heather1214

Whaaaaaaat?! Rashel said we didnt have a vendor fee. We pay a $100 travel fee to her, plus $200 in vendor fees? She may be good, but spending $300 just to get here there is absurd! I was going to make a deposit for my girls and I but now I'm not sure.

They absolutely do not consider the fact that each bride is going to do things differently. We are not "cookie cutter" brides so planning decor, favors, wedding ceremony location/reception are things that need to be done BEFORE the day of the wedding! I think they just assume that you can do everything when you get there. I met Nicole on our site visit, she is very sweet and she definitely has a "ya mon" attitude. I'm sure she is amazing at her job, so I do have a ton of faith that each of our weddings will be all that we imagined and more! I just started answering my own questions. Like confirming the ceremony time. Never heard back from WC so I made my own executive decision and put it on my invites. And it WILL be accommodated! When I looked into having the wedding at Sandals, there was a team in Florida who handled all the beginning stages, questions, booking a date etc. and once you locked in, THEN the wedding coordinator contacted you. Definitely a more feasible approach.

The hearts are very cute!! I didn't attempt them when I did mine, but it adds a nice touch!! It turned out great!

Super cute!! How did you make these? I was thinking of doing pomanders but this is a very beachy idea!

I have seen dresses like this so many times on SYTTD, and I have to admit I wasn't sure about the bottom, but WOW! You rocked this dress and it fits you perfectly!!! Congratulations on becoming a Mrs.!!!

Be thankful if they get back to you within a month! Like Lisa said, you can have your TA contact them for a quicker response, but they usually take a month or more to get back to you. Until you are about 2 months out (so I've heard) the WC don't really pay any attention to you. My wedding is less than 3 months and I havent heard from Nicole since October. Just be prepared to be patient if you are set on the Iberostar brand, they are ridiculously understaffed in their wedding department.

I'm glad you had such a good experience with FF. It's hard putting trust in a venue so far away. Seeing pictures of past brides who have worked with them is very helpful!! You looked abssolutely stunning!! Congratulations!!

We did our site visit for the Suites but stayed at the Beach to save some money on the trip. We had a really good time!! I won't get into the reasons we switched to the Suites for our wedding (mainly the WC at the beach, but I believe she is gone now). My only 2 complaints were our rooms and day passes. We had the worst 2 rooms in the resort over looking the roof of a building and astro-turf. Not a good first impression. Especially since we were down there checking things out for our wedding! (I'll try to figure out the room numbers because you do NOT want anyone in them!!) The other was that they have a day pass for locals. So there were a TON of people there on a day pass, paying like $100 for the pool, bar and restaurants. I just thought it was strange. Other than that, service was great, food was good, we just felt better with the rooms at the Suites when we did our tour and their WC was much better! The beach is more affordable though.

I agree with this 100%!!! All the "extra" charges are really adding up and it's annoying!! The way I look at it, we would have had 200 people at a formal wedding at home. Although nothing is less expensive in a destination wedding, we are saving on all of those guests that aren't able go. I still think paying for open bar at an all inclusive is ludicrous but we have no choice We are totally having a beach themed laid back AHR because I'm not paying for a wedding reception twice!!!

I mis-understood your first email, I thought that was him controlling it from 5 pm-1 am! Yeah I would say that is high for him to be "supervising". I'd take into consideration his time to be there, but still, $800 to set up and take down seems a lot. Can you try another company?

I think you got a GREAT price!!! Our DJ is $940 for everything, he is playing for our 4 hour reception only. It's $660 for the DJ services. He is handling the music so we don't have to worry about the playlist flowing with the mood of the reception. We only have to provide him a list of songs for specific dances. I'm also giving him a small Must play and a Do not play list! He will also MC, get the crowd going throughout the reception etc. This price also includes uplighting for the venue at $35 a piece *ouch* But I really wanted to have it set the mood. I'd say $800 is a good price, he will be there for a long time. Do you have 6 hours of music for a playlist? wow!

Congrats and have a BLAST!!!! Take lots of pictures!!!!

Love, love, love!!!! This dress looks stunning on you!!! It already looks like it fits you perfectly before alterations!

How about a Watch? My FI is doing watches for all the Groomsmen

I would also like one from the Jamaica locations!! The TA part of the webinar was very helpful, but a lot of the responses to the hotel questions were to ask your wedding coordinator. Each hotel does things differently, but as we all know, getting answers is a very timely process! I think the mix was brides at all different points of the planning process, so some of the questions asked will be answered by the WC later in the planning stages. Maybe a back to back webinar with brides already booked, and then one with brides who are trying to decided on a location. Thanks for setting this up!!

Gorgeous!!! I love the details on this dress!

I love that sash!!!! So pretty! I feel the same about the veil. I think a reason I don't want to wear one is because it's windy by the water and I've seen them out of control in pictures! I don't want it wrapping around my face as I say my vows! But I do want one in some of the pictures. I'm considering doing a side pony and IDK if a veil would look right with that anyway. May brides, have you started alterations yet?

Oyster.com has a lot of pictures of the restaurant, and I took a few on my site visit last May, but didn't think of decorating the bar at the time so I have no pictures of it! In Calabash, when you walk in the doors to your right is the bar. I was thinking of bringing some pillar candles to dress it up a bit because I don't remember if it was just a boring plain bar. Oyster has 1 picture from far away that you can kind of see. I was hoping for a closer head on shot of the bar. If you are able to that would be wonderful!! I also plan on taking a ton of shots in May to post for bride-to-be's because you're right, it's hard to find good pictures!

I live on that site when I'm trying to decide on reception layout, decor etc. , and unfortunately, no they don't have any of the bar in Calabash that I've found

Can I ask any of you brides next on the list getting married at the suites to please please please take a picture of the bar at Calabash? I have been unable to find any online and I'm curious if I need to bring candles or decor for that area?! Please let me know if you can!! Thanks so much!!

I love the infinity dress!! They don't make it in the color I wanted for my girls but I considered buying a black one for every day use!!

I don't know what your budget is, but try Floral Fantasies. I've had a great experience with my florist so far and they are really good with working with your budget. If you really want real flowers. I am having way to many flowers to bring down real-touch so unfortunately that wasn't an option for me.

I didn't have a good experience with TaiFlora, the communication was well... there wasn't any haha. I feel that if I'm spending a great deal of money at a business, (our flower budget was $2,000-$2,500) waiting over a month is entirely to long for a response. No matter how busy they are. I have learned patience from this process, but I e-mailed them back in August/September and STILL no response! I laugh because it's just crazy! We went with Floral Fantasies. Their pricing is much better from what I've been seeing from TaiFlora comments on here. I'm working with Chantal specifically. They do charge a delivery fee, and as long as they aren't "staying" all day, they don't charge a vendor fee for them. (Get that in writing yourself though from the WC, to be safe!) I sent her pictures and she offered suggestions and has sent multiple pictures of different vase options. We are also renting chairs from them b/c I hate the chair covers that are offered. We are paying for the girls bouquets and I think it was a $10 rental for the vase for the reception. My experience so far with flowers has been the easiest of all the planning! I just pray the flowers are as nice as she promises they will be!

We are doing lazy river for ceremony, cocktail hour at blue moon music bar (Our colors are a magenta and navy, so I thought the room would flow well, plus there is a veranda outside the bar), and reception at Calabash. I'm getting so antsy! I cannot wait to get there!

Court, where are you having your ceremony? and are you doing a cocktail hour?