claudette

Great information on here! I'm still deciding between using floralfantasies or not - I'm arriving on Thursday and my wedding is on Saturday, so I don't want to be rushed and frantic about getting bags together! Thanks for all the great info!

Hey MLK! What vendors did you decide to go with?!

Quote: Originally Posted by taovandel Congrats on booking. Thanks have definitely gotten better with replies from Kerry. I'm really not stressing out like I was before---I definitely should thank you for helping with that! As for the cake---Margaret Myrie ([email protected]) has been a huge help in picking out flavors. http://media.theknot.com/ImageStage/...arge_image.jpg This is the cake the fiance and I loved. She then sent us a list of flavors: As for flavours, My signiture cakes are Tropical fantasy. a light banana/pineapple cake with coconut and coconut rum cream filling. or Amerito Orange with filling, The other flavors are carrot (with coconut and pineapple in the mix) with cream cheese filling and frosting, vanella with cream filling or your choice of filling, Chocolate with cholcolate filling and and obtion of raspberry filling (can) Jamaican traditional rum/fruit (raisen, cherries prune etc) or vanella rum with rum cream filling, strawberry, lemon etc or your creations I'm going with a vanilla rum icing with a chocolate cake with chocolate filling. We asked first if those flavors would be good together and she suggested some ideas but said that those flavors would work well together. She takes her deposit 30 days before the wedding (50% deposit). I'm so happy to get to check something off my to-do list for the wedding. Now on to flowers---I'm soooo picky! I'm sure I'm driving them (Rose at floralfantasiesjamaica.com) crazy with all my questions. Is anyone doing welcome baskets for the Guests? I was thinking of doing it--if it's in my budget. They aren't that expensive on floralfantasiesjamaica.com's website. I didn't even see that they had welcome baskets! They are pretty reasonable! I think I'll wait and see what's left in the budget and try to fit them in at the end - at first I thought about making my own welcome baskets, but with time running short, it might be easier to have someone else take care of that!

Jennifer, sorry, I have yet another question for you! The pics of the room show a computer - did you pay extra for that or was that included? Thanks!!!

Oh good! I'm glad that you got the pics! Nice to see that it's coming along! And thank you Jennifer for your pics of the resort!

Hey ladies! Mastistlye - I was in the process of posting the same information! You beat me to it! The pics look great! I'm so excited! I actually love the white on the gazebo - very pretty! Yay!

Quote: Originally Posted by Mastistyle Big3n09-congrats...I know you must be so relieved to have the place set. And it sounds like the dress shopping is going great...I am so far behind-I just sent an email to the tranportation guy about an hour ago. (as well as Majorie!) Cake-I was thinking mango and amaretto-I have never tried that combo-I needed something to think about while running this morning-so cake flavors was it! Why do you girls think? Does that sound too sweet? The mango sounds amazing! Let us know if you get a chance to taste it beforehand! Still going to stick with boring chocolate! I have my dress! Just had my last dress fitting and picked it up yesterday - it's at my mom's house - it's very very tight! So I think I need to hit the gym a bit in the next 3 months!

Quote: Originally Posted by Mastistyle Claudette- Only certain rooms allow a rool away bed. Marion told me that the rooms and deluxe rooms -no rollaway, but all the others you can have 1 for $75 per night plus 18.25%. Thanks Mastistyle! That's strange that only certain rooms allow that - when I asked Miriam she did not mention any limitation on roll away beds or a charge with them! It's silly since there is no option for two friends to share, other than to share a bed! Again, my girlfriends are fine with it, but my FI's friends will most likely get their own separate rooms, which will fill up the rooms rather quickly!

Quote: Originally Posted by Sparkles8300 Claudette- I never did call Randy out. My parents are newly retired so they are traveling all around right now. They have been in Spain for 2 weeks and get back tomorrow, so I will be telling them about all of the drama then. I will leave it up to my dad to decide if he wants to bring it up with Randy or not. My dad is not one to argue over a hundred dollars or anything small like that, so I will have to convince him that it's about the principal of it all, not the $$. I will def post pictures and everything when they get back...I know they are going to MDC the last week in March, not sure the exact dates. I'm glad everyone is having a better time with every aspect of the wedding planning! Hey Sparkles, I can totally understand that! I'll be very excited to see the Cliffs' progress in late March! Keep us posted!

