jenconrad

Quote: Originally Posted by randi.renstrom do you happen to know about Thursdays? We'll have a group of about 40 people will will be looking to continue the celebration...should I let them know ahead of time? I havent been on here forever! haha. We showed up with 20 some people on a thursday around 1030-11pm and we all got in no cover...plus its ladies nights on thursday so ladies drink house stuff free

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa DSO Jenconrad or ladies who have recently been married (and who had the luxury package)... what were the musicians like, especially the soloist? Which one did you choose and how often did he/she play? Apparently the harpist was good . However I have no recollection of them I was so nervous! Plus I walked down the aisle to a ben harper tune on my ipod.

Quote: Originally Posted by rosieposie i also have a lace dress. because it has quite a bit of beading as well, i won't have to hotel press it and will be taking my own travel steamer down. My FI bought into the whole infomercial thing and bought the Tobi steamer, it came with a travel size. worked well on other trips. My dress was quite lacy with beading. They sent it off site to be steamed and it came back fine. It actually travelled really well too. I folded it in a suitcase on the way back haha and wore it for my at home reception pretty much wrinkle free! Jen

Quote: Originally Posted by Jeff Babineau I was editing some more of the photos and thought another teaser was in order. Again we had a blast photographing Jen an Corey's wedding. ' You have been officially teased again Jen & Corey Can't wait to see you guys next week. wow wow wow:) Thats just mean Jeff, I gotta wait another week!!! Awesome photo:)

Quote: Originally Posted by msglave Ok ladies, I am sooooooo PISSED! i began asking my WC about a cocktail reception and guess what? She tells me that there is another wedding booked for the gazebo at the same time as ours. The only thing that she can do is move or wedding up by one hour or move the location. What kind of sht is this? I told her they need to move the other wedding back an hour and her response was they booked 10 days before us. Our wedding has been booked since January and this is May! We have already spent so much on printing. I am absolutely furious. I am going to contact corporate. This is sooo unprofessional! How do you not remove a date/time for the calendar? I am absolutely FURIOUS! This is NOT ACCEPTABLE! Oh man I hear ya. Was her name angie by any chance. I found out the same way. It reall really sucks. Dont bother going through carole the manager there, because they are not out for the brides, trust me. She was very short and rude on the phone. The best thing to do is contact the coroporate people, although I did this and nothing was done(ps so happy i can say all this now that the wedding is done). Its really awful . Feel free to say its happened recently to another bride if you want! Me!

Quote: Originally Posted by Lady_Di Ladies, does anyone know if The Royal will offer a projector screen? MY SIL wants to put together a slideshow of us. I know there was a screen in the ballroom...so maybe you could get access to one and that means they must have a projector.

Quote: Originally Posted by bridetobe1515 Wow Matt...fantastic advice! thank you! I didn't even think about set up, how sad is that! I wonder what else I am forgetting to think about! It's 5 days before I leave and I've managed to squeeze in 2 more people to the wedding party. They booked their flights/hotel. That is not what I needed only 5 days before I leave, but it all worked out! To all you ladies out there planning for 2011...be prepared it FLIES by!!! I was amazed at how fast it all came. My best advice is to try your hardest to stay calm. I know there are going to be things that frustrate you and you can't get answers for (welcome to the 2010 nightmare), but don't panic. You have time to sort those out. I feel like I am going into the Royal completely blind. There are things that I have no idea about, but I figure once I get there I will just know. It is hard to imagine something you have never seen before. I promise to post lots of pictures and a very detailed review. One thing I kind of wish someone posted on here with their review, but I never saw was exactly what the wedding coordinator gives you options on. When I sit in front of Zulma and make all those difficult decisions I will keep a notebook handy so that I can make a list. Maybe that will help ease the planning stages a bit. If there is anything else you want to know tell me now or forever hold your peace..ha! The wc goes through the checklist and your choices, then your package and its inclusions, reception set up, ceremony set up, music choices and if you have your own, when she is going to come by your room and there is seriously no rehearsal...you tell her how you want your bridal party to walk up and back and thats about it. haha and it all works so nicely somehow....

