Do Not Book With Virgin Weddings!!!!

[karentan]

i've booked my intimate with them, and had to cancel a couple of things i'd requested. so i sent them an email, which they lost.
then i sent them another, which they also lost
then i sent them a letter, which it took a month to do the things i'd asked

i needed to cancel the 5 extra guests i'd put on the original booking (as disney no longer charges this, i didnt see why i should give more money to virgin). they then left the 5 extra guests on the invoice but CANCELLED THE WEDDING!!!!
luckily my mum got it sorted and rebooked it with disney.

i also booked the MK photo session direct and a photo package with disney, as i had no luck getting virgin to do it. but when i told virgin to not bother booking the session on my behalf, they got hold of disney photography and cancelled all my photo bookings. i then phoned disney back and someone else had booked our day for the MK session. luckily disney said that they'll contact the other couple to see if they do still want it on that day, and if they do, they'll do our session at 5am not 6am as an exception for us.

so bottom line, virgin weddings are useless!!!!

(also the shop that i got my dress from has shut, but its part of a chain so they'll send it to another shop instead)

hopefully things will go ok in the end....
fingers crossed!

 

[rosiejo]

Oh blimey Karen - i thought I was having trouble with them!

I asked Virgin to book my MK session too and after chasing them about four times over a couple of months I gave up and dealt with Stephanie from DPS directly and got it sorted out in 24 hours!

I had a problem with my ceremony time as they had booked me in for 1pm without asking me and I wanted 3pm. Then I was on this board saying how my wedding was at 3 and another bride came on and said hers was too! After a couple of days of worry it turns out Virgin had changed it to three but not thought to tell me!

They were also being really awkward about the day we had to check in and were making us move into the AKL 6 days before the wedding!!

In the end I wrote a very long complaint letter to Virgin and was lucky enough to have it answered by a gilr called Caron who has been a saviour - she has sorted out our booking and changed the check in day for us too.

I'm still dealing with Stephanie direct for my photos though.

I'm afraid I agree with you though Karen - despite Caron stepping up to help out I am still extremely disapointed with Virgin and would suggest that any other UK brides deal with another agent or just book directly with Disney.

I hope evything works out for you in the end.

RJ

 

[Fantasia Sam]

I am sorry to hear all of this Karentan, I really am. I think we've read a few complaints on here about Virgin Holidays and their Disney wedding service and I do hope that you now have everything rectified and that your wedding now goes off without any more problems.

Of course your thoughts and feelings are your opinion Karentan but I also hope that other future brides who have booked with Virgin don't feel that THEY have made a wrong decision as it is a matter of choice and personal preference.

 

[disney13]

We've booked everything directly with Disney after reading so many bad reports about Virgin on the boards. Sounds to me like Virgin are getting a bit 'lazy' about customer service!

Andy

 

[stardust41]

Hello All,

After reading this thread I just had to join in to Virgins Defense!!! How can I you may ask.....we just got back from the most amazing wedding experience I can imagine anyone having. Well, that's if like us you are having an intimate wedding at Disney Pavilion.

We also had a few teething problems with the booking of our wedding and getting the correct info but we found out that Disney do dictate alot of what goes on to the operators who book weddings. At one point I did question the info that we were getting from Virgin and the time it was taking to get it so I contact Disney Weddings in Florida and they basically told me the same info. Our time was not confirmed and Disney informed us that this was incase they had to make any last minute changes to our day but that the day would stay the same but the time may have to move. They also told me they could not book my MK portrait for me. It turns out that if I wanted Virgin to make my booking then it had to go through a booking process of me requesting it in writing and then it being passed to Disney Coordinators and then to Disney Event Photographers, of course with them all out taking care of weddings it can take some time to get confirmed. So we went direct to Stephanie and had it confirmed fairly quickly but it meant liasing with another person.

However in saying all of that when we arrived we met the Virgin Wedding Coordinator who went through every detail of the wedding day so we were left with no questions on what to expect. It was not too late to make a couple of minor adjustments to our day that we had not thought about. We did book the additional photos through Virgin as the 12 that they offer in the package were not enough and again Yvonne explained all of this and how it would work and now we are left with photos and video we had done through Virgin that bring a tear to our eyes everytime we look at them they are just our of the world. As I was telling someone earlier my F & F all say that they have never seen anything like it. One word can sum up AMAZING.

One thing to consider is that if you book a Disney wedding no matter if it is direct or if it is with any other tour operator, the Disney coordinator does not meet you in resort, they only call you for a few minutes to go over the info that is already on your planning guide. We did not know this and were thrilled that the Virgin Coordiantors took the time to meet us and spent about 45 minutes with us until we felt that we were comfortable with the plans for our big event.....

I do hope all goes well for each and everyone of you.

