Hello past and future brides! I am writing a review of the week I spent at the Majestic Colonial. I will give you the pros and cons of our week hopefully it can help future brides in their wedding decision making.

 

WC: Stephany

Civil Ceremony Wedding at the Gazebo 15h00

Photographer: PhotoPhil

 

My wedding group was a group of 17 people, including 2 children ( 2 & 5) 15 of us flew together on the same plane from Dec 3 to Dec 10. 2 people arrived a week earlier because they wanted an extra week. We flew Air Transat... zero complaints .. we were 3 brides on the plane.. my dress was put in a closet in the front with the crew's bags. The pilot even announced the three wedding over the intercom during the flight. First class is worth it for the extra baggage that we were bringing, plus the service is great and so is the food.

 

Airport to Resort ... piece of cake, not even 45 minutes and you are at the resort by bus.

 

We were welcomed with a Majestic cocktail when we arrived, we were a small group but we were taken aside to do the check-in. I had 2 requests as for rooms ..  1 guest with limited mobility and another guest that has beginning of Alzheimer... both requests were not met. The hotel was fully booked, but we did manage to change one of the rooms to what we had requested. I don't know if that was the fault of the travel agency .. or of the resort...but that was pretty much the only hiccup at check-in.

 

All our rooms were the same .. including mine .. the only thing we got " extra" from the other guests was that we had a room that was considered " ocean view" ... We did get a plate of fruit and a bottle of champagne when we arrived in the room .. but so did everyone in my group. We didn't have a welcome note or a note from the WC in our room... we didn't think it mattered we all went done to the buffet for supper and saw the Evening Show .. and had a drink at the lobby bar afterwards. I do have to say that even though we didn't get an upgraded room... the " basic" room is amazing, sooo spacious and the showers are big and modern, better than any rooms i've experienced in past resorts. I have no idea what an upgraded room looks like.. but what we got was fine by me.

 

Day 2 (Sunday), still no note from the WC ... 2 attempts to get in touch with someone in the Weddings Dept. ...no success...the front desk has not been advised that we are getting married, and our WC has the day off. We ask to speak to another WC see if we can make an appointment to meet ... we are told that tomorrow morning a note will be under our door for our appointment time. Panic level getting a little higher .. but reassured with the fact that note will be there in the morning.

 

Day 3 ( Monday, getting married on Wednesday)... Get up .. still no note ...Big time panic... hand our 2 kids to the rest of the group so they can babysit and we are now on a mission to meet someone .. anyone to talk about our upcoming wedding. What do we do with our stuff? My dress.. the flowers.. I haven't spoken to anyone.. and no one seems to know that we are here for a wedding!! Arghhh lol ... We are at the reception desk a 9:00 am ... finally the front desk makes some calls and they tell us to be in the lobby at 10:30 with all our stuff .... (plus the money we've been carrying around with us all this time.. I was really afraid that it would be stolen or something like that ... and I just wanted to pay and get it over with... I don't know about you but I had heard so many stories about safes not working and this and that.. I was nervous about it)

 

WC meeting: Stephany is really a sweet person, very responsive to your ideas and she really knows her job well. I hadn't had much contact with her during the 14 months of preparation... I emailed her only a few times to fax her our legal documents and I asked her to make my hair appointment. The last week before I left, I sent her an email about the type of flowers I would like.. and that's about it. She kept on saying how easygoing we were compared to others. Our meeting literally took 15 minutes, I gave her my dress, I had chair sashes , table runners, fans and programs. I had a few starfishes and then a few decorations for the cake. We asked her to get in contact with Phil, because we hadn't heard from him yet and we wanted to know what time he would meet us and also to let him know what room we were going to be in ... and that was it. I had panicked for no reason at all, she grabbed all our stuff we put it in her office and we didn't see her until 2 minutes before I walked down the aisle! Moral of the story, even if you've read on different websites that a note is usually waiting for you at your arrival... it doesn't matter if it isn't your wedding will go on.

 

Spa Preparations

 

***Don't let your future husband get his face shaven at the spa****

He wanted a really close shave with a razor blade, however they don't use water or shaving cream ... just the blade ... he told me it hurt like heck and it didn't do a good job either.

 

Same lady did my hair,my appointment was at 9h30 ... my hair was amazing, just how I wanted it, I wanted an updo because I knew my hair wouldn't hold otherwise  .. the flowers I got were little white ones, very beautiful. From 9h30 am ... to 23h30 pm .. my hair held up and stayed the same. I was extremely happy with the outcome and they are really fast, because 25 minutes later we had paid and were off to our rooms. 

 

Only thing I can complain about is that at 12h30 when Phil arrived in the girls room to start taking pictures, the food still had not arrived in our room ( it had already arrived and been eaten in my fiancé's room supposedly) ... so I called Stephany to make sure it was coming.. and it arrived 45 minutes later.

 

Ceremony

 

Wedding day .. hottest & most humid day of our stay. ( Yay.. I was happy for the great weather) 47 degrees with the humidity they said ( who knows.. I was on a cloud didn't feel a thing)

 

My one Con for the entire ceremony ..  happened just before the actual ceremony. My room was located at the end (and I mean end .. we were the last room right beside the beach) ... when Stephany called to tell us to come on down ... I had to walk the entire way to the lobby in order to head off to the gazebo. Not so far when you are walking in the morning to go eat breakfast .. really far when you are wearing 4 inch shoes, and what seems to be 30 pounds of a wedding dress! I had heard that they had a golf cart for brides to get there ... I didn't get one, I didn't see one .. and being a bit nervous  .. I didn't think to ask for one.

