JenniferSS

I received these photos of the Sky Deck weddings today! This must have been from the Monday trial run that they had! azsskywedd

Quote: Originally Posted by TA Jennifer I'll forward those on- who is your travel agent? They should be assisting you with getting these answers if you are having a hard time withthe resort. This was for soontBTWells!

I'll forward those on- who is your travel agent? They should be assisting you with getting these answers if you are having a hard time withthe resort.

That is so weird that they weren't allowing photo's! When I was there on Friday October 24th and then again on the 26th. I took photo's and video and they were glad to see me do it and asked me to share the materials. As foar as the symbolic ceremony- I'll need to double check the stay requirements but I am pretty sure that you would still need to purchase a package. Part of the reason may be that they only do two ceremonys a day and a symbolic counts as one of them.

Alot of work -definately. alot of fun....hmmmmm....not so much! It was an incredible busy, hot and damp working trip. My blisters had blisters! We didn't get any time to spend on the beach (unless you count walking it to see where the weddings are set up!), or at the spa- we did have about a half hour in the pool at Secrets Silversands! Most days we were up at 6am'ish and would get back to the resort at 7pm! see what we do for our Brides & Grooms! I do have video and photo's of all of the properties! It's just getting the chance to get it downloaded ( tried with the photo's this weekend but it appears that my connection cord is damaged so I need to get a new one of those!) I wrote a quick seperate review of Azul Sensatori- it's in the RM section. If I get a chance I'll find it and copy the link to this thread! The Sensatori is beautiful and will be amazing once it gets up and running! They were telling us that they were definately going to be open on November 1 and I haven't heard anything different! Excellence Playa Mujures- beautiful! The staff is eager to please, rooms are beautiful and make sure you use the spa- it's breathtaking! Secrets Maroma- we had a quick visit here but I don't think that you will be disappointed. Expect a few hiccups as the resort just opened and it usually takes at least 3 months to get everything ironed out. the rooms are beautiful, the lobby and restaurants are beautiful and it's located on Maroma beach! Emily- I've seen the Playa Car Palace, it is very nice, modern and trendy! Another option may be Secrets Silversand or Secrets Maroma. Another option may be El Dorado Maroma. Everything is modern and beautiful but not as trendy more natural woods and white fabrics on the beach & pool beds than the trendy colos and white and beige color scheme. (I hope that made sense!) I think I answered all of the questions!

That would certainly explain the difference in information! When I was at both properties last week the beach at Royal Playa del Carman was fantastic! Very deep and wide! The beach at Royal in Cancun was nearly non existant. they do have a large gazebo that goes over the water and a beach next door that you could use at the Gran porto but both would need to be a little smaller wedding to fit everyone!

Definately use TA Dina! She'll find the best rate for your guest ~it'll either be better than or the same as booking with any of the sites already listed! Plus your guest will get amazing service! Keep in mind gals that this forum is supported by booking with the BDW Ta's. It cost Tammy alot of $$ , time and effort to keep the forum up and running and Free for all of you- show your gratitude by booking with a BDW travel agent! You certainly don't want this to become a place where you would have to pay to join to get all of this amazing information and resources! Tammy is very particular about who she let's be a TA for BDW brides and puts us through quite a process to become part of the forum!

Quote: Originally Posted by katken Jennifer, Thank you so much for organizing the Webinar, it was very helpful! It was my pleasure Katken! I look forward to future webinars with Karisma (El Dorado & Azul) and we are working on some additional future promotions that are exclusive for our BDW brides!

Quote: Originally Posted by Rhonda Hello, I couldn't attend the webinar. is there a way to get the information that was discussed? Thanks! Hi rhonda! Let me know if you are interested in the discounts for booking- we may be able to arrange something!

To receive the discounts you must book through me~ this was a Sand & Sun Vacations & BDW exclusive! We arranged the discounts & upgrades for those who support the forum by booking through me. I'm not sure if you realize but this forum is supported by using the BDW TA's. The forum is an incredible resource for destination wedding brides and quite honestly their isn't anything else like it on the web ! At this time it is open to everyone and free for members but it does cost an amazing amount of $$ to keep it up and running (to give a quick idea - it costs more monthly to run the forum than what most people want their guests to pay for travel to their wedding!). Add to that the time each of the TA's donate (especially Tammy! )to answer questions and assist brides planning their DW plus the amazing mods!

I understand the frustration about the beach butlers- I'll see if we can get some more definative dates on that. SoontobeTwells- what else did you want to know as far as the wedding details? Because we were covering all the properties for Karisma they had to do it a little more generic as far as the details but that is why we had Faith- the director of the entire wedding department for Azul & El Dorado on the Q&A session to answer the more specific questions. If there are any additional questions let us know and we'll get them answered.

