TheWolferts

Our wedding is May 12, 2012 and we started working with our TA in March of 2011. It might seem like it is very far away, but it's pretty important to at least select your venue so you can start giving guests an idea of how much it will cost, you can look at your budget, and it ensures that you can book the locations for your ceremony, reception, etc. By deciding on our location a little over a year out from our wedding, we got our first choice locations on all of our events, but I have heard from many other brides that waited longer, that they ended up having to settle for locations that werent optimal. We also made sure that we reserved our photographer, videographer, and DJ asap because they book up quickly. I have seen some threads on this board where brides are 18 months out and have already reserved their locations. If you were to wait too long, you may find that you dont get the locations you like. Another thing that is good about reserving you room block far in advance is that the room prices aren't technically out, so the resort has to quote you a price and stick to it. If the price were to ever be lower than what you were quoted once the room rates actually come out then you would be credited, but they quoted our rates lower, so our guests got a better deal. So while it may be too early to pick our dinner entres or flowers, deciding on a location and your vendors is important to do as early as you can. After we reserved all of our locations in April 2011, we didnt talk with our TA or WC for a couple of months, but it was nice knowing that we got our dream locations and excellent vendors locked in!

I'm not sure if everyone saw this thread, but this article is hilarious and so true! The 8 Truths About Weddings (That No One Ever Tells You) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-lafsky/wedding-planning_b_896771.html

My fiance keeps asking me why we "have to tip." When I was there in 2010, I noticed that it was about 50/50 of people tipping versus not tipping. I think even a little something goes a long way and they probably dont get paid much base salary. As having been a cocktail waitress in NYC, we got paid next to nothing to be at work and only really made money off of tips. I know it's customary wedding etiquette to tip your vendors, so in our case photographer (though she is a good friend of ours and is coming down with her husband, so I dont think she is expecting that), our videographer, and DJ. I understand our fiances' thinking, it is an all inclusive which is nice that once you pay the fees up front, you dont have to bother with doling out yet more money, but I think it's a nice gesture and quite frankly, I am scared after what happened to my friend!

For any brides that have already gotten married at EDR... did you tip? I know it isnt required but its a nice gesture and you can tell they appreciate the tip because they tend to be more open to helping you and go above and beyond to make you happy. I was at EDR in 2010 with a friend that was ordering a bunch of complicated-to-make shots at the "Swing Bar" and she wasnt tipping. An hour, she asked for a cup of water and she was sick for the next 3 days! I think the bartender got a little pissed off and slipped her something because we ate and drank the same things except for that one glass of water! So keeping that in mind and the fact that I appreciate good service, we plan on tipping, but I wasnt sure how much and to whom would be appropriate. I saw some threads on DW board, but I was hoping to find some pointers specifically for tipping at EDR. I read that some people will offer a larger tip at the beginning of the week, rather than dishing out tips at every meal/drink/room service etc. For brides getting married at EDR soon, what are your thoughts on tipping? 11 more days until we leave!

Thanks! I found a great site to get OOT bags for a low price with great quality. http://search.store.yahoo.net/igreetu/cgi-bin/nsearch?catalog=igreetu&query=tote+bag&.autodone=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ingreetings.com%2Fnsearch.html Because she had to do so many (about 25), she hand painted the brush strokes in the blue and aqua on all the bags, then she drew the nautilus and created a stencil so she could just place the stencil over each bag to get the same design. She used a sponge and some white paint to create paint the design on each. Michael's probably has some great stencils to do something similar. It ended up only taking her a couple of hours once she created a design my fiance and I both liked.

Instead of a traditional guestbook, we are having our videographer go around during the cocktail hour to capture everyone's well wishes, so we will have them within our wedding video.

Haha I am about to stoop to writing on her facebook wall that she is being a terrible friend and owes me money or possibly even call her mom. I know childish, but she doesnt want to act like a grown up and I have tried all of the grown up ways I know to handle it.

Thanks! She created the design for our Save the dates and our thank you cards, so I thought it would be great to use them on the OOT bags.

My mom is painting our OOT bags and she just finished them... here they are! (sorry for the sideways pics!)

Maybe you could find a DJ that includes them? DJ Doremixx includes them in his packages.

A couple o months ago, Lomas quoted me for cold fireworks but my DJ includes them in his package! I can't decide if we should have them go off when we get announced at the reception or if we should have them go off during our first dance. Thoughts?

Don't have backups... She has the dress and refuses to call me back or send me a check even though she has said she would. She has effectively ruined our friendship by being this way. I can understand not being able to go, but to then act like this?! I just either want a check or the dress back.

Allie- Were you talking about these types of drapes?? If so, they are $150 a piece, so $300 to make it look like the below drapes. We are doing the same draping on Gazebo 55 (same Gazebo in picture), but with different color blue sashes.

Danak71- My cousin got married at EDR and had Claudia Photo do her photography. She is an approved vendor so no fee and she did a great job! Claudia Photo has a lot of good reviews on this site if you wanted to take a look.

