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.

We had 53 people, planned on the beach, but it was far too windy. We moved it to Tucanes and it was just beautiful. There is a dance area, so you don't have to rent a floor or a tent, easy to walk around, the tables to visit. Our ceremony was the beach (Fuentes Gazebo) which was wonderful but plan on wedge wedding shoes and tell your girls. One of mine had heels that punched though the runner into the sand, HA! Look at my photos, ( click on my name and go to my homepage) it was dark for the reception (Jan 31) so it is hard to see the reception area but our DJ had great color lights for dancing. I could go on, if you have tiki torches keep them closer to your dancing and dining, they are wasted around the far sides of the pool. Good luck

We used Mexican Wedding Photographers, through karisma. Not sure why they are not showing on their site but they still let you use them. We did the $950 (appx) package 3hrs plus small book and all the digital. My wedding was at 4pm the private reception at 6:30, so I had the photographer from 3:45 to 6:45pm the guest took all the rest and my video.I was pleased. You should check with Karisma about having your wedding at Eldorado Royal if you have no kids coming. It, as you see in the photos is really beautiful. I feel really bad for all the Azul five brides, but ours turned out besutiful, just alot of last minute stress!!! Also, if anyone is interested, I designed my own destination invites (airline tickets, I'm an artist), so many people loved them I am thinking of offering my services to other DW brides.

Hi Click on my name and go to my home page for wedding photos moved from Azul Fives to Eldorado Royal!

Here are some photos Natalie Ann

Hi "Brides to Be", My wedding was 2 weeks ago, NOT at Azul Five. We found out in mid dec that they were not opening until Feb 1st, my wedding was Jan 31. But they offered to open early just for us after my mother started going nuts. They finally did come through with moving all of us to Eldorado Royal. Still a few problems but the resort is just gorgeous. The landscaping impeccable. I was worried that Azul Five would be like a ghost town with only a few of the restaurants open and poor landscaping, and with other new opening problems too. I am trying to upload some photos to the gallery that show how beautiful Eldorado Royal was, but I having technical difficulties. In the meantime if I can answer any questions about Karisma or Eldorado Royal, or general DW write and I will help all I can. Happy new wife, Natalie Ann

Hi Mysti, Just curious where did you move your wedding? Still with a Karisma? My wedding was to be at Azul Fives in one week (Sat Jan 31 2009), booked it last May, it too got far to scary. They have a very disorganized office in miami, must be overworked employees. I have had so many different sales managers and wedding planners. They don't have the information on my guests and want me to contact them for payment, and they can't give my guests individual confirmations that they are at a new resort. We moved to Eldorado Royal. They still want to charge the one couple, who have to stay at Azul Beach resort because they have a child, close to $200 for them to come to the wedding even though they are paying for an all-inclusive day at another karisma resort and we are paying $120 for their dinners at our private event. I've given up arguing. Too much stress. But everything is suppose to be beautiful at that resort. Wish us luck. Let me know where you moved. Natalie

Eldorado is pretty big, did anyone use, or think about walkie talkies to find out if your party is at the beach, bar, or pool?

Sorry, didn't make that clear, we are coming to under $8000, that includes: Private event set menu dinner ($60 for surf & turf, bar service, dessert, no cake) for 55 people, our photographer (we chose the under $1000 package and a family member will video us) a classical guitarist for the ceremony, a DJ for the private dinner, 10 tiki torches, extra chairs for the ceremony (and bows) a colorl runner and color sheer drapping, rose petals, flowers for the bride, 5 bridesmaids and flowers for moms, guys and an extra bouquet for one table (the girls are putting their bouquets in a rented vase for the table centerpieces). That also includes some hair styling, manicures, brides massage. Extra beyond total is: $40 for place marks (we are painting and bringing sand dollars for seating place marks),we are buying cigars in town for the men, and making gift bags for the wedding party. Wedding clothing is also not in the total $8000 either. Hope this helps!

Hey, you can't count your trip expense, that's your honeymoon honeymoon! Your wedding cost is everything for the day event. We are at $8,000 not counting clothes. That's for the $ 60 choice surf & turf menu for 55 of us. Only $1000 for photographer, a classical guitarist, and DJ.

Hi I just switched to Eldorado Royal, have a few questions. We are rushing to get everything decided! I'm worried about a beach reception being too cool after dark. Ours is a Jan 31 wedding date. We have 55 of us so we are told either in a hall that could be a MI wedding hall or on the beach. Did any of you have your reception on the beach at night? Was it too windy and cold? Are there other options we are not being offered. We are the only wedding that day. I really wanted something outside. Also where is there jetskiing during the day, I read on one post someone was jetsking? Oh and if we are bringing votives and sea shells for our tables (all extras are so expensive) will they put them out for us or do we have to pay extra!! We are painting names on sand dollars for our seating chart and they want to charge $40 to rent a box with sand to put them in. Any advise would be helpful. Natalie Ann