Moon Dance Cliffs

[laura and mark]

Hi Jacki

 

Congrats on your wedding... and Im happy that you enjoyed yourself so much.  I am getting married at MDC Junly 28th of next year and it seems like you could provide great insight to a few gray areas.  What did you do about music??? I am having such a hard time deciding, adn hear such mixed reviews.  Can you please tell me what music you went with and if you had any kind of welcome dinner?  So I read what you said about ricks cafe and the beach and it sounds great!!!  Are you referring to Ricks cafe with the cliff jumping??? Did you make it an event that everyone went to?  Im sorry i know im all over the place with random questions.. im most concerned about music and a welcome party of you could provide any feedback or opinion that would be great

[Jacki7896]

Laura,

 

I haven't had my wedding yet... .Two weeks!  But here is what I am doing music wise:  Thursday-- welcome cocktails/games with the mento band.  Friday-- rehearsal dinner, just an Ipod playlist.  Saturday-- steel pan band for ceremony/cocktail hour; Sound Illusion DJ for reception.  I will let you know how everything goes when I get back from the wedding. 

 

RIck's Cafe is close to MDC, and yes, it is the one with the cliff jumping.  The beach is also just a short shuttle away.  When we went for our site visit, they dropped us off at the Margaritaville beach area.  It was very nice.  WE dont plan to make Ricks or the beach an official event, because we have people coming in on random days and times, but we are telling people they are a "must do" on their own time while they are there (we are providing the info in a welcome letter). 

 

Hopefully I will have some better insight once I return from the wedding!

 

Originally Posted by laura and mark 

Hi Jacki

 

Congrats on your wedding... and Im happy that you enjoyed yourself so much.  I am getting married at MDC Junly 28th of next year and it seems like you could provide great insight to a few gray areas.  What did you do about music??? I am having such a hard time deciding, adn hear such mixed reviews.  Can you please tell me what music you went with and if you had any kind of welcome dinner?  So I read what you said about ricks cafe and the beach and it sounds great!!!  Are you referring to Ricks cafe with the cliff jumping??? Did you make it an event that everyone went to?  Im sorry i know im all over the place with random questions.. im most concerned about music and a welcome party of you could provide any feedback or opinion that would be great

 

[laura and mark]

oh wow.... 2 weeks!!!  you must be so excited and anxious.  Good luck and have fun!!!  Like you said; we'll talk about my wedding when you get back...  Again have fun!!!! 

[laura and mark]

hey...  sorry if silly question, but whats resort takeover???

[Jacki7896]

Not silly at all.  We booked all of the rooms on the property... so we are "taking over" the resort. 
 

Originally Posted by laura and mark 

hey...  sorry if silly question, but whats resort takeover???

 

[HMM 01282012]

Laura and Mark,

 

We had planned for a resort takeover by placing down a deposit for all of the rooms for a 3-night stretch of our wedding weekend.  We did this in Feb or Mar of 2011, and with our wedding date of Jan 28 2012, we were able to hold the entire resort for bookings until about 6 months before our wedding date (Jul 2011).  During that time, if any of our guests called to book a room, they would then put down a 20% deposit to hold their individual room (essentially releasing our deposit on that room).  In July, we had not filled all of the rooms with guests yet (i.e. we had not completed the "takeover)...but based on their policy we were allowed to withdraw our deposit.  Their policy is that there would be a 3% processing fee to do so.  However, we actually saved ourselves that fee by "withdrawing" the holds on the rooms, but letting the resort keep our deposit money as our "wedding account".  So now that full amount will be used to pay for cake, flowers, off-site guest fees, the bands, etc.  We also used some as credits towards the cost of the rooms for our bridesmaids/groomsmen.

 

Just a few things to note about this approach...first of all, you need to make sure you withdraw your money by the date in their policy, otherwise you stand to lose more/all of the deposit (which, considering it's for all the rooms, was not necessarily pocket change...thanks Mom & Dad LOL).  So just make sure you're organized and have it as a reminder in your phone, or on your calendar, or whatever, and keep in mind the working hours at their office are central time zone.  Another thing I've learned through all this money-juggling was that Miriam and Kim are very on the ball with this kind of thing.  Whenever I calculated what the refund should be, or what the remaining amount of our "wedding account", Kim and Miriam always came back with the same amount. 

 

The upside of this strategy was that during Feb - Jul, a time when we felt like we had to put on our sales & marketing caps to convince our nearest & dearest that we couldn't picture our day without them/they deserved to give themselves a vacation/Jamaica is the best place to be in January/this resort is worth every penny.........for all of that time, we didn't have to worry that random strangers were making reservations for our wedding weekend. 

 

So...although we didn't end up taking over the whole resort, and after the rooms were released we do in fact have some "randoms" who will be there, we did take over 2/3 of the resort and I'm happy with that.  And, if I had to do it all over again, I would still do it the same way.  A lot of our guests booked relatively "last-minute", so I was glad that there were still enough rooms for them to join us.

 

 

Jacki - I'm guessing you're already down there!!  How exciting   Have a great, relaxing, fantastic wedding day!!  We are all anxiously waiting to hear how it went and see pictures!! 

[Jacki7896]

LADIES....

 

everything was BEYOND perfect.  Trust Kerry.  She gets it done.  The resort is amazing.  All of my guests said it was the best wedding and best vacation they have ever had.  We took over the entire resort, and they still knew everyone's name.  They created events for us that catered to our guests' interests.  The food was amazing.  The drinks were too delicous.  I will write a more detailed review later, but every vendor, every staff member, Kerry, the Richards...... everything.  PERFECT. 

 

My guests said they feel bad for the next person who gets married because no one will be able to top a wedding at Moon Dance Cliffs.  

[whiggrrl]

JACKI!!  I've been waiting for you to post!

Wow, sounds amazing! Congratulations to you and your new hubby!

[HMM 01282012]

Jacki-- SO glad to hear it went well!  Thanks for letting us know!!  So excited for you and your new hubby!

 

<3 <3 <3

[gs02dnj]

Can someone who has been to MDC recently share their room rate?  I just received an email yesterday from the TA indicating $707 for an Oct 2012 wedding. I'm just trying to verify. Thanks everyone.