Even if your photographer is one of your guests, as ours is, there is a 3 night minimum the guest as to stay in order for the fee to be waived.

I paid for all my BMs dresses, but I waited until our local bridal store was having a trunk sale, so I got 20% off each dress... since then, I have had 2 BMs back out of the wedding, one via text, one via email... One has paid me back for the dress, the other is avoiding me like the plague.

I cant believe we leave in 16 days! I still dont have my dress back yet... hopefully my last fitting is this upcoming Monday. My fiance wont get his suite back until the weekend before we leave either haha. Mainly we only need to get the menus printed, welcome letters written, and finalize all of the music (which we have almost finished). I am just trying to decide what I want one of my BMs to be introduced to at the reception. My plan is to pack the weekend before we leave, so that all of the clothes that we are taking on the trip are clean and ready to go. Plus I have hair, mani/pedi and waxing appointments during the week before we leave. Also I am sure I will think of last minute things I forgot!

I think the service charge is more like a "required tip". I know it's an all-inclusive resort, but some people choose to tip while others refuse to tip. The 15% off basically balances it out, but if the bride pays for their BMs hair to be done in the salon, the bride cannot use the 15% off. The discount is only for services performed for the bride and groom only.

Jill- A makeup trial is $49 and $86 for the wedding day. There is also a 10% "service charge", but you should receive 15% off spa services in your wedding package as well. No idea what kind of make up they use. You might need to do the live chat on Lomas' website. When I asked a question about the salon using the live chat, they called the salon while chatting with me to give me a quick response.

I contacted a bride that previously posted about getting the gel or shellac nail polish in a light color for a DW. She said she used an almost nude color of Shellac and the chlorine and sea water did not change the color of the polish. I really want to get a similar pale pink/nude color for my hands so I think I am going to go for it! I contacted the spa at the EDR and they have the capabilities to take it off for a "small" fee of $42... so Im hoping I wont need to get it taken off, but it gives me piece of mind that in a mind, I can pay to have it taken off.

Mike is an approved vendor for EDR so no "outside vendor fee"!!

I asked my Lomas WC and she sent the following info: http://www.weddingsbylomastravel.com/planning/live_webcast.php Your wedding is one of the most important events of your life. It's a day you want to remember forever. Now you can share that day with those who cannot attend your wedding. It doesn't matter what part of the world your guests live in, they will still be able to attend your beach wedding Online! We will take care of sending them invitations with a personalized link on your behalf. Preferably 30 days in advance you need to send: A picture to add to the invitation Bride & Groom's full names Date, time and hotel where the Wedding Ceremony will take place Up to 50 email addresses You will receive: 2 DVD's with any of our packages unedited version (edition at an extra cost) Personalized wedding web page 30-days wedding archive E-mail invitations (max. 50) Webcast online chat Gift links for the Bride and Groom Rates: $350 USD 1hr - Unedited $500 USD 2hrs - Unedited $650 USD 3hrs - Unedited $800 USD 4hrs - Unedited Video Editing of your Wedding Footage $250.00 USD (extra) Extra DVD Copy $50.00 USD

I dont know that EDR has live streaming capabilities I think some of the Azul properties have that option though. Let me know if you find out for sure, since there is a chance that my FFIL wont be able to make it. I would email someone at Lomas to be sure.

We are using Mike Cantarell (see his videos above in previous posts). It is one of those expenses that you could probably do without, but our thinking was that since many of our friends and family cant make the trip down, we wanted to have a nicely done video to share with them. Even though you could buy a video camera, you would have to have a friend shoot it which would take away from their experience and you would probably feel like you had to direct him throughout the day. You would also need someone that could cut and edit the video. Another reason I really wanted a video was because I wanted to be able to see everything that I wouldnt necessarily be able to see on the day (i.e. groom before I walk down the isle, all the guests enjoying themselves at the cocktail hour, etc). And yet one more reason we decided it was worth the money.... when my fiance proposed, I was in such a state of shock and excitement that I dont remember parts of it! Luckily, he had a friend secretly video it so we have footage of it, but I didnt even remember what my fiance said to me other than "will you marry me?". If it werent for the video of the proposal, I would have no clue what he had said and that was something that I would have been upset about since it was so cute! I suspect that I will have so many emotions on our wedding day that it will be similar. My cousin actually used Mike at EDR in September 2010, and their video is GREAT!

We are flying down with all of our OOT bag goodies, then once we get there, we are going to put the contents in each bag. We are having the resort deliver one bag to each of our guests rooms for a $4 fee per bag. That way, when the guests get back from dinner that night, their bags will be waiting for them. The resort we are getting married at is very large and we have guests arriving throughout the week, so I couldnt see me tracking down everyone and then giving them a bag full of things that they may not want to carry around with them at that moment I run in to them. For guests that can only stay a couple of days, I am hand delivering their bags because I dont want them to not be able to use the things in their bags the first day they are there since their stay is so minimal.