Final call turned me into a BRIDEZILLA…

[Bride2Be0911]

So I haven’t been on here much lately because I’ve been trying to get everything wrapped up for the wedding and have been dealing with the loss of my uncle/Godfather.

 

I have 2 ½ weeks before I board the ship and am thinking that everything is pretty much good to go. I’ve paid for everything, have my excursions picked out, finished my OOT bags (photos to come) and had my final dress fitting. Perfect right? Wrong…

 

I get a call from Carnival weddings yesterday to go over the final details of my wedding and everything is moving smoothly until I get to the photographer/videographer portion…

 

Here’s a little background on what I was told I would get: Now I am the crazy person that paid $500 dollars for the videographer because I wanted my family that couldn’t come on the cruise to be able to share the day with me. In the contract that I signed it said that they would be there for pre-wedding interviews, wedding, post-wedding interviews, RECEPTION, and would meet up with us a few days on the ship and just document our cruise. The photographer came with the package, but I was told that they are there for the wedding and reception when I booked. I later said I wanted to take pictures on the ship because I love some of the photos I’ve seen on here that were taken on the ship. They said that wasn’t part of my package because I am getting married while in a port…so I said okay and paid extra for this.

 

The issue: My Carnival coordinator tells me that the photographer wants to meet with my h2b and I for the pictures around the ship before we leave that morning. I nearly laughed at her because I said that the point of the pictures is for us to be dressed in the wedding attire and I was not going to be prancing around the ship with him before we got married! Call me old fashion, but I don’t want him to know a thing about what I will look like until I am walking toward him at the altar. That’s special to me and I’m not about to give it up to accommodate the photographer’s schedule when I paid extra for this. Luckily after explaining this to her she understood and changed it to after we return from the ship.

Now on to the real mini-crisis. She went on to say that the photographer and videographer will go to the resort with me, but will only be on the island for 1 hour. When I point out that I am getting the resort 2 hours before my wedding to get ready and try to relax she said that they would only be able to be there for the wedding, NOT the reception. I went on to question why would I not want pictures, and especially video of my reception. She said that it is policy when a bride gets married off of the ship and doesn’t have the reception on the ship that they only give the photographer for 1 hour. She then said that the videographer has to stay with the photographer, but if I wanted to pay extra for them to stay for the whole thing I could. Really?? Come on now!

 

So I am one of those people that keeps every email for my wedding in its own folder for times like this. I went to the very first email that she sent me, which stated in the email that I was having my wedding & reception on the island. If clearly states that they will be there for the entire thing. I sent her back the initial email, and highlighted the key parts. I then asked her to point out where it states that it’s only for brides with a reception on the ship? She couldn’t do it and after 45 minutes of going back and forth (and me saying that I wanted a refund for the videographer because my family would already have a camcorder) she said she would waive the fee for them to be there the whole time. She finally agreed that the wording was very misleading and she would honor the email that she originally sent.

 

I then told her I really am not trying to be a pain, but would she send it to me in writing? ;) She did and I printed it out right away and added it to my “Bridal Binder.”

 

Soooo ladies. If you are not getting married on the ship make sure that you get this verified ahead of time because it was far from fun having to deal with it 14 days before I left. :eek:

[canucme_cruisin]

WAY TO GO!!!! You stuck to your guns and got what you wanted, was agreed to and paid for!! Good job!

[Mara4166]

I am keeping every email to and from TWE. The arrangement between TWE and Princess has changed since I booked the wedding and the new package does not have as much. I will print out the entire email trail (and my FI will have a laptop) so that we can prove everything that we are expecting.

TWE have been wonderful to work with, but I have been hearing too many stories on this board about problems in communication between TWE and the cruise ships.

I am glad that you finally received what you were promised at no extra fee.

[Denise2000]

Great planning ahead to keep every email in its own folder and it saved you $$. Time is rapidly approaching and I know you are looking forward to your day. Congrats and sorry about the lost of your Uncle/Godfather.

[Bride2Be0911]

WAY TO GO!!!! You stuck to your guns and got what you wanted, was agreed to and paid for!! Good job!

 

Thanks! My sister laughs when people try to argue with me because I am not one to back down...especially if it has to do with my wedding! :)

[Bride2Be0911]

I am keeping every email to and from TWE. The arrangement between TWE and Princess has changed since I booked the wedding and the new package does not have as much. I will print out the entire email trail (and my FI will have a laptop) so that we can prove everything that we are expecting.

TWE have been wonderful to work with, but I have been hearing too many stories on this board about problems in communication between TWE and the cruise ships.

I am glad that you finally received what you were promised at no extra fee.

 

Oh yeah, I learned very early on to keep record of everything that was agreed to because people always try to get out of it at the very last second. I joke with my best friend that I am crazy because I have a 50 page binder full of receipts, printed conversations that agree to what I want for the day of the wedding, my list of songs I want played, examples of photos I want taken, etc.

Carnival was great to work with… and other than this one issue still is. I just think for my wedding there are too many hens in the henhouse. I have 5 different “coordinators” between everyone and they all claim to serve their own purpose. My TA was the first one, and she brought on Carnival’s coordinator. Then Carnival brought on 3 other coordinators. You would think since they all know each other that they would communicate, but they don’t. It’s just strange…

[Bride2Be0911]

Great planning ahead to keep every email in its own folder and it saved you $$. Time is rapidly approaching and I know you are looking forward to your day. Congrats and sorry about the lost of your Uncle/Godfather.

 

Thank you. It's been hard, but with the number of ladybugs I have now I know he will be there with us. :D

[Lipz]

We had no issues with TWE but I am glad you stuck to your guns AND kept your own records.

I know in our case with the photographer being a half hour late TWE contacted the cruise line's customer services and got us reimbursed for the half our that our reception was cut short. So $700 back and we were VERY happy with them!

[JulieRose]

The arrangement between TWE and Princess has changed since I booked the wedding and the new package does not have as much.

 

Yes! I am also concerned about this. I've been carefully crafting an email to them about this exact thing. I hope to send it off this weekend so I'll let you know what I can find out.