Any Gran Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Brides out there?

[daphodil]

I know I am verrrrryyyyy late in my response about my wedding that occurred on 8/12/11, but was not going to post because of the same issues that I had as well as the fact that I was gone for almost 3 wks afterwards.  Espejo2be I was there the same week and have a lot of the same issues that you brought up.  If I had a crystal ball, I would never want to deal with Donnalee again.  She didn't behave professionally.  Chandlyn was the totally opposite.  I will not spend so much time dwelling on the issues, but just want everyone to know that there was both good and bad that happened during my stay.  The property is definitely beautiful, but there is definitely room for improvement.  I LOVEDDD the front desk staff because of how they treated myself as well as all of my guests, but can't speak about the towel ppl.  In the end, I married my sweetheart and my pictures were beautiful especially after it rained (having difficulty uploading them). I was just happy to read your post and realize that I wasn't crazy and everything is not always what it seems.  Just wanted to let you know that u are not alone.  However, to the other brides, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!   

[Tekeya Thompson]

Hi Monarch!

No we didn't have to rent out the entire restaurant.  They have an area to the side of the restaurant that was sort of semi-private that you will be in, but the hotel guests will still be dining in the opposite areas.  It was still pretty private where it was no distractions for us (but we may have distracted the restaurant guests a little, but no one complained ;-).  Oh, one more thing...the food was a little slow coming out, so I recommend if you are like me and don't like dead silence, plan a program.  We didn't and we had to wing it.  I thought Chandlyn stayed and actually MCed the reception (because normally thats what the coordinators do) but that was not the case.
 

 

One thing I regret is that we didn't do our 1st dance and mother/son(s) dance in the restaurant...because at night, it's drastically hotter outside, so it was blazing at the gazebo.  We didn't have much room to do the bouquet toss and garter toss in the restaurant, but if we moved some tables around, I am sure we could have got the dance out the way.  We were not able to turn our music up too loud, because of the hotel guests, so that is why we did all that at gazebo.

 

No I do not recommend you renting the restaurant out...that's a waste of money for 40 people.  I had 51 (including us) and it was comfortable.  I am just not sure how they would do the tables for 70, it could be a little tight.

 

I got the Gold package with Sungold and I think it was like $1900 which included pretty much all day wedding day and the TTD session (I did mine 2 days after).  My honeymoon was at Lady Hamilton (part of Grand Palladium) in Lucea, so Antoinette actually picked us up on that Monday and took us to the site for the TTD.  I was a little nervous about using the associates, but Antoinette and Clayton did a great job.  I honestly didn't even look at the hotel pictures...when I saw the camera man, and he had ONLY the camera, no lighting or any equipment, I can imagine what the pictures look like.  I asked Chandlyn to pick out the pictures for me and send them to me ;-)

Originally Posted by monarch 

Thanks for all the info Tekeya!

 

A few questions for you:

 

1. You mentioned that you had 50-some people in the room at the dolce vita.  Did you rent out the entire restaurant or did you have some type of semi-private room.  Do you recommend renting out the entire restaurant for a group of 40?  I am concerned that some of the older guests may not be happy with the gazebo party.

 

2.  Approximately how much did you pay for the sungold photography?  How did you find it in comparison to the hotel photographer?  Your photographs have such beautiful colour and sharpness!

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

Hi Daphodil,

I hope I didn't sound negative, but I don't like to sugar coat anything.  Don't get me wrong, my wedding was AWESOME!  We had the best time of our lives and everything was gorgeous...but I like to tell it like it T.I.S...and give the good, bad, and uglies to everything.   Thats the only way to keep it real.  I know we want to stay positive, but I agree with you, reading this stuff will help the next person know how to handle the situations we encountered and didn't know about...for instance:

 

in the package it offers:

room upgrade.

 

I read a few posts where some people say they didn't receive this...so I actually made sure I didn't miss out.  And it's sort of a gimic because I was told they don't upgrade your room, but upgrade you to the next floor (which made NOT a BIT of sense!)  The thing about the washclothes...even though I had already made towel lollipops for all my guests, I was glad that they REALLY appreciated them since there were no washclothes...I was aware of that and knew how to handle the situation.

 

We both had gorgeous weddings, and I appreciate EVERYTHING Chandlyn has done for me...and yes, I would probably stray away from Donnalee (I know my officiator wasn't too fond of how she did the rehearsal), but hey, it comes with the territory...in the end, I married my best friend and that is all that matters. 

 

Originally Posted by daphodil 

I know I am verrrrryyyyy late in my response about my wedding that occurred on 8/12/11, but was not going to post because of the same issues that I had as well as the fact that I was gone for almost 3 wks afterwards.  Espejo2be I was there the same week and have a lot of the same issues that you brought up.  If I had a crystal ball, I would never want to deal with Donnalee again.  She didn't behave professionally.  Chandlyn was the totally opposite.  I will not spend so much time dwelling on the issues, but just want everyone to know that there was both good and bad that happened during my stay.  The property is definitely beautiful, but there is definitely room for improvement.  I LOVEDDD the front desk staff because of how they treated myself as well as all of my guests, but can't speak about the towel ppl.  In the end, I married my sweetheart and my pictures were beautiful especially after it rained (having difficulty uploading them). I was just happy to read your post and realize that I wasn't crazy and everything is not always what it seems.  Just wanted to let you know that u are not alone.  However, to the other brides, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!   

