mellowdrama

Okay, so I'm a little irritated. My wedding is 2 weeks away. We are using our free group dinner reservation for the night that all of my guests arrive. Kind of a welcome dinner, I suppose. We are only going to have 13 people total (including me and my husband). So, for the wedding ceremony... it'll be very small, very intimate. We're just renewing our vows (we got married at a civil ceremony at the courthouse last year, and got robbed of an actual wedding ceremony and honeymoon). So, we've been married for a year already. The jig is up. We don't need anything really fancy. We didn't want to have a big elaborate dinner afterwards and since we're all pretty laid back, we figured that after the ceremony, we'd go over to one of the restaurants and try to get some tables near each other for dinner. That way, we could have free reign over the entire menu, and not be limited to some less-than-desirable looking menu options. Apparently that's a no-go. The resort won't let us do it, (so says Carolina, my WC) They said that they can't accommodate groups larger than 6 people. That's fine, we said. No big deal. We have all week to hang out together. If we can't sit directly beside each other, we can live with it. Nope - they won't even entertain the idea of 13 people arriving at one restaurant at the same time. They said that I'll have to book a group reservation and have to choose items from the crappy limited menu. Not to mention that the group reservations limit the restaurant selection to either EL Cocotal or Las Fuentes. No option for any of the other restaurants. So, I'm kinda pissed. It doesn't seem like we're making ridiculous requests here. I would like to remind them that we picked EDR because we had heard good things about it, and the only reasons that our guests are coming and paying a lot of coin to stay at this place is because WE picked it. So, they should try to make us happy. I'm starting to wonder if choosing EDR was an unwise descision....

Quote: Originally Posted by Mandy Amy, anytime we had breakfast at El Cocotal, there was always a ton of room and we had no problem sitting with everyone if we wanted to. I would recommend you use this for a dinner at Las Fuentes or El Cocotal. We preferred Fuentes. Maybe a welcome dinner or good bye dinner. Just my two cents. Wow - that's incredibly helpful! Good to know - I wasn't too crazy about the dinner options, and that's why we went with the breakfast idea. We'll review the dinner options again, and re-think the decision about using the free meal for breakfast. I've got plenty of time to decide, since the wedding isn't until December. Thanks for the advice!

Great idea for this thread! Name: Amy Wedding Date: Dec 1 2008 Time: 4:00pm Number of Guests: 22 Ceremony Location: Gazebo 55 (cake and champagne toast to follow ceremony) Private Cocktail Party after Reception: Mexican - Location unknown at this time * In lieu of using the 'free group dinner reservation' in our free wedding package, we will be using this meal for a group breakfast, the day of the wedding at El Cocotal.

Hello there, Neighbor! I'm just off of the Downtown Apex exit off of 64 - you're right, just down the road! I haven't bought my dress yet! I'm hoping to lose a little more weight until I go ahead and buy one. I've got time, since my wedding isn't until December. Four weeks, huh? You must be so excited! I can't wait to hear about it - we've already committed to EDR, and it's discouraging to read some of the comments made about the resort on the forum. I hope you have a better experience than some of the nightmares that some people have had - can't wait to hear about it!

