chevy14

Quote: Originally Posted by Barrierunner Does anyone know how much it cost at the hairdresser per person? I think I am going to let the hairdresser do my wedding hairdo as I still can't decide on the style and due to the humidity, I think I won't be able to leave it down with curls. Thanks! Hey Barrierunner, it is $50 per person - you are free though, it is included in the package!

Congrats Chantelle, can't wait to see pics!

Quote: Originally Posted by boigurltravellers Hello everyone! WOW everyone is such a wealth of information. I am getting married at this resort in August, I wish I knew about this forum earlier! Can anyone suggest which restaurant would be great for a party of 30?! My fiance and I want the have the private dinner, but Yahimara said we need to pay extra for the gala set up as well...does anyone know what she means? It will be greatly appreciated! Hi there, I think for a party of 30 people you could get away with one of the smaller a la cartes - the Romantico maybe? There was a lady there our week with about 30 guests and this is where here dinner was. I would suggest the Italian as well but the food there was awful!! There really aren't any other options unless you take a section of the Steakhouse. The gala dinner set-up fee is the private dinner charge. $15 per person. To be honest, I don't think think this restaurant could fit more than 30 people at once, so it may not even be necessary to pay that extra charge?? I'd skip it. Hope that helps!

Quote: Originally Posted by truelove4life I would love to see some pics as well!! [email protected] Sent pics! From my ceremony in the gazebo and my friend's on the beach... they help you make your decision! Siobhan

Quote: Originally Posted by PaulsGirl Congrats on your wedding Siobhan! You looked gorgeous! We had a blast for our wedding week at the ILA as well. We chose the beach ceremony for ours. It was HOT but the breeze was amazing. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. We had our private dinner from 6:30-8:30 in Del Chef but had the Steakhouse menu. They forgot our lobster dinners, but when Yahimara found out she quickly arranged for us to have them at our a la carte dinner the next night instead. All worked out just fine! We had booked our dinner originally from 6:30-9:30 but when we had our meeting, Yahimara advised she couldn't shut down the restaurant for anymore than 2 hours. We didn't rent the disco privately, so we did our speeches & first dance right during the private dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't get served our appetizers until after 7:00pm so we were running really tight on time and had to rush through quite a few things. We did get everything in but the next wedding dinner was coming in at 8:30 before we had a chance to finish. We were doing our dances while our dessert was still being served at 8:30. All in all they were small issues and we had an AMAZING vacation. We'd go back in a heartbeat. I'll probably add a review and pictures later, but we're off to our honeymoon caribbean cruise for the week! Also, a big congrats to Grace!!! It was awesome to meet you in person I didn't see your wedding, but i'm sure you looked gorgeous! We did hear your party in your private disco though Can't wait to hear all about it! Thanks so much Lisa, I saw some pics on Facebook and you looked beautiful! Congrats to you, hope you enjoyed your honeymoon cruise! Siobhan

Quote: Originally Posted by RonNMel Thanks Siobhan! One more question. LOL You mention bringing the seating plan, but did you know before hand how the tables were going to be set up? It makes a difference if they are tables of 6, 8, 10, round, one long rectangle, etc. We knew that the tables in the steakhouse sat 4 and that they would be pushed together to create bigger tables. We wanted big square tables (4 smaller tables pushed together) but it didn't happen. They had set them up as long rectangular tables, ours varied from 7 to 10 people per tables. Round tables are not an option, at the steakhouse anyway.

Quote: Originally Posted by RonNMel I did think of one question. For the flowers, were the Easter Lillies the ONLY choice offered? Though flowers are really not a huge deal to me, I have to agree with you. It is disappointing when you see all the beautiful tropical flowers that grow freely all around the resort. Also, can you describe the ceremony a bit more in details? Like, how do everyone know when and how to enter, where to be placed, etc.? What about the music? It's from a CD? Can you hear it well? Nope, not the only choice...you can also have carnations or roses! LOL It's SO strange that the local flowers are not an option. I even brought pictures of 3 tropical bouquets I liked, but Y barely even glanced at them. She shows you a piece of paper with 6 or 8 bouquets and asks "which one do you like the best". Y does ask the first day if you want a rehearsal. I'm not sure if there is a charge for this. We had gone into it thinking we would be winging it, so we figured let's just go with the flow. For the gazebo, Y brought my parents, my flower girls, my BMs and me up to the 5th floor. No one can see you when you first get off the elevator. She explained to the little girls where to walk to and told my BMs where to stand when they got up there too. She also explains that the music is your cue. The girls starting walking when the first song starts, I started with the second. Music is very clear. For Sam's beach ceremony, Y picked us all up in a big golf cart and drove us over the start of the wooden walkway (I attached a pic) She signaled us to start walking because you can't hear the music from back there. The guests can hear it no problem though on the beach. One more thing I just thought of, I would bring your own vows of some sort. As we all know, it's very legal sounding (Article 26, you must co-habit under the same roof, article 27, you are each allowed your own profession LOL) and it's nice to add your own personal touch. Give them to Y when you first arrive so she can practice reading them...Samantha gave hers to Y right before the ceremony and she stumbled over a lot of words. Hope that helps! Walkway.doc Sam.doc SamsBeach.doc

