u/Madre1924

Looking for the best planning binder or planning app you used! Why was it so helpful?

Before you tell me to hire a planner our venue is all inclusive. So lodging, catering, lots of decor, and day of coordination are taken care of through the venue. It's the little things I'm going to be handling and we're 2 years out. I got this, I promise! Just looking for some good resources to help along the way

We just did a virtual tour of Gowlland (as we live about 6 hours away) and the owner seemed SO nice and helpful. The venue seems beautiful and reasonably priced. Am I missing something? Has anyone had or attended a wedding here? Or even just stayed at the property? This place seems almost too good to be true and because we're so far away I'm hoping for any insight you might have

We recently toured the venue and it is SO beautiful. But the reviews seem to be very mixed on experience with the owners. After the tour I can see why...they are definitely a little pushy. Very sweet but there's a vibe that they will tell you how they want your wedding to go. The venue is also VERY spread out with only one bathroom. Has anyone had their wedding or been to a wedding here? We're seriously considering them but I'm hesitant due to the bad reviews

We recently toured the venue and it is SO beautiful. But the reviews seem to be very mixed on experience with the owners. After the tour I can see why...they are definitely a little pushy. Very sweet but there's a vibe that they will tell you how they want your wedding to go. The venue is also VERY spread out with only one bathroom. Has anyone had their wedding or been to a wedding here? We're seriously considering them but I'm hesitant due to the bad reviews

My partner has Premera Blue Cross. He has degenerative disc disease and has chronic back pain. He recently did several practice injections in preparation for a spinal ablation (where they burn out the nerve they think is causing pain). They do practice numbing injections to make sure they're on the correct nerve and to make sure that burning out that nerve will actually help the patient. He did 3 practice injections, and he recorded a 75% improvement in his pain.

Premera Blue is rejecting his claim because they require an 80% improvement in pain :) they added that if he thinks his pain improvement was incorrectly recorded he can repeat the practice procedures in 3 months. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?? It's absolutely criminal. Any suggestions on how to get around this? We've paid $1200 out of pocket already for the practice injections, so we would have to shell out another $1200 for another round in 3 months. This cannot be legal it's INSANE

We love Tune Up! But for the love of God please fix the lineups!!! Every single year we get banger bands at 5:00 and then easy listening jazz or soulful blue grass at 8pm. They're good bands but it absolutely kills the momentum of the event.

Today they made Sierra Hull follow Thunderpussy. Who thinks this is a good idea??? Fairy in the woods style bluegrass following the most high energy killer rock band, total buzz kill. The pit emptied faster than an overturned cooler on a hot day.

I just wish the event coordinators were more intentional about building the lineups. Chill bands go early, high energy bands go late. They seem to place bands in order of their appearance fee, this is dumb and bad.

Looking for feedback on Pine Creek Nursery! We recently toured the venue and really loved it, there are a couple drawbacks but we think we'd be very happy with it. We are not local to the area and would love some feedback before we pull the trigger. Have you ever been to a wedding there? Heard any horror stories? Is it really as great as it seems? Give me brutal reviews!

I wish someone else had made this review for me before I went, so hopefully this helps someone else. We recently got back from a week-long stay at the RIU Palace Pacifico and we would never go back. I'll start off with the positives!

The grounds: extremely beautiful resort. Beautiful marble floors, chandeliers, landscaping. Very Vegas feel if you find that type of luxury appealing. Right on the water, decent views of the ocean.

The rooms: The rooms were nice, good sized at the Elite level. They had bottles of alcohol in the room and kept the mini fridge very well stocked with snacks and drinks of all kinds. This was especially nice to have at the end of the day.

................................................

So that ends the positives for me. Onto the negatives!

The location: absolutely awful, in the middle of nowhere. Very difficult to get out of the resort and do anything because it's a 30min uber ride in any direction for anything worth while.

The food: absolutely awful, the specialty restaurants were a 6/10 for the best of them and a 1/10 for the worst of them. The Asian restaurant Kyoto was especially egregious. Soggy, overly salty, no salt at all, cold, just gross. I stopped after one bite on several dishes because they were literally inedible. The amount of food waste was astonishing. Even the fanciest fusion restaurant "Krystal" was extremely mid. The buffets were downright awful. Multiple people in our party got food poisoning. There was a different theme for the main buffet every night, the Middle Eastern theme was by far the best. But the buffet was bland, old, cold, and mostly weird. Flavorless slop in a trough most of the time.

The fact that you can't order food at the swim-up bar was also a big disappointment. Bad drinks only at the swim-up bar.

The service: Room Service had varied levels of success ranging from complete failure to working as expected. Turn down service was a constant problem, some people in our party would get service when they had Do Not Disturb signs up. Even having maids walking in on them while they were asleep or changing. While others would have the "please service the room" signs up for days with no service. Calling the front desk seemed to have no impact either way.

None of the staff ever asked us how our stay was going. Our complaints were mostly ignored, very rarely fixed. We sat at the Elite Bar for nearly 20min with no service, just nobody manning the bar. Finally the bartender came out of the back and said the bar closed 2 minutes ago and he wouldn't serve us. After saying "but we've been sitting here for 20 minutes" he just huffed and walked away into the back again. This was my partner's birthday and we just wanted one last nightcap. This interaction really encapsulated the RIU experience.

The Amenities: there are none. There are 3 pools, I guess those are the amenities. When I say there is NOTHING to do here, I mean nothing to do. There is an after dinner show every night that was something between a high school theatre production and a first dance taken way too seriously at a wedding choreographed by the bride's cousin trying to make it big. The shows had AI slop projected up behind the performances that were also filled with ads. After the show ends that's it, that's all there is. There is quite literally nothing to do but swim, eat, and drink at this resort. This was my biggest sticking point, other than the food. The complete lack of activities, engagement, and/or amenities. Every afternoon there would be some sort of activity in one of the pools. The staff tried their best, but they were not largely participated in and seemed poorly thought out.

The drinks: I did not have high expectations, I know it's an all-inclusive and everything is cheap and watered down. But the RIU managed to duck so far below the bar it was shocking. My partner ordered an Old Fashioned that they put orange juice concentrate in?????? This was unforgivable LOL. I will say I ordered pineapple mojitos all week and mine were mostly good, but they were full of pineapple and mint. Hard to miss on those. But in general the wine selections were awful and the cocktails were downright bad.

The spa: absolutely insane prices. My partner and I are okay to throw some money around, but $450 for a 60min massage is just beyond the pale.

My review for the RIU Palace Pacifico is a 3/10 which I think is a bit generous. I gave it some points for how beautiful the resort is, the rooms, and for some of the staff who were very fun. But all in all absolutely awful resort experience. Fortunately, we spent quite a bit of time in the ZR before we went to the resort with a large group of friends, so we had a great time in PV. I cannot NOT recommend this place enough. Had this been our only experience in PV it would have been a huge disappointment.

Hey guys!

Recently engaged, hoping to find somebody to come take pictures of our engagement party! These would not be engagement photos, just event/party pics. Candids, portraits, etc. June 27th in the afternoon. We're hosting at our home near Sandy Point. Any recommendations?

Hey guys! We're throwing a party in a couple months, with an Italian theme. I'm hoping to get some really good cannoli's from somewhere local(ish). I feel like so many cannoli's are disappointing, especially the filling. Anybody know where to go for the best cannoli's? Willing to drive about 30min in any direction for them