Thank you everyome for attending the webinar- we had a great turn out! If you think of any additional questions please feel free to post and we'll get them answered. Don't forget we only have till Wednesday November 12th to take advantage of the discounts! Karisma has also agreed to lower the room nights need for the $50 and $100 off from 5 nights to 4 and to provide $25 discount off of any room booked for 3 nights! I'd also love any feed back about the webinar. We are looking into offering more webinars and would like the experience to be fantastic for everyone!

Last call for the webinar! Starts in 2 minutes!

Yup! Only two weddings a day and the property is so spread out plus they schedule at least two hours between the wedding ceremonys so each bride is given personalized attention! There may be some things that people dislike about Lomas policies but I have to say that overall they offer a fantastic experience once you are onsite!

Don't forget about the webinar tonight! Recieve these exclusive savings and specials only available through BDW and Sand & Sun Vacations! Book your stay within 10 days of the webinar & receive a Free Upgrade * ( up to a $375 value) plus an additional $50 off of your stay**/ $100 for casitas or Honeymoon suites **! Date & Time Date: Sun, Nov 2, 2008 Time: 7:00 PM EST Duration: 45 minutes Host(s): Roxana Alvarez Presenter Information * Restrictions apply- ** Must be booked for 5 nights or more and must be original booking category.

El Dorado Seaside - this was a suprising favorite. I don't know exactly what I expected but this resort surpassed it with flying colors! Azul Fives - The rooms are Oh My Goodness gorgeous! The suites with the rooftop lounge areas are worth every penny so that you could have a private party with an amazing view! El Dorado Maroma - Azul Beach-Best family boutique AI ! The little touches at this property made all of the difference! Great beach, great ambiance and amazing service. Highly recommend for those with little ones- they even provide babies with their own Azul bathrobe! Azul Sensatori El Dorado Royale- gets the vote for best Beach chapel. Also best service! Anything you requested was greeted with a smile and taken care of! The grounds while large were impressive in their beauty and how well maintained they were! The rooms were quite large and the beds were sooo very comfortable! I hated to leave this property! Riu Palace Mexico Royal In Playa- again one of my favorites. it's the little touches, great beach, rooms, eats, wedding packages that are flexible, spa and the close proximity to 5th ave make it a sure winner! Iberostar Paraiso Complex ( Lindo , Maya, Grand ) Excellence Riviera Cancun- One of my favorites, very liberal outside vendor policy and they have an stunning beach, spa and of course grounds. I vote this one of the top Beach wedding sites- private & beautiful ! Moon Palace Valentin Imperial Maya - this was a hidden gem of a resort!This gets my vote for the best Chapel. I don't know if pictures will do it justice but it took my breathe away! This also gets my vote for the most romantic honeymoon suite in the Riviera Maya- maybe the world! The understated Wow factor here is evident in every nook and cranny.The entire resort just oozes romance and physical beauty. Secrets Silversand- Southbeach meets Mexico! Modern, hip and trendy this resort was made for those sporting logo'ed swim wear during the day and lounging at the bars at night! Maromar Secrets Maromar Ceiba del Mar Sun Palace Royal In Cancun Excellence Playa Mujeres That's it for tonight- as I get a free moment here and there I'll try to fill in and expand the rest!

Well I made it back from my site visits of 21 Riviera Maya resorts! The trip was exhausting but amazing and I have a boat load of video to go through! Lomas travel was A+++- they assisted in arranging all of the site visits ( thank you Karla!) and transfers. Professional, courteous and more than accomodating I can't recomend them enough. I booked the private SUV ( which with all of the rain RM had received some of the roads into the more remote resorts such as Maroma an SUV was definately warranted!) The drivers were always kind and our guide Victor was fantastic. He did his best to keep us on schedule while all the time keeping in touch with the resorts and accomodating our every wish! This was our itinerary: Thursday,Oct 23rd: 11:20 - Arrive to Cancun, transfer to El Dorado Royale Friday, Oct 24th: Karisma Site inspections 08:30 Pick up at El Dorado Royale 09:35 Site inspection at El Dorado Seaside 11:00 Site inspection at Azul Fives 12:00 Site inspection and lunch at El Dorado Maroma 15:00 Site inspection at Azul Beach 15:50 Site inspection at Azul Sensatori 17:50 Site inspection at El Dorado Royale Saturday, Oct 25th: 08:15 Pick up at El Dorado Royale 09:00 Site inspection at Riu Palace Mexico 10:00 Site inspection at Royal In Playa 11:30 Site inspection at Iberostar Paraiso Complex ( Lindo , Maya, Grand ) 13:00 Site inspection at Excellence Riviera Cancun 14:15 Site inspection at Moon Palace We also squeezed Valentin Imperial Maya in on Saturday Sunday, Oct 26th: 12:00 Transfer to Secrets Silversand The wedding coordinators and sales managers of the resorts do not work on Sundays so we were able to have a down day. This is when we walked back over to Azul Sensatori and met with the owner and GM. Monday, Oct 27: 10:00 site inspection at Secrets Silversand 11:00 site inspection at Maromar 12:00 site inspection at Secrets Maromar 13:00 Site inspection at Ceiba del Mar 14:30 Site inspection at Sun Palace 15:15 Site inspection at Royal In Cancun 16:30 Site inspection at Excellence Playa Mujeres Tuesday, Oct 28th: Departure. I'll try to post brief synopsis of each resort and then longer reviews with a few pics later!