 

[bluedisneygill]

Congratulation Stardust41

I have read a few of your postings since you got back, sounds like a fairytale. We are off to disney in 7 weeks to get married. We have booked intimate package at the wedding pavilion through Virgin holidays and have been concerned about lack of info. Great to hear that all will be fine when we get there. Thanks for reassuring me.

 

[eblondie]

Hello All,

After reading this thread I just had to join in to Virgins Defense!!! How can I you may ask.....we just got back from the most amazing wedding experience I can imagine anyone having. Well, that's if like us you are having an intimate wedding at Disney Pavilion.

We also had a few teething problems with the booking of our wedding and getting the correct info but we found out that Disney do dictate alot of what goes on to the operators who book weddings. At one point I did question the info that we were getting from Virgin and the time it was taking to get it so I contact Disney Weddings in Florida and they basically told me the same info. Our time was not confirmed and Disney informed us that this was incase they had to make any last minute changes to our day but that the day would stay the same but the time may have to move. They also told me they could not book my MK portrait for me. It turns out that if I wanted Virgin to make my booking then it had to go through a booking process of me requesting it in writing and then it being passed to Disney Coordinators and then to Disney Event Photographers, of course with them all out taking care of weddings it can take some time to get confirmed. So we went direct to Stephanie and had it confirmed fairly quickly but it meant liasing with another person.

However in saying all of that when we arrived we met the Virgin Wedding Coordinator who went through every detail of the wedding day so we were left with no questions on what to expect. It was not too late to make a couple of minor adjustments to our day that we had not thought about. We did book the additional photos through Virgin as the 12 that they offer in the package were not enough and again Yvonne explained all of this and how it would work and now we are left with photos and video we had done through Virgin that bring a tear to our eyes everytime we look at them they are just our of the world. As I was telling someone earlier my F & F all say that they have never seen anything like it. One word can sum up AMAZING.

One thing to consider is that if you book a Disney wedding no matter if it is direct or if it is with any other tour operator, the Disney coordinator does not meet you in resort, they only call you for a few minutes to go over the info that is already on your planning guide. We did not know this and were thrilled that the Virgin Coordiantors took the time to meet us and spent about 45 minutes with us until we felt that we were comfortable with the plans for our big event.....

I do hope all goes well for each and everyone of you.

Congratulations!! Im so glad that you had such a wonderful time

I very nearly went ahead and booked through Virgin but decided against it because I felt that I would feel happier dealing with Disney myself. I also feel that I have a fantastic travel agent and have had lots of advice from both here and another Disney bride forum. Like Sam said it's a matter of choice and personal preference as to who you decide to book with.

Im surprised that Disney told you that your time was not confirmed. We have booked through Disney and our ceremony time is on our contract. Obviously if something happened they could still move it....but it is something that Disney have confirmed.

I think that the reason why a Disney co-ordinator will only call and talk for a few minutes is because most brides will have had regular contact through out the planning stages. I know that I myself have been in regular contact with my wedding planner (weekly) so after sending in my planning packet she wont need to go over many details.

Karentan - I have my fingers crossed for you too!

 

[Rascal1003]

Just thought I would join in as we have our package with Virgin.

I strongly agree about the lack of communication between VW and clients, however, it would seem that the e-mails I have sent have been acted on. I cancelled the Virgin phot and video services that we had initially signed up to and this has been acknowledged. If the photographer turns up, then it will be at Virgins expense, I have done my bit !

I have booked Randy Chapman for the photos and STVS for the video, mainly because you can see their work on their websites. I wasn't too keen to gamble on what Virgin would supply without assessing their previous work.

Anyway, before I waffle on too much, Jennifer at WDFTW e-mailed me a few months ago to make contact and since then, I have been in reasonably regular contact by e-mail. Jennifer also phoned me last week to discuss what details we had put in the documents that Virgin had sent on and everything seems to be in order.
An hour later and Jennifer made the whole thing seem very straight forward and I have every faith in FTW staff making our day special.

My opinion on Virgin is that above anything, they are a booking agent for Disney that are base in the UK. As such, it is not worth getting too hung up on what they are / are not doing. Take your queries straight to the person who will be looking after you on the day, your Disney Wedding Coordinator, this is the best way to be confident that everything is OK. I am sure if you e-mail or phone the FTW office, they will be able to put you in touch wiht your coordinator.

I know this is not necessarily a solution to the problems that people are experiencing with VW, but it might help to put things into perspective and not get too stressed about the smaller details. As long as your event manager for the day knows what needs to be done, then I am sure things will work out OK.

Nothing is simple with organising a wedding and the "logistics" of the whole thing have been dumped on me by my Fiancee. She says I am better at dealing with it all, so I shall and I have every confidence that it will be fine.

As for Karens problems, we would all be annoyed by that, and I hope that it all works out for you.

Best of luck to you all and try to relax as much as possible. You need a little time out now and again during the planning stages to almost forget about the stress of planning.

