evie

I should clarify. We negotiated the room rates a little not the salon rates.

Yes, we are using them as the hotel. We were able to negotiate a little but not much. But many of our guests are staying in other locations on the beach. I stayed there one night and really enjoyed it. Their nightly wine and cheese hour is so nice. They have an honor bar, a plunge pool that is open 24 hours, good mojitos, and it is near nice restaurants, etc.. I found the staff to be friendly. It has an intimate feel to it. There are small tables outside of the hotel rooms overlooking the lower floors and the atrium (I am not describing it well). If you want to have a quiet morning with coffee you can sit there. It is very romantic! The hotel is colorful, with lots of plants-pretty.

I am getting married at El Convento in 8 weeks (time flew!). I love El Convento.It is beautiful!!! Any questions just ask!

I am still sick but made it to the gym for weights! Back to the food log!

Lol. I feel much better after reading your replies! Thanks for the support. You all made me smile. After realizing the error and being mortified I called and emailed my friends to apologize. Most didn't notice-or pretended they didn't. I mailed out about 55. Yikes lol

Forgot to stamp the RSVP cards. Classic.

Quote: Originally Posted by uconncruiser Evie - I've taken a couple of cruises out of Puerto Rico and it's really a great port to start out of because you get to spend more time on the islands vs. at sea...of course it is your honeymoon so perhaps you want to have more days at sea!! If you have any questions on various ports - let me know! Congrats on the big day! I would love to hear your recommendations! We are taking Royal Caribbean/Adventure of the Seas. It goes to the Southern Caribean (Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, etc..)

I am sick!! No gym for two days...

Yesterday did 50 mins of cardio (treadmill, stairmaster and bicycle). Today core dvd video on balance ball and jogging in the park later!!!

Oops-I just saw your first post Latinhunny33-you are taking a cruise. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Latinhunny33-how exciting! Our wedding at El Convento is fast approaching also! Where did you decide for the honeymoon? You may have mentioned it and I missed it. We are thinking about taking a cruise out of San Juan because it is so easy!

Did strength training for 1 hour today and my lower body is sore from this workout: Burn 300 calories at home: this routine does double duty, blasting big-time calories and sculpting muscles all at once | Shape | Find Articles at BNET

I did a core video on the balance ball yesterday and 30 mins of indoor cardio because we had a snow day. Today weights at lunch! I am also keeping a food log. Mel&B 6 miles?! I wish I could!

I did a core video on the balance ball yesterday and 30 mins of indoor cardio because we had a snow day. Today weights at lunch! I am also keeping a food log.

Wow! This is my first time checking out this section of the forum and I am so impressed with you all! I wish I checked it out sooner. My wedding is 5-16-09. I have lost about 5 pounds with a trainer! Really bad eating habits. Today I did one hour of cardio (treadmill, eliptical and bicycle-I get bored!). But I am more toned because of the trainer. Tommorrow back to the gym.

Thanks Samantha!! The villa sounds like a great idea and it sounds very affordable. I think I will stick with making the travel arrangements myself.

MsSunshine, the church's website says that only one party has to be Catholic...maybe it was different before or maybe the website has old information.....Latinhunny, I just read some of the old posts and saw that you are getting married at El Convento!! Do you mind telling me who you chose as the band? And which flower company you went with? I am trying to decide between DJ or band. I am curious about what colors you chose for flowers! The hotel is so colorful. I am having a hard time deciding that also. Thanks!

Samantha-did you ever find a TA? Any suggestions?

As for the church-once you tell them what date, if it is free they ask you for a down payment and they book you (in pencil-lol-really). Then once you gather all of your documents you make an appointment to see the Priest and he interviews you. It then goes from pencil to pen. They told me it is not a difficult interview. I am not exactly sure what the interview will consist of but the woman from the church told me not to worry. Yes, it is the church that Marc Anthony got married at. And yes they do have a bilingual priest-my boyfriend does not speak Spanish. Regarding meeting the priest-yes you have to do it in person. I tried to get around that also because it is expensive to fly back just for a meeting but she said I had to. Maybe you will get lucky! But there are other churches nearby I believe, if that doesn't work out-you can always get married in the hotel's atrium. Regarding the food and consumption-a lot of the resorts/hotels are like that. Each room has a minimum amount that they charge for the room (depending on the day of the week you choose). So say the price is $10k for the room on a Saturday-you must reach at least $10k. You can reach it by ordering that much in food and drinks-then the room fee is covered. If you have a small amount of guests and your food and drink price doesn't reach 10K you will have to make up the difference. But if you book one of the smaller rooms the price is less. I believe the prices are listed on their website...it may not be but I have them somewhere. I will email them to you later today.

Hi MsSunshine, El Convento has a big ballroom where up to 150 people can be seated-I am having only about 30 or so in the ballroom! lol So there will be ALOT of dancing space. They plan on maybe using square tables to give the appearance of fullness-they can also block off an area. El Convento also has smaller rooms-one that has beautiful decor which they use for smaller parties. They are reasonable in terms of price. I actually have the prices somewhere in my email I think...I can forward you everything if you give me your email address. We are getting married in the church across the street!! It is very old but beautiful. We visited El Convento recently and were able to see three weddings! We saw their set up and they were very good. The wedding planner is on site which helps. Many people get married in El Convento in their atrium-which is gorgeous! I almost did it there. It is truly beautiful. Also, the food options are great. You can have open bar and a mojito or sangria station, etc.. For the church you give a downpayment -about $50.00 then they give you a list of things you must submit (like baptism certificate etc..), then you have to be interviewed by the priest and he will decide whether or not to let you use the church (sounds scary). The total cost for the church is about $400.00. Send me your email and I will send you what I have on El Convento. Every night for one hour the hotel offers for free wine and cheese for its guest on the patio which is very nice. The surrounding area is great! Great shopping, good restaurants, and there is a trendy restaurant called BARU where many people hold reherseal dinners.

Yes we are still here Kee Lac. I am set for May 16th, 2009, at El Covento in Old San Juan. I am trying to decide between a DJ or Band. The hotel has a wedding planner and she gave me a lot of choices for music. She suggested a string quarter for the ceremony with a soprano singing the ava maria, a guitar duo for the cocktail hour, a DJ for the ceremony and a bomba/plena band for 45 minutes as a surprise for the ceremony. Sounds good to me. Samantha-so nice to hear from you. The dress was one of the ones I emailed you. The Anne Barge one. I created my own save the date cards on zazzle.com. I used a photo of the hotel as suggested by others on this forum as the cover of the save the date card. You can make your own stamps, etc.. on zazzle. It's a good site.

Yeah Samantha! Glad to hear it worked out with El Conquistador! Very cool about the Oprah show by the way. I am happy for you. I am still at El Convento. Picked a dress, sent the save the dates, and...that's it so far!

Hi-I am looking for a TA that deals with weddings in PR. I cannot find one on the internet. Any referrals? Thanks!

Thanks-that was really helpful! I will take it to kinko's or a local printing press and get quotes.

Thank you both for replying! Those are great ideas but then what do I once I find the images? Print them out in color, take it to Kinko's and try to get it placed on a postcard? And then try to print the information for the wedding on the back? I would love to do that but not sure if this can work. Is that what you were suggesting? Thanks!