have even more beautiful EDR pictures to look at. I couldn't get over how amazing the place is with the individual pools. I would like to see some similar action taken for ROR. I don't feel like their policy is fair to their brides or their in house photographer. Maybe an organized email petition? We do have to fight back against the nickle & diming or it will just get worse as destination weddings keep getting more popular. Nothing wrong with hotels profiting, but it upsets me how they are hurting local photographers with the rules. I'd rather see them just charge $500 more for the wedding fee or something.

Quote: Originally Posted by shannon I understand what Tammy is trying to accomplish -but as a bride who is very much looking forward to her EDR wedding in a month-- it is a little shocking to see sticker titled "boycott EDR" on this forum. I do not agree with Karisma's new policy- they are taking business out of their own country by making it difficult to hire local photographers- and hurting their own business, with a very extreme policy. There are too many wonderful resorts in the area that do not have this policy that a bride would probably choose over a Karisma resort, bc of this policy. With that being said-- I do NOT regret choosing EDR as my place to get married and am very excited about the resort, and our wedding! With this policy aside, I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with planning my wedding at EDR. I've gotten quick responses from Valeria, and they have been very accommodating to me, on my requests. This policy would be the only reason, so far (my wedding is still to come!) that I would consider not recommending EDR to other brides. I feel the goal of this is to apply enough pressure so that EDR will change the policy. if it wasn't a great resort, I don't think Tammy would care. She just wouldn't book weddings there. The problem is that it is a great place & it's a shame their policy keeps changing & getting worse. So ideally this sticky will get them to change their policy. Then more brides can enjoy a beautiful EDR wedding.

Quote: Originally Posted by lovefreddy edited Are you concerned they will recognize her & know she is a pro? I'm glad people have found ways to get around these rules. But, I think more pressure should be applied to the hotels to get them to get rid of these rules all together. If not, more hotels might follow the trend. I don't think it's fair to brides or photographers. It really bothered me how they were sending out emails implying it was about customs and a new law. It really seems like they were threatening people only months before their wedding to get more money.

I'm so glad you did this. It has really upset me to see what EDR has been doing to brides even after they got approval to bring in outside vendors. People should definitly be warned before deciding to have their wedding there. Hopefully we can apply enough pressure to get them to change their policy.

Cute! I love how cats always have to be in the middle of things.

Quote: Originally Posted by xJuicyJx so the heavier the wife, the more beer they get? lol more beer & more money.

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel I definitely think there are different levels of friendships. I have work friends but I never really hang out with them outside of work. It's probably because I'm a snob. In this particular situation, I wouldn't be upset. There's so many other things to worry about than worrying if someone who's miserable is coming to your wedding. I missed your & your silly one liners Don't ever leave us again! I don't like getting too close to work friends. I like being friends with my coworkers but not really outside of work. Its not my particular coworkers. I'm this way at every job. I wouldn't worry about it. I have some really close friends who are not going. It's completely fine with me.

Len- Steal my sunshine garth brooks- two pina coladas

Quote: Originally Posted by baybride Wow Morgan, $700/person is a great price, I wish I could pull that off for my guest I think that will be easier for me to say vs. $1500. At this point I will just have to suck it up if people don't come, of course my parents and my best friend who is also my cousin will be there but his parents I don't know, we first talked to them about this 5 days ago, actually we didn't even get to finish the conversation, they told us they would call us back and..... like I said, that was 5 days ago. I asked him how did he feel about that and did he want to cancel it if they choose not to come and he said absolutely not. He knows financially they can do it, but they are just being butts right now. I guess they are mad since we were originally going to do a local wedding but, this is what we really want and it's really going to save me an my parents a lot of money. That is why we went with Riviera Maya. it's a cheap flight from Texas where most of my guests are coming from. We also picked a less expensive hotel. If you really do want to make it cheaper, you could look at the west coast of Mexico & honeymoon in jamaica. But, if your FI is set on Jamaica stick with it. Just make it clear to everyone else you know it's expensive & don't expect them to go. We describe it like we are eloping & they can join us. We have 22 guests right now. I didn't want many over 20 so we are doing good. I felt a lot of destination wedding guilt at first. Then I realized I needed to get over that. Our guests are thrilled with the vacation. They truely wanted to go. I think they would have been let down if we decided to doa local wedding instead. I am so happy we went with a DW. Quote: Originally Posted by baybride LC Rachel, I hope you're right. I'm just going to continue with my plans and hope for the best. We are considering having a reception/one year anniversary party the following year for all those who didn't make it, so... maybe that will make up for it. Don't plan an after party out of guilt though. Only do it if you want to. I also started planning an AHR, but I really didn't want to do it. We canceled it after my brother got engaged & planned his wedding for 2 months after mine. I was so happy to cancel it. My heat was never in it. I finally realized that we don't owe anyone a wedding. The wedding is about us. We shouldn't have to provide people with a local, convienient wedding. We'd be happy to run off to Mexico together & get married. Everyone else is just bonus. I still am being considerate of my guests while planning, but I've stopped feeling all this guilt about thinking I'm upsetting someone.

Quote: Originally Posted by David and Laura Best - eyes & butt Worst - My oily skin and my big rib cage. I am thin, but proportionally, my waist isn't defined and my rib cage is like too big for my body, so weird I have a big rib cage too. I've had some BM dresses so tight across it I could barely breath. I asked Mike what he thought. He said best is my smile & worst is my loud mouth

We made sure our immediate family was ok with the expense. After taht we made it clear to everyone there were no expectations to go. If people don't have the vacation in their budget, they are not going. Others have been wanting to take a carribean vacation for a while so they didn't mind the cost. Ours was about $700 per person for 3 nights.

Quote: Originally Posted by Maura anybody know if american is going to do this? they haven't yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. This will probably be something all the major airlines do.

Quote: Originally Posted by LC_Rachel What's the strategy Morgan? and do you have pics? haha I watched the video & it was just like the upside down wives. I thought mike came up with that. My face ends right at his butt. He thinks its the perfect way to carry a wife. i guess it is because the couples doing it that way were moving much faster. He better not try to flip me upside down when he carries me over the threshold on our wedding night. I told him he should find a smaller partner, but he said that you win money & beer based on the wifes weight. So you don't just want to get the tiniest woman you can.

Shannon, did you buy your tickets before february 26th? We have just about the same flight. US Airways from RDU to CUN.

I thought it was if you purchased a ticket after a certain date. I'm also flying US airways but we bought our ticket before that rule. Another airline just made it effective immediately so i'm not sure.

My project for the next week is to get my wedding music together. One thing I am working on is a CD of "honeymoon music." I want it to be filled with beachy music, love songs, our special songs, and just other stuff we like. I might make 2 if this one gets too full. I'm packing a small CD/ alarm clock. I've been told the standard rooms at our hotel do not have an alarm clock. We'll listen to this CD during the week of our wedding & honeymoon. Then it can be something we can pop in the CD player anytime we want to reminisce. Just thought I'd share the idea becuase it's something I'm exited about doing. I haven't gotten the playlist together yet, but I'll post it when I do. I have really random taste & when i fuse that with Mike's taste it probably won't be anything someone wants to copy.

Quote: Originally Posted by Lorilou we are not doing anything too crazy. just want them to fade into each other. So just blending out of one and into the other. if you figure it out, I'd LOVE it. you are wonderful to look into it and so talented with figuring these things out. THANK YOU! I downloaded audacity & figured out how to blend things. Do you have the mp3s for both songs? I'll pm you my email address so you can send them to me.