Azul Sensatori Brides - POST HERE!

[taylorwd]

Amanda, we had the Free Wedding Package. It came with "a bottle of champagne in your room upon arrival."

[Afrommert]

Welcome back Amy!!!!!! Can't wait to hear all about your beautiful wedding!!!

[meghan]

Welcome back, Amy! Saw a couple pics on fb and you looked absolutely gorgeous! can't wait to hear about it!

[rkf1046]

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzannepdc Hey everyone! Lurker here - back and married! Just missed Wendy by ONE DAY at the Azul Beach!!! And thank you for the sweet note - it made my day! Wedding was wonderful - I really do love the resort and it was absolutely perfect for my family (we only had 16 guests - all immediate family) - it was their first AI experience and well, you really can do nothing better than the service at AB, in part due to its size. My Mom was so in awe that she could just sit on the beach and someone would bring her glass after glass of champagne. I just wish that the Lomas people in Miami were not so frustrating to work with - we had a big issue with our reception location (which was finally fixed after MUCH fighting by my TA) where I would have moved the wedding - despite the fact that I loved the resort (we did a site visit in October, which is when we fell in love with the resort). To answer lots of questions that have come up in the last few days - yup, there's a free kids menu for the reception. I just assumed that it was free and dealt with Tiffany in that way - my niece is 3 and two others were both 5, so their rate to stay was minimal, so I wasn't randomly paying for them to have dinner. The people there are also amazing. We had the flan as the dessert, which none of the kids were too excited about, so they brought them all brownies and ice cream and brought my niece who doesn't like chocolate something completely different - without being asked or prompted, they just did. (and I will echo Wendy's comment about the cake - it was REALLY good - and I figured it was worth the fight to bring it to the room - damn, I would have!) Photographer issue - I agree, it's super annoying, but I also understand a bit where they are coming from and I think even charging people the $500 fee was not helping in trying to maintain their relationships with their preferred vendors. I know that some places (I think some of the Sandals, but I could be wrong) do not allow ANY outside vendors, so you have to pay a game that they are part of your family, which would make me very uncomfortable. We flew someone in who rocked, but she's a little expensive. There are some photogs that have fairly reasonable rates and do not charge much more than the cost of having them come down. I am more active on theknot destination weddings board and I know that several recent brides used Jaye Reilly (Jaye Reilly Photography San Diego, Minnesota, and Destination Wedding, Boudoir, Birth Photographer) who is a former destination wedding bride herself and I think she is reasonable. You may also want to pop over there and look at people's planning bios for names of other photographers that they are flying in from the U.S. to various destinations for weddings to see your options. I really do think you can do it for $2000. Oh - our pics in case you want to see a small AB wedding - just some teasers are at Leah Stafford Photography Oh and for the person having 90 people, they can do it, but I would check on the location of the actual ceremony. We got married on a Tuesday and there were weddings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (so of course, we left to the honeymoon resort on Thursday and missed them all!) but Mayra, the on-site person mentioned that one of them was for 80 people and the ceremony was in the Blue Terrace. Okay, that was just WAY too long! Just happy that I finally have time to get to check in with you guys!

Congrats - you looked gorgeous!!! Can't wait to see more pics!

[chong]

Did anyone send out "Invitations"? What are you including in the invitation? I did register so I would like people know that I have registered... but I have already send out the save the date card. People who can come already made the reservation and people who cannot come already told me that they cannot come... Any suggestions? I am planning to do a OOT bag and include the details about the wedding. What are you all doing? What have you done?

[meghan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chong Did anyone send out "Invitations"? What are you including in the invitation? I did register so I would like people know that I have registered... but I have already send out the save the date card. People who can come already made the reservation and people who cannot come already told me that they cannot come... Any suggestions? I am planning to do a OOT bag and include the details about the wedding. What are you all doing? What have you done?

I sent out formal invites. I did not put where we were registered. People have found out through word of mouth. If you make a wedding website, you could put it on there, but I wouldn't suggest putting it on your invites. I sent my invites out to everyone who said they were coming and who had not said no yet.

[taylorwd]

We did the same thing as Meghan. We sent out formal invitations and did not send them to the people who had already said no. I second not putting where you're registered in with your invites. Your guests can find out by word of mouth.

[amandamarieb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meghan I sent out formal invites. I did not put where we were registered. People have found out through word of mouth. If you make a wedding website, you could put it on there, but I wouldn't suggest putting it on your invites. I sent my invites out to everyone who said they were coming and who had not said no yet.

Same here. Well actually some people have simply hit the decline key on the DW.com website and since we haven't spoken to them about the wedding (and they are family) they are getting a formal invite too. No big deal if they can't come but thought that they might want the keepsake and also a I got a great deal on invites and it was $3 difference to get 75 or 100 so I went ahead and ordered 100. I've got to get rid of them somehow.

Also, do not put where you are registered on the invites. A lot of people might frown on that. Let you bridal party and parents know where you are registered and they can tell people when they ask. People will ask.

Also, I put the invite, response card and a card letting them know how t access my dw.com site and my travel agent's contact number. I wanted to include a card with things to do off the resort and the corresponding websites but there wasnt an option with the invite package i choose to add the extra card. I figured I would do one of two things: 1. email people as they book to say thank you and send along the information. or 2. make a "thanks for booking" card and mail to folks when they book ...it will include info on what they should bring, things to do in the area, etc...

I love the 2nd idea but given budget and time constraints, it may just be an email.

[amandamarieb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by taylorwd Amanda, we had the Free Wedding Package. It came with "a bottle of champagne in your room upon arrival."

Thanks for the info! Champagne is not included in my package (the pearl package) but maybe I will order a bottle.

[amandamarieb]

Amy! I saw some of your pics on facebook. You looked beautiful! I can't wait till you join us here again! I want to hear all about it.

 

Congrats MRS!!!!!!