Don't let the grandiose entry and big suites deceive you. The service of this hotel was anything but quality. Finding the venue on theknot.com and planning our wedding from a dif...ferent state, we flew down to check it out. Running into a groom who was having his wedding that night, he gave us a bit of advice about the venue: get everything in writing.
Of course taking this into consideration, we cannot say it helped. While negotiating our contract, or at least trying to (their opinion of negotiating is removing your bar list and saying they have lowered the price for you) we found a lot of hidden fees that were not mentioned. When approaching our concerns, we were only presented with confrontation about past e-mails instead of an apology for not being clear and trying to accommodate us. Not having many options only being in Florida for the week, we let it slide and signed the contract.
Along the way we encountered more "miscommunications" with the venue. Note, they are never wrong, they will insist they are right on everything. We had an outdoor reception on a June afternoon. To us, it would only be logical and within health codes to refresh the food and make sure it is chilled so it does not spoil, here at the Alexander you have to REQUEST this.
A week before our wedding we were told that the food for our cocktail hour could not be served since we were having a buffet reception, but they arranged for a nice fruit platter as a complimentary basis. Not making much sense, especially finding out one week before our wedding that half our menu was missing, I forward our emails which specified this menu. In response, I was told this would be honored on a complimentary basis.. um no, we paid for this!
Almost none of the room reservations met the requests of our guests and on top of that, they messed up our room! The bride and the groom! The night of the wedding, we were supposed to receive a complimentary honeymoon suite. Instead, they reserved the room that my husband and his groomsmen had been staying. So the night of our wedding, the groomsmen were left to find a new place to stay and I moved into the formal bachelor pad. After going to the front desk with this issue, nothing was even offered to us except to PAY for another room!
The rule of thumb with this venue: ASK QUESTIONS AND GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING! Parking fees - resort fees - detailed menu with breakdown of service - and this may sound ridiculous, make sure they hire the appropriate amount of bartenders for the hours of your bar! We almost got slapped with an extra charge last minute because she had the correct hours written down, but didnt hire the bartender and wanted to charge us last minute.. Her mistake, her price to pay!
REVIEW EVERYTHING!!!
You cannot argue the beauty of the place or the scenery. The rooms are accommodating because of size and suite layout. If this is essential for your planning, just be aware of the service. The day of our wedding ran smoothly, but the process leading up to the day was a serious headache. Our guests would have never known all the internal issues, so if you can handle it, it may be worth it.
Overall, the day was beautiful, but with the scenery of the beach and the happiness of the day, how could it go wrong?