Any Eldorado Seaside Brides??

[Tracy_S]

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Originally Posted by edssbride09 Ok, i am still desperate to know about this whole $11/pp dinner option for a private reception, have any of you other girls heard about this? Also, in terms of makeup and hair, what are you guys doing! 85 USD/each is so much money for makeup! I have 4 BMs so that will cost me a fortune... plus with hair... wow, that is crazy that it costs so much! Do you have any other options? Hey Tracy, just curious as to why you went with the Silver package, i just went with free because i didn't think you got much for the extra money, perhaps i was wrong? Does it include decorations or anything?

For the makeup what if you take you and your bridesmaids to a salon in your area or something, have them do a trail or something on you or each of you and maybe get tips on how they did it and try it yourself? Or ask your girls to pay for their own makeup.. my wedding party is really laid back and not really formal or anything so if they want to do their own makeup and hair thats fine with me, I will just be paying my salon here to do my trial hair and take pics of it as they go, then I just have to pay for the one time hair deal while I am there. Not sure if I will do that or not or just suck it up and get a trial and style done at the resort.

I chose to go with the Silver wedding package cause it included a cake which I will probably upgrade anyways, the bouquet and the grooms boutonnier and the champange. Also I didn't know or think that I would have enough people to book at allow for the free wedding and didn't need the swim up room either.. Also my FI's sister used the free wedding at her wedding in the DR a few years ago and wished she hadn't.. she would have liked to customize it more so that helped in making my decision as well...

[SoonToBeE]

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Originally Posted by Tracy_S So for your photography do you still get it at the price originally quoted to you?? As the package that I want with Mexican Wedding Photos went up to and Marlet I think it was at the Photos emailed me back and said they would honor the original price I was quoted and to just tell Valeria that this was the case. I like working with her as well.. she has always responded to my emails within a day or 2 of me sending them and seems to be on top of things. I haven't checked if she will be there on the day of my wedding yet, but I will check now!!! lol

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was having some issues with the forum!

Anyway - they will honour the price, but I cannot believe how insanely high the photo prices are. They more than doubled and I felt they were high to begin with!!!

I hate Karisma....grrr...

As for Valeria - she will not be your onsite person and you won't be able to meet her - she is is Cancun as well.

[SoonToBeE]

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Originally Posted by edssbride09 You have to tell me where are you getting quoted for $11/pp set course menu for a private beach reception? Seriously, i need to know! I am using their event menu, and we are looking at paying around $75.00/pp for the meal even though everyone is at the resort... i am desperate to know what this is all about!

The 11 menu is off of the set course menu - they're at the back of the booklet (start on page 26) They just raised these prices as well by a few dollars, but here is the up to date menu from the Karisma site:

http://www.karismahotels.com/wedding...t-kit-2009.pdf

The set course menus look good, but at the 11 range you only have an either 'or' choice, you can't get chicken or pork. So we're thinking about upgrading to the 33.

In addition - if you are getting the free wedding package with the dinner in Arifices (sp?) included you can still use that large restaurant dinner for another vent (rehearsal dinner, welcome dinner, etc).

We're having our welcome dinner once everyone arrives and then are having the private reception outside. We're making the welcome dinner optional, but we think people will like the chance to get together....or they'll be angry to lose another night in paradise ; )

Good luck!

[SoonToBeE]

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Originally Posted by Tracy_S I chose to go with the Silver wedding package cause it included a cake which I will probably upgrade anyways, the bouquet and the grooms boutonnier and the champange. Also I didn't know or think that I would have enough people to book at allow for the free wedding and didn't need the swim up room either.. Also my FI's sister used the free wedding at her wedding in the DR a few years ago and wished she hadn't.. she would have liked to customize it more so that helped in making my decision as well...

Tracy - Have you done research on cakes in Mexico? I know it's not a strength of theirs (kind of like food in Cuba ; ), I was reading the 'what I would do and what I wouldn't do again' thread and so many brides mentioned that they wouldn't do the cake. Just want to make sure you have expectations that are correct - it won't be like a cake you would get here.....

[portugirl8]

Hey Girls,

I just returned from my best friends wedding at the EDSS. The bride had originally booked her wedding on the beach but after the first night we realized that it was way to windy. She changed the wedding reception to the swing bar restaurant - which was really nice. As a guest I am pleased that the couple decided to have the dinner inside as it gets pretty cold at night. Most of the girls had to wear a little cardigan at night.

 

The beach ceremony was beautiful but the microphones kept cutting out so you heard the judge's every fourth word. If you or your bridemaids are thinking about walking down the aisle with heels - forget it. We all bought shoes to compliment our dresses but disposed of them last minute.

 

Aside from those 2 items the wedding was flawless. The food was first class and the staff is very accomodating.

 

Good luck and let me know if you have any specific questions about the EDSS.

[edssbride09]

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Originally Posted by SoonToBeE The 11 menu is off of the set course menu - they're at the back of the booklet (start on page 26) They just raised these prices as well by a few dollars, but here is the up to date menu from the Karisma site: http://www.karismahotels.com/wedding...t-kit-2009.pdf The set course menus look good, but at the 11 range you only have an either 'or' choice, you can't get chicken or pork. So we're thinking about upgrading to the 33. In addition - if you are getting the free wedding package with the dinner in Arifices (sp?) included you can still use that large restaurant dinner for another vent (rehearsal dinner, welcome dinner, etc). We're having our welcome dinner once everyone arrives and then are having the private reception outside. We're making the welcome dinner optional, but we think people will like the chance to get together....or they'll be angry to lose another night in paradise ; ) Good luck!

