Iberostar Brides....POST HERE!

AKBeach, great pictures. My favorite is the one you have as your signature pic. You looked stunning! Congratulations!!!

Jennifer,

Welcome back!!! I'm glad to hear everything went smoothly and that all of your details were ironed out with Karla. I'm sure Reyna is a very nice woman but in my limited correspondence with her, I wasn't impressed either. Congrats on being a Mrs.!!! Can't wait to see your pics, Claudia does amazing work!

Danielle, congrats on the baby news. Your pictures were beautiful and your dress, hair...everything was perfect!

The flowers looked great as well and the centerpieces at dinner were awesome. I assume it's only the Grand, but I would love to have the tall vases for the private reception next year at the Del Mar. They really did a nice job.

Congrats again, you looked beautiful and soooo happy!!!!

The Del Mar and Beach are fully open now. They closed them for renovations during the swine flu period because they had low occupancy. It was a bonus for the brides who went because there was no one over on that side but we had our weddings there! We loved being upgraded to the Lindo so we could go to a restaurant every night although the buffets are good, too.

Yes, we were supposed to be at the Tropical Restaurant. About two weeks prior to our arrival we got an email from Reyna saying that we had been upgraded to the Lindo hotel and since the Del Mar was still closed that they were moving our reception to the Beach Hotel's steakhouse "El Puerto". This restaurant is exactly the same set up as the Tropical. We had to send out a mass email to our guests since the dinner choices had changed from Skirt Steak or Grouper to Tenderloin or Chicken. When we met with Karla - she told us that we were back in the Del Mar. We had explained to her that we had contacted all of our guests about the new location and food choices and we had ALL of our welcome letters printed with the information stating we would be at "El Puerto". At this point El Puerto had reservations reserved (by other guests at the hotel) for dinner but Karla worked it out with the restaurant manager (who contacted the guests to tell them their reservations were cancelled) and we ended up with the private reception at the Beach Hotel.

We used the resort DJ. I was nervous about this since I heard he doesn't speak English. We brought a CD with our first dances and then an IPOD with a wedding play list just in case. We definitely did NOT need the IPOD. The DJ was AWESOME! Everyone danced the entire time!!! We had a few guests approach him to ask if he would make CD's of the music he played that night for them. He was really very good!

My only suggestion would be to stay calm if they try and switch things around. I got the sense that with the Del Mar / Beach closing and then reopening that there was some confusion with where the weddings / receptions would be. But if they try and move things, just explain that you have everything printed and they do everything they can to get you back on track. Hopefully since the resorts have been opened for a few weeks they are back on track.

Also, with so many guests it is easy to feel overwhelmed and torn between people. What we did is picked an area at the pool and made sure everyone knew where it was (by the pool bar...lol). That way if we went to the beach, or our guests went to the beach, lunch, etc. eventually we all made it back to the same spot (people filtered in and out all day). The pools are large so it was easier than trying to spot people walking by. We were all in and out of the pool but there was always a few people in that area.

Not sure if you are doing OOT bags for your guests. Since we had such a large amount we didn't want to hand them all over. So I made a list in Excel of who was checking in on what day (and the amount of bags for each room). Each morning we rolled a suitcase up to the lobby with the list and OOT bags and gave them to the front desk. They would go over the list and make sure that they had the reservations in the system and then hand them out as our guests arrived. It was very simple and we did not have any issues with missing bags / guest not getting them.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjr133 Hi Jen, I'm so glad to hear that you had an amazing time. We are leaving this weekend for our Del Mar wedding. Do you have any suggestions? I see you had a large group as well, we have about 90 guests coming. Did you have a DJ? and were you supposed to have the reception at the Tropical Resturaunt? Thanks sooooo much, and congrats again!!!! Stacy

Jenn- we saw your family at the Lindo pool buffet with the cute t-shirts the day of your wedding! We didn't get to watch your ceremony but walked by the reception and it looked like everyone was having a blast.

Be prepared for change! They switch things around a lot but you have to go with the flow and it all works out. They kept trying to book spa appointments for me and hair but I had to keep canceling them because my mom did my hair.

It all works out but things might change!

Thanks so much Jen and akbeach for the advice. I'm very relaxed about everything, so it should go very smoothly. I can't wait!!! Thanks again...Stacy

Amanda - that is so funny that you saw our group! You should have stopped in the reception to say hi!

Oh - that is something I forgot. Thanks for reminding me. I had made my hair / make up appointment back in February for 12 noon the day of the wedding. In early May I made appointments for two of the bridesmaids (the other girls did their own hair / make up) and for my mom. I confirmed 3 times with Reyna that there were four appointments set for 12 pm. When I got there Karla had NO idea what I was talking about. Reyna never booked any of the appointments! Luckily we were able to get in. Me at 11 am (way too early for a 5 pm ceremony) and my mom, sister and cousin for 2 pm. It kind of stinks that we weren't all together but was happy that we were able to get appointments. I would email them again before you leave to confirm any appointments that you may have made. Also bring a copy of the email that states your appointment times as back up!

Wow, so many new wives!!! Congrats to all of you!! All the pictures were beautiful!! Danielle, congrats on the baby, that is just so exciting!!

Jen, thank you for sharing your advice. You had some great suggestions, especially regarding the welcome bags!!

Just a quick question for any of you who were just down there...How hot was it really during the ceremony and the reception. I'm starting to get worried that it's going to uncomfortably hot, especially during the reception at the Tropical restaurant. If you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!!