TheWolferts

What do you mean by Honeymoon package things? Are you staying at the resort immiediatly following your wedding? I would imagine you do not need your marriage certificate for that since you would have just had your wedding ceremony there. We are doing the 1 year anniversary package coming up in May and it says we need to bring our marriage certificate, but my TA said that since we got married at an El Dorado resort, they count your one year from your wedding ceremony in Mexico and that we dont need to bring our marriage certificate.

If you are doing a symbolic ceremony, Mexico/the resort does not need any documentation about you being married. Some people actually arent legally married in the States until they get back. SInce it isnt legal, you dont have to have a license.

My husband is not a very big cake person and we knew that each of our guests would receive a seperate dessert plate as part of their meal at the reception, but we wanted to keep the tradition of cake cutting, so we purchased a cutting cake, which was MUCH cheaper than a full on bridal cake. It is literally just the top of a large wedding cake. I am very glad we did it because I love the cake cutting pics and its nice to have our cake topper as a keep sake.

I had both my hair and makeup done and did trials for both the day before the wedding. I had no clue how it would turn out, so for peace of mind, I met with the stylist the day before and she was really attentive to what I was looking for makeup wise and adjusting the hairstyle to my exact specifications. She even took my hair down and put it in another up-do for the rehearsal dinner so that my bridal hair style wouldnt be reveiled early! Up to the day before the wedding, I didnt have my heart set on any particular hair style, so I just showed her 2-3 pics of things that I liked and she combined different elemtsn of all 3 styles to create something for me! I couldnt have been happier with my hair!

I requested to pay all of my set up fees up front when our final payment was due and they allowed me to do that without any pushback.

We tipped at every meal and would tip the bartender every day. We also left some money for the housekeeper and min bar stocker every day. They dont make you feel like you have to, but they generally provide such good service that they deserve it. We had a lot of issues with our WC so we did not tip. Be wary at the airport because the workers will take your bag from your hands and walk it 10 feet, then stand there saying the word "tip" over and over again until you pay them to leave you alone!

Melanie, We are only going for 4 days, so I dont think we will mind not having to pick which restaurants we will visit while there, since we will be able to hit them all! We are going to be in a swim up suite as well so that will be a new experience for us as well. When you say, "whole different vibe", can you elaborate? Also, I see that you are from Missouri.. My husband and I met while we both attended Mizzou!

Thanks Murmel! We put down our deposit today! Now starts the countdown until May 11-15, 2013!

For anyone that has been to both EDR and El Dorado Seaside Suites... We r debating on whether we want to go back to EDR for our 1 year anniversary stay or go to Seaside suites. I had gone to EDR prior to our wedding , so it would be my 3rd time visiting. I also think that is prefer a smaller resort since its just the 2 of us. Our TA said its the same quality but the feeling is a little different. I'm worried that we won't enjoy seaside suites as much but I want to try something new! HELP!!

If you haven't legally changed your last name yet, then ur passport should still have ur maiden name. I didn't change my last name for 5 months after our JOP "ceremony" because I didn't want to mess with gettin my new passport with a legal name change processed before the wedding. If you are waiting to get your name changed until after ur Mexico wedding, you can't hangs your passport name or any offi ISP document until you legally change your name.

We are trying to plan our 1 year anniversary stay right now as well! We ended up getting $750 credit, but its still pretty pricey since they make you get a high level room to use the credit I think we were going to try out another property since EDR is so large and its just us going. We have been looking at El Dorado Seaside Suites and I cannot wait!

We got married this May in Mexico and had 6 bags between my fiance and myself. I was carrying my wedding dress, so it was pretty obvious that all of our luggage was for a wedding. Customs agents made my fiance push the button and then just let me walk right on by without pushing anything. I was worried that the dried starfish we brought for decor might be an issue, but it sounds like we got off easy!

I think you are sending your invites out way too early! You want your invites to be a reminder, so why not spread out yoru save the dates and invites. Also, we had a lot of people that told us they were coming before we send out invites, but when it came down to them paying for the trip, they ended up not being able to afford it and/or something came up. Close family members didnt end up booking until a couple of months before because its a lot of money to have locked up so far in advance. That being said, we had some people put down deposits after we sent out our save the dates, so we used the invites as a final reminder to book if you hadnt already.

Our resort (El Dorado Royale) was the same way, but they gave us the option to put down a large deposit to hold those rooms up until 3 months before our wedding date. That way we werent rushed and didnt have to pressure our guests to commit to something so early. Maybe you could do something like this? We ended up holding 20 rooms, which cost us about $6,000 that they reimbursed us before our final wedding payment was due.

I would go with the health bar for the private reception. The beach is gorgeous obviously, but can be pretty windy. The health bar is very close the beach, but the plants block some of the wind coming off the water. Plus, if you are like me, I need my heels on for the reception, so the Health Bar has solid ground and a roof, so if it starts to rain, you will be fine. We did our reception in Salon Dorado with a group of 42 and I thought it was way to big for our group. I think health bar gives you the best of both worlds... roof, study ground for dancing, but open sides so you can still enjoy the beautiful scenery!

I laid my dress down in an overhead compartment since they wouldnt cough up the hanging closet. The stewardess informed me that I was taking up too much room... I said tough! I think we flew American too and I didnt find the stewardess very friendly, but she may have just been having a bad day. The resort will steam your dress, but I thin it costs about $25.