Ok, this is all so confusing... so I have seen that list before, however i was under the impression that that one was for El Dorado Royale and NOT EDSS... i have one that is specific to EDSS for 2009, and it is different... there are no set menu options like that. Do you know for a fact that you can order off that one even though it says EDR at the top? Ok, i am annoyed!

I may inquire about doing our welcome reception as our free dinner, but it seems we will have 45 people, so it may be tough. Otherwise Carolina suggested just meeting at one of the bars and having drinks and food that is already included in our all-inclusive resort!

Oh and about the cake, i decided to go with a candy table, a pinata, and ice-cream sandwiches as opposed to cake, but i think if you saw samples and liked them, the cake is a good call! Go with what your dream is!

[edssbride09]

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Originally Posted by portugirl8 Hey Girls, I just returned from my best friends wedding at the EDSS. The bride had originally booked her wedding on the beach but after the first night we realized that it was way to windy. She changed the wedding reception to the swing bar restaurant - which was really nice. As a guest I am pleased that the couple decided to have the dinner inside as it gets pretty cold at night. Most of the girls had to wear a little cardigan at night. The beach ceremony was beautiful but the microphones kept cutting out so you heard the judge's every fourth word. If you or your bridemaids are thinking about walking down the aisle with heels - forget it. We all bought shoes to compliment our dresses but disposed of them last minute. Aside from those 2 items the wedding was flawless. The food was first class and the staff is very accomodating. Good luck and let me know if you have any specific questions about the EDSS.

Thank you so much for letting us know all of this... now my wedding is in 3 months so it should be warmer at night, so temperature wise i am not so worried, but the wind is a problem! We are paying $1560USD to rent a tent which is non-refundable so if we change our mind when getting there we would be out a ton of money. Do you think a tent (with 2 sides open and 2 sides closed) would be a worthwhile investment?

How many people were at the wedding? Was there dancing, speaches, decorations even though it was inside last minute?

Also, do you think the microphones were just faulty that day, as that would ruin the ceremony in my opinion! I would be so upset if people couldn't hear it...

Did the bride wear a veil, would you say it is too windy for this?

So many questions, sorry, but i am getting nervous!

[SoonToBeE]

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Originally Posted by edssbride09 Ok, this is all so confusing... so I have seen that list before, however i was under the impression that that one was for El Dorado Royale and NOT EDSS... i have one that is specific to EDSS for 2009, and it is different... there are no set menu options like that. Do you know for a fact that you can order off that one even though it says EDR at the top? Ok, i am annoyed! I may inquire about doing our welcome reception as our free dinner, but it seems we will have 45 people, so it may be tough. Otherwise Carolina suggested just meeting at one of the bars and having drinks and food that is already included in our all-inclusive resort! Oh and about the cake, i decided to go with a candy table, a pinata, and ice-cream sandwiches as opposed to cake, but i think if you saw samples and liked them, the cake is a good call! Go with what your dream is!

I was actually sent this list by our WC and she said we could order that menu. I haven't seen the EDSS specific menu, but just assumed that this was their event menu for all of their properties.

When I spoke to our coordinator she said we could pay for people if our numbers went over the 30 free seats ($25 US for each person over the 30 up to 40-45 people) I would inquire to see what they can do.

Also - I have called and spoke directly to my WC a few times. It makes such a difference because you can have a conversation and she can give you suggestions for various options that aren't listed. We asked if there was an option for a dessert buffet and she provided one! I found it was so worthwhile to call her.

I bought a good long distance card and have called her on it a few times, so worth the $20!

[SoonToBeE]

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Originally Posted by edssbride09 Thank you so much for letting us know all of this... now my wedding is in 3 months so it should be warmer at night, so temperature wise i am not so worried, but the wind is a problem! We are paying $1560USD to rent a tent which is non-refundable so if we change our mind when getting there we would be out a ton of money. Do you think a tent (with 2 sides open and 2 sides closed) would be a worthwhile investment?

EDSS Bride - I spoke to my WC and they say they have a back up location planned if there is rain during the wedding (ceremony and reception), but she did say that it is unlikely to rain, so the chances are good that there wouldn't be rain. She said the choice of a tent was up to me, but that it wasn't necessary during the dates we were looking at (March).

January to mid-April is the dry season in Mexico, so you can expect few (if any) days of rain - and even when it does rain it only rains for a short period of time.

For that reason we're not renting a tent. We're going to chance it and have our dinner out in the open. If it rains we'll have to move it inside, but I'm okay with that given the small chance of rain. For $1650 the tent just isn't worth it for us.

[edssbride09]

SoontobeE thanks for that! FI and i talked about this last night, and our reasons for wanting a tent are not rain (as i am 99% confident that isn't an issue) but privacy, so it seems like we will go ahead with that and get the tent that has sides that can roll down so if it is super windy we can close them up if necessary... He feels like this is a very important part of the ambiance for the evening (i probably would just do it out in the open otherwise!)

 

So i think we are just going to stick with the tent, but as to dinner and the menu's i will ask my WC, FI is such a foodie, too much to go with a basic menu, so i think we are stuck paying the astronomical prices for a la carte!

 

What is your wedding date again? i guess just a few weeks ahead of mine, you are going to have to give me lots of suggestions when you get back! It will be great for future brides to have the info we can provide, at least 1 EDSS review would be great!