Quote: Originally Posted by Lisa DSO Jenconrad, What did you do about your resort bracelet? Did they give you a hard time about taking it off and getting a new one? we cut them all off and put them in a pile. hahaha (remembering..). its no issue. after the wedding you just go to the desk with your old one and they give you a new one. wedding party included

Quote: Originally Posted by Shirley_Ken Hello, A little off topic, but I was online shopping today and I was wondering what you girls were donig for the cake serving. Does the RDC provide that knife and server? Or are you ladies buying your own and bringing it with you? Thanks! They had a plain knife and server with the cake. It did the trick!

Quote: Originally Posted by lexibride Dear date triplets I am so beyond stressed cause Lili hasn't gotten back to me, I don't know if I even have hair appts scheduled and if so, what time, I know nothing about my reception - how much it's going to cost and never got a final bill. I totally have to take faith that it will all come together...... Do you have an appt sched to meet with her? If not or even if you do, go immediatly to the romance concierges anna and veronique when you get there. left from the lobby. I hadnt heard from my coordinator either (other than a meeting time), she never returned any of my emails. Go with a list of when you want your appts. Thats what I did and veronique booked them for me in about 5 minutes . As for your bill...thats very odd you didnt settle up with the US wc, but I am sure they will take care of you down there. Tell the romance concierges as soon as you get there . Hope you have an awesome time Jen

Quote: Originally Posted by Jeff Babineau I agree with everything you have pointed out. The Gazebo is wonderfull and looks great. but very back lit and gets a bit crouded with 30 people in it. Great Photos BTW Matt . Always love to look at your work. wish I had of known this! oh well..redo? haha jk

Quote: Originally Posted by beachbum1285 Does anyone know if you can make free calls between the sister hotels? I don't want to get an international plan on my cell phone if I don't have to! If you are in one of the higher room categories you can. I think master suite and above. I was in oceanfront and i was told there would be a charge to call the Real which is a sister property. There is a great wireless internet signal though, so we relied on that.

wow I just made it really big without doing anything. hope thats ok! haha

Quote: Originally Posted by Jeff Babineau Just thought I would tease the People on this thread with only one photo. Just one. Jen and Corey were a joy to work with and her review was very spot on. More photo on the blog and Jen can post some more in about 2 weeks. Jeff Babineau Babineau Photography Nova Scotia 902-890-4421 Jeff this picture makes me so happy . You rock

Quote: Originally Posted by MichelleMace Beautiful wedding Jen! Can I ask were your bridesmaid dresses are from? Venus bridal. Its the only dress I could find around here I liked All the dresses were long and I got two tailored short. The bridesmaids looked fantastic in them.

I forgot to add that I am pretty sure we maxed it out with 30 . People were comfortable though.

Quote: Originally Posted by JENISE Looks beautiful. I love your bouquet. Are the real or real touch? My bouquet was real. My bridesmaids bouquets were realtouch and the bouts were real touch

Quote: Originally Posted by smckinney22 Your pictures are so beautiful! Looks like everything worked out in the end which is what all of us soon to be brides are wishing for as well. Question about your pics, I saw the view of the gazebo from above and noticed that you had the chairs inside the gazebo. I really would like to do this because I think it gives more of an intimate and private setting, rather than having us at the edge of the gazebo and all the guests below us. Also I was hoping it'd bring the whole group closer to the ocean view. Also people will be in the shade What are your opinions about it? Was there any pros or cons to doing this? How many MAX would you think would fit? From your pic looks like you had about 30, was that to crowded or pretty comfortable? Thanks! I did have 30 chairs in the gazebo and i loved it because as you say it was very intimate. Also, the guests didnt have to sit out in the sun. Lighting was definitely an issue as alot of my nonprofessional pics are shadowed (it was a bit cloudytoo) but I wouldnt have changed it looking back as it was amazing walking down the terrace and having all of my family and friends in the gazebo. Looking out at the beach and water during our vows was awesome too. If I had of had a larger wedding I would put everyone outside though instead of some in some out. here is an example of lighting:

Oh another thing we wanted to mention...one of the receptions had this amazing drumline playing for quite a while on the beach. They had drums with water and lights and everytime they hit them the water splashed the colour of the light. It was amaaazing! For all those brides with $$$ (haha) I would recommend them!!

