Now Larimar 2014 Brides

[duchovny0901]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bethlorentz 

@duchovny0901 Congrats to you too!  I have NO CLUE where I am going to do my dinner and dancing!  Any suggestions?  I will absolutely not be renting a restaurant though (not in the budget.)  What have you seen other big groups do?  I would love to be outside, but I just haven't really looked at the options yet.  What are you doing for photography, dj, ceremony, etc.?

 

I've been reading the forums for about 2 months and have noticed that in terms of reception everyone does everything! People have rented out a restaurant and some have had receptions on the beach as well as pool side. I can't recommend anything personally but I know what the limits are in terms of dinner guests for certain locations. For instance if you have your reception pool side, it can only be buffet style but it provides room for up to 100 guests. If you want to have a sit down dinner in a restaurant (but you don't want to rent out the entire thing) you'll get a reserved "section" of the restaurant but the max is 25 guests. So it all depends on what you want in terms of privacy as well as amount of people. So far, I've confirmed a 4pm fountain ceremony on 8/30/14. I wanted it to be more private (no beach onlookers!). For a DJ we requested pricing for DJ Mannia, as the company appears to be a HUGE hit with all the destination weddings. Plus the person they assign to you is the DJ and MC, whereas Now apparently charges for each separately. We are comparing pricing with the resort right now to see if their rates are comparable. As for photography we are going to stick with the resort's onsite company, WBA. We like their online photoalbum and don't want to pay the $500 outside vendor fee! We are bringing our own decor to save on costs as well (I love eBay!). So the only thing we have to pick is the dinner and dancing site! We still have over a year but I don't want to wait until the last minute to decide....

[amberk90]

Ok ladies I emailed our wedding coordinator Ms. Luisa Saturday with a huge list of questions and se got back to me today on Monday!!!! 2 days later!! I could not be any more excited! She answered all of my questions and sent us a wedding planning guide on excel that is extremely helpful and has all the pricing you need and gives you a total each time you add something on! I am so happy with Ms. Luisa! I feel so much better and a little less stressed! We are having our ceremony at 5pm on May 14 2014 and plan to have our reception at 7 at the relaxing pool with a buffet package. We are going to go with the resorts photographer wba and also the resorts DJ. We plan on bringing our own centerpieces and table decor. I hope you ladies get your questions answered soon and please share the details of your plans. I would like to know what you ladies have planned for centerpieces as well.

[duchovny0901]

amberk that's awesome news!!!!! Ok so I won't feel bad for emailing her so many questions! Woohoo! I'll let you know if I get new info!

[amberk90]

Don't feel bad at all! And think its probably easier to reply to one long email. Atleast I like to think so lol! Good luck!

[bethlorentz]

I heard back from Luisa yesterday too!  She did a great job of answering my questions, and I also got that excel spreadsheet!  I am hoping to move my ceremony time from 6 to either 4 or 5 though now that I see a lot of the reception sites "close" at 10pm.  I am 99% sure I will do my ceremony at the fountain and I am still unsure about my reception site.  I am going to do the silver buffet, unsure about dj, unsure about photo/video at this point... I am going to shop around and make sure the resort is the best deal!  

 

Someone asked about centerpieces... I think I will use whatever I get for my reception back home so I can use them twice!  I am not big on things like decorations and I am NOT a flower person!  I really just want a big party  I will probably end up doing some sort of vase with water and flowers/rocks.  It is probably going to be hard to pack those, but I shouldn't need too many.  

 

Is anyone else doing the fountain?  Are you bringing things to decorate that space?

 

Is anyone doing any group outings/excursions?  I want to either go on a catamaran or another type of "booze cruise" but I will only do it if they take you somewhere with calm water as I get super sea sick!!!  

 

Happy planning everyone!  So glad I found this site

[mellie818]

Yes, I'm May 2014! But will be getting married at Jellyfish.

[duchovny0901]

I emailed Luisa this past Friday morning and received a response 3 hours later! Amazing! She sent me two attachments: the PDF detailing ceremony and reception locations, but I could not open the spreadsheet! I emailed her back stating that I couldn't open it. Maybe I have a newer version of excel than she does? Can someone email me the spreadsheet so I can see if I can open it? drenna@gmail.com Thanks so much!

[duchovny0901]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bethlorentz 

I heard back from Luisa yesterday too!  She did a great job of answering my questions, and I also got that excel spreadsheet!  I am hoping to move my ceremony time from 6 to either 4 or 5 though now that I see a lot of the reception sites "close" at 10pm.  I am 99% sure I will do my ceremony at the fountain and I am still unsure about my reception site.  I am going to do the silver buffet, unsure about dj, unsure about photo/video at this point... I am going to shop around and make sure the resort is the best deal!  

 

Someone asked about centerpieces... I think I will use whatever I get for my reception back home so I can use them twice!  I am not big on things like decorations and I am NOT a flower person!  I really just want a big party  I will probably end up doing some sort of vase with water and flowers/rocks.  It is probably going to be hard to pack those, but I shouldn't need too many.  

 

Is anyone else doing the fountain?  Are you bringing things to decorate that space?

 

Is anyone doing any group outings/excursions?  I want to either go on a catamaran or another type of "booze cruise" but I will only do it if they take you somewhere with calm water as I get super sea sick!!!  

 

Happy planning everyone!  So glad I found this site

 

Beth I am doing the fountain ceremony. I'm planning on doing the full fountain setup (under add'l services) which includes: the white tulle for the gazebo, 2 tropical flower arrangements for the posts, ceremony table & centerpiece, wooden walkway w/ runner, and pommanders. I may change this plan though; I saw a wedding via YouTube at the fountain and one bride just had her wedding party walk down both sides of the fountain. I really don't want to pay $1500 for a wooden walkway I'm going to be on for like 30 seconds, but you only have one wedding, right?! I'll see if I can save money other ways and fit it in the budget as time gets closer. I plan to bring my own sashes for the chairs. Luisa said they charge $1 per sash to set up though.

[MJ Ouellette]

We are also doing the ceremony at the fountain and I am also taking the 1500$ package, I saw pictures and it is really beautiful!

I am bringing a photographer from home, so I don't have to worry about shopping around for prices!

 

I am debating on paying someone to do my hair and makeup, I am afraid that I will end up having to re-do everything!! Are you ladies doing your own hair/makeup?

[Marbear0503]

I am getting the Divine Package so my hair and make up is included. I might get a trail hair do done with a hair stylist at home and then take pictures so they can duplicate it at the resort. I heard they use MAC make up, so I am sure it will look great. Maybe take pictures of what you want your make up to look like, make sure your clear with what you want!