jesmcan

Welcome Averie! we will all be here to help you answer all your questions. It feels surreal to hear someone just starting the planning when mine is just around the corner lol It goes by reallllyyyy fassttttt  I completely agree with Lisa. Plus the ocean is so beautiful and always warm. I myself am more of a beach girl than a pool girl so I am totally happy with it.  Welcome again and looking forward to hearing about your plans.

Good call it will be very special to have a friend do it.

We were told the minister or judge are included if you stay in an ocean front 4 nights or longer. However I know other brides were told it had to be the master suite level.

I don't have experience with this but I would say if if you can have a friend officiate, save yourself a few bucks I think that woulld make it extra special and meaningful. Â

Thank you Bride2Be and Rosie! I think we are all getting through it now and a lot of it has to do with the awesome support from you ladies  JYD1- Lady DI said they were very nice and I don't think they got in the way but not sure lol you may have to check her review to make sure. But ya I agree use them during the ceremony why not? More pictures  orbitingbklyn - I believe the house DJ is DJ Ivan who I am using and he get awesome reviews on here. I think it is totally worth it. He brings cold fireworks, fun balloons and masks and really gets the party going. Plus than you don't have to worry about the 1st dance and all that other stuff. Just dance your butt off and have fun I know it is pricey though

Thanks Jenny! Â JYD1 - I know it sucks when things are included that you don't really want and wish you could exchange them for something like a massage However Lady Di had her own photog but plus also used the resort photographer. If you PM her she has photos to share. I thought they actually came out really good.

Risa you rock thank you, I really needed that. Thank you to everyone and all your support, you guys keep me sane. I hope to pay it forward during your times of stressful wedding venting needs Â

Lisa when I had looked into this I was told that yes it meant a photographer and videographer

"We do have agents assisting each other when one is away on vacation and also during the weekends. I emailed Jess several times on the weekend while Jill was on a much deserved vacation discussing the situation. I urged her to be patient as the suppliers worked out the details to find the best solution for her and each of her guests."  Which by the way I had to be the one to contact Jennifer because no one from Sand N Sun ever contacted us to inform us this had even happened. We found out from our guests who were booked by Expedia and later through the news. I was told that everyone was blind sided by this whole thing and even the suppliers had to been contacted by Mexicana. So your telling me Expedia knew but you did'nt? As a travel agency they should be the first to know. The best solution was never found. If we would have been all told to dispute our charges right away that weekend we could have been on new flights that were a lot less costly than by the time everyone booked the following two weeks.  "When the whole Mexicana issue happened she called me right away and had new flights already prepared for us." If Jenny's TA was able to do this there should be no reason why the same thing could not have happened for us. Four days later when we were quoted for new flights they were far more expensive than what I was finding. So in the end our guests found better deals themselves by not going through the TA.  "This does produce a middle man in an unfortunate situation such as this as we need to refer to see how each of the flights were processed so that we could properly advise each client. We did have an issue with one supplier providing conflicting information to Jill on how some of the flights were booked and therefore how the client should proceed. I am addressing that with this supplier as this is not acceptable and has caused much stress to the bride."  This bride as you guys know was me. Though this may be being addressed with the supplier nothing ever came of it for me and my guests. We still all ended up paying almost $200 more per person because of this misinformation because by the time we got the right information flight prices had soared. Even if a middle man is involved as a travel agency you should have first knowledge of how the flights were processed, itineraries on hand, all the information that pertains to that clients travel arrangements.  Part of the whole mess was my guests could not dispute charges right away because their banks could not see the break down of flights and the TA could not give us the correct information. So all our guests along with FI and I spent countless hours trying to figure out the numbers so everyone would dispute just the flight charges. As I said I have never worked with a travel agency before however things like knowing what date charges were made on, the break down of charges and what card was used should be information that is on hand to every travel agent.  "We have never promised that we would be able to take care of issues instantaneously, it’s impossible and would depend on the situation. To properly do a job does take time"  No one asked for anything to be taken care of instantaneously, but with in 48 hours should have been more than enough time. Instead it has taken weeks to resolve this. If other brides who used other travel agents and for my guests who used on line booking sites were able to get this resolved within 24 hours I don't understand why the same could not be done for us. Again based on my experience since the suppliers (middle man) apparently are the reason behind all the problems and Sand N Sun Vacations works and operates this way save yourself the stress and aggravation and don't use them.  My biggest #1 mistake is I did not do the research the way Jenny did, and look how great her results were. I went based off the fact that other brides on BDW had used Sand N Sun Vacations, that at the time they were the main travel agency for BDW, so I automatically went with them.  For those looking now for a TA these are the questions I would ask:  - Do you work with suppliers? ( I am currently working on getting my honeymoon booked and have found several travel agency's that do not work with third parties) - Are they registered under ASTA ( American Society of Travel Agents) - Do they work from home or have an actual office? ( I feel like there is more accountability and professionalism when there is an actual office so in case an agent is not available there is someone else there to take your call) - Are they available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? (When the whole Mexicana situation happened since Jill was away on vacation I had not actually been given someone else to contact in the event of anything happening. I luckily just had Jennifers e-mail. I have found several travel agency's that operate 7 days a week and have a 24 hour hot line in case of emergency's) - Ask if you find a better price will they match it and will they guarantee to book you at the price even if it changes 4 hours later? (This was one of the most frusterating parts about our experience. Often it took the TA at least a day to book everyone so I would get an e-mail saying the flight went up another $80 should I still put it through?) I found so far 4 travel agency's that promise to match the price and whatever it is when I send them the documents to support that price match. - Ask if there are any perks for booking so many people, an upgrade in room or flight, private transportation etc. (I am currently helping a friend book her destination wedding in St. Thomas and she told me that a few travel agency's that she is looking into actually give the bride and groom $25 for everyone room that books through them and another offered an upgrade in room by two levels if they booked 10 ocean view rooms with them) - Ask to see a contract first and read it from top to bottom every word! ask them about travel insurance and if it will cover bankrupcy, hurricanes, canceled flights, the resort going out of business etc.  I hope this helps and I am ready to hear about good positive experiences. After all isn't that what we are all here for? To find the best of the best in the destination wedding industry

