Wedding Review- June 11, 2010

Majestic Elegance- Yadilis, Coordinator                                                            

Grade: A

June 11 4 pm Beach Symbolic Ceremony

6-10 pm Private Reception in Events Room
Guests: 35 Adults, 1 Child

We really enjoyed working with Yadilis/ME- she always responded to emails within a couple days, was easy to work with, very friendly, and everything went well on the wedding day!  We actually did a site visit prior to the wedding, met with her and took a tour, so knew in advance what to expect.  I highly recommend this if you can swing it financially- we changed quite a few things that saved us a lot of money in the end (Actually so much money the trip paid for itself.)  We opted to have a beach ceremony and a private reception in the Events Room, with no additional bar.  The lobby bar is right outside the Events Room, and dinner is served with beer/wine/pop/water, so we thought it would be fine. 

We had a minor hitch when we arrived since we were expecting a note under our door to notify us of our initial meeting.  However we never received one, and instead were called 20 minutes prior to see if we were available. Thankfully we were free and prepared, so it wasn’t an issue.  We gave Yadilis a reference guide outlining with how we wanted everything set up and on the day of, everything was great!!!  She really did a super job!

Our bill was what we had estimated, and we were able to drop off our ceremony/wedding decor to the wedding office prior to the day.  We brought pretty much everything in—centerpieces, floral décor, menus, paper products, welcome bags, etc… and just paid the extra baggage fee, which was ~$200 on the way there (4 bags total---paid for 2 extra bag fees and 3 overweight bag fees!) and ~$30 (3 bags total on way back, paid for 1 extra) on the return flight. We priced out shipping and this was actually much cheaper than going with Fed Ex. We did ship a small box with some reception items, but it never arrived at the resort.  Please be prepared if you risk shipping via USPS.

We coordinated our own rehearsal the day before and were able to use the beach ceremony space.  We then met our guests at Asadito for the rehearsal dinner—the staff was excellent!!!! They really did a wonderful job accommodating our guests, dietary restrictions and everything came out in a timely manner. 

On the day of, the groom and I got ready separately.  One of my bridesmaids opted to get her hair and make-up done at the spa, which to my surprise came out fantastic! She brought in several photos and was specific on what she wanted.  The rest of us opted to DIY, which was fine except it put us far behind schedule and since two laides showed up late, we felt especially rushed.  So if you chose this route, please allow yourself and ladies ample time—2.5 hours was not enough time imo!!!! Yadilis brought my flowers by our room—which again, I was surprised at how lovely they came out.  I really expected there to be many more hiccups on the day!

We were only a couple minutes late to the ceremony site, so it started pretty much on time.  We opted for the Symbolic, wrote our own ceremony, brought our own officiate and my sister performed a song to a pre-recorded track.  It was lovely and although very warm out, there was a nice breeze on the water.  We paid extra for the Dominican Trio and to be quite honest, I have no idea what they played.  But we were happy to have live music and they were very friendly.  It was also nice to have them play before, during and after the ceremony.  Following the ceremony, we did a group picture on the beach and wedding party photos.  Then headed to the reception in the Events Room.

Yadilis did an awesome job setting up and, again, our expectations were exceeded.  The buffet looked great, cake was cute and yummy, décor simple but elegant, and the staff was incredibly friendly/fun!  We opted for the standard linen package, but paid extra for silver chargers and an hour extra for the reception.  Dinner was very good and then we danced into the night.  Although the Events Room is air-conditioned, it was extremely hot, but it was a risk we took over the outside heat/humidity.  It was still a lot of fun had by all.  Following the reception, guests enjoyed cigars/drinks at the downstairs bar and then headed to the Disco for further dancing.  The groom and I were so exhausted we headed back to the room to enjoy the hot tub!  Overall it was a wonderful day, and it was great to be surrounded in such an intimate atmosphere by close family and friends.