heatherjane

Hi Linda - I just had a large wedding at the EDR and you are more than welcome to call me if you have any questions. 403-695-6468 (evening) Heather

just a quick reply on the day pass issue. I agree that a person should have to buy a guest pass if they are coming into the resort since that entitles them to eat 3 meals however in our case they still charged us for guests that were coming in for our wedding. We had to pay a lot of money for a private event meaning we paid out of pocket for the dinner for our 63 guests even though it is all inclusive.

I just came back from my wedding at the EDR in early April. I had booked an Associate from Sol Tamargo and yes I had to pre-pay for $500. What really annoyed me was that when I arrived with 63 of my guests they informed me that my photographer was banned from their property and I was the only bride to allow them to come in. In other words they were making an exception for us. I spent nearly $20,000 on extras for my wedding including a private cocktail reception and private dinner & dance. They did an amazing job but you do feel like even though you are the customer you don't have any say in anything.... Another policy they should change is their policy for outside guests. They charged us around $100 per guest to come in for our wedding even though we already paid for a private dinner. Heather

I got my dress at Evaline Couture in Calgary but it is part of the Priscilla of boston/Melissa Sweet line. they have a line called the Vineyard Collection. My bridesmaid dresses are from Jenny Yoo Collection it is the josephine style.

SHoes!! I had about 15 feet to walk in the sand before I hit the wooden walkway that you can see from my pictures. It was fine but as you can see I found an amazing pair of platforms. They are Benjamin Adams. I am a size 8 and will probabaly be selling them once they come back from the cleaners. They were $300. let me know if any of you are interested... My bridesmaids had the stiletto heel and they were tricky because they could still slip through the slats in the walkway... Hope that helps.... Heather 403-612-1241 if you need help... I had so many questions like yours....

Hi Everyone....I had a couple of questions on hair/make and the menus I used. I was frightened to say the least about getting my hair and make up done down there but they were unbelievable. THey make up was amazing and my hair was perfect. As for the menus. I brought them down and had them ordered from a great girl who runs a company out of california. They were cheaper and were amazing... Custom Programs: Envelopments®, Pocket Folds®, Envelofolds™, Custom Wedding Invitations, Fan wedding programs I had fan programs, menus, table numbers and a seating chart done by her....if you would like I can send you the seating chart for a sample of her work. Here name is Adrienne... Heather

Here are our pictures.... del Sol Photography associate photographer Vincent I just love looking at them... Heather

In all Fairness... Re: Boycott El Dorado Royale & Karisma Resorts -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EL Dorado Royale Spa Resort Wedding April 11, 2008 65 People Having just returned from my wedding at the El Dorado Royale on April 11, 2008 I have mixed feelings and want to be upfront and fair about my comments. First off, the staff at the hotel was so kind and amazing and made our week a huge success. I realize there are a lot of unhappy brides out there due to the outside vendor policy and I am 100% on your side. I didn't realize it was as huge of an issue as it is until I got down there. We had a large wedding at the hotel and brought down 64 people in total. Due to the size of our group we had to pay for a private dinner event on the beach. I'm sure when planning a wedding anywhere in the world there are always stresses and things that don't go as you planned so I won't go in to detail. If you are planning on getting married at the El Dorado and have questions please feel free to contact me and I would be more than happy to give you some advice. During the planning process I had read in the "Knot Destination Wedding" book that you should ask for a sample of your photographer's work. I proceeded to do this with Lomas Wedding Planners and they sent me a link to the work produced by the photographer that they work with. I'm not into knocking anyone's work but the quality of the photographer was not at the level that we wanted. I believe they were around $800 for the whole package so in a sense you get what you pay for. I asked the resort for other options and they immediately told me we would have to pay $500 for even bringing anyone else in. I tried playing hard ball and suggested we might take our group somewhere else but they didn't seem to care so I was left eating the cost. Fine...I came go grips with this however when we arrived and met with our wedding coordinator at the El Dorado Royale we experienced a bit of a hiccup. Another lady called Rafaello (I might have this incorrect) came out behind the desk and was quite rude to us and told us that Sol Tamargo was banned from their hotel and they were giving us an exception because we had them booked for awhile. She said there were 7 upcoming weddings planned at their hotel with SOL and we were the only ones allowed to have them cover our wedding (they communicated this as if they were doing us a favour) This is not what I need to hear after bringing 65 people to their resort AND paying close to $20,000 to host a private dinner and cocktail reception. Give me a Break!!! In all fairness all of the other girls that I had dealt with at Lomas including Valeria were amazing. They don't make the policies so they can't do anything about these rules. I assume this is brought down from a corporate level and whomever has made these rules should not be running a company. I have other friends that are in the planning stages of their own weddings but because of this rule I am reluctant to tell them to go there. It is really unfortunate when I think about it because it is such a ridiculous rule and I can't figure out what they based this on... I can't stress enough though that the resort itself, the staff and the wedding was amazing. They will lose business if they don't learn to appreciate their business and allow outside vendors like Sol Tamargo. We had the privilege of working with her Associate Vincent Guihard and his partner Diego. The pictures they captured are incredible and worth every penny. If you are like me I was hosting a beautiful event and wanted a truly professional photographer capturing the memories which they did in every sense. Married Girl: Heather I know when planning our wedding we had a ton of questions about music and food and timing of events. Believe me...I am as thorough as they come and don't mind sharing my advice.... Here is a quick overview of what we did for our wedding: April 5 - Arrival at the resort April 8 - Wedding Shower at the Casita Pool April 9 - Boys Played Poker in the Martini Bar April 9 - Wedding Coordinator Meeting April 10- Rented Bus to take Group in to Playa Del Carmen for Rehearsal Dinner April 11 - WEdding Day *Spa Appointments in the Morning *Wedding Ceremony at 5PM at Gazebo 55 Which is at the far south of the resort * Cocktail Reception and Dinner/Dance at White Gazebo Terrace For our Ceremony we had the wooden posts covered in white silk with wooden chairs for our guests. We didn't get them covered and it looked beautiful. We had a wooden walkway covered in rose petals since I had heels on. We did a sand ceremony and had the rings carried in conch shells. We have Sonoma Tharpa. I was worried about the music selection but they were perfect. Romantic but still reflected the Mexican culture. They played Pachebel Canan in D. We then got our pictures taken while our guests headed down to our private cocktail reception which was right beside the tents we rented for the dinner and dance. We ordered a special signature drink for the cocktail reception and played music from our IPOD. We brought polaroid cameras for our guests to take pics with and put them in our albums and write notes. I got these from Adesso Albums. At 7PM my husband and I met the bridal party right outside the reception location and had the DJ play a song for our grand entrance. It was amazing. we then had speeches and dinner served during the meal. My bridal party had a surprise Pinata for our event. We didn't really get to enjoy the cake we ordered so I would discourage against this if you have a lot of people. We then had an amazing dance on the beach but unforunately 11PM was way too early to shut it down. They tried to shut it down at 10:30PM. I had starfish with pink tags and menus printed up for each place settings. I also had fan programs done up that were given out at the event. It was amazing!!!

I would buy wine outside the resort and bring it in..I believe it is quite expensive to order wine there....

My fiancee and I are tying the know on April 11, 2008 at the El Dorado Royale. We are having a hard time deciding on the music for each of the following events: Ceremony, Cocktail Reception, Dinner/Dance. Does anyone have any tips? I have been at the resort in 2007 for a weekend and fell in love with the place. My wedding coordinator is Valeria. Heather Bryce Ford & Heather Bowes' Wedding Website - WedQuarters