Now Sapphire Weddings Formerly Paradisus Riviera

[almostmarried]

We did have to pay per hour for the sound system. its included for the wedding but he cut us a deal for the reception. The music would be plenty loud for dancing. We did have a few people dance for a song (drink induced).

  The eternity package come with 24 free photos on a disk. We ended up with about 45 pictures more that we wanted so we purchased a package for around 500 dollars. I think... maybe it was four. (my husband payed the bill without me so i forgot the price.)  the package we bought includes a book with your pics in it.  I wish I could remember the price.. I'll try and ask him when he gets home.

[HeatherViolet]

Congrats!!!  Your wedding looked beautiful!  I too am having a beach ceremony and beach terrace reception.  What time did you get married?  When did the on-lookers decide to leave you guys alone?!?!?

Did you do your flowers through the resort?

Were the wedding coordinators really helpful once you got to the resort?  Did they upgrade you the the Preferred Club?

 

~Heather

 

[almostmarried]

I think they watched the whole ceremony, but i stopped paying attention to them. Our wedding started at 4.  The flowers were through the resort. I Had a picture and a idea of what I wanted so I payed to upgrade my bouquet.  Ramon was our planner. He was awesome. We had a meeting with him the day after we got there. He just kinda took care of everything. I was very relaxed and had an awesome time. I layed by the beach until about 1:30 and hair my hair done at 2. Then they brought golf cart to get me, my bridesmaids and my son. It was a great expierence. I know everyone says this but you will worry like crazy until you get there... then its just easy. it really is

[almostmarried]

I don't know about everyone else, but back home there's no way I could afford have had the kind of wedding where you are SERVED hors' doevres, drinks and a full course meal from awesome waiters and where I don't have to lift a finger to set up the ceremony or reception. It was amazing.

[almostmarried]

Oh, and I already was perferred so I just asked that I had the best possibly view. We were on the top level on the corner with ocean as far as the eyes could see.

[jeunesse]

Thanks for the information, I am getting married in two months and have not done anything yet.  I'm starting to get a little nervouse.  I have been looking at the menus for the Eternity and Divine package but have no clue what any of the food is.  What food items did you choose ?  Also, did you have any chair covers ?  If not, did it look okay without them ?  Finally, in the planning form, it asks what music you want for the ceremony...I have no clue, what did you go with ??? 

Thank you for your help !

[almostmarried]

I had the eternity package and it came with a sound system during the ceremony. I had songs on my Ipod that I wanted them to uses so Ramon had me make a list for the order and they took care if it. You really only need 3 songs. One for your bridesmaids, one for you, and then one for the end when you walk out. I had some extras to play while people were arriving but I guess they only got through about 2 of them. I had the same problem choosing food so I finally just guessed and it was awesome. We had the fried chicken salad. which was not what I imagined it to be. it was little chunks of awesomely flavored chicken wrapped in a cucumber peel for presentation. I loved the flavor. everyone did. Then we had the tamato soup... which I could have done with out.  A lot of my guests liked it tho. (thats the one thing I would maybe change) then we had the chicken supreme, It was awesome!  We had cheesecake which even the people who usually don't like cheesecake loved.  I chose the tres leches cake which people couldnt stop talking about... except my husband, he didn't love it. 

 

The chairs some with a white banquet cover. I purchased my own chair bows to bring a long because they were like 4 dollars a piece cheaper then the ones they have. I  got them through chaircoverfactory.com but its pretty without them too. I just felt I needed a little more because I didn't do much with flowers.

[ps31]

almostmarried-

Since you brought your own bows, did someone in your wedding party put them on for you?  Or did you pay the resort to do it? (anel, said they would put your bows on, but for $2/chair)  I've been debating on doing this.  How much time did you have between when they set up the chairs/ceremony and when the wedding started?  I don't want to inconvenience someone if they have to rush down to put the bows on and not have time to get ready themselves.