Oh no I'm sorry unfortunately this has happened before. I think this resort has become very popular and they just cannot keep up. It seems the WC's there are very over worked and because of that it leaves more room for error. Â Having said that deep breathes, don't panic. Did you explain to them that back in July when you booked you were confirmed for the ballroom? did they get back to you? I know with past brides they were greatly compensated for errors like these. Luckily you have an awesome TA who I am sure will get on top of this asap. Â Don't worry if anything I have learned everything works out. keep us posted. Â

No worries thanks girls! I know everything will turn out. I see it as a learning experience and that it will help others from making the same mistake. So now to plan the honeymoon and I am doing this one on my own lol. Â Â

I can only imagine and totally understand your stress. SO uncalled for. I know they deal with a lot of people but this is their job. Anyways everyhting got figured out and thank god no I did not book my honeymoon through them  What you wrote back was perfect and well said and good for you for writing it. We wrote to Jill's boss Jennifer and this what my fiance said.  Hi Jennifer,  I wanted to forward to you the latest email we received from Jill. Personally I think this is a very disrespectful and unprofessional response. I understand that we are not only people effected by this, however it is Jill's job to handle the situation professionally and most importantly accurately, which is why we went though a travel agency to begin with. I am in customer service myself and if I ever sent this kind of email, I would be fired on the spot. I also understand that there has been a significant amount of communication back and forth. The main reason for this is that we have not been provided with accurate information and many questions go unanswered or half answered. This is a very stressful situation for all and we are just looking for the best and quickest way to resolve this. You have to understand at this point every day that passes without receiving information is costing us and everyone else more money. At this point we are just waiting on one piece of clarification and we will be out of everyone's hair. Again, we are not out to cause any issues but at this point there has just been to many mistakes so now we are on top of everything.  If she has no issues with any other group then why is she having such a hard time with ours?   There will of course be no compensation for their mistakes and doing nothing. Instead everyone ended up paying close to $200 more person for flights. I am still waiting to get our original itinerarys rom Jennifer that I asked for all last week. My bank wants it for proof for disputing the mexicana charges. I sent her another e-mail this morning again nothing .  Ce la vie right the important thing is to put this behind us and focus at the task at hand, getting married. Our reviews will certainly shed light on their business practices at this travel agency. And at least we learned and can now share with everyone else so it doesn't happen again.

