Anyone have a review of The Wedding Holiday?

[nv+gms]

OMG...I totally feel for you.  We used them and experienced a couple of the same things you did.  We are now married and so happy to be done with them.  Oddly enough - they are quick to send a follow-up email to see how your wedding went and asking for photos.  All these months of nagging, lack of response, inaccuracies and then they have the nerve to send a followup email asking for photos????? 

The main thing I want to tell you is that once you are on the plane - they will be the furthest thing from your mind.  You will have amazing service at your resort and at your wedding.  Our hotel showed us amazing hospitality, were very attentive and made sure that anything we wanted got done.  This includes reservations that were often impossible to get.  Good luck!
 

Originally Posted by CubaBride 

Hello Everyone,

 

If I can give any advice or warning about planning your destination wedding it is this...... DON"T USE THE WEDDING HOLIDAY!!!

I starting using them in May of 2010, its now 5 days before we leave. I am not usually a stressed person but right now I am at the end of my rope.

The Wedding Holiday will promise you lots of things and not follow thru, they will blame other people for the things that go wrong, they will tell you all along that everything is under control and not to worry, when you try to plan things ahead of time they will tell you not too, PLEASE if you are using them double & triple check everything.

Here is a small list of things they did not do, forgot to do, blamed on someone else,

- Telling me they took care of reserving Valentines day for us when they didn't ( I found out from the resort when I emailed them to ask a few questions )

  So I found out 3 weeks before our wedding that we can't be married on our dream day on the beach!!! Had we known this we would have picked another resort.

- The WH seems to think that we should just "pick another day it doesn't matter"  Them telling me to change our dream does not make us happy

- That being said we tried to change resort, Can't.  Have just the ceremony at another resort, Can't.  Cancel the whole thing, CAN"T ( they have all our

  money & all our family & friends money )

- Over billing my family & friends credit cards

- Taking over 2 months to refund them for what they were owed back and every time I called about it they said they were doing it and that they were

  sorry.

- Not listening when I was very clear that certain people were sharing rooms, so these people wouldn't have to pay singles supplements, since they

  did not listen or write it down these people were over billed.

- We paid for first class with the airline that was suppose to fly us and that airline sold the flight to another one that DOES NOT have first class,

  I found this out when I called the airline to question about my dressing on the plane. So the $450 we paid for that has still not been refunded to me

  from the WH. The airline informed me that the WH should have told me this, BIG shocker they did not!!

- Certain family members never recieved their tickets, when I called they responded with " the email bounced back" I asked why didn't you call

  them to see what was going on?  I got no answer to that.

- I had to consatntly call & call & call..... They hardly ever return calls and when they do its days later.

 

There are many more things that have went wrong. My advice use someone else. The Wedding Holiday will promise you that they will arrange everything, take care of everything, make this stress free for you.  How is not returning calls, not doing your job, wrecking our dream day, Doing EVERYTHING for you? If I could go back in time I would use someone else, make sure I double checked everything.

Make sure where ever you plan to go that you email or talk to the resort directly yourself, I was told not too. Look how that's turned out.

 

I am frustrated that We leave in 5 days and they have not emailed me the new tickets for the new airline, informed me that we can't fly first class that we paided for, have not refunded me my money for that, they have jerked my family & friends around everytime they called, NOT followed thru with their promises, Basically they did not do their job!!

 

TO ALL THOSE BRIDES PLANNING THEIR DREAM DESTINATION WEDDINGS RIGHT NOW...........

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING YOURSELF!!!

 

 

[jhartford19]

I found them horrible to work with and had to find another travel agent.  They would not get back to me when I emailed them, I would have to call and then finally I asked to speak to the owner and she made excuses for the person who I was dealing with.  I would recommend going with a regular travel agent.  The wedding planners at the resorts are great, they do this all the time, there is no need to spend the extra money.

[JNL2011]

I have to say I am dealing with THE WEDDING HOLIDAY right now and wishing that I had booked with a regular travel agent. This Company and the people working for it are either over worked or turly don't care about the bride and groom and their guest. My guest are complaining that they are not returning their calls or emails and for a travel agent dealing who group booking I think that is an important part.

 

If you are planning a destination wedding and want quality care DO NOT use this company. Go with a regular travel agent and Im sure you will receive better customer service there and be a lot happier.

[Bewareofthem]

Hi JNL2011 and all Brides!

 

I am also planning my wedding right now with The wedding Holiday and having lots of problems.

 

BRIDES:

 

PLEASE DO NOT FALL INTO THEIR TRAP!

 

To all brides that are already dealing with them..:

Check out the initial package with the sample wedding list/invoice details!!!

That couple is a real couple...all their personal information is in there, including email, phone and address!!