[82turtles]

Just wanted to chime in.. I also brought down chair bows, and had the resort people put them on the chairs. I had been told previously that it would be $3 per chair, but it ended up only being $1 per chair, so it wasn't a big expense at all. Guess it all depends on what time your ceremony is, but I know for ours at least - they had the chairs and stuff mostly all out when we went to do pictures at 2 pm for a 4 pm ceremony. However, I would suggest you have them take care of all the set-up. They do a fantastic job, and then you won't have to burden one of your guests with any work!!

 

Originally Posted by ps31 

almostmarried-

Since you brought your own bows, did someone in your wedding party put them on for you?  Or did you pay the resort to do it? (anel, said they would put your bows on, but for $2/chair)  I've been debating on doing this.  How much time did you have between when they set up the chairs/ceremony and when the wedding started?  I don't want to inconvenience someone if they have to rush down to put the bows on and not have time to get ready themselves.

 

[82turtles]

Hi Jeunesse,

Picking the menu was hard, because the descriptions weren't necessarily easy to understand! Here's what we used for our menu (Eternity package):

 

Cocktail hour apps -

1. Goat cheese mousse and sundried tomatoes
2. Prosciutto ham bruschetta
3. Mini cordon bleu
4. Ginger scented crème brulee

The mini cordon bleu and creme brulee bites were sooo good! The proscuitto ham bruschetta was also good, and while the goat cheese mousse was okay, it wasn't my favorite.

 

Dinner:

1. Appetizer or Salad: Spinach salad with goat cheese, roasted apples and walnut confit, mustard dressing
2. Soup: Mushroom & squash blossom soup with parmesan cheese
3. Entrée: Chicken supreme, spicy almond sauce, fettuccini and sautéed vegetables
4. Desert: Strawberry cheesecake

 

Everything was just amazing. Like almostmarried said -- the wedding meal was the best meal of the whole stay (and we didn't have a bad meal at all in our 10 nights). The spinach salad just wasn't what I was had expected based on the description -- was more a leaf or two of spinach with the roasted apple on top of it and the walnuts and dressing drizzled on top, but tasted wonderful.

 

Cake: Tres leches

Everyone loved the cake, no complaints there at all, just wish we weren't so full by that point, and had room to eat more of it!

 

 

Think it was already answered, but the standard/base decoration are white covered chairs. They look fine that way on their own, but I did add a colored chair bow since I thought it could use some color.

 

As for music, I think they probably have some stuff you could borrow, but we just loaded up an iPod with 4 different ceremony playlists:

1. Guests seating (8 songs) - but i have no idea how many of those they actually made it through

2. Groomsmen and bridesmaid entrances (1 song)

3. Bride's entrance (1 song)

4. Recessional as we walk out and as guests leave (2 songs)

 

We went with classical sounding type music versions of popular songs. Vitamin String Quartet if you want to look it up on iTunes or something (we picked "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for the guys & girls entrance, "I'm Yours" for my bridal entrance, and "Don't Stop Believing" and "Orinoco Flow" for the recessional). Just some fun songs, but they sounded very nice as instrumentals!

 

Hope this helps. Sorry I haven't had time to do my review yet.. between two AHR's, Thanksgiving, and trying to get ready for Christmas I just haven't had time!! Feel free to ask any question though, I would love to help out! And I know it sounds cliche and everyone says it, but just try to relax and not be stressed about it. They really do know what they are doing and do an absolutely AMAZING job of it!!

thanks,
Sarah

 

Originally Posted by jeunesse 

Thanks for the information, I am getting married in two months and have not done anything yet.  I'm starting to get a little nervouse.  I have been looking at the menus for the Eternity and Divine package but have no clue what any of the food is.  What food items did you choose ?  Also, did you have any chair covers ?  If not, did it look okay without them ?  Finally, in the planning form, it asks what music you want for the ceremony...I have no clue, what did you go with ??? 

Thank you for your help !