Quote: Originally Posted by big3n09 Ok Ladies I'm Booked! I see that you all are getting things addressed better, by the way Mariam said she came on the site. I really wanted to book this location, especially at the grand opening rate. Today I also narrowed my dress list down from 6 dresses to 2 dresses with my mother and sister. My sister even found her 2 dresses to compliment my 2 dresses. Oh well I will keep visiting the thread soaking up information and providing any helpful feedback I can. Happy Planing To You ALL!!! Mastistyle - I don’t think you can bring flowers through Customs but you may be able to find out on there website. Did you decide to contact the transportation guy? Claudette – Did you receive the PM or get your transportation taken care of? Congrats on booking!!! How exciting! I did receive the PM! Thank you! I will be contacting him soon! Thanks again and Happy Planning!

Thank you ladies for all of the useful information! I've also recently heard that items shipped to Jamaica take forever to go through customs, so that would cause me a lot of anxiety! Thanks again for all of the help!

Quick question to everyone: Did you ship your items down or take them with you in the plane?

Great idea! I've been looking around a lot for some great deals and items online! I did my Save the Date magnets from Magnet Street Weddings (Save The Date Magnets, Wedding Invitations, Wedding Announcements, Postcards for Weddings, Magnetic Favors) and I was so happy with them! Not only did the Magnet turn out beautifully, but they have the best customer service! I ordered from them and then in the middle of night I sat up in bed with a cold sweat because I realized I had forgotten to put our destination wedding location! I worried about it all night long, then called them the next morning where the woman on the phone was so polite and said no problem and gave me a refund. The second time around, about 3 days had passed, when I got a call saying that my hotel canceled our wedding date (LONG story!) I assumed that since this was the second time they were going to have to charge me at least a processing fee, but I just didn't want to end up with 100 senseless magnets! I called and much to my surprise they refunded me the whole amount! And the woman on the phone (different woman) was so pleasant and was apologizing for what happened with the hotel! So when I finally nailed down our new location, there was no hesitation to place my 3rd order with them! I had used a 20% coupon on my second order that was since expired and a simple email to customer service gave me a new one! Unbelievable! Highly recommend them for customer service, quality (they came out so great!) and value (100 magnets with 100 envelopes and shipping came to $107 with my coupon code!)

Another question! (Surprise, surprise!) All the rooms have only 1 queen size bed correct? And they have roll-away beds if two guests want to share a room but not a bed right? Sparkles, when are your parents going down for a visit? I'm super curious to see what they think! Also, did you ever speak to Randy?

Hey ladies! Thanks for the feedback on the invites! It was definitely between the first one and the map of Jamaica - both are so cute! Now on to the fun part of the wording on the invitations (my parents are recently divorced so this might be a bit tricky!) Jen, what a beautiful wedding and a gorgeous bride!!! Thank you so much for sharing your pics! What a wonderful wedding! Everyone seems like they had a blast! I emailed Kerry to see if Frontpage is available for our wedding - do you remember the pricing for them? It also seems like you brought a lot of stuff! Did you ship it beforehand or take it with you on the plane? I loved your favors and everything seemed so personalized! Mastistyle, I'm a chocoholic, so the cake flavor was very easy for me! I'm actually doing chocolate with raspberry in the center (it's also my dad's favorite, so that works!) I don't know about bringing live flowers/bouquets - I do know that a lot of brides take down their own fake flower arrangements and they are gorgeous! Taovandel, did you ever find out about the cake minimum from Kerry? Thanks ladies and Happy Friday! :0)

Hi Ladies! I'm going with the Palm Tree (first one listed) for my invites! I'm going to see if I can maybe get it smaller to save on postage, but either way, it's exactly what I had in mind! Thanks for your help! I am also curious about the amenities - as well as the progress on the front of the hotel - the pics posted on the website from Randy's last visit there show the front looking a bit rough - obviously I'd prefer the front to look rough than the back, but just wondering on the progress!

