Ashhtayy's Planning Thread - Azul Fives - June 7, 2016

[TinkerSofi]

@@snswedding2016 i'm going to talk to him about it again today. keep your fingers crossed for me lol

 

yes, i totally want to come to the next GTA meet up. i missed one because it was one of my bridesmaids birthday, another because we were in Montreal for Mike's birthday and i play hockey on friday nights. i'll miss hockey for the next one

@@TinkerSofi lol don’t say sorry – I am just happy you’re around to answer my questions. Selfish, I know lol Hope being an adult is everything you had hoped for J

 

Oh, love that they grill the food right there and that everyone gets what they want. That’s perfect and definitely puts my mind at ease.

 

You’re so right about not wanting to spend the time inside. It seems silly to do that when you are in MEXICO! I’ll likely be too scared that I will run out of time and not end up getting my fingers and toes done while I am there that I will get them done ahead of time. We arrive on the Friday, most guests arrive the Sunday and we get married on the Tuesday. I should be able to keep the shellac looking nice for 5 days – I hope J

 

Oh my gosh – if you were able to fall asleep on the day of your wedding with your mind going a mile a minute that reflexology session must have been amazing. They mention bites for the groom and nothing for the bride. Glad to see they took care of you too. I can eat…a lot. I don’t see the morning of my wedding being any different lol Good point about the light – my photographer is a friend and will be there the whole week. If we book the bridal suite I’ll be sure to take her by beforehand so she knows what to expect. LOL at Juan inviting people haha Obviously he had good intentions, not wanting people to be alone, but I’d be so mad at Mike. I imagine I’ll be quite stressed out and won’t want people other than my girls and my mom there. If I need to scream I want to without any judgement lol

 

So by getting the ceremony for free you mean they waived the $1700 fee or the $950 fee? Either way if that’s the case…WOW! My TA will be no help, I wouldn’t even ask her. I have a hard enough time finding out who has paid their deposits or not or who has emailed to inquiry about rates. That’s a story for another day. Ugh.

 

Good to know they asked you right before and gave you a better deal. Maybe those things I want that I can’t justify paying for they will give us a better deal on in the moment. I won’t chance it for the important things but those unnecessary wants may come to fruition last minute…

 

Nice thing with having our friends as photographers is they are there the whole week. I by no means expect them to work the entire time but it’s nice to know they will be there and can snap random pics at any time. I guess that also means we don’t have to be as strict with timing because they aren’t going anywhere. 

Oh ok, then you should do a first look, if you have the time . I would! 

 

They waived the $950. I thought it was fair, since we were paying $1700 for the sky deck. 

 

Definitely ask them to check out the bridal suite and see what you think  

[ashhtayy]

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and a great New Year's eve!

 

I apologize in advance for this rant; maybe it will make other brides-to-be feel better knowing their travel agent really isn't that bad or it will help other brides-to-be recognize that if they are having these issues, they're not alone.

 

I have mentioned before that we are extremely unhappy with our travel agent and unfortunately this has not changed at all. I am trying my best to have the 'it is what it is' mentality and just turn a blind eye but it is getting more and more difficult. This is going to sound odd but I seriously look forward to our wedding being over so I can write a full review on all the reasons to avoid our travel agent at all costs. Had I of found this site earlier we would not of gone with her as there are other brides you all have come to know rather well that had the same terrible experiences with her. And one of the most frustrating things is I know there are likely 1000 other reasons to hate on our agent and we don't even know about those. We only hear about things months later when our guests are just fed up with waiting for a response.

 

Issues we've had thus far:

- double charging cards

- not charging cards when she said she would

- leaving on vacation during our deposit deadline and leaving two completely incompetent people to handle our wedding booking (one being the agency owner)

- leaving on another vacation and not telling us

- excuses. she has an excuse for everything! when I confront her about not responding she says "i did! i must have had poor connectivity". yeah, right!

- not responding to our guests; ex. TA emailed to tell me my cousin was bringing his girlfriend - great! my cousin just told me yesterday that his girlfriend hasn't even paid her deposit because our TA hasn't been responding to their emails (dating back to AUGUST!)