Take care.
Regards,
Russ.

 

[rosiejo]

Hi Stardust - we're just thinking about the video and were going to go with through Disney - I'd fogotten until you said that Virgin do a video - I'll look into it now you have recommended it.

With regards extra photograpahy through virgin do you get another photographer on top of the DPS one?

Also Stephanie just mailed me to say that UK brides get a high res cd of all the DPS shots - did you get one of these? it seems to good to be true as US brides have to pay $1000!

Congratulations on your wedding and sorry for all the questions!

RJ

 

[stardust41]

Hello Bluedisneygill - thanks for the offer of congrats! We are settling into married life now and enjoying every minute of it. You are going to have a wonderful time and you will feel so so happy after you have meet with Yvonne the wedding coordinator for Virgin, she is really great. She will reasure you in every manner. I think it is nice when you have contact with Disney prior to arriving but it is even nicer to sit with someone who seemed to be more in touch with us than the Disney Coordinator was, son't get me wrong they were very nice but they did not really go out of their way before or during our wedding. I spoke with one couple on the flight back who were very dissapointed with the DC they said that she was there and handed them a bunch of flowers and that was it. I am glad we did not go direct to Disney!!!

Hi Rosiejo - thankf for the offer of congrats and I am happy to answer your questions. We opted for Virgin mainly because of the price of the packages and once we saw the sample albums Yvonne showed us we were so happy we did, they are as I said AMAZING!!!! The video is unbelievable, it was a man and wife team and they were great, the had so much attention to detail and made sure that everything was perfect before taking the photos and we have some really great candid shots. We did get our 12 photos through Disney and they are OK nothing like what we got through Virgin. I could not imagine having only those 12 as my memory of the day. We did get a high res CD but it only has the 12 photos on there that they took plus an extra couple. Virgin set it up for the Disney photog to take arrival shots and then Virgin to the rest. Don't book anything with anyone else till you meet Virgin and see the sample and what you see is really and truly what you get.


As Rascal said you get so caught up in it all that you foget to enjoy the process and both Virgin and Disney do many many wedding and in Orlando they really have got it down to a fine art but no matter how many people tell you not to worry you will and after the event and meeting everyone you will look back and wonder why you did worry so much

Good Luck to you whatever you decide, hope to hear how it all goes when you get back.

 

[rosiejo]

Blimey - here was me thinking you got a couple of hours of DPS so there's be more than 12 photos on the CD... you talked me into the video last post and now I think you may have me on the photos too... to be honest I've not been too impressed with the DPS photos people have posted... they seem to take a lot of photos into the light with no flash!

How did you see samples if you don't mind me asking? When you arrived in Orlando? I'm about to send the planning pack off and thought I had to book then...

Thanks

RJ

 

[stardust41]

Hi RJ,

We saw samples when we arrived in Orlando and met with the VWC. The photos that she shows you are really amazing. I think that a lot of UK B & G's get too caught up in what everyone else is saying about other photogs out there that they really miss what the day is about. Some of the photos that I have seen are of fairly large weddings with formal receptions etc but most of the UK couples are heading out to Florida to have a nice quiet intimate wedding so they would not even be able to have an album like the ones that they view of other couples. Sam the mediator is a perfect example she had quite a big wedding with alot of special touches so although looking at her photos they are really nice my photos would not have turned out like that as my wedding was much smaller. The Virgin Photos show my intimate wedding and are very romantic.

The other thing that people probably don't realize is that when you book an outside photog you are booking someone who is trained and a professional in this area, and they do make a lot of money because they are artists, no different from photogs in the UK being really expensive you are paying for the professionalism and artistry, Disney photogs are Disney Cast members and are on Disney's payroll so they are not making that much I just think that they would not be doing as good a job as they are not making all the money from the shoot. Just my thoughts

RJ you can spend so much time worrying about all the details that you forget to enjoy this time which is very special so try not to worry so much, maybe you could ask Virgin if they could put you in touch with the VWC and she could help to ease your concerns - if I recall in my conversations with her she mentioned that she does have brides contact her direct so I imagine that they could only get her contact info via the UK office.

Good Luck let me know how it goes

 

[rosiejo]

Thanks for all of your help Stardust.

We sat down and discussed the photos last night and the prices in the Virgin book are comparable to the ones DPS sent - but we've decided to go with Virgin - especially as we can have parent's albums too - gonna make a nice xmas present :0)

My brother is going to be taking some photojournalistic shots throughout the day too so we should have lots of good shots.

Now we've made that decision I'm going to stop worrying - well about that anyway :0) Got plenty of other things to keep me occupied now - like making sure I get that illuminations cruise booked next wednesday and deciding where on earth we're going to eat after the ceremony!

Blimey what will I do with myself when this is all over??

Thanks again you've been a star