Would you guys mind if I picked your brains a bit about invitations? What are your thoughts on the whole layered, pocket, folded invitations? I just really think I should be getting mine out relatively soon, right?! I'd really appreciate your thoughts!!! Here are some that I've liked so far: Island of Palm Trees Item # NU-5KFH11988AT - Invitations and Announcements by Invitation Consultants. -Can customize the font color to fuschia or mango and can also customize the ribbon color (but no fuschia or mango - so I'd probably stick with the brown). Hmm, just read a review on it actually and apparently once they are folded they are too thick to mail as a letter so you have to mail it as a large envelope which is about $1 stamp - that might make this a no then! Seal-n-Send.com: Seal-n-Send Wedding Invitations - Inexpensive and unique wedding invitations -I like how this one has a response card built into the invitation that guests simply tear off and mail back to you - doesn't look like the customize colors though Invitations By Dawn This one is perhaps my favorite - it's definitely my FI's favorite - map of Jamaica is just so perfect! I just want to make it a bit more feminine, perhaps by having my colors instead...and it's affordable! Then there's this one - my FI doesn't like it at all, but I think it's SO super cute! I wanted to share it with you guys in case one of you liked it! Invitations By Dawn Thanks ladies!!!

Just saw my ticker with this last post - 3 months and 4 days!!! Wow has time flown by! Ahhh! By the way, Mastistyle, I'm still working on my invitations - I'm definitely NOT creative enough to do a DIY invitation - mad props to those girls who can! I did Save the Date magnets, but finding the right theme for a destination wedding invitation is pretty tricky! My colors are fuschia and orange so I kind of want that in the invitation, without it looking like a baby shower invite, which is what my FI pointed out with one sample! Invitations also get pricy quickly so I'm trying to watch what I get - Invitations By Dawn has some nice beach invitations. The problem is that my two older sisters were recently married (both within the last 4 years) so my parents are having the same guest list for my wedding even though my sisters weddings were both here in the states. So although the invite list is 150 we are only expecting 30 - 35. I think it's ridiculous to have the same guest list and to pay for so many invitations, but hey, they are the ones paying, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut!

Haha! It definitely has become part of my daily routine: get up, check email, check forum... So grateful to have this resource!!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jenmartHOU Hello MDC brides!! I'm the bride that just got married at MDC on 2/7/09. So I'm here to answer any questions that you may have and I can email you the link to my wedding pics...I just don't want to post it on the message board. I asked about cutting down the menu too, but those are their set prices...so good luck! It ends up being $135 a person after the taxes and we had a total of 30 people (including us). It's alot of food, so just make sure you tell your guest not to eat all day until the wedding! lol Honestly, don't stress...Linus and Kerry are on top of everything and when it gets closer to your wedding, that's when they'll really be in touch with you. Before my wedding, there were times I didn't hear from anyone for a week, but I didn't worry about it b/c I knew they were just opening the resort. Hope this helps!! Hi!!! Congratulations on your wedding! It's so great that you're on here! I would love to see your pics!!! I'm so glad that you have a positive experience to share with us! We will probably be having the same number of people...quick question - I noticed that you had a band...what made you chose a band over a DJ and would you recommend them? Oh, also did you have a rehearsal dinner? Thank you SO much!!! And congrats again! -Claudette

Thank you big3n09 - I was just teasing about the Randy email I think things will be fine as well! Kerry wrote me back today - nothing all that informative, but she was reassuring (I am literally 3 days out from my 90 days right to cancel the villas, so I was getting a bit nervous!). Everything will be just fine - Kerry was even okay with me continuing to talk to the florist. She didn't mention anything about the DJ, so I'm not sure about what's happening on that front, but her tone was much different - very much so willing to please than matter-of-fact, which was really nice to hear!

Oh one more thing, is the shuttle $8 per person? I wonder how far the beach is...if your transportation guy is willing, please forward along his information! Thank you!

Hey big3n09, thanks for the information! I think it's great that they know a website like this exists out there and hopefully they'll get their ducks in a row - I am definitely sure that by May 2010 they will have done so! Man, I hope that Randy doesn't think I'm responsible for all of this! I'd hate to get an email from him similar to the one he posted on tripadvisor Hehe!

Agreed, the guy was totally whining and they had obviously duked it out before, but I guess I would just expect the owner to be more professional in his reply... And no kidding on the less stressful thing! I wanted a destination wedding to avoid all the hassles and to be able to focus on getting married - what happened to that?! Glad that we've got the right attitudes though! And I must say I think this website provides us with such a great tool to fight against ridiculous pricing, inaccurate advertising, etc.! Yay for this forum!

Agreed, the guy was totally whining and they had obviously duked it out before, but I guess I would just expect the owner to be more professional in his reply... And no kidding on the less stressful thing! I wanted a destination wedding to avoid all the hassles and to be able to focus on getting married - what happened to that?! Glad that we've got the right attitudes though! And I must say I think this website provides us with such a great tool to fight against ridiculous pricing, inaccurate advertising, etc.! Yay for this forum!