EDR Wedding Review... LONG... PICS!

[kitesurf_bride]

I am finally organized enough to write my wedding review! First, I have to admit that I have been more of a “lurker” than an active participant on this board. The main reason is that I discovered this board late in my planning process. But, it has been a valuable source of info and I’d like to do my part! I have always found that the reviews are the most helpful and we all LOVE pictures. One more thing before I begin… overall I had a amazing time at EDR and I only look back with wonderful memories. There were a few frustrating moments which I will point out only so future brides can prepare better than I did to handle them. Please feel free to ask me any questions. I would love to help. Off we go…

For those of you who want to skip straight to the pics, here is the link: http://edrwedding.shutterfly.com/action/

We arrived on a Wednesday to a pretty predictable check in process. Its Mexico, and lesson #1 is be patient. Nothing ever happens quickly. It took awhile for Lomas Travel to get us into our van to EDR. We were greeted at the resort with champagne (my first glass of 1,000). After about 15 minutes we were redirected to the Casita check in and another 15 minutes later we were shown our wonderful room with an amazing view of the resort and ocean. I have no complaints about the casita. One day our room did not get cleaned, but your personal concierge is there to help you out when you need it. We loved the bed on the balcony and we actually slept out there a couple nights… the sound of the ocean just lulls you to sleep. We met up with our parents at D’Italia for dinner. It was very good but did take about 3 hours. But, it allowed our parents to get to know eachother better. Afterwards we met up with a bunch more of our friends at the Guacamaya bar… always a good source of entertainment and dancing!

On Thursday morning, we had our appointment with the wedding coordinators. It was supposed to be at 9:00 but they were running 30 minutes late (be patient!). All the coordinators were very friendly and helpful. One thing that did bother me was that I had planned on getting married at the Casita Gazebo prior to our arrival. I was then informed that this gazebo would not work because the beach had been washed away and the gazebo was moved way up. They had to take us in a golf cart to see the other gazebos so we could pick another location. We ended up going with Gazebo 55. It is located all the way at the end (opposite of casitas). It does have the rock wall but it was pretty private and it’s the ONLY gazebo where there are no sandbags. We then went over the rest of the details with the WCs such as other events, flowers, rain locations, etc. HERE IS MY BIG LESSON: Make sure you like your rain locations! This is probably obvious to most of you. But, I was trying to have such a positive attitude about the weather that I kinda glossed over it. More on this later… Then, they make you sign on the dotted line when you are done so you don’t try to change anything.

Afterwards, I dropped off all my OOT bags (we had 42 guests) for the hotel staff to deliver. I had some major problems with this. Half my guests got them the day they checked in and some didn’t get them til the day before they left. Welcome to Mexico…3 days later? And, against my better judgement I also had them deliver my gift bags for my bridesmaids… these contained their jewelry for the wedding day and other more pricey items. They lost 2 of them for 2 days! At first they told me they had been delivered, then they told me they were delivered to the wrong room, then they were just lost. That was the only time I pulled a BRIDEZILLA moment and told them that they had better find them and now! In the end they did find them but I have no idea where they were for those 2 days.

During the days, we had wonderful weather and we mostly hung out at our casita pool and invited many of our guests to join us. Everyone had a great time with the cocktails flowing freely! We ate at most of the restaurants except Fondue. It was always more difficult to get tables of 6 people, we usually had to wait like an hour, but the food was fantastic and the service was slow but friendly.

Friday 9am, I showed up at the Spa for my hair trial appt. They told me that they had me scheduled for the day before. I am positive that they got this wrong. So they told me that the girl who was doing my hair for the wedding wouldn’t be in til 1pm and I could come back later. I ended up skipping it because I was having too much fun with my friends at the pool and I didn’t want to leave the sun for 1 ½ hours. My hair ended up going pretty well the day of the wedding. The woman didn’t speak much English but I had a picture. It didn’t turn out exactly right and one of my bridesmaids was there to help me out a little but I was happy with it.

Friday night we had the Mexican Cocktail Party at the Gaviotas Casita. It was a nice casual way to get everyone together and mingle. Gaviotas was a perfect place, right by the ocean. The food was really good the the waiters were on top of everyone’s drinks. We did get the donkey which cost us an extra $150. I have to say that I am on the fence about this. Our guests did get some fun pictures with him, but he was NOT friendly! In the end I just felt like I was holding this poor animal captive in a sombrero.

more to follow...

[kitesurf_bride]

WEDDING DAY!
My bridesmaids surprised my by getting all the ladies together for brunch at Fuentes. Honestly, I have no idea how they were able to get them to put a table together for 16 people because of how strict they are on that. Then I went to the SPA for nails and hair. I have to say I was not impressed with the French mani/pedi. For the amount of money I paid it was not up to par. No massage, or scrub or anything, it was very basic. But it had to be done, by Saturday my toes were looking rough! My bridesmaids and mom and I then went back to my casita to get ready. We ordered some room service and did our makeup and got dressed.

And then it started to rain…

I got a call from the WC that they were going to have to move my reception location. I begged them to wait because it was still 4 hours away at that point and it didn’t really look like it would be a big long downpour. They refused. They said that it takes them 4 hours to set up the food, table, etc. We were supposed to have our reception at Tucanes (its so cute), but they moved us to the Indoor pool area. Its not really indoors, its just under a much bigger palapa. And its much more public.. right next to Guacamayas…the loud swing bar. I was afraid that we would be drowned out by their music but it ended up being fine because they didn’t start up til about 9 and we were done at 10. (See? Make sure you like your rain locations!)

