Valentin Imperial Maya Brides?

[cait713]

Hoyt-what else were you able to negotiate with them?

 

Also, did you post a review somewhere? I've checked and couldn't find anything. I'd really love to hear about your wedding. My date is coming up quicker than I can believe, and I need all the help I can get at this point! Thanks!

[Sweetpea_Mtl]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm so excited I just booked my wedding date at the VIM for Jan. 26 2011!!! WOUHOU!!!

I'll have to set aside a few hundred hours ;-) to read through all the threads and start planning all the details...

Anyone else getting married that week at the VIM? (Jan. 22-29)

And since it's already in 8 months, do you think I should send Save The Date cards or the invitations directly with all the details?

 

@Heidilynn28 - Nice to see a Montreal bride here! Which photographer are you thinking of hiring from home?

[ahollo02]

sweetpea - congrats on setting your date!!

[lbaz159]

Hi everybody! I just booked my date at the VIM for June 18, 2011.

 

Can't wait to get started on the details! There's so much to do, but this thread has already helped me so much!

 

Lauren

[ahollo02]

Ibaz - Welcome and congrats! Please post your wedding details as you book!! I would love to hear!

[hoyt75]

ahollo - Sascha charges $295.00 per hour. Not only is that an absolute steal, but it's amazing that it's all he charges for such wonderful work.

 

heidilynn28 - VIM will try to charge you extra for stupidest little things at first, but I think you'll find that almost any resort that you go to.

 

For example, I picked my bouquet from a pic that they had provided, but I wanted the stem part wrapped in blue ribbon to match my colors. Well, Lupita wanted to charge me for the ribbon if I didn't bring my own, and it wasn't like $2.00 either, it was more like $15-$20, which is insane. Needless to say I brought my own ribbon that I bought from a fabric store for pennies.

 

Then she wanted to charge me an INSANE amount of money for the chuppah! Like $800.00!!!! I just looked at her and told her she was nuts and that I could build my own stupid chuppah for that kind of money. I even brought all of my own fabric! We got the cost of the chuppah down to $200.00.

 

Adriana wanted to charge me for the sound system for the ceremony and the reception. When we got down there we meet w/ Lupita and she never charged us anything, nor did she say anything about it. And really, if you get married on the beach a sound system is a must otherwise you're guests won't be able to hear a thing.

 

We had had a private dinner at the French restaurant the day we all got down there and the restaurant manager tried to charge us for 3 bottles of wine at $70.00 a piece each. We were not happy for several reasons: 1) they didn't tell us that we needed to buy 3 bottles of wine to reserve the private room 2) she came in and interrupted the whole dinner and was very rude about it and 3) I guess you're only suppose to have 11 people in the private room and we ended up with 12 and she threatened to kick one person out of the room to bring us back down to the 11. My hubby went to our server after she left and told him that we were not aware that we had to purchase wine for the private room, he was very gracious about it, and he ended up giving him a $50 tip. A friend of ours got a bottle of wine while we were out talking o the waiter and nobody got charged for any bottles of wine, nobody got kicked out, and we never saw the mean manager again. The server was totally worth the $50 tho - he was prompt, gave great service, and never charged us for anything Definitely worth the $50.00.

 

Don't let the above deter you... Like I said, I think all resorts are going to try to get you to pay more for little things to see if you're paying attention and see how easy you are. No wedding go without a few little bumps, and ours was excellent beyond belief. The VIM was the most wonderful place to go, and I cannot imagine a better resort. The mean manager at the French restaurant was the only grouchy person that we met the whole time, and she must have been having a bad night too, lol. We didn't let her get us down, but we definitely didn't put up with her crap either.

 

heidilynn28 - If you bring your photographer then they are considered a guest and you won't get charged the fee for bringing in an outside photographer. If they ask, make sure to tell them that they're a friend with a camera and that they will be taking all of your photo's. This seems to be what most brides do when they bring a photographer from home.

 

ahollo - You're right, Blue Lense did get banned from BDW, and they will try to get you to write a review on here if you use them. And yes, I thought that part was a little sketchy too. I wrote a review of them on here. I will look for it and post the link on this thread when I find it.

 

cait713 - I have not written my review of Sascha or VIM yet. Ever since we got back we've been non-stop, and it's just getting ridiculous. I promised myself I was going to do it last week and then a good friend of ours passed away... I'm shooting for this weekend if all goes well this week!

 

If any of you would like to see our wedding photos you can find me on facebook. Search for Jenna McGann Hoyt and send me a message. I'd be glad to show them, but my photobucket account doesn't like to work all the time

[hoyt75]

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...s-heavy-57717/

 

The above is a link to my review of Blue Lense Caribe.

[alliecattn]

Wedding Update: My FI and I are getting married at the VIM on Oct. 9, 2010, on the beach. We're using Del Sol (Sol only) for pics and DoreMixx for our DJ. We've chosen the Lobster Pot for our rehearsal dinner, although I've heard the food is mediocre and the Mexican restaurant terrace for the reception (cocktail hour at the gazebo). I feel like we're being charged exorbitant rates considering we're already springing for the top package...$500 for a Spanish guitarist for the ceremony (for only 45 mins), fees for outside vendors, etc. I'm not much of a negotiator but will try. I've been dealing only with Ariadna who has been quick to respond and pleasant via our email exchanges. I tried to get her to budge on Spanish guitarist fee with no success. Maybe I'll have more luck closer to time?

[Future Mrs. M]

I just wanted to let you guys know we stayed at the Valentin this past Saturday. There was a wedding while we were there in the chapel. The decorations in there looked BEAUTIFUL! Everyone was so friendly and accommodating. They don't accept kids though - that's the only reason we wouldn't use them.

The weather was SO hot this weekend though - It would have been nice to have golf carts to get around the huge property.

The beach area (swimable area) is really nice!!

[cait713]

I tried my luck negotiating with Ariadna this week about waiving the outside photographer fee. I'm so not a negotiator, and I was pushier than I like to be, but alas, no success. Here was her response:

 

An apology, are the new polices at the hotel about the outside vendors; is similar to a day pass for the entrance to the hotel.

 

I think I'll have my fiance try to negotiate more with her when we're actually down there-he's more assertive than me. Good luck to anyone else who's trying!