mllek1986

Oh I love the idea of changing locations for the cocktail hour, I'm going to ask Fatima if its available to use. Did they decorate it for you? was there seating? I also realized that I wrote we were getting married etc at Oceana beach, I meant Seaside So we did decide to move the time back an hour so we could attend the cocktail hour with our guests- great idea, thank you. Here's our schedule now: 3:30pm Ceremony begins (Location: Seaside beach) 4:00pm Photography with immediate family (20 min) Photography with wedding party (20 min) 4:30pm/4:45pm Cocktail Hour begins (Location: Gazebo) 5:30pm Group Photo (20 min) Bride/Groom Pictures (40min) Guests can go to Barracuda bar for half an hour after group photo 6:30pm Reception (Location: Seaside Beach)

One more thing- Was your cocktail hour and reception at the same location? We are having our ceremony, cocktail hour and reception all at Oceana Beach so was just curious that if people were at the cocktail hour from 4pm-5pm then dinner didn't start until 6 did they just return to the site and visit/have cocktails after the group photo or did you send them to one of the bars for half an hour and told them to be back for the 6pm reception? If they went back to the reception site, how did this work with the bar service as we are only allowed 4 hours of bar service (we are already adding an extra hour of bar service onto our bill to stay til 10:30)? Or am I mistaken and the $30 per person for the cocktail hour includes 1 hour of bar service then you get 4 for the reception? Thanks!

Hi Dreams2011, We decided to have our ceremony so late due to a few factors: flow of events (didn't want people to be bored), heat (my fiance is a "sweater" lol) and because of our vendors - we have 7 hours with our videographer which we wanted from 3pm to 10pm which would include getting ready, ceremony, cocktail hour, reception, dance etc. and 6 hours with our DJ (4:30 to 10:30). I guess we could always add an hour or two onto each though if need be. A couple of questions for you: What did everyone do while you were taking pictures with you husband and for the hour of group photos? Was this full group photos or you and your bridal party? My main fear is that people are bored waiting around and not knowing what to do. We were at a destination wedding last year where nothing was structured and everyone was confused on where to go and what to do, people got bored of sitting around and the wedding coordinator didn't explain anything to anybody etc. I appreciate your help, Kate

Hey girls, A few questions and a couple of tips on how to save some cash... So I was just looking over my contract and realized that I was paying for 15 extra people (wedding party) for the cocktail hour (totaling $450) when we wouldn't even be attending it because we would be taking pictures. I adjusted the amount on the contract and resent it to Fatima and she agreed, so if you are in the same boat as me and are only having the cocktail hour for your guests and not your wedding party then you can save some money by making the adjustment. Ideally I would like to attend the cocktail hour though but it doesn't seem to work with our schedule: 4:30pm ceremony 5:00pm group picture, pictures with family 5:30pm cocktail hour starts, wedding party pictures 6:30pm-10:30pm Reception What are the rest of you doing? Are you attending your cocktail hour? How are you making it work with taking pictures? I thought we could maybe have a few drinks and some appys with our guests at the cocktail hour then head out for pictures but then I didn't think this left us enough time. Or we could do pictures then come back for the end of the cocktail hour but we're planning to have a grand entrance and I would find it kind of weird if we were there hanging out with everyone then all of a sudden disappear so we could make a grand entrance. Either way I'm not sure 20 minutes of a cocktail hour is really worth $450. What are your thoughts or suggestions? One more thing- I find the $6 per glass of sparkling wine to be pretty ridiculous so we are keeping the 20 included in the Ultimate package for the head table and doing toasts with a signature margarita and a tequila shot for the best man speech instead which is included in the package - they originally tried to charge me for having a shot glass at each seat which I refused to pay as set up is included in the package so they said they wouldn't charge us. Anyone else have any tips on saving some cash or just tips in general?

Hi ladies, You all have such gorgeous dresses! Here's mine: This is the applique that will be added on: And this is my TTD dress (on model)

So excited....Just bought my TTD dress on sale for $99! Can't wait to meet up with Nate Broshot in PV for our TTD session. eeeeek! Here it is, I love it

Yes I find them to be very comfortable! I am getting my bridesmaids to buy some as well

It does, thank you!

Hi girls, Quick question regarding the size of the 20 person dance floor... we have 50-60 people attending our wedding and we are hoping for quite a bit of dancing throughout the evening, however the dance floor is only fit for 20 people. In your opinions do you think we should spring for a second one, that would be $700 instead of $350? Seems like a lot of money but I would like a dance floor with the lighting etc instead of being on the sand... Thanks, Kate

