El Dorado Royale (EDR) Brides - POST HERE!

[laurenvuitton]

How is everyone doing with their planning?  We really wanted to do the free wedding package, but I dont think its possible since we are not staying seven days.. LAME.  I think we should be able to, just because as of right now we have 25 rooms booked and we are going to be adding a ton on!  The packages just dont seem to workout for us. 

 

I am just about at the 3 month mark!

 

Also, is anyone having any concerns with Mexicana??? Most of my guest are booked through them since its convenient from Chicago.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

[Cvantine]

Any brides getting married at EDR in 2010? I've been spending lots of time reading through this thread and getting all kinds of ideas, but it seems like all the participants have already had their weddings! Anyone else still in the planning stages? Our wedding is October 29, 2010 =)

[Cvantine]

We're doing our wedding in the chapel! Very important for our parents to have a Catholic ceremony, so we're foregoing the beautiful beach option for the more traditional. The chapel looks so pretty though - and it's right on the water! I've also googled it and found some images of it decorated for weddings - very pretty =)

 

I've also been working with Carolina, so can't advise on Valeria =) I've read wonderful things about her on here tho!

[Cvantine]

Wow, this was THE singular most helpful post/review I've read anywhere regarding weddings at EDR. THANK YOU!!!! I'm getting nervous about everything coming together as I'm counting down to October 29th, but you just made me feel a ton better =)
 

Originally Posted by jennib31 

•Then we went to Tucanes Bar for the cocktail reception and dinner. The resort had golf carts waiting for most guests after photos to take to the reception area. All the hors d’oeuvres are butler passed and everyone was offered drinks by the servers. When we got there – all sweaty and gross ïŠ - we had champagne and drinks ASAP! The Tucanes hut was a bit hot though as it did not have fans underneath. With all the bushes and plants there wasn’t much breeze. BUT because the Tucanes is right next to La Isle restuarnat and pool bar, the food was fresh and very tasty. I feel this was one of the best restaurants and everyone was surprised of the food quality. We had a salad with shrimp, and filet for dinner. The filet was tender and not tough at all – actually cooked perfect! Sometimes in banquets they use cheaper quality meat and soak in vinegar to make it tender but this was NOT the case. Then we went right to the cake for dessert. The cake was actually tasty too! We had chocolate and strawbeery. If I could do it again – I would order a MUCH smaller cake. I paid for the $300 one for all 30 people and it was WAY too big. I wanted it to look cool with the two tiers but it wasn’t that big a deal and I could have saved there. But I swear it was actually tasty!!!!
•My dad gave the servers $40 to split and then they came out with the trays of shots and cocktails. We weren’t a big party group but that kicked off the night ïŠ I used my ipod and brought my own speakers – I was very glad for that. Their resort speakers were $250 and looked similar to mine! I did a mix of 1 hour of Spanish guitar, sanata and beach music and then some faster, fun songs for dinner. It was perfect and we were very happy. I had a big beach bag and all our junk in there that my mom kept. Around 10:30 we packed up and moved to JoJo’s bar and then to the guacamayas bar for the live music. AND THEN! The rege guy performing called me up on stage! Yikes! Lastly to end the night because me and my guy didn’t have the official first dance at the party – (he is NOT a dancing guy) at the guacamayas place the DJ called us up there and my friend requested our song – wow it was really cool!
•Our photographer was “Moments that Matterâ€. Now if you asked me the day before the wedding I would have told you I spent too much. It was $2,000 for them (husband and wife team) and then $500 to the resort. But after I viewed the photos I see why it was worth it. The resort photographer is very nice and does a great job as I heard from the other bride but I was glad I had 2 people and 2 perspectives. If I had more money, I would have gotten another hour of their services. I highly recommend them as photog because my photos were ready as soon as I arrived back in Chicago. Their artist views were spot on and helped mold the emotion of the day – totally worth it ïŠ

I think that is it! Again it was 100% the right place for us! It was nice not having a full resort – it wasn’t empty either though! We always had other brides and parties to chat with and met people from all over the world! Hubby did a fishing trip but other than that we stayed right on the resort and got our moneys worth!

Here is a breakdown of our costs
Dress and Suit - $800
First class flights direct - $2,000 WORTH IT! (my guy is pretty big and I’m not tiny either!)
Room at the hotel ½ in reg room ½ in casita - $3,300 (for a total of 7 nights)
Free ceremony
Ceremony upgrades of isle etc - $242
Spanish guitarist - $500
Flowers and spa treatments - $350
Photog and fee - $2,500
Cocktail reception private - $370 (30 ppl)
Private 3 course dinner - $1,134 (30 ppl)
Cake - $250

$140 for his fishing trip
$200 in tips

Hope that helps! Please ask questions if I forgot anything – again friend me on facebook for candids! Here is my prof photog site. What do you think?!
http://www.pictage.com/853954

[laurenvuitton]

My wedding is coming up 11/12/10!  So 3 months from yesterday   And I'm also working with Carolina!

[Cvantine]

 

 

Originally Posted by laurenvuitton 

 

My wedding is coming up 11/12/10!  So 3 months from yesterday   And I'm also working with Carolina!

 

Wow, so we will just miss each other! Can you believe how quickly it's coming up?? How has it been for you working with Carolina?

[laurenvuitton]

I havent really talked to her as much as I should be (oops).  It does take a few days via email to hear back from her though... that is the only frustrating thing.

 

No I can not believe how soon it is coming up... What are we suppose to send down to them before we get there?? The package we want and everything we want to add to it?? see how organized i am

[msmarmar123]

Hi...I am actually an Azul Sensatori Bride in February 2012...but...FI and I are switching to EDR for the second week for our honeymoon....we figure EDR will be a little more romantic and grown-up with no kids.

 

I've been doing so much research on AS, but now I'm excited to look up things for EDR also....

 

Is anyone else doing a switch???

[laurenvuitton]

We are doing a cruise that leaves out of San Juan so we wont be staying in Mexico after weddings. 

[Steve&Julia]

we did the same thing AZ bride and EDR honeymoon, the Casitas are worth it at the el dorado, I found it hard coming from azul how modern it is to deal with how outdated some parts of the edr but the casitas once we upgraded AMAZING