Quote: Originally Posted by FutureMrsYak Fiance?? Shouldn't that be husband? LOL I'm sure that takes a whole lot of getting used to saying husband! Congrats again and thanks for sharing! hahahah your so right!! I got to used to calling him fiance on here. Husband!!

Quote: Originally Posted by jesmcan Thanks Jen that makes me feel much better. That is so funny that things ended up working out perfectly anyways lol. I am sorry one last question, for the cocktail hour how was the open bar? I have heard a lot of discussion on whether open bar included everything or just limited items? Thanks and thanks for posting the pics! Definitely not a full bar. Its hard to remember I was so in the moment Lots of champagne, wine, and some liqour. They had waiters that would go grab drinks though. I did a shot of tequila with all the guys on the fiances football team so they had that, haha. Corey says he wanted a mango tango and they had it there in like 5 min.

Quote: Originally Posted by duprk452 So.. I talked to Aja today to ask her about confirming our guests so that they are not bumped and she said that when we turn in our checklists we also turn in the guest list. Our guests get first priority over other guests and will not be the ones to get bumped if there is overcrowding. This made me feel much better since we all used third party agents! Also, I asked her how many receptions were at the same time as ours on the beach. So far, there is only one and they are at Pelicanos.. I think we are at Central beach. She said that it's at completely different ends of the beach. Hopefully this is correct. Any past brides know for sure? Also, I'm looking for an up to date playlist with typical wedding music. It's mostly a younger crowd with us so we want dancing music. I'm definitely having a mental block when it comes to a playlist. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. No its not different ends of the beach. The gazebo beach and pelicanos beach are at opposite ends with central beach right in the middle. Fiance says approx 100 yds from central beach to pelicanos. I suck at distances. If the gazebo beach is free I would grab that for sure!

Quote: Originally Posted by dianep ok, so i'm bringing a photographer friend down from home to shoot the wedding. IF he doesn't stay at the resort for the night of the wedding, will i be charged a vendor fee AND a day pass charge, or just the vendor fee? thanks ladies... I did the same thing. My friend photographer stayed at the Real Playa del Carmen. I paid for his day pass which was 85$ so he could be there all day. I was told that if my friend had tripods, lights and professional equipment i would also have to pay a 100$ vendor fee ON TOP of the day pass. Luckily we had no issues. A note though...the beach at the resort is a public beach so the photographers can have whatever they want. Ours came the day after and did a shoot on the beach with backlighting etc. . We were prepared to pay the extra 100 if it became an issue, but they never said anything...so dont pay it in advance is my advice!

oh i posted pics to my review that I posted in the review forum

msglave - the beach i was taking about is on the gran porto side of the pier that splits the two resorts beaches. I saw a ceremony set up there and it was beautiful! We never were able to get close to the receptions on the pelicanos beach (which is on the Royal side of the pier) although it sounded like they were having a blast! One night there were three receptions on the beach at the same time, one infront of the gazebo, one on central beach and on on pelicanos beach. They all had djs and they all were loud and having a great time! If I had to pick a beach I would pick the gazebo beach as it isnt as close to all the beach chairs. They all are far enough apart though that it should be a great time in all locations! They really do have lots of weddings at the same time but i cant see them putting a cocktail in the garden closest to the gazebo at the same time. Also if you are not happy with this they will do their very best to change things jsmcan- the whole wc thing was so crazy and unprofessional with the us coordinators it broke my heart! Luckily the wcs at the royal really sympathized and switched me back to the royal gazebo for 6pm. Unfortunatly then the 5pm gazebo bride flipped that there was another wedding after hers (she didnt have a cocktail or anything) so i got moved to 4pm at the royal gazebo, which hilariously was the original time and place I had when I booked last year!