tabla1's reviews

hmmm....we had a nice time. We were there for 7 nights, 8 days. Weather was awesome, pool was great, food was spectacular. I was "that girl" at the buffet table...I always had two plates and would go back for more after I was finished. All the wedding weight I lost, I gained back during the honeymoon...BLAH! But the food was soooo gooooddd. The beach was awesome, very warm, clean and lots of trees, which was good for the hubby because he burns easily. I didn't use the red flag service, but it was there and it seemed nice to have. The bar was so close that I would just walk up to there if I wanted a drink. We had a garden view suite, (Room #9201), but we could definitely see the ocean too...it was very very cool. The room was big and spacious. There was a hammock on the patio that Josh spent most afternoons on when we came back from the beach. I tried it out one afternoon and saw why he took so many naps! It was very comfy. The service at the resort was so great. Housekeeping cleaned at least once a day (if not twice) plus turn down service in the evening. We had a mini-bar, didn't really use it that much, but it was there and nice to have. We took the catamaran cruise (BOOZE CRUISE) and boy, did I booze...watch out for that rum punch...it sneaks up on ya! But it was reallly really fun...

Here are some personal opinions...you can take it how you want. Personally, we probably won't go back to the resort until we are older...with kids and need some place to get away. At the beginning of the trip, I was bored out of my mind. Maybe it's because I am not really a person who knows how to relax, but I couldn't believe that we were going to be there for a week! Nightlife was kinda lame....I can't get drunk to the point where I am singing with a piano...sorry. They did have a dance party one night and that was cool. Maybe I am too young and immature...but I wish there was more entertainment...that was cool and not old peoplish. You really have to make the night life what you want it. We did meet some younger people by the end of the trip so we hung out and partied with them for the rest of the time. Like I said, I might be too young and immature, but for me, laying out and "relaxing" all day long gets old. I guess I just need to learn how to not do anything at all....hahaha.

This review is really for Bambi Sorenson who is now with Portland Style Cheesecake!

Now, we all know, most people say they don't even remember the cake from the reception...well...I have never heard soooo many people talk about the cake from ours! Apparently, her chocolate cake is to die for. I only had one bite...and I don't remember what flavor it was. I had like four flavors of cake made. But everyone else had like 2 or 3 pieces! She made it square, didn't charge me extra and made it exactly the way I wanted it. I got a four tiered cake, 2 sheet cakes and mints to put on the tables with our monogram B on it for about $700. Mind you, I got enough cake for about 400 people. I think she also (I didn't see this...but people told me) pre-scored the sheet cakes and put a B on each individual piece as well. Her cakes are really good people. She will definitely do what you want her to do. The only downfall here is that she doesn't do email, and that was my main way of communication...calling her didn't hurt though, we just played a lot of phone tag sometimes.

Where to begin! Kevin, our coordinator was awesome. Anyone who puts up with my mom and her "asian demanding" ways and still smiles about it, receives a gold medal in my book. He tried to and accomplished most of our demands. For the quality we got at $35.50 per person, at JAKES, it was a steal. He really really worked with us. He also helped out on the day of the wedding and he was running around just as much as my wedding coordinator was! His customer service skills and ability to make things happen was amazing. He pulled ideas out of his a$$ when I tried to explain my "vision". Special shout out to the CFO of McCormick and Schmidt's, Jeff, for making things happen for us as well. Oh and the food, was to die for. The crab cakes, shrimp cocktail and stuff salmon shitake are all must haves. Too bad I only had plate...I heard all the guests went back for 2 or 3 more plates! Anyone who is thinking of using Jake's Catering, feel free to page me if you have questions or thoughts. Update: Erin Hight is now one of the coordinators there and is absolutely amazing and great to work with!!

Accommodations- Wondermous! Heather Sayah was my contact person for group sales. She is so personable and professional! All the staff from the valet to the front desk were very friendly too! Jennifer at the front desk took great care of us all weekend. We were definitely "those people" that called down to the front with one request or another. (Saturday am before the wedding, I had about 20 people in the "girls" room getting ready and I don't know how many times we called for something to be brought up!) The rooms were perfect. I had booked 2 adjoining rooms for the girls to get ready and it was a little crowded, but it made the day much more fun. I had also got a Jr Suite comped from Jakes Catering where the "boys" got ready (drank drank drank) for the day. In the middle of the reception, one of the staff comes up to us and hands us another key...we got upgraded to the Parlor suites side of the hotel for our "wedding night". I wished I could have enjoyed the room more, big tub, fireplace, skylight, living room, wet bar....! It was soooo nice...but I just passed out when I got up there though...ahh well. It was nice nonetheless. The whole staff was just awesome at the hotel.

Ceremony and Reception- Beautiful places to have events. Our ceremony was the Renaissance Room and the reception, in their new ballroom, the Heritage Ballroom. I was deathly worried about the guest list as we had about fitting 420 guests into the rooms... but it was perfect. It wasn't too crowded and it was filled up very nicely. Again, anyone thinking of having their event there, pm me with questions or thoughts.

Funny and real cool guy. Just fun all around. We were little late in getting into the formal pics and he got us right back on track. He was just a riot. He also worked with my crazy asian family and was great about everything. He came on both days of the wedding and stayed till it got boring. The E-pics turned out awesome I thought, so the wedding pics have to be good! Love Brian and he did an amazing job. Stayed out of the way yet, captured moments I never knew happened. I got a collage style proof book that was even better than a real album and the quality is amazing. He’s got a great personality and is very talented. You will be comfortable with his style!!

I had to rent about 16 tuxes total. They were great about it. The day of the Wedding Showcase at the Convention Center, we had a stupid ice storm and the show got cancelled so I couldn't get to their booth to sign up for that special they do. Well, the next day I went in to talk to their operations manager and showed her my tickets to the show. She hooked me up with the deal anyways! WOO. There was only one major snafu with the customer service and that was the guy that helped my dad when he went in to go get measured...that sales guy was a little bit of an a$$ to my dad, but I called Vicki (the operations manager) right after I heard about it and she took care of it. The tuxes came out great. Vicki and Mygumi (sp) were the main people that helped me at that store and they were soo soo great. I work in customer service so I know how it can be with hard a$$ customer/clients, it was great that they were so patient and understanding of my huge wedding party.

Okay, I absolutely loved them at first. After the print job was over though, that's where things got ugly. I had to get some parts of the invite re-printed because my parental units were not happy and also because I found a typo on another part. Okay, that's cool, I signed the proof, my fault. BUT SERIOUSLY, if you are printing this stuff and you see that ROOM is spelled ROON, wouldn't you go ahead and make the change anyways? I wouldn't have signed for it if I had seen it! OMG.

Anyways, got the reprinted set back and it was fine. Well, I took a closer look when I was getting ready to assemble them at home and saw another mistake on another piece! THREE times, I had to get stuff reprinted! And the third time wasn't my fault! They put the wrong map on the back on one of the cards. ARH! Then, after I had sent out the first batch, I found another little typo...but let it go, HWY 26 on one of the maps just said H. ARH! Yeah, didn't go back to Bear Printing EVER. For all the programs and rest of the paper stuff, I just DIYed and took it all to Kinkos.

If you do use them, really, they are nice girls, but go over your stuff like none other. I always felt like a biotch bridezilla when I critiqued the stuff, so I let a lot of stuff go....I am too nice sometimes...I know...it was partly my fault that so many things went wrong with the invites...but still!

Sensory overload but it’s worth going to get the information as well as various "deals" vendors such as tuxes give out. There are a lot of vendors to check out. You'll want to wear good walking shoes and bring some labels with your name, phone number, address and email address handy. It'll be quicker to enter any giveaways!

Shopping there was awesome. They have a huge selection and if you go there on weekdays/nights, it isn't as crowded. I personally liked the sales staff there and had a blast. The dress came in when they said it would and so did the BM's dresses.

Duh people of Oregon. You have to go to her. She is unbelievable. I actually miss her now that the wedding is over. I wanted boobs, she gave me boobs. I had to have it taken it in again and again and she did it. The day the I was suppose to pick up my dress, I tried it on and thought everything was perfect. Got in my car and went to eat lunch. 10 minutes into lunch, I get a call from Kathi. She wasn't happy with the hemline on the dress and wanted to shorten it more. She wanted me to come back so she could fix it....who calls their client after they leave and have paid you for you service just because she wanted to make sure they wouldn't be tripping on it all night?!?! (Sidenote, I was tripping anyways, but not because of the hemline...hahaha) She is great, her customer service skills are hard to come by nowadays I tell ya! She is amazing. I also rented a slip-crinoline thingy from her for $25. OH! And instead of pushing me to buy a veil from her, she actually gave pointers to my friend who made the veil for me. She took like 15 minutes of her time to show my friend how to glue the beads on the tulle ( I guess my friend was making it way too difficult) and gave my friend the glue! Perfect!