Moon Dance Cliffs

[Jacki7896]

Robin I cannot wait to hear about your wedding!  On pins and needles!

[IRIEGIRL]

jackie you are a day before me!!!!!! but im getting married at iberostar but  i may see you at moondance as im considering iit for my honeymooon.

Originally Posted by Jacki7896 

Robin I cannot wait to hear about your wedding!  On pins and needles!

 

[Jacki7896]

Irie-- Moon Dance is incredible!  I did a site visit there, and I cannot imagine a better place for your honeymoon.  We are doing a resort takeover, but most of our guests are checking out on the 11th, so there should be plenty of room for you to head over for your honeymoon. 

[dmob]

Regarding make up, we used Debra from Queen Bee, and she does air brush makeup. If memory serves me, it was $75/person and our make up held up through all the humidity. It is a shame that MDV and MDC changed their transfer policy as it should be a service that they offer SINCE  guests to their resort must fly into Montego Bay to get to their resort in Negril, especially when the guests do the AI plan. Hello..., AI!!!!

 

Also, note the distance between MDV and MDC may be 8-10  miles, but travel time is about 45 minutes, which was a surprise to us as we had been told about 10 - 15 minutes. But it gives you time to see Negril, and the changes from going beach to cliff side.

[loveweddings!]

I didn't have any problems with transfers between MDC and MDV! I was just there on a site visit for a few days, but transfers between the resorts were easy enough to arrange and only took maybe 10 minutes each way.  The one day we tried to go up to the Cliffs just before sunset, we ran into traffic at Rick's Cafe which held us up a bit.  We still made it in time for most of the sunset (which, btw, was amazing from Annie's restaurant at MDC!). 

[Jacki7896]

I also did a site visit, and had no issues with transfers between MDC and MDV... it was about 10 minutes. 

[doublehappiness]

I just read through this entire thread because we are looking for a resort to have our wedding. I checked out the pix online and and it looks so nice. I think what is leading me away from it right now is the transportation charge tacked on. There is no way we would consider having our guests arrive knowing they'd have to shell out extra money since the hotel already costs a pretty penny. It just seems greedy and is included in all the other high end hotels we've looked into so far. The budget hotels and mid-range resorts make you pay but this is the first boutique hotel I have seen that makes you pay even more. Gross.

[Mallory57]

DoubleHappiness--I completely agree with you.  I was just saying to my fiance the other day that I love MDC and am so happy we are getting married there, but if we were just picking where to get married now, we definitely wouldn't choose MDC...I have seen many things they offer get taken away and it just seems greedy.  In addition to taking away free transfers, they have also taken away snorkling, and are forcing people to get a $500 tent if the guest list is <30!  Because they are making $30,000+ in 3 days, you would think they would go for the true 'all inclusive' and really make you feel like you were getting more for your money than you would at any other place. *sigh* hopefully they change these things before they get a bad reputation for 'nickle and diming' every aspect of the wedding process....they've got something too great going on to ruin it over being greedy!

[HMM 01282012]

double--I agree that it's ridiculous.  Every other all-inclusive place I've heard of has free transfers.  I was trying to find some way to avoid having my guests' first experience after landing being reaching into their wallets.  I wanted it to be all booked/paid for, just hop on the plane, show up, relax, no worries, get pampered, and feel the love.  But I guess that's not happening.  I don't have the time or resources to find some other ground transportation and coordinate everyone's travel or foot the bill, so I'm disappointed about the whole thing.

 

Mallory--I HATE THE TENT TOO.  And I've asked Kerry about it--I understand that they don't want to be held liable for weather ruining the whole event, and that they've had to do last minute re-locations of the reception due to this.  But, in my opinion, I don't mind paying the $500 to have a tent on-hand in case we need it.  But I don't want it to be set up unless we need it.  And I've asked her this, and apparently it needs to be set up.  However small a part it may be, PART of the reason we picked MDC was based on the "aura" of the reception, those pictures on the website of the beautiful tables set up with that view, in the open ocean air.  Could you imagine what those pictures would look like with a tent over the tables?  Ugh.  I'm not happy about it 

 

And yes, everyone, I'm being a grumpy complainer, I'm sorry!  I just got done writing an e-mail to the coordinator about the fact that over 2 months ago, I sent her the tentative "schedule" (which was really just ideas we had) for the events of the wedding weekend.  (Rehearsal lunch/welcome dinner/spa treatments/time schedules for ceremony, cocktail, reception etc).  She has yet to confirm whether the ideas we have are feasible ideas and whether the timeframes are right.  Meanwhile, I've entered into 2 contracts (photog and DJ) based on the schedule that she has never confirmed.  I know that everything will turn out fine, and we still have like 9 months to go, but......I just think she could have found time in the last 2 months to let me know if I was way off on any of the items.

 

I just don't want to have this "idea" of how the weekend will go, for like 6 months, and then find out 2 months before the wedding that some part of it is not even a possibility.

 

Someone cheer me up! !!!

[Jacki7896]

I am doing a resort takeover, and I was there for a site visit, and they never mentioned the tent.  I booked last Aug/Sept, so maybe that is the reason, but it is definitely possible to not have the tent.  Like I said, the tent has never even been mentioned to me and I am going to have 50-66 people there. 

 

I am getting married in December, and here are the time frames I was given (she did mention it gets darker earlier in December, so if you are having a spring/summer wedding, I imagine you can have your times later):  Ceremony 4:30; cocktail hour until 6 pm; move to reception dinner area at 6 pm through 11 pm. 

 

As for other activities, she told  me it was up to me when I wanted to have the welcome dinner and rehearsal dinner.  For spa services the day of the ceremony, she suggested doing a lunchtime event-- where the bride and bridesmaids are all in the villa, and they cater in lunch for us and the stylist comes to the villa and do our hair/make up there.  If you wanted more elebaroate spa treatments, I am not sure how much more time you would need.  If I recall correctly from my site visit, there are 2 treatment rooms.  The massages we got were INCREDIBLE, but I guess you need to account for the fact that there are only 2 treatment rooms when you are thinking about your timeframe and how many people you want to accommodate.  Also, I have been told that there is only one person who does hair/makeup, so keep that in mind as well when you budget time for the day of the ceremony.  

 

For the day after the ceremony, she suggested a farewell brunch starting at 9 AM.  I said that was too early for the hangovers I imagine my guests will have.  So we are probably doing something around 10ish. 

 

Overall, Kerry pretty much told us they would accommodate us however we wanted.  Do not take her lack of communication as lack of care.  When we got to our site visit, I was surprised that she already had so much done for us without me having to ask about it (i.e., she had looked at welcome bag ideas like playing cards, rum bottles, etc. and offerred to run and get them herself to save us a trip, etc.).

 

I know it is frustrating, but having been there and seen how organized Kerry is, I can tell you that you do not have anything to be worried about.  It is just Jamaician culture I think.  But I understand how frustrated you must be.  Hopefully the timeline I was given at my site visit helps you somewhat!