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Rhode Island
mdelgado143
member
Don't get scammed at Belle Mer
in Rhode Island
Don't get scammed!!!! I had always dreamed of having my wedding at Belle Mer until I really looked at the numbers. When I met with the coordinator she made it seem like I would have this beautiful wedding with everything I would need flowers, cake, photographer etc. for an amazing price. That is a load of bull! Here's how it works. They have an event minimum of 40k (Friday pricing Saturday would be 55k and 10 k for linens etc) which right off the top they take 9K for use of facility, tables, linens, etc. So you are left with 31K for food, bev, and all vendors (which you must choose from their preferred vendor list). Sounds good doesnt it. Sounds simple. Well here is the kicker. They charge a 20% admin fee to the ENTIRE BILL. Yes, including your vendors! So if you get a price for 5k for flowers you are getting charged 5k + 20% which is now 6k. Adds up huh? So for the beautiful wedding that I was told would be no problem to stay at my 40k would now cost me 48K. Dont forget the 7% tax and 1% newport tax. So I am now looking at closer to 52k. The thing that really gets me is I asked up front if there was any charge that was added to the pricing from the vendors and I was told NO. After speaking with some of their vendors and others who no longer do business with Belle
Mer I learned that this was a lie. Their reasoning is that they sign the contracts with the vendors and feed them with my $125 plate. Belle Mer is beautiful but I want to enjoy my wedding day and not worry about how long its gonna take for me to pay for it. And most of all I wouldn't put $1 into a business that is sneaky, misleading, and a rip off. Choose wisely ladies
Mer I learned that this was a lie. Their reasoning is that they sign the contracts with the vendors and feed them with my $125 plate. Belle Mer is beautiful but I want to enjoy my wedding day and not worry about how long its gonna take for me to pay for it. And most of all I wouldn't put $1 into a business that is sneaky, misleading, and a rip off. Choose wisely ladies
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Don't get scammed at Belle Mer
[QUOTE]Sorry that you think that Belle Mer is a "scam," but I am a Belle Mer bride and I completely disagree. First of all, if you read the contract, you will clearly see what the event minimum includes. Plus, you do not HAVE to use their preferred vendors. In fact, I am not using ANY of their vendors - I have contracted all of my own vendors - with no additional fee. Therefore, I have not had thee 18% administrative fee applied to anything but my food and beverage. So your statement that the fee applies to your entire bill is completely false. And for the 1% and 7% taxes - that will be the same at every venue. I am sorry that you feel Belle Mer is a scam or a rip off - but is seems that you have not read or understand the contract. If you are not happy with the initial contract - I found them to be more than willing to negotiate. In fact, I have been more than pleased with the cost and the service of Belle Mer thus far. I think it is unfair to mislead other brides with false information. If you, or anyone else, would like any additional information on my experience with Belle Mer, feel free to ask!
Posted by umasskdome[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%.
I don't know why everyone keeps talking about a Belle Mer preferred vendor list. I have never seen one and my wedding is next weekend!
You are correct in stating that if you do book vendors through Belle Mer in order to count it towards your minimum, you will pay the 18% admin fee on that amount. BUT, that includes vendor meals, gratuity for that vendor and the time that your event coordinator spends discussing your event with that vendor. Do you think a venue should do that for free??
I am just sharing what my experience has been with them this week. I know I wouldn't have to use their vendors soley but this is what was sold to me. And, the fee I was told they would charge would be 20% not 18%. So therefore, there seems to be alot of mixed information but again I am sharing what I know from the last few days.
Good Luck
e.g.
[QUOTE]<font face="Times New Roman" size="2" color="#000000">which you must choose from their preferred vendor list</font>[/QUOTE]
I also want to say that I agree with all what umasskdome and summerboston had said. Have you seen the contract yet? The admin fee (18% in my case) is included in it and pretty much everything else is in the contract. In the end, I loved my wedding.
I'm sorry your first experience with Belle Mer wasn't that great. Looking for a venue is the most stressful part of my planning. So I want to wish you good luck!
At first it seems like a good idea, but you soon realize that venue fee/food/drinks alone don't always add up to your event minimum. Thus leading you to book vendors through Belle Mer in order to meet the event minimum...which actually hurts the brides as there is an additional fee on top of the vendor's normal service fee.
But, keep in mind if you can easily meet the event minimum, then you can always book your vendors on your own and you avoid the additional fees. It really depends on many factors, particluarly guest count.
Providence Weddings
[QUOTE]You are clearly paying for the view (best in New England) and the gorgeous, well-kept lawn in the back. But I used to work there - and can tell you that it is wayy overpriced. I'm sure you ladies who had your weddings here had a beautiful day - but the way they operate IS really messed up. I know that they've contacted vendors asking them to work for a certain fee because their bride has a budget- and you know they're still making a profit on just BOOKING that vendor- so really, they're not helping their brides out because vendors will not offer Belle Mer a discount. Money hungry! Think about it....
Posted by mary106[/QUOTE]
This is actually not true. We booked our linens and other rentals through Belle Mer and the company we are using gives them more than a 10% discount. That discount was passed on to us. I've seen the emails and quotes directly from the rental company because I'm on the emails. I see the discount!
In our case, the event minimum at Belle Mer works. We are having a fairly small wedding and we could not have met the minimums at many of the locations we looked at. Ocean Cliff for example has a 40K food and beverage minimum for weekend night weddings. 40K would be a ridiculous amount of F&B for 85 people! Our minimum is less at Belle Mer and we can count some of our vendors towards it....perfect! We booked our band, ceremony musicians and rentals through BM and we came in about $100 over our minimum. The rest of it we booked on our own. So for some people, the event minimum works well!
Not saying that Belle Mer isn't making money on us....of course they are, they are a business. Every business should be trying to make money!!
[QUOTE]BM gets rants and raves, but it seems like the rants only come from people who actually aren't getting married there.
Posted by NewportBride710[/QUOTE]
Not true. Weddingwire has a number of negative reviews from brides who got married at Belle Mer. And what Vsha said about Belle Mer is right on the money...literally.
[QUOTE]I agree with SummerBoston10 that Belle Mer is a business and it's reason for existing is to turn a profit. We too were surprised at the admin fee but there it was - in the contract! Luckily we are only using the space, caterers and bar. Our issue right now is that they have changed the bar menu drastically prior to our event. Most premium liquors have been eliminated. Wines have been changed and the artisan beers are gone. The last one has the groom really upset. As usual our coordinator is unresponsive. Guess we'll have to go over her head. To be fair they have made some concessions so far. I'll let you all know how this turns out.
Posted by eileen2817[/QUOTE]
There were some changes made to the bar list between when we booked and our wedding as well. We were upset about some of the changes and we requested that they add back those missing items. They did so with no problem and no extra cost.
Good luck!
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Don't get scammed at Belle Mer : There were some changes made to the bar list between when we booked and our wedding as well. We were upset about some of the changes and we requested that they add back those missing items. They did so with no problem and no extra cost. Good luck!
Posted by SummerBoston10[/QUOTE]
<span style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:transparent;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;font-size:12px;outline-width:0px;outline-style:initial;outline-color:initial;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:Arial;border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" class="Apple-style-span">They completely accomodated us as I thought they would. Pre-event and with all the jitters I would recommend this venue to anyone looking for a beautiful site for their wedding.<div style="background-image:initial;background-attachment:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;background-color:transparent;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;font-size:12px;outline-width:0px;outline-style:initial;outline-color:initial;vertical-align:baseline;border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;">
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