And it kept raining. Its now an hour before the ceremony and I am starting to have a little breakdown. Jon and I just REALLY wanted to get married on the beach, I just couldn’t imagine doing it inside. The WC came by my casita said that they would hold out and wait til the 15 minutes prior to the ceremony to decide if the had to move it. I started getting all teary. The WC came back in and said “Look Miss… its starting to clear, don’t cry!” It was so sweet. Then about 15 minutes later it did stop and everything was a go. They came by with the golf cart at 5 minutes til 4 and picked me up with my 2 bridesmaids (they explicity say that you can ONLY have 2 passengers).

One more thing about the rain… make sure your guests know where you rain location is as well. We were worried that we were going to have to scramble and try and get in touch with everyone right before the ceremony.

We had a civil ceremony where the judge spoke Spanish and the WC translated. We inserted our own vows and a reading. I thought it was perfect! Amny of our guests thought it was very romantic. We did the signing of the documents as well as our witnesses. We had to thumbprint the documents as well which I had no idea about til that moment! We just burned a CD with our songs clearly labeled… one for walking in, one for the signing (we also did our reading then which filled the time nicely) and one for walking out. I also made a CD of about 20 minutes of songs to play while people were gathering at the site.

We didn’t hire a photographer. It was just so expensive! And when I looked at the portfolio of the EDR photographer it just didn’t seem worth it to pay $500 an hour. Luckliy I have a stepsister and a friend from collage who are both ametuer photographers. They did such an amazing job! I couldn’t have asked for more from someone I would have paid thousands of dollars.

After the ceremony, Jon and walked around and took pictures around the resort. We directed our guests to gather in the martini lounge for a dirnk and we would meet them there. (We had a 1.5 hour break btwn the ceremony and reception). This ended up working out really well b/c it was pretty muggy and I think everyone enjoyed getting into the AC for a while.

We showed up at our rain location (indoor pool) at 6pm for our BBQ Deluxe reception. They had everything set up nicely even the centerpieces that we brought down except one thing! No speakers for our music. The speakers didn’t show up til 6:45. I was annoyed (but trying not let the guests see that I was annoyed) b/c we had gone to so much trouble to burn all these CDs for dinner. One other thing about the music… an Ipod would have been easier b/c toward the end we started skipping through to find songs that we wanted at the time.

The food was great! Everyone loved it and there was so much. We ended up not doing a cake b/c the BBQ came with dessert and I heard the cake wasn’t good anyway. Everyone danced and had a great time. The waiters were very entertaining and geot everyone out of their chairs for a congo line and shots. The location near Guacamayas ended up not being a big deal, we even moved our party right down there at 10pm when they closed us down.

We got back to our room and our “romantically decorated Jacuzzi” had drained. I think they thought we would be back to our room right at 10 and we didn’t get back til 11, but we just filled it up again. And we did get our breakfast in bed the morning after.

Most of our friends and family left Sunday so we had a few more days to spend alone together. It was so nice being in a casita b/c you never have to fight for chairs or palapas. You are farther away from stuff, but I really didn’t mind the walk, it was so beautiful!

We had an amazing time! You just have to remember that things work slowly in Mexico and you have to roll with the punches. I really tried not letting little things bother me and in the end everything worked out. I am so sad its over!

That was WAY longer than I thought it would be! Feel free to write me with any questions. You can view lots of pictures here:
http://edrwedding.shutterfly.com/action/

[LadyP]

The pictures were great. The hazy sky made for a faboulous background. Glad almost everything turned out for the best. The most important thing is that you are a MRS

[JulieG]

Wow, you look stunning. I love your hair and the flower in it. The ceremony area is also stunning, I love it. You did a great job with everything.

Those are amazing centerpieces. Did you bring those or were they an option?

[royfa]

You look amazing! I love your hair.

[maggiemaylou]

Sara - Your wedding pictures are beautiful. I just started this planning process with EDR and I have to say that your review is REALLY really helpful! I am at the very beginning, and stressing about the smallest things. I might be asking you a lot of questions in the near future.

If you think of ANY other advice for the soon-to-be EDR brides, please please post!

Thanks again Sara for your review and pics!

[Carolena7]

Beautiful pics!! I love your dress and your hair looks amazing!!!

[shannon]

These are beautiful!! The pix are great!! I love your dress and hair- everything was amazing!!! Congratulations!!!!!:cheer2

The info was very very helpful- thank you so much- I'm getting married at EDR in May- so this was awesome!

Did you have to pay to have speakers set up for your music/cds? I am working with Valeria as my coordinator for the resort- and this is what she wrote me this week...
"250.00usd to have speakers and amplifier, you will just plug your Ipod, and
"Let the music Play" As our beloved Barry White used to say...

Did you have to pay $250 to have speakers set up!? Did they set the music/speakers up at ceremony site and at reception!??! It seemed really expensive to me--

Everything looked amazing- thanks again for review!

[brandoo]

Great pics! Almost uncanny, I chose gazebo 55 for the ceremony and I have the same type of fans with programs attached. I like the simple style of your ceremony, dress, etc... very nice. So I was wondering... did you feel like you needed someone to emcee, did you have someone do this, or did everything run smoothly without it? I like your idea of having everyone congregate at the martini bar in between times, good inexpensive way to pass the time and keep the group together. Thanks for sharng everything! -Holly

[brandoo]

One more question...
Did you have golf carts to get your guests from one spot to the next (ceremony to martini bar, etc)... how much of a walk is that? I wil hae some older family members there and would like to have them taken from place to place in a golf cart, but wasn't sure how readily available they were after your ceremony or if you used them. Thanks! -Holly