Hilton Brides!

[kelcrooks]

Ok starting to get frustrated. Just heard back from Fernanda (its been 10 days) and she only answered one of my questions. Starting to think that the way this is going there is no way we can get married in November! She has been really slow responding!

[indypitty]

I also was having trouble with Fernanda's slow response time the past few weeks, but she has been quick to respond to me in the past couple of days. As my wedding date has gotten closer, she has been much more attentive and answered all of my questions in a timely manner. She truly has been great in getting info. to me and answering my tons of questions! I know how frustrating it can be, though.

 

Today Fernanda sent me a lot of pictures from a wedding held at the Hilton yesterday (on the beach). I don't want to post them all here since the people who get married probably don't even know she e-mailed them to me, but if anyone wants top see some, PM me.

[kelcrooks]

Thanks Courtney! Just sent you a PM. I have my heart set on this place and so its been frustrating to go 10 days without a response back. Plus I've asked her the same question like 3 times and she never answers it!

[Opice34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessica&Adam Ok, so I need to vent and right now this is seeming to be the best place to do it. I am SO upset right now! I was very excited because Fernanda emailed me a few minutes ago, and let me know that I could have tne venue I wanted for my reception (Mitachi) on the day I wanted! But then I read on and it says: "We will divide it so you can have the private event in one side of the restaurant and still have some space open for the individual clients." - which is completely unacceptable to me! I work in a hotel and I know that we block off our event areas for groups all the time - should a wedding be any different? NO! The reception is one of the most important parts of the night and there is no way in hell I am going to share it with random strangers! I'm kind of offended she would even suggest that for MY WEDDING RECEPTION! My original vision was to have part of the restaurant set up for the reception dinner, have the area where those couches are for a 'lounge area', the bar to obviously used for my open bar, and the elevated area up near the bar for my DJ to be set up and dancing! I just don't understand why they cannot block it off for just one night, and a Sunday night at that, for my reception! I mean I really had my heart set on it and for what I want, I really just don't know if any of the other Hilton reception sites will work. I might have to go to my number two choice now (the Westin), which I was not mentally prepared to do either. Its just like why can I not have exactly what I want for my wedding reception? And I feel like its such a huge life event that I should not have to compromise on this!!!! AHHH. Well...sorry for the rant, I am just really dissapointed right now, and I guess its back to the drawing board. Again. Anyone have any suggestions of what I should do??

Jessica - I haven't really seen any hotels that allow you to reserve the entire restaurant. Especially at the non-all-inclusive hotels that only have about 2 or 3 restaurants to begin with. I do think a reception at the Mitachi Grill would be beautiful, and I'm sorry that's not working out for you. But I hate to say, I understand why they can't let you reserve the whole thing. That restaurant really is the only nice, upscale restaurant at the Hilton. They advertise about it a lot, and I think a lot of guests would be dissappointed if it were blocked off. A lot of our guests are flying in Friday and leaving Monday and the only night they'd be able to go to Mitachi would be Sunday night, and personally, I'd be a bit upset if the restaurant was closed.

And unfortunately, most of the venues for destination weddings are "semi-private" I'm afraid. I found it really difficult to find a spot that was really private and it seemed like most of the hotels suggested public areas for the reception. I think it's kind of normal down there. Anyway - I'm sorry you're bummed. I know it's not exactly what you want, but I do think you could still have a beautiful wedding at the Hilton! Everything will work out the way it's supposed to!

Quote:

Originally Posted by indypitty I also was having trouble with Fernanda's slow response time the past few weeks, but she has been quick to respond to me in the past couple of days. As my wedding date has gotten closer, she has been much more attentive and answered all of my questions in a timely manner. She truly has been great in getting info. to me and answering my tons of questions! I know how frustrating it can be, though. Today Fernanda sent me a lot of pictures from a wedding held at the Hilton yesterday (on the beach). I don't want to post them all here since the people who get married probably don't even know she e-mailed them to me, but if anyone wants top see some, PM me.

Indy - I'd love to see them! PM on its way!

