Paradisus Riviera Brides - POST HERE!

[JulieH]

Hello Everyone,

I've spent a good part of today reading through this thread. I don't know what to say except... Holy Crap!! I'm in trouble!!! I had no idea about most of this stuff. I'm set to be married on April 20th. Perla is my coordinator and we've emailed a few times in the past, but I haven't had any correspondence with her in so long, mainly because she said we choose everything when we're down there and that there's not much to do ahead of time. Boy did I just get a rude awakening... I am truly scared, not only at the amount of stuff to do, but at the cost of all of this... we were planning on a destination wedding to keep the cost down...

 

Missy, you are incredible... an unbelievable help... even answered questions I hadn't even had in the first place!! LOL...

 

I still have so much reading to do, and then I'll try and post some questions I might have after reading everything.

 

Thanks to all of you for all the information I've already taken in... this is incredible... what a fantastic forum... I wish I would have found it a lot sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bumbles]

Welcome Julie Way to jump in and read all the posts - it's the best way to get started! What are you doing in regard to centerpieces? I am considering just buying a bunch of candles and putting them in a suitcase...

 

Thanks for all the info regarding long tables. Round ones are definitely the way to go for our group.

 

Missy, how much was your bouquet and the bm bouquets? I ordered floramatique ones to bring down, but have added 2 bm since so I'm thinking about just getting fresh ones.

 

Ah, sorry for the slew of questions! I haven't heard from the coordinators in so long... it's starting to be irritating.

[MissyR]

Welcome Julie! Take a deep breath and try not to panick - know that a lot of the things I (and others did) are certainly not mandatory .. that being said - you still have tons of time and all of us to help you! Fire away with questions and issues..

 

We spent a $100 bucks at Kitchen Stuff Plus and bought all the vases and candles and took them down with us (frankly because I refused to pay the ridiculous price Perla was asking) and I do draw the line somewhere. We took them for our site visit and left them there til the wedding.

 

If you have someone who could carry them on that is what we did - it was only two smallish boxes so it wasn't too bad.

 

For my bouquet, I think my MOH's was $60 or $80 and mine was about $100 - but to be honest I will have to double check when I get home.

[JulieH]

Hi Girls,

Thanks for the warm welcome!! I'm slowly breathing easier as I continue to read and realize that things will go smoothly....

Mark and I are doing the sand ceremony, but I'm having trouble with the wording. I've googled it and checked with the place I purchased our vases and sand from, but I haven't found much, do you have any examples of wording on the sand ceremony?

Also, about baggage... did you all pay for extra bags or did you manage to get it all there within the baggage restrictions? We have about 50 guests which are mainly couples and we've done up loot bags per couple. Now it's a matter of getting them down there (and I'm considering getting centerpiece material here and bringing it down) any suggestions??

[JulieH]

By the way, I forgot to ask about this vendor fee thing I've read so much about.

My photographer is Claudia and I was not aware that we had to pay to have her come on the resort to do photos... why is this?

If I want that place on the beach for dinner/reception (tequila something?) do I need to book it ahead of time or just when I'm down there?

 

Okay... here come the questions...

Can I just book that room/beach bar (whatever it is exactly) for an hour or two after the ceremony or do I need to have our dinner there too??

[JulieH]

Kelly,

Could you explain to me how your welcome dinner went. I didn't realize they have seperate rooms with shows in them with buffets as well. This sounds perfect for what I'd like to do. Is this just part of the regular all inclusive package at the resort, or did you arrange this ahead of time and pay extra for it? Either way, did you request this before you went down or once you arrived?

Thank you,

Julie

[KLC77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieH Hi Girls, Thanks for the warm welcome!! I'm slowly breathing easier as I continue to read and realize that things will go smoothly.... Mark and I are doing the sand ceremony, but I'm having trouble with the wording. I've googled it and checked with the place I purchased our vases and sand from, but I haven't found much, do you have any examples of wording on the sand ceremony? Also, about baggage... did you all pay for extra bags or did you manage to get it all there within the baggage restrictions? We have about 50 guests which are mainly couples and we've done up loot bags per couple. Now it's a matter of getting them down there (and I'm considering getting centerpiece material here and bringing it down) any suggestions??

Hey Julie, welcome! Don't panic, you really can pick out almost everything when you get down there and Perla will make it happen. We were able to get down there without paying any baggage fees, but were overweight on the way back and did have to pay the fee. It depends on your airlines baggage policy. For the OOT bags, we packed everything in one of our suitcases and assembled them down there. It worked out fine. Just make sure you put anything that can leak in ziplock bags. For some reason, most of our aloe bottles leaked. I was glad they were in plastic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieH By the way, I forgot to ask about this vendor fee thing I've read so much about. My photographer is Claudia and I was not aware that we had to pay to have her come on the resort to do photos... why is this? If I want that place on the beach for dinner/reception (tequila something?) do I need to book it ahead of time or just when I'm down there? Okay... here come the questions... Can I just book that room/beach bar (whatever it is exactly) for an hour or two after the ceremony or do I need to have our dinner there too??

The resort has vendors that it works with and they get money from them. So, if you are going with an outside vendor there is a fee for $300 to bring them in. I believe the deck area overlooking the beach for your reception is included in the wedding package and you do not have to pay extra for it.

Fanny, my bouquet was $100 and my BM's were $60 each (I think). This was the price no matter what flowers I chose. I changed my mind atleast 4 times and the price never changed.

Oh, and for centerpieces we also brought down our own candle holders and candles and table jewelry. I wasn't willing to pay the prices that Paradisus wanted for them.

[sandra1976]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissyR Meredith - My ceremony was at 3:30 as well and I wasn't in my dress until about 2:30 - we didn't do any pics together before the ceremony but did do some individual ones! from about 4:30 - 6:30 we did pics - and then dinner started at 7:00 - I would say that our first dance was at about 8:30 - 9:00 - Thinking if you were in your dress at 2:00 five hours would be plenty~

My ceremony is set to be at 6Pm do you think that is too late?

[yamille]

Sandra I think it depends on when sunset is you can check that our for your date if you google. This is what my phtographer reccommended: (from my email)

 

If you want to consider the OPTIMAL light for photography in the evening, 30 minutes before sunset and 30 minutes after sunset, so called the "golden hour") Planning your wedding around this time ensures the potential for BEAUTIFUL sky and dramatic lighting.

 

 

For planning the start time of your ceremony, we would like you to consider a few things:

 

 

If your ceremony time will be under 15 minutes, we recommend starting the wedding 45-55 minutes before the scheduled sunset.

If your ceremony time will be 20-30 min, we recommend starting the wedding 55-65 minutes before the scheduled sunset.

 

 

hope this helps...

[sandra1976]

Just a quick note to everyone as in one of my earlier posts about vendor fees, I told you that if you have companies like Ajua weddings supply you with multiple services you only pay a one time 300.00 fee. Well Perla just told me they made a mistake that is not how it works. However, she will honor that to me because I had the e-mail where they told me that if it was the same company providing the services I would only pay the one time fee.