Hi SarahBen2011, I am going to attach the questionnaire she sent me so you can get an idea of what she will be doing for us. She is acting as a regular DJ who you would give your requested dance songs (first dance, father/daughter etc), Must Plays, Do Not Plays and favorite bands etc. She even asks you to break it down into what percent of each genre of music you want to hear throughout the night, so for example: 40% Top 40, 20% Country, 10% Slow dance music, 20% Rock, 10% Spanish. She will make any and all announcements for us like where the bathroom is, where to sign guestbooks, pick up favors, time for speeches, garter toss etc and you can even have her coordinate a surprise first dance or grand entrance for you! She will do 2 games throughout the evening if you want to as well as teach everyone a dance to get people on the dance floor. There's no charge for set up, travel etc. Overall I am VERY pleased with her so far! Here's the questionnaire. Let me know if you need any more information! Revent_n_DJ_Questionnaire.pdf

For my ceremony I will be wearing barefoot sandals similar to the ones below Here are my shoes for the reception (minus pearl embellishment... might add a sparkly shoe clip on though-see below)! I am getting them dyed in a bright colour but can't decide which one yet. My wedding colours are eggplant purple, silver and lime green accents. My dress is a dark ivory colour. I kind of wanted a colour that I would wear again so was thinking maybe a dark red? Or not worry about wearing them again and do a bright blue to compliment the ocean and have as my something blue... hmmm. thoughts?

Hi NM2011 We are using an outside DJ, DJ Reventon. The woman's name is Staci and she has been excellent to work with so far. She gave me a big questionnaire to fill out which has every little detail and she will also be our MC for the evening. I got a few references from her and they all said great things. We are having her play from the ceremony at 4:30 all the way to 10:30pm. The cost to bring her in is $100, her food is $65 and her fee is $910 for 6 hours! I thought it was a great deal seeing as for 3 hours it costs $690 and this way I can trust all the music for the ceremony, grand entrance, first dance etc is well coordinated and flows properly. We have around 60 people attending and for us music and flow was really important so we wanted someone outside of the wedding party/guests to deal with all of that and keep the party going! We do plan on bringing our Ipod and making a playlist for the after party at Desires Lounge though. Hope this helps.

Sorry- the Silver comes with the Love package, Gold with the Ultimate.

Hi xoamdxo75, It depends what package you are going with. The silver package includes either soup or salad, entree and cake. The Gold package is the one that includes the soup, salad, entree, dessert and cake. Let me know if you have any other questions, Kate

Oh fun, that's what I'm doing too! I came across the concept a few months back and thought it was so neat.This is my inspiration pic

Haha now you have me looking up the moon cycle! The day before our wedding is the new moon so should be quite a bit darker. I think I'll stick with the 4 posts and the white lights under the dance floor. One more question- do they bring the cake out later (due to heat) or is it on the cake table throughout the entire reception? Thanks for all your help.

Amazing pictures Vollydolly! Congratulations!!

Have you tried emailing her first? No one contacted me until I sent them an email and now I get responses within a day, sometimes within the hour Quote: Originally Posted by SarahBen2011 SarahInLove - how many strands did you have, 2? How many do you think is needed for Las Palmas? We're having 50 guests. I might buy lights like this instead of the lanterns, just waiting to hear back from Fatima. Have other brides had good contact with her? I haven't heard from her since she took over in early June... http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1677161

Hi SarahBen2011, We are using DJ Reventon. Louise (the WC before Esman) quoted us $100 for outside vendors to come in so it will cost us $100 per each outside vendor we decide to use plus their food at the reception (outside guest so $65), they get water and pop for free.

Hi Sarah, We are getting an outside DJ for our wedding but Dreams is providing us with the dance floor. I can't tell from the pictures whether it has lights underneath... do you think that the lighted dance floor is the standard one or maybe the resorts dj brought that in? Hopefully 4 lanterns will be bright enough- that's one thing I don't want is people sitting in the dark...

So we have decided to move to Seaside beach as we do not want to be squished by any means and this just seemed like the best thing to do. Our reception is 4 hours long (we're paying for the extra hour) as we wanted to have it as long as possible. We are just getting 2 sets of lounge furniture, each set seats 7 people (3 mini couches, one chair and a table), each set costs $165, plus we are getting some coloured pillows to go with it ($4-7 each). I am hoping this is not a waste of money for the lounge sets on the beach - any other girls out there use them? If you could do it over would you have cut them? Also- what's the lighting like on the beach- we are getting 4 hanging lights like the one's below. Plus our DJ has lighting. Do you think this will be enough light?

Thanks Dreams2011. Which beach did you have yours at? We were thinking Seaside.

Thanks ladies!

Oh ya, plus cake table, speech podium and favour table.

Hey girls, I'm having a bit of difficulty figuring out the set-up for the Las Palmas Cocktail Hour and Reception. We currently have around 50-60 guests attending the wedding and so far have the following for set up: 5 tables of 8 1 head table for 15 people (all on one side- so likely 4 tables put together) 2 sets of lounge furniture Bar Dance area Fatima is telling me that there is essentially no way to have that large of a head table and that maybe we should go with a sweetheart table which is not what we want or move to the beach. For any of you past brides or those who have visited the site- do you think this is doable and not too squishy or should we just suck it up and go to the beach even though we had our heart set on Las Palmas? Thanks for your help!!