I would just mention to her that you dont want her to feel left out and you appreciate her inviting you to her wedding, but understand that it is during their honeymoon. If I were enjoying my honeymoon with my new hubby, the last thing I would want to do is take a day to celebrate someone else's wedding LOL.

Yup! I think a lot of guests dont always realize tht them saving money could negatively impact the bride and groom. I dont think any wedding guest wants unnecessary expenses on the bride and groom, so most guests completely understood.

Chiquita- One thing that I wished we didnt spend as much money on was the cocktail hour... I wasnt sure if I should include our wedding party into our total number for our cocktail hour since I knew we would be taking pictures for a majority of the hour, but the resort staff assured me that we would have time to go back and celebrate with our guests, get a beverage or two and get some food before our reception. So we went ahead and paid for the additional 13 people; however, the resort staff actually told us we could not go back and lied to us saying that all of our guests were actually at the reception site already... so basically we paid for an additional 13 people (at $15 per person, thats $195 wasted)... needless to say I let it go on our wedding day because I didnt want to be the bridezilla, but wrote a scathing letter to the hotel and we were refunded the $195. So I would just take it into consideration when planning/budgeting.

We had quite a few guests that told us they were coming, but not staying at our resort. We didnt feel that if they chose to stay at another resort that we should be responsible for their resort fee since it was their choice to stay at another resort; however, we did let our guests know that there would be additional costs that they needed to take into account should they choose to book elsewhere. After seeing the resort fees, they realized that the savings they would get staying at another resort would almost be eliminated if they had to purchase day passes to take part in the activities we had planned throughout the week. Rather than try to explain everything on an RSVP card, we sent an email to all of our guests. Below is an exerpt from our email. It may seem crass to some, but I think everyone was very understanding and had no idea that we would incur quite a bit of additional costs if they chose to stay elsewhere and they didnt want us to have to pay the extra money. Dear family and friends,

 We would like to thank those of you who have already put your deposit down and committed to joining us on our special day! We have had conversations about the excitement surrounding our destination wedding, as well as answered questions and concerns. It has been brought to our attention that some of our guests would love to join us for our special day, but are looking for other living accommodations to possibly save money. We understand the temptation to "bargain" search and try to make the trip as affordable as possible, but we want you to know that we have performed extensive research and looked for the best value for our guests. The idea behind our choosing to have a destination wedding is to share more than one busy night with our guests, and we hoped that over a couple of days, many of our closest friends and family from the Midwest and East Coast could get better acquainted. Having guests staying at various other locations prevents everyone from taking advantage of this opportunity. 
 Also, we wanted to share a couple of reasons we chose to host our wedding at the El Dorado Royale… · ALL-INCLUSIVE - Our resort provides premium alcohol and a variety of cuisine options at the 10 restaurants on the property. (No runny guacamole or watered down drinks here!) All-inclusive also includes 24-hour room service, beach and poolside service, unlimited premium alcoholic beverages, and as many meals as you can pack in. Because it is all-inclusive, any guest staying at another resort will incur fees associated with entering the host resort. A $72 fee per person is assessed for guests wishing to attend the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception dinner; and a fee of $95 per person, per day is assessed should you want to attend any other functions we have planned throughout the week on resort property. · ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK - Another great thing about a destination wedding is that Nikki and I can plan fun activities and socialize throughout the trip with our closest friends and family. (We realize this trip will be a lot of guests’ vacations, so we don’t want to take up too much time!) We are still working all of the festivities out, but here is an example of what we are planning thus far: o Wednesday: Black and White Themed Cocktail Welcome Party o Friday: Rehearsal Dinner (everyone is invited!) o Saturday: obviously the big day! Ceremony is set to start at 5pm o Various daily activities at resort: sand/pool volleyball, breakfast/lunch/happy hour/dinner gatherings, happy hour gatherings, poolside lounging, dancing, nightly band/shows, oh, and did I mention happy hour gatherings! · DISCOUNTED ROOM RATE - We have reserved a block of rooms at a special discounted rate for our guests (20% off!) To lock in the discounted room rates, Nikki and I are currently holding a block of rooms, but unfortunately, if we do not get a majority of these rooms booked, Nikki and I will incur additional expenses.

We used the El Cocotal dinner for a semi-private dinner for our wedding party. You are literally eating dinner right next to other diners that are not in your party and they split us up into 3 tables, so I found myself getting up quite a bit to talk to everyone since I did not want to raise my voice loud enough to disturb other diners. I would say because of this, I would recommend a private reception. Since the price is based on what food you select, you can keep costs down by ordering the lower priced menu options. Just my opinion!

I had a shower and it was nice to celebrate with a lot of people that couldnt make the trip, but still wanted to celebrate our marriage! I think a lot of people ended up not getting us wedding presents because of the expenses of the trip, so we actually got a majority of our registry items at the shower.

Shannon- Direct message me your email address and will email it to you.

We used these faux coral place card holders for our table number holders and just printed the numbers out on a nice linen, card stock paper in a neat font! I loved that the numbers werent a main feature of the table, but were classy and still obvious. Picture from website: http://www.favorsandflowers.com/coral-place-card-holders.htm