- not updating us on changes; people cancelling, people extending their stay, etc. (yes, our guests should have told us)

- won't stick to the payment plan our guests have set up with her. they email saying they want to make a payment and she just ignores the email. she doesn't even want their money?!

 

I don't think Mike and I are being unrealistic about our expectations at all. It's gotten to the point though that we have had to tell our guests to CC us on all email communication with her. That seems to be the only way she will respond to them. And even then she responds immediately to their email and then once we are off the email (not CC'd) she stops communication.

 

When she returned from her vacation after our deposit deadline Mike and I expressed our anger via email in a very professional manner and we asked that she call us as soon as possible. We explained our frustrations, she apologized profusely and promised she would make it up to us. Things got better for all of 5 minutes and then we were back to square one. I know a past bride even asked to be switched to another travel agent within the agency. That wouldn't even fix our problem because the two that we were given when she was away were worse than her.

 

Ah! I recognize this post is incredibly pointless but my frustration is growing. I want to scream lol If she wasn't 4 hours away from us I would have this conversation face-to-face...much more effective of course, but not worth our time to drive there. With our luck we would drive all the way there and find out she's been out of the Country for 2 months. Annoying.

 

Thanks (and sorry again for the pointless rant)!

Edited January 2, 2016 by ashhtayy

[deecol]

Ugghh @@ashhtayy that is so frustrating! I can totally understand why you would need a rant! I'm so sorry to hear about the trouble you're experiencing. I can only hope it gets better for you!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[calgarybride2015]

I agree. You need to rant and it's never pointless. I would be super frustrated too. I know I can't make it better but here's a big (hug) and I hope it improves and you don't have any big issues.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ashhtayy]

@@deecol & @@calgarybride2015 thanks ladies! I appreciate the support. I'm not one to let things get to me like this because as I said at this point it is what it is but it's so frustrating because our guests are looking at us like "where did you find this lady?" People are putting out lots of money for this vacation and for our wedding that obviously we want this part to be flawless for them. It's unfair to both them and us that we need to follow up with every little detail. Fingers crossed that things turn around for the better

[Wafflesmom]

Oh hun, I'm sorry to hear about all of the frustrations and stress from your TA. She sounds absolutely awful so rant away. I know it's easier said than done but don't let her ruin your wedding planning. Now that you know she's awful, maybe stay on top of her and harass her to get things done. I hope she does get better, and it all improves from here on out

[vancouverpetunia]

@@ashhtayy I don't know what to say, but that sucks. At least you are now aware of the issue and hopefully can keep on top of her. Feel free to vent to us anytime!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ashhtayy]

@@Wafflesmom & @@vancouverpetunia Thanks for the support ladies. I wrote that message when I was consumed with so much anger. It just baffles me how someone can be so perfect at the beginning and then change when it's most important for her to be there. I guess that's just how she gets her clients?! She is phenomenal until you reach the point where it doesn't make sense to switch agents. Onward and upward from here

 

Marquee Love - inspired by @

 

I had always looked at these and kept walking at Michael's figuring I would just use letters we already had at home for our head table. And then I saw Perian's and knew I had to have them. I bought the '&' last week for 40% off (I think?) and am waiting for next weeks 50% off to buy the M and the A (hopefully I can find the M; they're always sold out!) I bought paper from Michael's and decorated the & and then saw a gold and champagne chevron patterned card stock at Dollar Tree and recut.

 

Keeping in mind our colours are blush, champagne and gold, which do you prefer? Mike and I feel the same but I'd like to see what you ladies think. Our vote is totally option 2 (gold & champagne chevron).

Edited January 4, 2016 by ashhtayy

[Wafflesmom]

I hope it all works out in the end. Definitely make sure you write a review about her though, other brides should beware of her!

 

As for the marquee letters, @ also sold me on them lol. I was actually going to post mine today since I finally got around to buying card stock. If you're having s hard time finding "M", message me and I can try to find it here. I can always ship it to you, they're pretty light. I like the gold and champagne chevron, it goes with your theme a lot more

[deecol]

@@ashhtayy I think they both look super cute but also leaning towards the gold chevron print. Any chance if your MIchael's doesn't have the "M" they can check the stock at another store for you?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk