I'm a Marriott girl (love it!) since my parents own in the Surf Club and I've been staying there for 6 years now. Sorry...I've never checked out the Westin so no input on that.
The reason we went with outside vendors for some things is for a few reasons.
With picking a photographer, the Marriott gave us a few names of photographers who they use and we thought they were all great. We just wanted to see the other styles of the other photographers on the island too. Victor fit our style the most. :-)
As for the bands, we initially really wanted a band for our reception, but the Marriott typically uses Dj's so I researched this on my own. I found out names and input of bands through this forum....and then a couple months before the wedding Desiree, tried to help me and hook me up with a band but they didn't respond quick enough. Also, during the time I was trying to get sample songs from different bands, Desiree was on partial maternity leave. But once she came back full-time again, we got quick responses so no worries about that.
:-) She is a really great wedding coordinator!
We also hired our Reverend and videographer directly. It saves a little bit of money but for us, it was more just picking who we wanted and booking it ourselves. We wanted to book these people earlier than later since they were specifically who we wanted. Just didn't want to wait, and then they would not be available for our wedding. It would have definitely been easier to go through the Marriott so we wouldn't have had to worry about paying our venders directly when we got there but it still worked out fine. If you do have a specific vender you want, definitely ask the Marriott if you can hire that person through them and then it's included in your final bill. If not, just hire them directly.
I put a lot of specifics on my initial thread so definitely check that out again for names, reference, etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poodles2
Lisa,
I would love your input too on whether you visited the Westin and your thoughts about there versus the Marriott. Also, why did you choose outside vendors, was it for cost or variety? Is Desiree a Marriott person? I have so many questions...sorry.
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