The Now Riviera Cancun

[shorn]

If your looking for a discounted wedding dress- I was able to get mine (an almost $4,000 dress) on recycledbride.com for $500! Other good gently used wedding dress websites are oncewed.com and preownedweddingdresses.com  When you think about it, the dress has only been worn for about 8 hours!!

[primavera]

Thanks ladies! 

 

Lisa, don't sweat it. I will ask Ana. Thanks for looking though!

 

Meg, I will ask Ana & Pilar about the stuff that you left. Hopefully they will let me use it, it would help tons!! 

 

Shorn, I am checking out recycledbride right now!! Thanks for the advice!! 

[kjsawyer]

hello ladies!

this is my first post! we´re getting married at the Jade on September 19, 2011.

 

this forum has been SO extremely helpful! I can´t thank you all enough! I spent 4 solid days reading EVERY page before deciding on Jade. I followed along with all your ups and downs, trials and tribulations, in the planning process and then got to hear about how wonderful your special day was! It has been amazing!

 

I´m an American girl, but my husband is Norwegian, and we live in Norway. We got married last year (on paper) so I could stay in Norway. let me tell you, trying to plan a wedding in a country you know very little about was horrible! I finally talked everyone into a destination wedding and now the REAL planning has begun! with only 6 months left! YIKES!

 

We are on the verge of signing on with a travel agent, but I´m just not sure. I just want to get everyone the BEST possible rates (especially since some of them are making the long trip from Norway) I´m afraid there´s a chance her quote will be higher than what we could get through the hotel. I guess if that is the case my husband and I can tell the guests to make their own reservations, and my husband and I will just have to go with what she gives us (or lose our $300 deposit) After the recent posts, i´m just wondering if we even NEED a travel agent?

 

btw, my wedding coordinator is Ana. so far so good. she left me hanging for a few days after I sent in the reservation form which kind of freaked me out. but i finally heard back and we are set!

 

again, thank you all SO much for your information, helps, advice, pep talks, everything! you keep me sane!!!

 

kim

[jacqjade]

Hi Ladies,

 

How did everyone handle blocking rooms and deposits direct through the hotel? Did you just have to put down an initial 10% deposit and then all your guests deal directly with the hotel to make their own individual payments leading up to their arrival?

 

Also, how do you block room if you have some people staying for a different number of nights? I was thinking of just blocking for 3 nights and then if people want to stay longer, they'll have to book earlier (rather than 1-2 months prior) to ensure they can stay for the week.

 

Kim, I totally know EXACTLY what you are going through! I spoke to 2 travel agents..and after 2 months of going back and forth..i've come to realize that using a travel agent will actually cost my guests MORE money. Although it'll definitely increase my stress level because now I have to coordinate with the hotel directly. But my friends and family are already making the effort to come..so the least I can do is handle a bit more stress so they can save money.

 

Jacqueline

[SKing24]

Ok well Jacqueline and Kim, I am having such a bad experience with my travel agent so it'll probably make you feel better about questioning the need for a TA.  I really need to vent so I'll give you the whole background.  We did a 3 night block for our guests, and then we just let people add a couple nights on if they wanted to stay longer.  Oh and an important thing to note is that my FI and I are paying for our wedding party for 3 nights.  Thats 10 people (5 rooms).  And we're paying for our whole wedding ourselves, so budget is very important.  So...Our TA seemed really nice, and we actually found her on this forum last summer before they revamped the whole site and who can be members.  Anyway, from the very beginning she told me that for every 5 rooms booked we get 1 free.  And her prices beat going through the hotel or any website (for rooms only...we didnt book flights through her) so we signed the contract and booked through her.  So our price for a tropical view room for 2 was $734, including the transfer which was $40 per person.  So basically the room cost of $654 for 3 nights.  So when our deadline came on Feb 18th and we booked 24 rooms in our group, you would think I'd get a credit for 4 rooms, right?  Well, my TA tells me TODAY that there is a max credit of 3 rooms.  Are you kidding me?  She didnt think that information was important to tell me before now.  It's 6 weeks until we leave.  I've been working with her since June and have brought up the credits multiple times.  So we really thought we'd pay for our room, plus 1 room for our wedding party...but now we have to pay an extra $734.  Not that it's that much money, but she's telling me so late that I can't really cut something else and re-shuffle money in our budget. I'm just so annoyed!!

Sorry for the venting but I'm starting to get really stressed! 

[primavera]

Kim,

 

Welcome!! I know exactly how you feel. I am Swedish (lived in Norway a couple of years) and live in the US. My family are all travelling from Sweden, and we found it easier and cheaper for them to book their flights themselves and the rooms through our TA. Now that we have only 1 month to go and ended up being a much smaller group than we anticipated I don't feel a TA was necessary. Parts of my FIs family booked directly with the hotel and got almost the same rate ($10-25 difference per night) as we did through our TA. She hasn't done anything that we couldn't have done ourselves, I do think this might be different if you are a really big group though. I think I would have appreciated a TA then. 

Oh, and we're married on paper too for the same reason, so I could stay here Same, same but different

[primavera]

Erin, we got the same run around about the free rooms from our TA. She also s*cked at customer service, told some of our guests she didn't have time to talk to them when they called and that she would call back in 6(!!!!) hours! She never told any of our guests about the price matching she promised she would do for us so in the end most of my FI's family ended up booking through a different agent for a better price and his dad (who got mad that she didn't answer/call him back on time) called the hotel directly and booked his room. I feel like we were not as important to her since we are not a huge group (approx 20ppl) and didn't book all the flights through her.....or maybe she is just not good at customer service...

[jacqjade]

All I can say is...for once I don't feel like i'm the only one going crazy here! Thanks Ladies. *sigh*..I just want to get this booked and over with!

[T&A]

I find it's not necessary to get a TA. Having a TA, you would have to pay a 10% deposit for the room block, plus the average price per guest is $200-$300 more compared to guest booking themself on a expedia. So far every one booked with out any issues.

[SKing24]

Is anyone else having trouble getting ahold of Ana?  I emailed her Saturday the 12th and still havent heard back from her.  I am not having any luck this week!