This is (hopefully) are courtest post for future couples looking to plan a desitination wedding. DO NOT USE destinationweddings.com. Their fee may be the lowest out there, but it's true that you get what they pay for in this case. You are better off booking through the resort yourself or finding another professional travel agent with experience in group travel and/or weddings. They do not help you with your wedding ceremony or reception planning at all, maybe if you give a fuss about it they will help you.
I would first like to say that I have over 10 years experience planning weddings in the Washington, DC and Baltimore areas so unlike most customers I do understand all the trial and tribulations that go into planning a wedding for someone, however I can’t imagine trying to plan a destination wedding for someone. That being said the service I have received as a guest attending a wedding has be absolutely horrendous and in my opinion unacceptable. I understand that I am not the most important person, that is reserved for the bride and groom, however there has been a complete lack of communication, complete lack of understanding and honestly a complete lack of professionalism. Anytime there was a hiccup with our reservation process the wedding specialist never took ownership or offered any type of solution, only after I voiced my complete and utter frustration (which mainly involved raising my voice unfortunately). There is no follow-up on her part to anything and she will go over 24 hours (sometimes longer) before getting back to you and most of the time (most of our communications have been through email), it is barely a one sentence answer.
I have had to work with this company twice for 2 separate friends' weddings (trust me if the rate at the resort was so discounted I would have booked myself). For example, the first time booking for a trip to Mexico for a friend's wedding she got my husband's name wrong for the information that had to be given to the resort, transfer company and airlines and instead of apologizing and fixing it, she said I'm the one who told her that my husband's name was Jason instead of John (yes I don't know my own husband's name AND even better the email I sent with his name was wrong too then I guess). The second time we had to book through this company
I completed the credit card authorization form to make payments monthly instead of all at once. I don’t think it was more than a week from that original booking that my credit card expired and I was given a new one of course by my credit card company. I immediately called the agent and stated what the situation was and she said no problem I will send you a new credit card authorization form for the new information and we will remove the old one and your remaining payments will go on your new card. Not even two weeks later I get an email stating that my card was declined and a link to complete a new credit card authorization form. I called immediately to try to remind the agent that a few weeks ago I already filled out a new form because my original card had expired. She never apologized for the miscommunication or misunderstanding, she blamed her “home office” for the mix up and actually said “I don’t remember speaking with you so hold on a minute.” The following month when another payment was to be made I get yet another email from the agent, saying that my card was declined and here’s a link to complete yet another credit card authorization form. I hope you can understand that at this point I was completely frustrated and frankly upset. I once again called and all she said was “well your card was declined” I asked her to read back to me that last 4 digits of the card she was trying to charge and of course it was the wrong card and once again, no apology, no ownership and the mistake was blamed on her home office. In that conversation she even tried to say I should just fill out a new form, I was not going to fill out yet a 3rd form when you should have made the change in the system in the first place. The "wedding specialist" did not seem to want to go out of her way to make the process of booking any easier or worry free. We did wind of canceling the second trip and when requesting to cancel our reservation I said in my email please forward any additional paperwork or if there is anything more I need to do please let me know. All she wrote back was “I will start the process. Thanks” You know an extra sentence of “at this time there is nothing further you need to do” or “there will be additional paperwork to file a claim with the insurance policy holder, but I must start the process first and further instructions will come a little later.” No she only ever gives a few words or one sentence of an answer and when you ask for further clarification it comes across as if it is a hassle. I had sent an email through the website expressing my concerns about her service and received a very general customer service response that “we are sorry for the inconvenience.” I wasn’t even offered maybe someone new to work with for the remainder of the process. Then when I emailed the groups manager with my concerns as well I get this response: Hi Laurie, Thank you for your email. We regret your experience and any frustration you have had working with Destination Weddings. As we appreciate and value your feedback, our Customer Service Department would be able to best assist you with your concerns and moving forward with canceling your reservation. I have included our customer service department on this email to further review. A representative will be contacting you once they have finished reviewing your email below. If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact customerservice@destinationweddings.com. Thank you.
BTW - my name is LAURA and it's in my email address and my signature line of my email, just goes to show that the groups manager cares maybe even less than the wedding specialist does.
STAY AWAY!!!!!