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Turtle Bay advice needed!

noreenchiunoreenchiu
10 Comments
in Hawaii
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this message board, and wow, so much great information on here!

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with Turtle Bay and can give me some advice?  We've booked our wedding at Turtle Bay for May 31, 2012.  Ever since we signed the contract and paid our deposit, I haven't been able to get a hold of anyone there!  At first I thought they are just on "island time", but it's now been about 1.5 months and no one is returning my calls and emails.  Has anyone had experience with this?  It's just making me a bit nervous when I'm trying to plan a wedding from so far away.  If anyone has any information about the role of the resort coordinator and how involved they are, it would be very much appreciated!

Thank you so much!!
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Re: Turtle Bay advice needed!

  • Sp2012Sp2012
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011

    Sent you PM

    Anniversary
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  • spappanospappano
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I too have booked TB and havent had much luck with getting a hold of anyone besides Teri - I do talk to her but now that we have paid our deposit havent heard anything since then.  The one good thing I have going for me is that my Fiance is stationed in HI about 30 mins away from there...so he can just go there but I am a little frustrated as well!  Our wedding is July 12th there!
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  • destiny1108destiny1108 member
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    During our planning we found out that the hotel coordinators role was to sell their property, so we hired a WC that took care of everything else.
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  • bbakerrdbbakerrd
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011

    Destiyn, could you elaborate on your message for me?  What exactly do the hotel coordinators do for the wedding & ceremony?

    My wedding is April 21, 2012 & I've had a difficult time getting in touch with people.  Terri has been good about getting back to me.

    My  hotel coordinator is Sherri.  She set up a conference call with me on Oct 20.  I imagine I'll find out a lot of details then.

    I'll keep you posted.

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  • destiny1108destiny1108 member
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    our WC helped us to hire all of our vendors, prepared our timeline and was on-site for the wedding day.  Hotel coordinators usually just check set-up and leave once the wedding starts.   
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  • Sp2012Sp2012
    100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Hi ladies,

    It's great to see a current group of TB knotties!  I thought I'd share my planning experience with TBR so far.  We visited a few locations in July and TB fit our needs best.  We signed a contract at the end of Aug.  The biggest lag time was probably the next step, waiting to be assigned a catering coordinator (it seemed to take at least a week or more ... way too long in "bride time"!).  They do not try to pass themselves off as wedding coordinators, plus the title is "catering" coordinator.  We also scheduled an initial conference call - I asked specifically about her duties as a coordinator as I wanted to know what she did and did not do for us in her position.  This person is essentially your point person for contacting TB for whatever needs you may have that they directly provide.  After our first talk, as I requested she emailed me pictures right away of the wedding & reception sites "dressed up" at previous weddings.  I've communicated with my CC regarding decor for the reception room, discount room rates for guests, feedback on vendors I'm considering, coordinating our upcoming planning trip when we'll do a tasting, etc.  I'm doing my own vendor research & hiring.  On the wedding day, she did point out that she does not set a timeline - I'll rely on our DJ/MC to help me when I get to putting together the reception timeline.

    Destiny - it'd be great to hear from someone who's had a previous wedding at TB, I've been trying to find some still active posters.  I wasn't sure though - did you have your wedding at a private estate instead of TB?
    Anniversary
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  • spappanospappano
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I too have Sherri as my Catering Coordinator - emailed her about a week ago and still have yet to hear back...what do you all think I should do?
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  • bbakerrdbbakerrd
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    I kept resending my email 1-2 times a day until she got back to me.
    Report Reply
  • spappanospappano
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks!  I will send her another email!
    Report Reply
  • noreenchiunoreenchiu
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Thanks for all the information everyone!  I've got to say I'm a bit relieved to hear that I'm not the only one having difficulties with them....but I'm sorry you're all in the same boat!

    My coordinator is also Sheri.  I've tried contacting Sheri, Teri, and Pura, and I haven't heard anything - I guess I will just keep trying!

    Do you guys recommend hiring a day-of coordinator?  I wasn't too concerned about having a wedding planner, I'm already in the process of hiring vendors (music, photographer, officiant, florist) and catering is already taken care of at the hotel...but the one thing I'm not quite sure about is the set-up of guestbook, place cards, etc.  I thought Sheri and her team might be able to do this, but now I'm starting to think I need a separate coordinator to take care of those little things.

    Please keep me posted if you guys have any luck getting a hold of them, and I'll do the same!
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  • Sp2012Sp2012
    100 Comments
    edited March 2012
    The wedding info lists a fee per place card if you ask them to do the setup.  I think it'll depend on how complicated of a setup you have.  I'll probably look into having a friend or family member, or maybe the groomsmen help with some of the setup stuff - they're going to have some extra time not sitting through hair & makeup prep.  Another option I'll consider is rather than having individual place cards per person, having a seating chart, listing each table number with occupants per table - one of my friends did this.  I don't love the look as much, but it saves a lot of work!  But if you do have a lot of setup items, I think if a DOC is in the budget go for it!
    Anniversary
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  • destiny1108destiny1108 member
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Comments
    edited December 2011
    We ended up at a private estate, but during our pre-planning visit we visited Turtle Bay along with our hotels.  Our WC actually used to be the Catering Director at Kahala Mandarin so she explained to us how their job was basically to sell and would help wtih food/floor plan, didn't help in decor, design, creating our wedding day timeline as well as pre-wedding timeline.

    We did full service, but her ideas and relationships with vendors saved us $$ 
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  • spappanospappano
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Just posted about my TB phone appt with Sheri - It went great!  but I say that and she was suppose to email me some info last night and never did - so I emailed her this morning - hopefully she gets it to me today!  She said that they work with between 60-70 brides at one time!  Woah!!!!
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