IBEROSTER PARAISO DEL MAR (PDC Wedding Review)

[Jackie]

2006

My husband and I were married at the del Mar in late May. For all you couples thinking about getting married here, we would recommend it! I know it can be very nerve-racking planning a wedding in a different country, but don't worry -- the wedding coordinator here (Priscyla) has everything under control! I read reviews on this site religiously for several months before we left, so I thought I would write one, especially for all you brides anxious about your wedding!

 

We arrived 5 days before our wedding, and had so much fun with our friends and family. Our group included 22 adults and 4 kids. We had a "rehearsal dinner " (although we did not have a rehearsal) the night before the wedding at the Japanese restaurant. I highly recommend this - it was fun and the chefs put on a great show while cooking! The wedding was at 5:00 on the beach. The weather was perfect - sunny with a few clouds. I recommend having your ceremony on the beach -- the nice breeze and the ocean are so amazing, and provide a great backdrop for pictures. We had a few onlookers, but it didn't bother us. The gazebo site is very pretty too but it is closer to the lobby and the further away from the beach you are, the hotter it gets. I had my hair done at the salon (along with the bridesmaids), and it withstood the ocean breeze. The salon did a great job -- you can bring in a picture of how you want your hair done or they have a book you can look at and pick out a style.

 

After the ceremony, we took pictures on the beach. We hired an outside videographer and photographer (Claudia Rodriguez photography) and they were amazing -- we highly recommend them! Our wedding was on a Monday, and we had our video, pictures, negatives, and a CD with all of the pictures in our hands by Friday evening (they delivered them to our honeymoon resort -- the El Dorado Royale -- which we totally loved and would highly recommend!). The wedding flowers were beautiful.

 

After pictures, we hired the mariachi band to play for an hour. We also rented out the Tropical restaurant from 7-11 pm. The mariachi's were so good - very entertaining and worth it! The restaurant had a bar and appetizer/salad buffet, and we were served plated meals (our group had the skirt steak, which was very flavorful and tender). The cake provided by the resort was very pretty - the decorate it with flowers that match your bouquet. We had the vanilla cake and it was very good (we were so stuffed from dinner that we only had a few bites). We hired the DJ to play music during dinner and afterwards. We had several CDs of music already put together for the DJ to play. The DJ provided the speakers and microphone. We danced for a little bit, but it was so hot that evening that we didn't dance as much as I thought we would. One thing I would recommend for wedding groups who plan on doing a lot of dancing at their reception is to rent out the disco (which is air conditioned). The Tropical restaurant is nice, but it gets really hot when you are dancing around. The ocean breeze doesn't reach it too well because building 10 is in between the restaurant and the beach.

 

As far as the resort is concerned, we really enjoyed our time here and would recommend it to anyone. We thought the food was very good; we loved our room (building 10 with a great view of the beach); the beach and ocean were amazing, and the service was top notch. Again, for you couples planning a wedding down here, try not to stress about it too much - it will be beautiful!