Quote: Originally Posted by Tilly in the Sun Hey again Chevy! Thanks so much for answering those questions. ONe more...for the music (first dances, walking down the aisle ect) did you have burned CD's with your music, or an IPOD? We had our songs burned to CDs as Yahimara told us originally there were no iPod hookup. For the sake of keeping things simple, I had three songs I wanted played during our ceremony - one for the bms walking down the aisle, one for me and one for after we kiss and walked back down the aisle together. These were the only 3 songs on the CD which I marked CD#1, and it seemed to make things easier for the guy taking care of the music. Yahimara kind of nodded to him when it was appropriate to stop one song and when to start the next etc. I had a CD marked "CD #2" which I gave to a friend to give to the DJ at the private reception. The first song was for Robin and I's first dance, the second for my Dad and I, third for Robin and his Mom etc....again, it seemed to keep things simple for them. We had the disco private from 9-11pm when we did these dances and we found out that they could use our iPods!! A few people ran back to their rooms to get theirs but the DJ (who you will all get a kick out of, he's funny) has all popular Top 40 type of music you'll want. Sorry I'm rambling! Bottom line is bring your iPods, but I'd burn CD's for the ceremony and important dances

Thanks RonNMel! I will try to track some pics of Sam's ceremony on the beach and post. The pier is at the Varadero Golf Course. More info about that in my review! There is a microphone...I think everyone could hear just fine at both loactions. I just posted a review under Wedding Reviews!

We returned home last Saturday from our wedding in Varadero, Cuba and the entire experience was much more than we ever could have imagined! Our wedding coordinator Yahimara wasn't always the best at returning emails so we were slightly concerned that things would be missed. This was not the case at all, she had every email I'd ever sent and was very organized. Shortly after we arrived at the resort, we met with Y to discuss some basics. Y needed a few things from us at this time as well, so be sure to have: You and your fiance's tourist cards (you get them on the airplane) Your two witnesses tourist cards Your seating plan, with table #'s and placecards if needed Your meal details (how many for lobster, how many kids meals) Also bring at this time: Cash for the BM bouquets ($15 CUC each, $10 for flower girls) CD with your ceremony music I should note that the bouquets are awful. Easter lilies!! All the beautiful flowers that grow wild and our bouquets were Easter lilies! It was weird. I did tell Y I wanted a TROPICAL bouquet but it clearly had no impact. My BM's actually ran around the resort picking some of the beautiful local flowers and jazzed up my bouquet a bit...but it was still ugly lol The flowers were also near death so I'd highly recommend bringing your own silk flower bouquet. The rest of the wedding is paid for when you checkout. ($700 wedding fee, private dinner charge if applicable and lobster dinner charge if applicable) Keep in mind there is a 10% surcharge if you use a credit card. We had originally planned on having our ceremony on the beach so Y took us to see the site the day we arrived. It was scorching hot that day and we definitely starting worrying about melting in my dress and his suit. There is also an ugly old boat shed type building really close by that was a turn-off. Y suggested we take a look at the 5th floor gazebo overlooking the resort so we did and it was so much larger than it looked in all the photos I had seen! She assured us 80 people would fit so, once we saw the photos she had of other ceremonies up there, we were sold. I should note that my good friend got married the day after me (we planned together!) and she stuck with beach which did turn out very nice. There was a nice breeze so she lucked out. We saw a wedding the day after we arrived and the beach was so windy the champagne glasses were all falling over, so it's hit or miss! Y also lets you know at the first meeting about an old car you can hire to do wedding photographs with. It costs $60 CUC and I thought it was $60 well spent. Right after the ceremony we did our hugs and thank yous and loaded into a beautiful old white car with our photographer. We had no clue where we were going but soon arrived at the Varadero Golf Club. BEAUTIFUL! There is an old yellow plantation-like building with dark banisters and gorgeous wood staircases....we went up to the top floor and had photos done, then went out on a balcony while our photographer went down below and got more pics. The course is right on the ocean so we were also able to go out on the rocky pier type thing for more pics...it was great. After about 45 mins we headed back to the resort. This is when we did our wedding party and family photos. We were very, very late for dinner!! If you have booked a 4pm ceremony with a 6:30 or 7pm dinner, CHANGE YOUR CEREMONY TO 3PM! We were an hour late for dinner (at the steakhouse) and everything was pretty overcooked. I wished I had done the ceremony at 3pm as our group photos were pretty rushed. Hmm, what else.....splurge on a junior suite!! I would recommend our exact room, 11226. It had an ocean view, was close to the main pool, the all night snack bar and the beach. It was perfect. It also came in really handy when my bm's and I were getting ready and the huge balcony overlooking the ocean is where we did almost al our pre-ceremony pics. Definitely bring insulated travel mugs, they are so handy. I must have had a dozen people tell me to bring one and I still didn’t! Guard your towels like gold! $10 CUC if you lose one, aka someone steals yours! Bring a jar of hot sauce, peanut butter and Heinz ketchup. You’ll be the most popular girl around I can't think of anything else right, but let me know if you have any questions! Rest assured, ILA is a beautiful, clean friendly resort and we had so many guests approach us to say "wow, you guys picked an amazing resort! This is incredible!" We loved every single minute Siobhan Attachment 4971 Attachment 4972 Attachment 4973 pier.doc gazebo.doc umbrella.doc