OMG Natalie the same thing happened to me!!! this is what she wrote me you can see in red after I sent her an e-mail that you can see below. I asked to be moved to another agent and told her I was going to contact Jennifer her boss. Her mistakes ended up costing us so much money. I thought it was so rude and unprofessional of her to even write back and especially say what she did below. Â I find it funny that in her e-mail she specifically stated that she was not having any problems with any other groups except for mine. Â Â WOW! I completely understand your stress Jess, but please remember that you are NOT my only client. I have clients that are traveling this week and before your group that deserve attention too. Your guests are not the only ones booked with Mexicana. You sent me an email saying this is Eileens flight, I misinterpreted it, I apologize, but when you email me 50 times a day it gets to be very confusing. I did not put it on my spreadsheet until you sent me that email. In addition, I can only give you the information that I receive from the tour operator, I've received different answers each time I've called, that's not my fault, and honestly, it's not their's either, we have all been blindsided by this entire fiasco and are working as quickly as we can to get everyone re-accomodated. The fact that you think you and your guests are the only ones affected blows my mind. I have spent countless hours working with your group this week, having to delay responding to my other clients because I knew how stressed you were about the whole thing. I actually have several large groups I'm working with and have had no trouble working with any of them, so I don't think it's my lack of knowledge or my ability to handle the workload. This is not a typical situation and 2 major parts of the problem were the price matches that your group had to have and the fact that you wanted everyone re-booked on spirit airlines and not a major airline. I did the best I could to help you, good luck. Jill > Your spread sheet that you sent to me said RE-BOOKED right next to Eileen > Walden's name. So I expected that she had been re-booked with us. > > > I did not mention anything about anyone re-booking till after that spread > sheet > was sent. So this was clearly another error on your part. I will call > Craig now > and let him know this one has to be disputed as well and we will take care > of > it. > > > Your errors have cost my guests even more money and have put me through a > completely unnecessary amount of stress. > > I am really disappointed Jill. It is clear that you are unable to handle a > group > of this size. This was clearly shown during these extenuating > circumstances. The > whole reason I opted to go with you was that you promised by going with > you that > if anything should happen we would be in good hands. The amount of > misinformation and errors that have happened are just unacceptable. > Especially > when we are so close to our wedding. > > > At this time I am going to contact your boss when she returns and ask to > be > transferred to another travel agent for the remainder of the time. > > > I wish you all the best and I hope this was a learning experience for you > so it > won't happen again to anyone else. > > Jess McCann

Hi Reid, Â I did the same we had 12 more guests who ended up coming and I had them booked on their own. I am sorry that you faced the same experience I completely know how you feel. Â Well now we have our big days to look forward to and hopefully after our reviews no one will ever use Sand N Sun Vacations again and go through what we went through. Â

Hi,  We chose the adults only resort The Royal in Playa Del Carmen. We chose Mexico first and foremost because it is so affordable. We have been going to Playa every year for the last 4 years and love it. It is a perfect place for guests because the down town which is just steps from the resort offers a lot to do. For our reception we chose on off site location right next door called kool beach club.  The Royal does charge of fee of $350 for bringing out outside photographer but if the photographer stays at the resort than you don't have to pay the fee .  We chose to have our ceremony at the gazebo because of it's privacy. We also chose to get married at sunset for this reason.  Here are a few pics, first three of the gazebo and last two of kool beach club       Feel free to message me if you need any help with anything or have more questions.