Hey gang! I just wanted to jot a few notes about my site visit to Azul Sensatori on 10/ 24! I took video of our tour and a few pics with my camera- hopefully I'll get a chance to post them soon! We also popped back in on Sunday to see how it was going and it had progressed from Friday. On Sunday we had a meeting with the owner and the GM and yes they are sticking with the November 1st opening date. They had divulged to us that at that time one full room block was completely ready ( the premium block) and they were going to upgrade all of the guests to those rooms ( they are georgeous so the guests should be happy!). Most of the interior restaurants and bars were finished and some were still in the process of getting furniture moved in. The big delay has been the weather- they've been getting a tremendous amount of rain over the last month and that coupled with the humidity has made it near impossible to get the last finishing touches ( painting, pools ect)done. However I didn't see any scaffolding and the only big construction that I could recall was the roof of the Mexican restaurant being shingled. We couldn't go see the where the Sky weddings will be held as they were still working on some construction. They had planned on doing a mock set up on Monday 10/27 if all had gone well! Unfortunately we had other site inspections scheduled for Monday and got in very late so we missed it! The beach cabanas were almost finished with construction ( on Friday there was one completed and by Sunday the majority were up & thatched) and the teens club looked completed but the furniture wasn't laid out -just piled in the room. While we were there it started pouring again so I didn't get a chance to see the childrens club as they hussled us back inside but there were workers in that area. The landscaping looked pretty nice ( we saw Secrets Maromar and the landscaping there was not as far along as it is at Sensatori). I really liked the fact that they were keeping one section of the beach without the cabanas so that they could have weddings there. There was also a shell of what looked like it would be a bar on the "empty" section of beach which would be great for receptions! The pools are huge and still needed to be scrubbed and filled on Sunday. The pool beds were constructed but the bottoms and mattresses were not in. HTH!

Hello Ladies! I've forwarded all of the questions on! You should have all received an email confirming that you are signed up for the webinar and that provides a link to the webinar and telephone number to listen in. If you have not received that check your spam folder. if you still don't have it you may need to resign up and monitor your inbox/spam folder for the email. See you tomorrow!

I'd recommend working with a TA to find exactly what you are looking for, including not needing reservations. You want to be sure that all of the other requirements for your wedding will be met such as outside vendor policies, group size, pricing for hotel & wedding packages, quality of services, wedding & reception locations, general resort ambiance ect. There are many AI's that don't require a reservation for dinners but they tend to be 4 or 5 star properties, can be adult only or cater to families and can range from smaller intimate properties to large mega all inclusives! A quick off the top of my head ( Remember I'm still recovering from my whirlwind 5 days in Mexico and 21 hotel site inspections!) Azuls ( Sensatori, Fives, Beach) & El Dorado (Royal, Maroma & Seaside Suites) Valentine Secrets (Capri, Silversands & Maroma) Royal Playa Del Carman Excellence Riviera Cancun & Playa Mujures Ceiba del Mar It's not a complte list but plenty to get started with! If you may be interested in Azul or El Dorado we have a webinar tomorrow ( Sunday Nov 2). Feel free to sign up and listen in!

I just saw the Maroma- breathtaking! It would be very intimate and the grounds & beach would make the most amazing photo shoot! They seemed very open to making it the wedding of your dreams.

Great news! We have a new TA coming on board that specializes in Europe & South Pacific ( New Zealand, Fiji & Tahiti!)! She's amazing! Look for details coming soon!

Welcome to the forum! Each of the locations in Jamaica offer a different experience- I've had very happy couples stay at each of those resorts and they all were looking for something a little different in their wedding! It really depends on what YOU want!

Welcome to the forum! be sure to check out the webinar that we are having for the Azul & el Dorado properties! You can find the info in the Riviera Maya forum under stickies!

It depends on what room category, whether or not they want a meal plan and if it's in high or low season!