natalie ann

You have a great plan. We stayed at a top floor casita the whole time, wonderful, but if you can stay at a swim-up casita would be the best it's more like a honeymoon and a little away. The pool bar waiter comes right to your swim up to get your drinks, the smaller pool and swim up bar are not crowded.

Swim Up casita is wonderful, we loved it!

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The ones from Michaels' was the glass votive and candles, a box of 12 for $6.00, but we brought them down. My mom's friend had room in her suitcase.

If you are going early you might be able to buy them in playa de carmen a lot cheaper. I bought mine at Michaels for .50 (a box of 12)

I'm pretty "techy" but I had a hard time posting photos here. Just put your photos on snapfish or kodak galley and paste in the link it was easier, I was an Azul Five Bride who had to choose from Sensatory or Eldorado. My wedding was at Eldorado and it too was very windy. They did a great job with my hair. Snapfish: Share:Registration

The resort did a wonderful job, don't pay get it done at home. Just make sure to have it steamed the day before so you are not nervously waiting for your dress. The bridal shop where I bought mine from did steam it after alterations but the airlines didn't have a great place for it to hang. My mom hung my dress, all opened up, in her casita from the drapery rod. It looked good but I still had the resort steam it. I changed my mind as to where I was dressing and the concierge was great, personally picked it up and brought it (by golf cart) to my maid-of-honor's suite and opened the dress up again there for me. PS: The spa where I got my hair done also did an awesome job (I was very nervous about that too).

We had 5 bridesmaids and seven tables, just bought 2 more bouquets for centerpieces. And you should be negotiating with 82 guests! Have you seen this map? map_doradoroyal.jpg We liked the A2 La Isla Pool but the largest is A11 Fuentes but that was at the opposite end. We arranged to meet guest as they came in at JoJo bar R6 central near A2 pool.

Use your bouquets for centerpieces, but insist on seeing the vases they rent toyou. Bring non flower decorations (sea shells etc) and have a friend or family put them out. The tables are really pretty even without anything, beautiful tablecloths white on ivory. Good luck it's really a beautiful resort, a lot of flowers and greenery, not bare like the other new ones. Maybe threaten like they are lucky to get people to come to mexico with all the violence. I bet their bookings are really down.

My reception was at Tucannes Bar, it was Jan 31 2009 so probably will be less windy for you. If you have candles maybe have a glass hurricane as ours were going out. I really did not like the vases they rented to us. With the bouquets in them they were top heavy. The vases were really just a footed tall glass. My mom got frustrated with all the extras so she brought a wooded box (just packed some clothes in it so it really didn't take up much space) and later put sand in it for the shells. We actually left it at Eldorado for other girls to use, but I bet they either threw it out or are renting that! Ha! Ask Valeria if they saved the one we left. Tell her you're friends with that couple and they said you could use it free. Tell her it was the the Ozog/ Katz wedding Jan 31, good luck. We did use a DJ. Glad we did, he had all these color lights, bubble machine, and balloons. Made it fun and festive. We bought a couple of mexican hats ($7.00 in town) that were passed around during the dancing, good for photos too! The DJ however did not know much english so we had one of the younger outgoing guest act as MC, it made it personal and fun.

We rented vases from Lomas for the bridesmaids bouquets. They were really only footed tall drink glasses and they were blowing over all night until we just got rid of them and left the bouquets on the table. The rules at Eldorado can drive you crazy. So for them to give you that ridiculous legal bit is over the top. My mom put out the other decorations of seashells and fabric. They also made us write and sign a release form minutes before the wedding because there was a 10 percent chance of rain and they would not be responsible for the DJ or dinner getting cancelled. Why do they even promote a destination wedding? My mom signed something, we did have a beautiful wedding once we got past their rules. Don't let them ruin your day! http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=263660781/a=161245638_146623755/t_=161245638;jsessionid=9A63EA7E27E1DC45008839FE0E 0851F58[/img]

Valeria told us they will have menu cards on the tables too, but that never happened. So make sure you ask the on-site WC. By the time we went to dinner it was too late. How are you handling the assigned seating? Our guest loved the painted sand dollars with their names and table numbers on them.

I did not order beach candles. My mom brought sheer teal fabric, some sea shells, votives (which did not stay lit because of the wind) and we had the bridesmaids bouquets for centerpieces on each table, rented the vases. I refused to pay set up (we had 53 people at $5 each is crazy). My mom and aunt had plenty of time after the ceremony to set up. Are you having assigned seating? That takes some planning.

This is from our spreadsheet from Valeria: "Mexican Wedding Photo package 2 80 pictures 4x6 (including 20 b&w) 10 pics 5x7 (3 b&w) 3 pic 8x10 (1 b&w , 2 color) Bride getting ready, Ceremony, Bride and Groom portrait by the beach, group photo, wedding party and family. Time aprox of photographer service 3 hours CD with the files in High Resolution and Photo Album. Ok Marlet 22/12/08$978.00" As far as the chair covers, I really liked them at the reception dinner because the table linens they give you are very dressy, a beautiful off white pattern, not just white. They will try to get you to order more decorations when you are at the resort and everything seems wonderful and you just say yes to all these additions. Order maybe 10 torches now and wait until you see Tucanes. You can order more after your final on-site meeting. See if you can put the torches close to the table and dance areas. They recommended we get 10 more and put them on the far side of the pools and that was a waste. I also thought the floating bouquets were a big waste and they talked us into them last minute too. But Tucanes was a beautiful location for a reception, yours will be really nice because it will be light outside for several hours and you will love the beauty of the area. Also make note, we got a $200 credit for our trouble with moving from Azul Five but they didn't make it clear that was only for the Spa services, so make sure you use it correctly. Several people in out group either didn't get it until they asked or didn't get to use it by the "rules". Are you getting an upgrade to a casita? They are fabulous.

We were going to go with the $36 set meal, but I did the $60 set menu just because I wanted lobster, but I am sure they are all wonderful. The food at Eldorado was exceptional. And all my guest raved about the entire dinner, app, soup, main course, and dessert. Said it was the best wedding dinner they ever had. No cake, saved there. We did 3 hrs with the photographer and I think it was only $100 more than the 2hr. Who are you dealing with at Travelly.com? Owen Mandez? When is your wedding date?

I forgot to answer your chair question. For a private event you chairs are included and covers are extra but negotiate, they will work with you. You get a fixed number of chairs with the ceremony and must pay for extra ones. The covers are extra too, so we just did bows for the beach and both for the reception dinner.