Quote: Originally Posted by Tilly in the Sun Awww congrats on your wedding!! Your pics look GORGEOUS!! More please!! LOL!! Can`t wait to read your review :-) Which restauraunt did you have your dinner atÉ We have the same number of guests going as you guys, so we wanna make sure there is enough space for everyone. Did you do the private dinnerÉ Where was your ceremonyÉ I don`t think I have seen that place yet....looks breathtaking!! LOVE your dress btw Sorry about the zillion questions...I know you must be overwhelmed with getting back to normal life. CONGRATS again!! xo Thanks Tilly!! More pics to come, I am already driving our photographer crazy I'm sure! We ended up having 82 people with us so the only option for dinner was the steakhouse (which is actually now on the opposite side of the resort than where we were told it would be, close to the construction of the RUI - but honestly, it was not an issue AT ALL) The restaurant seats 200 so more than enough room for everyone. Yes, we did the private dinner, I was happy we did for speeches and dances. Our ceremony was in the gazebo! The beach site is not exactly what I'd hoped for and our first day there was scorching hot so after Yahimara showed us the gazebo (it's on the 5th floor near the spa) we were sold. We thought it would be more elegant and much for comfortable for our guests...and us! The gazebo is massive, much bigger than it looks. My good friend got married the day after me and she stayed with the beach which was also nice. You really can't go wrong! I have so much more to say, review to come!

I have a zillion things to tackle at work today but i just wanted to quickly let you girls know we picked the best resort ever to get married!! Yahimara was a sweetheart, the wedding was perfect, the resort itself is AMAZING and I am so sad to be home! Our photographer sent a few teaser pics, which I have attached! Full review with tips to come! umbrella.doc gazebo.doc pier.doc

I wasn't sent this notice, mind you I haven't heard from Yahimara in weeks so I'm sure that we'll find out about it on Saturday. At least it's only $40... Hey Lisa aka PaulsGirl, we don't fly out until 8:30pm on May 1, so I will try to find you and let you know about any issues that may come up during the wedding - hopefully none! Only 2 more sleeps! Leaving very early Friday morning so I'm not counting Thursday nite lol Wish me luck, girls!! Expect loads of pictures when I get back Siobhan

Hey Tilly, we are doing a seating plan for our guests - we have 80 coming so Yahimara recommended having one. She said to go with 6-8 people at each table, but I've been thinking about having 4 big tables of 20 people instead - I think it will be a nice way for our guests to get to know each and since it is tables of 4 being pushed together, I don't see why it would be a problem. Still waiting to hear back from Yahimara though! And yes, we are ridiculously excited! I can finally say 'we're leaving next week'! I had better start packing! Siobhan

I have and yes, I am! Mainly about the issues like food poisoning and bed bugs concern me. Definitely not letting it ruin my day or anything, I think it's pretty funny that the really, really bad reviews usually finish with "And the weather was terrible all week!" People will complain about anything and everything if they are stuck inside during what was supposed to be a tropical vacation, so we have to take them all with a grain of salt...not to worry, it's going to be perfect girls!