 

[samanthaj]

Hi Tekeya!
  Beautiful pictures!  Who did you use for your florist?  I'm torn between Tia (which the resort uses) or Jans Floral.

[acw271011]

OMG!!! you look amazing!!! your pics are gorgeous and it looks like it was a fantastic day!! congrats again!  I'm starting to get excited now... 5 weeks tomorrow and we leave in 4 and a half weeks!!!!

 

Originally Posted by Tekeya Thompson 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[acw271011]

we're air transat too on oct 15th. we were a bit worried about hurricanes in the beginning so booked november, but have now changed to october and I don't care. we're alone - just 2 of us but I was told that hurricanes that late in the season don't generally hit jamaica. the air currents have changed by then so they normally miss jamaica after september. don't know if its true or not but hey - it means we get married inside instead. it would be cool to say we got married during or immediately after a hurricane!

 

I'm going with the other girls. go with a resort package instead of the transat packages. much better and includes more. well worth it. we're obviously taking the free one so we get a special dinner, cake and flowers and we have a jamaican photographer - what more could you want?

 

Originally Posted by LJMedic 

Hi Ladies,

                Just joined the site. We have choosen the GBP resort and now have to decide when to get married. I would love any suggestions or experiences you have had with certain times of year. I have been warned away from Aug to Nov due to hurricane season. I see alot of brides are booked for Sept Oct weddings so I am wondering if there really is reason to worry. We will be booking airtransat and have the 3 wedding packages to choose from, any information on your experiences with these would be great as well. Thanks

LJ

 

[acw271011]

what kind of problems did you have? please share. it helps the rest of us know what to watch for.

 

I've seen the warnings about the sand ceremony so I'm going to have my FI take it with him since he's by himself. that way we make sure it's done the way we want and done right. and I saw the warnings about the cake disappearing so I'm in for that, especially since I'm re-using our topper for our at home reception.

 

chandlyn said if anything, since we're just 2, that they pay extra special attention to us and we'll feel spoiled! I really hope she's right!!

 

Originally Posted by daphodil 

I know I am verrrrryyyyy late in my response about my wedding that occurred on 8/12/11, but was not going to post because of the same issues that I had as well as the fact that I was gone for almost 3 wks afterwards.  Espejo2be I was there the same week and have a lot of the same issues that you brought up.  If I had a crystal ball, I would never want to deal with Donnalee again.  She didn't behave professionally.  Chandlyn was the totally opposite.  I will not spend so much time dwelling on the issues, but just want everyone to know that there was both good and bad that happened during my stay.  The property is definitely beautiful, but there is definitely room for improvement.  I LOVEDDD the front desk staff because of how they treated myself as well as all of my guests, but can't speak about the towel ppl.  In the end, I married my sweetheart and my pictures were beautiful especially after it rained (having difficulty uploading them). I was just happy to read your post and realize that I wasn't crazy and everything is not always what it seems.  Just wanted to let you know that u are not alone.  However, to the other brides, KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN!!   

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

We reused our cake topper too, so we made sure we got all our items after the reception dinner Saturday night.  The only thing we didn't get because we thought the Chandlyn was going to break it down since we paid the money for the gazebo was the paper lanterns, and they were destroyed by the high tides and winds thru the night. 

 

So I read about cake issue that the other bride had (disappearing cake) so I made sure I brought cake boxes with me.  Chandlyn gave all the guests cake and gave me the remaining cake on the plate.  I recommend you bring your own cake box for your topper, I changed resorts for our honeymoon and we end up taking their glass plate covered with plastic wrap.  So I can see how her cake took missing.  I had a lady in waiting and an usher that kept tabs on that stuff for me.

 

Originally Posted by acw271011 

what kind of problems did you have? please share. it helps the rest of us know what to watch for.

 

I've seen the warnings about the sand ceremony so I'm going to have my FI take it with him since he's by himself. that way we make sure it's done the way we want and done right. and I saw the warnings about the cake disappearing so I'm in for that, especially since I'm re-using our topper for our at home reception.

 

chandlyn said if anything, since we're just 2, that they pay extra special attention to us and we'll feel spoiled! I really hope she's right!!

 

 

 

[Tekeya Thompson]

I used Jan's Floral, Tai floral quoted me a higher price.  The only thing I didn't like about Jan's is the whole deal with them "painting" something on all the calla lillies (to create the colors, instead of just telling me they couldn't get the flowers needed). It wasn't an issue until it started rubbing off everywhere.  It wasn't the exact bouquet I sent her, but she charged me as if it would be.  It was still a pretty bouquet (I actually like the bridesmaids bouquets better).  I think Jan is a sweet person, but I just wish she would have let me known...I just recommend you be real specific about the flowers you want.
 

Originally Posted by samanthaj 

Hi Tekeya!
  Beautiful pictures!  Who did you use for your florist?  I'm torn between Tia (which the resort uses) or Jans Floral.

 

[monarch]

Tekeya you are more help than you could know!  The associates are quoting $1950 for the 5 hour photoshoot and they call it the silver package.  The gold package is 8 hours and $2400.  Have the prices gone up or do u think that you got the silver package?