Hi Sarah, Â I unfortunetly used Jennifer's company Sand N Sun vacations. My TA was Jill who works for Jennifer. When I first signed on they were the travel agency for BDW and as you said they are not any longer. Â I cannot say enough how horrendouse this travel agency is, just based on my personal experience. I will be doing a full review after my wedding. Basically when I most needed them during this Mexicana experience it actually ended up costing us more by going with them. They promise a stress free experience and it has been anything but. They work with third party suppliers like Travel Impressions and GOGO Travels. They do not actually do the bookings themselves. Because of this they don't have pertinent information at hand and can't book fast enough. I was told one thing and than another and was misinformed about a lot of things. They put the blame on the third party suppliers they work with rather than taking responsibilty. Â If I was to do it all over again I would have gone through the actual resort to negotiate a price on rooms. Than have everyone put a deposit down and I know they give you a certain time frame till everyone has to pay for the room in full. Â For flights I really would let everyone do their own thing. If you know you have a whole group who want to travel on the same dates than look into group booking with Jet Blue and American Airlines. The problem with airlines is the prices constantly change. Guests some times don't understand that even in a day prices can change. We had guests who booked on orbitz who actually got money back because they have a policy if someone books the same ticket for less you get money back. Â By going through a TA I found she just could not get the paper work in fast enough to these third suppliers. So what ended up happening was I may have sent the paper work in the day before but it would take a day or two to get the booking done. By that time the price would have gone up. This happened with my Dad and he was so frusterated about the whole situation. If you just book on line you don't have to wait and you get the price you see. Â However this was just my personal experience. I always thought travel agency's could get you better deals, take care of you if flights were canceled, or if people got bumped from rooms and also find you special offers. None of the above happened for us. So if anyone knows about a good travel agency that you have had a great experience with please do share. I would like to know for our honeymoon and its something I want to research more about for my blog. I think this is one of the most important decisions to make for a destination wedding. Â Â Â Originally Posted by SarahE786 Question for all of you using BDW TA's...who are you using? and how has it been? I've read a lot about Jennifer, but I guess she is no longer with them...anyone heard of Teresa or Wendy? If you know anything and can PM me or reply that would be awesome! Thanks!!

it looks amazing on you!!!!

you looked absolutely amazing!!!!!!! everything looked incredible

I plan on it yes but after the wedding is over to make sure everything goes as planned. I was thinking $50. I would like to know what everyone thinks to about tipping. I know we have all talked about it before but I already forgot lol Here is what I was thinking, thoughts, Â Â DJ $100 Photographer $100 Royal WC $50 Off Site WC $100 Hair & Make Up $50 Â

Hi ladies, sorry I have been MIA and lots has been happening today. I booked Fernando as well, I just keep looking at the pictures of past brides who used him and his work speaks for itself. He does take some time to respond but I hate to say this is sort of a re-occuring theme down there lol. Â Juliet that is insane that this is happening to you! but try not to stress it as hard as that may be right now. Just think of the beach, the margaritas and the fact that every bride before us says everything gets sorted out once you get down there. 8 days!!!! that came really fast. Â I am 7 weeks away from leaving and I have fallen behind. Note to self. do not plan a wedding while working full time, going to grad school and than starting a blog on the side ahahaha. All I can say is thank you for alcohol lol. Â Don't worry everything is going to be perfect. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Hi, Â Yes there is a web cam, it is $350. You have to request it through your WC, the only thing is it is difficult to see because it is pretty far away. Â Here is the link http://www.realresorts.com/The_Royal_Playa_Carmen/Webcam/ Â

Your welcome! and I have even better news I was able to find pictures for you they are from none other than one of my favorites, Elizabeth Medina. The first one has one really good shot of the ballroom. I love the light up dance floor and you can even add the lounge area in the ballroom to around the dance floor. Also check out the really beautiful candle chandliers. Â http://www.elizabethmedinaphotography.com/blog/2009/12/playa-de-carmen-wedding-photography-donna-and-patrick-and-ida-at-the-royal/ Â http://www.elizabethmedinaphotography.com/blog/2009/03/playa-del-carmen-wedding-photography-sarah-and-trevor-at-the-royal/ Â http://www.elizabethmedinaphotography.com/blog/2009/01/destination-wedding-photography-in-playa-el-carmen-nicole-and-alfredo-the-royal/

I forgot the other nice thing about the ballroom is your wedding can go on into the morning hours if you want  I believe but don't quote me on this one weddings on the beach have to be done by 10 - 10:30ishpm, in the garden by 11 but in the ballroom there are no restrictions

Hi mel, Â when I went last year on my site visit it is actually one huge ballroom that they divide up based on how many guests there are and of course if there are multiple weddings. Â I'm sorry I did not take any pictures I have not seen any pictures of weddings in the ballroom myself but I am sure they are out there. From what I remember it was a really beautiful room with ample space. Â

Jen so glad you had such a wonderful experience and thanks for sharing everything  Msglave no I did not get the key cards done yet lol but that's next on my list  As of today all our guests finally disputed the mexicana flights and are re-booked, I can breathe again. Let the fun begin table numbers, OOT bags I better get going on this stuff lol