Quote: Originally Posted by BandE2008 Side questions I am hoping you girls can answer! I am starting to book the details for the wedding. Please help by answering the following. I am sure it will help future brides too! FREE RECEPTION INFO WHERE ARE YOU ABLE TO HAVE YOUR FREE up to 40 guest DINNER AS PART OF YOUR WEDDING PACKAGE? IS IT OPEN MENU OR DO YOU NEED TO MAKE SELECTIONS? DO THEY PROVIDE MENUS FOR THIS? PRIVATE RECEPTION INFO WHAT ARE ALL THE LOCATION OPTIONS FOR THIS THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT? AND, WHAT LIMITS DO THEY HAVE (i.e., La Isla option, limit is you need more then 70 guests)? WHAT WERE YOU TOLD IN MAKING SELECTIONS? (i.e., you need to pick min three courses) HOW MANY CHOICES DO WE GET TO MAKE (i.e., a meat and a veg option)? HOW LONG DO YOU GET FOR YOUR PRIVATE RECEPTION? CEREMONY INFO WHAT ARE ALL THE LOCATION OPTIONS FOR THIS THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT? AND, WHAT ARE THE LIMITS? Thanks in advance! I think I have a few answers to some of this - and will help other girls, but I want to "top up" these answers for informed decision making! We are getting married on Dec 1 2008 at the EDR and are expecting about 20 people. We are using our "free group dinner reservation" for breakfast on the day of the wedding. We have to choose between Las Fuentes or El Coctal, and neither option is open menu (nor is it open menu if you decide to use the reservation for dinner). We have to select 1 appetizer, 2 main courses and I believe that it's unlimited coffee, drinks and mimosas. No menus provided - you will need to decide in advance which appetizers and main courses you want to be an option for your guests. We are having a private cocktail party following the 4:30 reception at the same location as the ceremony (gazebo 55). The private cocktail parties last 2 hours, and I believe that private receptions last 4 hours. I don't have a list of all of the site locations for the weddings and reception areas - sorry. We were originally going to have the ceremony on the beach, but decided to change it to gazebo 55 after Monica sent some photos of it, and we decided to have the cocktail party at the same site. For such a long response, I didn't answer many of your questions - sorry! Happy planning!

Quote: Originally Posted by jfwolfe72 I used Monica during my planning process and didn't really have too many complaints until recently about her. Since you're early in the process, I wonder if you could "switch" to Valeria. All of the EDR brides who have worked w/ her, loved her. Monica is sweet and nice - she gets back to you after a day or so - but she's not very organized and unless you stay on top of her w/ your organizational stuff, things may get kind of confused..... Thanks for the advice... I might just do that. I don't want to offend Monica, because she hasn't really done anything wrong. Since it's so early, I may give her some more time to get with the program. If not, I'll ask to switch before it gets to be too late. Thanks again!

My wedding at the EDR will be on Dec 1st, and I too am trying to decide what to do for our reception. Right now, the tentative plan is that we will be using our 'free dinner', as breakfast on the day of the wedding. At that point, we'll give out the wedding favors and cameras and all of that stuff. The ceremony is planned for later that day, at sunset on the beach, and we are thinking about having a 'private cocktail party' afterwards as a casual reception. I'm not sure if the private cocktail party is held indoors, or outdoors. I'm still waiting (impatiently) to hear back from my wedding co-ordinator, Monica. I'm getting slightly irritated with Monica, as she doesn't seem to be making many suggestions or offering much assistance. It seems that if I want any feedback from her, I have to ask very specific questions, and she will offer very specific answers. She doesn't seem to volunteer much info. Kind of frustrating when you think about how much we're spending on this trip/wedding. Anyway... I hope your plans go smoothly!

Congrats and welcome! My fiancé and I knew that we wanted the Mayan Riviera as well, and we decided on the El Dorado Royale. We wanted something adults-only. There are so many options and beautiful resorts... the hardest part will be to narrow it down to one.

Congrats and welcome to the forum. Dreams Cancun looks beautiful!

Welcome and congratulations!

Congratulations and welcome!

Welcome, Lily! Upon researching other resorts in the Cancun area, the Moon Palace looked great! We decided to go with another resort, but I know you'll have a great time there. Lots of time to plan, so I know it'll be awesome. Congrats!

Welcome from one Canadian to another!

Hey everyone - My name is Amy; I'm originally from Canada but I moved to North Carolina, USA to be with my wonderful soon-to-be husband. We are getting married on Dec 1st 2008 at the El Dorado Royale on the Mayan Riviera. We're expecting only about 20 people, and we are extremely excited! We decided on having a destination wedding for several reasons... my family wanted us to get married in Canada, and his wanted us to get married here in the States. So, we decided on a third party location to make it fair. Plus, there's something so appealing about getting married on the beach at sunset. I look forward to speaking with many of you! ~Amy