)...but will be writing up a review where I can....because, the Internet.
Let me start off by saying that I truly believe that any wedding is not about the venue or what happens, but about the people there. In our case the Bride and Groom looked stunning and we all had an amazing time with everyone despite everything that happened.
With that being said in any event there always runs a possibility for things to go wrong. Sadly when it is a wedding you know there is just a ton more stress for the Bride and Groom. To which the planner from the Holiday-Inn SunSpree resort, as well as the staff can really minimize the issue by being accommodating. Sadly in this case this didn't happen. Not in my opinion at least. The following is purely my observations, I was not involved at all in the planning etc.
It started with rain, while sucky, delayed the start of the ceremony as the venue needed to be changed. Unavoidable, but an hour delayed start. Once it did start I thought our problems were over....sadly the videographer forgot to press record and the bride after having been revealed and walking down the isle was stopped and had to redo the whole walk again. I felt so bad, but the ceremony was amazing in the end and I'm not sure there was a dry eye.
Reception then started and was going well. The food and cake was all amazing it was not until after dinner the true problems started. By the time all the speeches were done and the first dances were complete, it was just before 10. There had been no concessions for the delay and the DJ apparently was done at 1030. No matter what was said, the holiday-inn was not making any concessions. The bride was almost in tears by the time a few of us pulled the manager aside and said that we don't care what it costs lets just make this work. The answer was still no, no, no...until we threatened to post reviews online.
We finally managed to convince them to let their staff go...all except one bar tender (more on this later) ...and we worked out an extension with the DJ ourselves to get his services until an acceptable time. Overall, after all the frustration, it was not expensive at all in the least to 'fix the problem', we paid with the cash in our pockets.
We had an amazing time after all a the stress was gone and we closed down not only our time in the private room, but the late night restaurant as well.
One final thing to note was that to get the bar tender in the room with us, in addition to the cost of everything else at this ALL INCLUSIVE resort they had to pay for what was supposed to be bottles of alcohol. Now, if one is paying for specific types and quantities of alcohol, personally I expect that that's what we will actually get. When I first got there we noticed that a) the bottles were not full, but partially full, and b) some kinds of alcohol ordered were not all there. We only questioned the second one however, and they brought an opened bottle of the missing spirit. Shady if you ask me.
Overall, other than the food, I can't say that I have any love for this hotel in this matter. I would definitely not recommend a wedding here. The service manager was not very accommodating. The DJ was not one I would ever hire again. Most importantly, a bride should not have the kind of stress my friend did on one of the most important days in her life. Being in the middle of wedding planning myself it definitely is eye opening and I hope we can avoid issues.
Oh...and we are fully planning to posts the reviews anyways. :). Will post excursions and restaurant details later!
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