 

Isn't that great? Our information is used as sample for other brides and our personal information exposed to lord knows who!

 

I could type all the crazy things Lorraine and her team have done but there's not enough space.

 

Just beware!

 

Canadian Bride

 

[bride19]

Avoid. They double charged all of my guests, they billed me for payments they had already received, they don't get back to you very fast, they say they've done room changes and then 4 months later you find out they never did. They also throw in $100 service charge that they say is part of the "tax" but if you compare the prices to itravel2000 or tripcentral you'll notice the tax is an even $100 less.

[daydreamer]

My daughter and her fiance, now husband, used the Wedding Holiday to help make their dream destination wedding a reality.  We met with them personally, in their offices and explained what we needed and what we were looking for.  We were under a very tight timeline; only 5 months from start to finish and had to accommodate guests from Sweden, as well as Canada, so they had their work cut out for them.  We too experienced some difficulties, early on, with communications and some issues with the tour operator and ticketing.  With persistence, these issues were overcome and everyone had their travel plans in place.  Our daughter was put in touch with the resort wedding co-ordinator, directly and through e-mail, was able to plan everything with her, from the food, to the bouquets, venue decor, rehearsal party, music etc.  The process involves a lot of planning, by the bride and groom, but if you are organized and know what you want, it is a smooth process.  We dealt with the Azul, through Karisma Hotels and all was in place, until our daughter and son-in-law arrived, 3 days before the wedding, to discover the resort was under construction and much of the planned wedding venues etc. would be unavailable.  They were understandably upset and couldn't imagine how they would overcome this problem.  She called me, and I in turn, contacted Lorraine Simpson, of the Wedding Holiday, demanding answers and voicing my concern, quite strenuously!!!  I had an upset bride, in Mexico; 24 guests arriving in only 3 days and an unexpected mess at the resort...all to deal with from Canada!  Needless to say, I was angry and Lorraine was the target of my anger. However,  Lorraine, was true to her words..."you will have the wedding of your dreams, I promise" and immediately contacted Karisma Hotels, Air Canada Vacations and long story, short...we were moved.  All 26 of us relocated to another Karisma Hotel, the Eldorado Cassitas Royale.  It was magical, gorgeous, luxurious and all the features we were expecting.  They even moved the wedding planner, that my daughter had been dealing with, to our new location, where all the details were put into place at the new resort and everything went as planned.  Our few hours of stress were quickly dispelled and everything went off perfectly.  We had a wonderful time, our guests were pampered and fussed over and everyone agreed it was lovely.  Most importantly, the wedding was perfection.  Everything they requested and planned for was delivered and the day was without any problems.  We continued on to enjoy the rest of our week and the bride and groom enjoyed a lovely honeymoon.  The Wedding Holiday stepped up when we needed them to and with their assistance, we avoided what could have been an unhappy wedding experience.  I won't say we didn't encounter some difficulties getting things started, but any problems that did arise were eventually dealt with and our requests were all met.  We would do it all again. 

[tsc2012]

just wondering what agent are you using now? and would you recommend them?
 

Originally Posted by bmadzia1 

so I did request a quote from them when I started searching for prices.  I'm very for first impression, and I wasn't impressed with the telephone converstation. They sent me a quote; a few buck more than what we are actually locked in with another agent now.  THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS that they would not pass on the price drop guarantee from the operator (the resort we're going to is only offered by one operator). The agent we're with now, is doing this for us. So even if the price does not go down... we had that option. BUT if the price does go down, we can have it.

 

They are just a travel agency who have done wedding bookings - not coordination of the wedding.

 

[had-enough]

STAY THE $%@# AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!! I could write a novel about how much BS and stress we went through with them. At the end of the day, they are just a travel agency and a bad one at that. They really won't do anything for your wedding except add stress.

[NewfieGroom]

My fiancée and I have been "working" with The Wedding Holiday for roughly 9 months now and it has been, by far, THE single most stressful part of the whole wedding planning. They are so completely unreliable it's amazing that they are still in business. We are now 7 days from our departure date and not a single person from our "group booking" with The Wedding Holiday has their confirmation number, itinerary or even a departure time for their flights. 

 

Their initial pitch was great. "Don't worry about a thing we'll work with all your guests and you wont have to deal with a thing!". Complete lies. Every time they screwed up any of our guests bookings or failed to reply to any questions our family and friends would contact us to see what the hell these people were doing. Sadly because we bought into their BS we had already paid our deposits and were stuck with them and their constant stream of excuses. It seemed it was always the tour operator's fault according to them. I have had to personally drive out to their office numerous times to go through our guest list person by person because the bookings have been that messed up. It seemed to be the only way to get a prompt response. 