Suggestion: If you are getting married at the gazebo and your room is all the way over at the beach .. ask WC to pick you up in the golf cart!Plus you won't dirty the bottom of your dress walking all the way there.

 

Now the Pros: WC set up the gazebo beautifully .. aisle runner, flower petals, the chairs with the sashes were out of this world. I loved my flower centerpiece and also my bouquet! I had requested the gerberia daisies in hot pink with a bit of purple and white.. and my bridesmaids bouquet too .. they looked awesome and the colors really popped out in the pictures! Before I walked down the aisle she came to see me ... told me not to cry yet because my makeup would leak .. but it was too late once you see everything you've been planning all set up and beautiful.. plus my two little munchkins doing such a beautiful job walking down the aisle with the petals and the ring pillow...it's very emotional and I literally felt like I was on cloud 9.

The ceremony goes by soooo quickly .. it's hard to take it all in .. but try to cherish every moment.. and then it's pop the champagne, signing the documents .. and then as fast as you came down the aisle.. you are going back up the aisle ... taking your pictures in the lobby with the rest of your group!

***The fans are a MUST*****

While they are waiting in their seats for you and during the ceremony ... all my guests were so happy I had thought to bring fans! Even with the gazebo being covered, it gets extremely hot and they were really appreciative of them.

 

Photophil

 

Look up professional, personable & a lifesaver in the dictionary and you will find a picture of Phil Steingard there. He knows what he is doing, he knows the resort like the back of his hand. He seems to know almost everyone that works at both resorts, and he is very friendly with everyone. Taking pictures is second nature to him and he knows what to do in order to take great pictures! I even said to him at some point while we were taking pictures " Phil you are a God" ... and believe me if you only knew how hard it was with my 2 kids after the ceremony!! Oh boy!!! My 2 year old  hadn't napped .. and it was almost 16h... and my daughter had a bit of a meltdown afterwards ...crying uncontrollably and was really sad because she got it in her head that everything was going to change from now on. Sometimes with kids it's hard to understand their thinking .. but Phil made it work .. and he got us an AMAZING  family picture. I never thought it would happen.. and that camera clicked at the most precise moment. It was really important to me to get that picture .. and when  he showed me in his camera that he had it ...  what a professional and great photographer.. and what a relief for me.

Afterwards he took us on two and  half hours of shooting.. all around the Colonial and the Elegance resorts. He put us really at ease, my fiancé never wanted to have a photographer, he hates pictures but he was so happy at the end of the day that I had chosen Phil! 

 

Reception/Supper

 

BEST steak EVER! Every guest commented on how good the steak was, you could tear the pieces off with your fork that is how tender it was! I had heard too many bad comments about the lobster so we didn't order it for the supper. However, the waiter (who was a dream and really alert) asked my boyfriend if he'd like to eat one..... and he brought him a few during the supper... my boyfriend is a chef and he loved them.. so I guess to each his own.

I was disappointed with the way my cake looked, if I were to do it again I would just pay extra to have beautiful flowers put on it ... however I brought seashells and seahorses made of ( pate d'amandes) and they were in the color of our wedding.. but they put wayyyy too many on the cake and it just looked ridiculous and childlike... however everyone said it was really good.

 

Pros that need to be mentioned:

 

*Japanese restaurant, .. everyone raves about it ... and they are right ... amazing food and great show by the chef ...

*Animation, the Micheal Jackson show ... sooo good ... EVERY resort I have ever been to does a Micheal Jackson night ... this is by far the best one I have seen ... my friends were even like groupies and got their pictures taken with the Micheal lookalike afterwards.

*Kids club, the ladies that work there are really nice, it is only 4 years old and up.... I went one day to show my daughter ... had no intention of leaving her there for more than an hour.. when I went back she didn't want to come back with us... and she asked me to go for the 3 following days. They did Arts & Crafts, nail painting, they went in the pool with the slides before lunch ... she really enjoyed herself.

*Lobby bar... every evening we would meet up there and have some drinks .. so relaxing and enjoyable ... lots of tropical drinks... yum...

*The staircase!!! One of the many reasons I chose the Colonial... what a beautiful accessory and background to have in your pictures ... it's gorgeous.

 

Cons that need to be mentioned:

 

*The beach wasn't as I expected... quite a lot of rocks and the waves were pretty hard. I wouldn't have let my kids near the water if they didn't have a life vest on.

*The maid service...we left 5$ a day... and we were lucky if the bed was made when we got in our rooms in the afternoon. I had read that they weren't friendly.. and I would have to agree. I can't generalize with all the staff... but the 2 maids that we had ....I don't think they knew how to crack a smile. Maybe 5$ is cheap ... I don't know ... however one couple in our group .. that were not near our room ... had fresh flower petals EVERY day, they received cookies in the shape of a gecko, another day grapes covered in chocolate ... we got NONE of that ... we got petals the first day .. and that was it. Maybe they mistook them for the newlyweds lol ...

 

So overall i'm very pleased with my choice of the Majestic Colonial, I wish I could go back and relive my wedding day and take the time to enjoy it more! Future brides you won't be disappointed!  I can't wait to receive my final pictures from Phil especially the TTD which I haven't seen yet... we were there at sunrise so the pictures should turn out great. I can confirm that your dress does not get "trashed" at all ... I went in the ocean and had sand EVERYWHERE and it came out just the same as when I bought it. I'm glad I didn't give in and buy a second dress!

Oh my goodness .. sorry my post is so long... guess i'm just having so much fun reliving they day.. it's already been a month!