Quote:

Originally Posted by kelcrooks Thanks Courtney! Just sent you a PM. I have my heart set on this place and so its been frustrating to go 10 days without a response back. Plus I've asked her the same question like 3 times and she never answers it!

Kel - is it maybe a language barrier? I think Fernanda's English is marvelous, but you never know what could get lost in translation. I just can't see her completely ignoring a question, ya know? Or is it maybe a question we could help you with? Maybe she has answered it for us...

[kimdelc]

I know it can be really frustrating. Some weeks Fernanda is great and responds right away! And sometimes it takes her a decade to get back to you. The only way we were able to relieve ourselves of that frustration was to get a calling card and call her when it was taking her longer to respond than normal. And in some cases like you said, she responds partially and doesn't answer all the questions. I would suggest getting a calling card and just call her when you get frustrated. Trust me, we have been there.

 

- Kim

[Opice34]

JESSICA! What did you end up deciding? Are you going to stay at the Hilton or pick another location?

[Jessica&Adam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Opice34 JESSICA! What did you end up deciding? Are you going to stay at the Hilton or pick another location?

Well...I don't know what to do! I thought about what you said, and it made sense. I guess I was having a little "bridezilla" moment! But I am still unsure of what I want to do. I sent Fernanda an email the day she told me the bad news...and that was a week ago today, and she still hasn't responded. I don't know if I should resend the email, or what. I talked to Adam and he said that if we don't get the restaurant it would be fine and we would have a great reception at one of the other locations - probably either the Caribe terrace or Miramar garden. I'm not sure how I would want the Caribe set up if we did it there, and the Miramar garden seems way too big for our small group of about 40. And then I was thinking maybe the pool deck? But I haven't really seen any pics of receptions held on the pool deck so I don't know how that would look.

So it looks like most likely we will try to stay with Hilton..but now I need to decide where I want the reception and I'm not really sure right now - which makes it hard to sign a contract! I know everything will get sooo much easier once we get all this figured out, but it seems like we'll never get to that point (especially at this slow, once a week email rate that Fernanda is going at).

[Opice34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessica&Adam Well...I don't know what to do! I thought about what you said, and it made sense. I guess I was having a little "bridezilla" moment! But I am still unsure of what I want to do. I sent Fernanda an email the day she told me the bad news...and that was a week ago today, and she still hasn't responded. I don't know if I should resend the email, or what. I talked to Adam and he said that if we don't get the restaurant it would be fine and we would have a great reception at one of the other locations - probably either the Caribe terrace or Miramar garden. I'm not sure how I would want the Caribe set up if we did it there, and the Miramar garden seems way too big for our small group of about 40. And then I was thinking maybe the pool deck? But I haven't really seen any pics of receptions held on the pool deck so I don't know how that would look. So it looks like most likely we will try to stay with Hilton..but now I need to decide where I want the reception and I'm not really sure right now - which makes it hard to sign a contract! I know everything will get sooo much easier once we get all this figured out, but it seems like we'll never get to that point (especially at this slow, once a week email rate that Fernanda is going at).

I know it's hard when you want everything to be perfect! I do think you will have a beautiful reception in any of those locations. I think you could do a reception for 40 in the Garden! Where is your ceremony going to be? You could even do it all in one spot!

Here's a pic of a reception set-up on the pool deck. I believe this was a "themed" reception for Caribbean Nights.

Fernanda told me that if I changed my mind about the location for everything, I could always change it later. AS LONG AS IT WAS STILL AVAILABLE. But April 2009 is a while away, so don't put too much pressure on yourself! I'm going back for a 2nd site visit in June (with both our parents) and I could take some more pictures for you if that would help? Maybe they will have a reception set-up on the Caribe Terrace and I could take some shots?

[Opice34]

Are you guys planning to use a band or a DJ? Do you know if the Hilton has a DJ they typically use? I feel like I've asked this to someone before and I can't remember the answer....

[JennyK]

Hi girls! I just got back from Cancun and stayed at the hotel right next door to the Hilton (Great Parnassus). I kept thinking of you guys and how beautiful your wedding will be there!