 

The funny part is that anyone who got fed up with them and booked on their own with another travel agent is all set, with tickets in hand. Same resort, same dates, and usually at better rates. Given a chance to do it all over again I would NEVER have gone with this company. It has at times brought my fiancée to tears. They are extremely appologetic about everything and in fact have been pretty nice but that's not what matters here unfortunately. That's not going to get my future wife her wedding on the beach or our friends and family to the resort on time.

 

We never even bothered trying to arrange any wedding day details through them but rather opted to deal directly with the wedding coordinator on the resort. Even from another country and with a language barrier it has been easier to arrange. 

 

I only hope is that by sharing our experience here we can persuade other couples to go ANYWHERE else with their destination wedding planning. In fact I am convinced that any decent travel agency could arrange group travel far better than The Wedding Holiday.

 

Hopefully we'll make it to the wedding...

[Shealagh]

THE WEDDING HOLIDAY AND THE WEDDING OF OUR DREAMS!

Shealagh & Cory at the Azul Sensatori Hotel in the Mayan Riviera November 9,2010

 

When we started the process of choosing a resort I really didn't think it was going to be as hard as it was and it ended up being the toughest decision we had to make. Not only do you want your wedding and the resort to be absolutely perfect for you, but you want your guests to have an amazing time and love everything about it too. The decision on which company to book with started out being a little scary until I spoke with Lorraine at The Wedding Holiday.

 

I started out calling around speaking with all kinds of travel agents and was very disappointed with their total lack of opinion. I had a few different resorts on my list from surfing the net and wanted someone to give me a real opinion my choices. I wanted someone who wouldn't just tell me my choices were great, I wanted someone to take my 'wish list' and find me a resort that had everything we were looking for. When my Mom called to tell me she thought she found a place who might be able to help I was so relieved. I called and spoke with Lorraine and was absolutely blown away with how friendly she was, her great knowledge and absolute passion for her work. I sent her my wish list and she got back to me with her thoughts a few days later. The Wedding Holiday was the right choice. We received the VIP treatment from start to finish.

 

Mothers want the very best for their daughters and because my younger sister Kristen was married 2 years earlier in a beautiful castle in Switzerland, you can imagine how much my Mom wanted to make sure my wedding was just as spectacular and perfect for me. So it worked out really well when Lorraine called me to say they were having a meet and greet with the Coordinators from their company as well as the head Coordinator from Karisma Resorts and a Signature Rep. Lorraine knew I wouldn't be able to make it as I live in Alberta but she thought my Mom might be interested in coming. Wow! I thought what a great thing for a company to do to make their clients even more comfortable with their choice and what a great thing for me so that my Mom would now be able to see why I was so comfortable with my choice. When my Mom got back from the event she called me and was so excited an now knew what I did - I had chosen the right people for sure. My Mom was also amazed with the eye for detail and passion for service everyone there had.

 

Our guests we all very well taken care of too. We and some guests were coming from Alberta, others from B.C., some from the States and the rest from Toronto. I thought it would be great if we could all fly down together so of course Lorraine and her team made that happen for us easily.

 

So now we are all ready to go on our dream vacation... It was early morning on our departure day and we are standing with all our guests in Pearson Airport waiting to get checked in through the VIP area of course and who walks up but Lorraine! We were all blown away! Even more so to hear that she was headed to the Dominican Republic as one of her brides was there and there was a possible hurricane headed in that direction. She was going down on her own dime to make sure her bride and guests were taken care of... WOW! She wanted to make sure we were all getting on well too and as she left and wished us well, she told me she was emailing the resort Manager of the Azul and gave me his name if there was anything I needed. Sure enough he was in the lobby to greet our group when we arrived at the resort later that day! We received a VIP check-in for all with champagne and fresh fruit and not only were my husband and I put in the VIP Platinum section of the resort, the WHOLE group was given the same treatment!!! Wow!

 

Everyone was absolutely knocked-out with how perfect everything was, how beautiful  the resort was and all we heard the whole time was it was everyone's best vacation ever. My Aunt has traveled the world on cruises, in 5*+ hotels like the Fairmont & Four Season and a lot of other all-inclusive resorts and she said this was the best experience she has ever had and the Azul should be listed as a 10* hotel. It is that fabulous.

 

I am so thankful for Lorraine and her team and all they did for us to help make our wedding experience the most amazing, perfect, relaxing and fun time of our lives. I have raved to everyone I know about their excellent service and have given out her contact information many, many times. The whole wedding group is planning a reunion trip next year and we look forward to working with Lorraine and her team again for all our travel needs.

 

Thank you Lorraine and The Wedding Holiday for our perfect wedding holiday, we will never forget it.

 

Shealagh