ELAINENYC

I couldn't agree with you more. Their outside vendor fee of $800 is crazy! I ended up paying the vendor fee of $800 for my videographer. As for my makeup artist and hair stylist, I included them as my guests to avoid having to pay the vendor fee but of course I picked up the tab on them staying 2 nights (shared room). In my case, picking up the tab for the 2 nights was way cheaper than paying another $1,600 in vendor fees for both of them. I had no issues with including them as my guests. The fact they are doing my makeup and hair is none of their business. When my wedding planner asked me if I needed my hair and make-up done I replied back "my friends are doing it for me" - case closed. Good luck!

I am really sorry you are dealing with this. I am a bit OCD too so I completely understand. I really do not know how strict they are with the 80% rule, but I hope your guests who are staying at other resorts understand the costs involved with transportation and with the guest fees. Hopefully, once you break down the costs and compare it, the difference will be nominal. Good luck! Out of curiosity, are there any brides planning on staying at any of the other Karisma Resorts for their honeymoon?

Although its been 3 years since my wedding at Azul Sensatori, I am pretty sure their strict rules on Le Chique remains the same, meaning they only take reservations when you arrive and the most in a group is party of 5 or 6. But definitely not 16. As soon as I arrived, this was my first order of business since I had asked all of my guests (over 50) who wanted to experience it. They could not fit us all at one table, so we broke up into party of 3's, 4's, 5's or 6's. Since I had so many people, we had to come at different times. So some came at 6:30, or 7:00 or 7:30. The reason for this is b/c the whole experience at Le Chique is a 4 hr meal (or was it 3 hrs). So, they only serve a specific number of people at specific given times. For the most part, my guests enjoy the meal but I will have to say we were the loudest since we kept getting up to talk to each other in between meals. Not sure what the fee would be if you asked to have your rehearsal dinner at Le Chique. I had mine's at Spoon. It was separated from everyone else and my guests and I had a blast!. One more thing, if you have any guests that are used to having large meals, Le Chique may not be for them. Or be prepared for them to still be hungry. A couple of my friends were still hungry even after the 4 hrs meal. Unfortunately, each meal is very small but in my opinion very filling. If any recent brides are aware of different rules at Le Chique please share. Hope this helps.

Hi Ladies Something to keep in mind, I am almost positive you do not have the buy chair sashes for both ceremony and reception. I remember only buying 60 (using only 56) chair sashes and they moved it from the ceremony right to the reception. Past Brides - Please confirm this info. Thx

Hi! I know the price sounds crazy but it was def worth it. My husband and his friends are big cigar smokers and they still remember it almost 3 years later. And of course plenty of pics of them smoking and with the guys who rolled the cigars. i really don't remember them only rolling 30. I do remember that it was only a 2 hr show and a lot of the guys were booing when they closed up shop. lol. If you can swing it or find an alternative I do not think you will regret it.

@@ismyrneg I originally had booked with El Dorado for my anniversary last month. However, when I arrived, they gave me some perks to get me to stay at Generations we decided to go for it. NO REGRETS! Since both resorts are connected, along with El Dorado Casitias, my husband and I had chance to spend time on all 3 properties. It was amazing!! El Dorado is definitely larger. They have a main pool where most people would hang out with dance music playing pretty loud. They also have other pools that had significantly less people and much quieter. So, it really appeals to all. And of course you have the beach. Service and food were excellent! My only recommendation is if you decide to go to dinner around 7:30, you may run into a 45-60 min wait. This happened a couple of times to us.Otherwise, it was great!

Where are you having your welcoming party? I would suggest asking the staff to designate a table for you to lay out the welcome bags so your guests can pick them up. My finance (at that time) and I handed them to each guest. Not only was it very time consuming but it also took our time away from relaxing and having fun. Hope this helps. P.S. Its been a couple of years since I have been to this forum and I am so pleased to see this is still going strong! I hope I can lend my advice based on my personal experience when I had gotten married at Azul Sensatori on 11/10/12. Also, I just got back from El Dorado Royale&Generations for our anniversary. Both resorts are amazing! So if anyone plans on heading here for their honeymoon, you will NOT be disappointed! And of course, congratulations to all the Brides!!!!

Sorry for the delay. Does $1.50 each lantern sound fair? The only thing is that it would probably cost more to ship it to you.

White Bebe Dress Size 4 - Price $50 -not negotiable. Excellent Condition. Worn only for 4 hours (This can be mailed) Used Amsale Size 8 sweetheart drop waist wedding gown Price $3,000 (originally paid $8,800). Excellent condition; already cleaned and boxed.(local pick-up only) Chines Paper Lanterns purchased at Artifacts: 1x 14" White 2x 14" royal purple 2x 16' white 2x 16" royal purple 2x 18" white 2x 18" royal purple 10x 16" lavendar 5x 20" lavendar 50 Irridescent Light Purple Poly sparkle organza chair sashes 1x White sheer for Gazebo (12 meters x 1.5 meters) 1x irridescent light purple poly sparkle organza sheer for Gazebo (12 meters x 1.5 meters) The paper lanterns and chair sashes can be mailed as well, but shipping will be paid by you. Name your price on the sashes, and sheer and lanterns. Having trouble uploading all of the pics. If you are interested, please send me a PM and I will send you more pics.

I actually totally forgot about making final payment. My WC, Elizabeth Torres, did not even remind me until about 2 weeks before my big day. We were definitely scrambling a bit, with respect to final changes, head count and making sure the math was correct. I am sure given the situation and the emails you have sent, they are aware they you need to pay. They will not make you pay until everything is correct and you approve the wedding detail sheet. I believe you are getting married next month so you do have some time. No worries they will make sure the wedding detail sheet is perfect before making you make the final payment.

GinaP - one more thing to add.... i only had candles and very small lavendar flower petals which i found at Michaels as my centerpieces. I kept it really simple b/c I realized 20 years from now, I will not care what i had for my centerpieces. Plus I had family style dinner so the plates of food were places right in the middle. For me, centerpieces were not a big deal, Of course this will not work for all brides. Tkuzma - thanks I will a few pics in a bit! We had strawberry cake. It was really bad and my husband and I actually laught about it. We ended up wearing most of it anyway so.... My guests had plenty of desserts since I went with family style. My reception was at the Plaza Zavaz. We lucked out with weather! Perfect weather during the whole time we stayed! Quote: Originally Posted by tkuzma Elaine, thanks so much for your review!!! I'm glad you had an amazing time I hope you can post a few pictures of your day. Where did you have your reception? What flavour was your wedding cake? Thanks!

GinaP - During you meeting with your wedding coordinator, make sure you tell them to light the candles on the table. They should do this automatically but in case they do not make sure you tell them. Also, I would suggest designating a person (a close family/friend but a non-wedding party memnbert) to make sure they are lit. Ask an aunt or uncle or cousin or parent. Just ask them to check the candles on the table when they sit down for the reception. If they are not lit, ask them to tell one of the staff members. Honestly, I should have been better at delegating tasks. Now that you know ahead of time, you will learn from my mistakes.

MY DETAILED REVIEW - Sorry for such a long winded novel. If you do not want to read my boring details you can just skip to the bottom where i listed a few tips. Please feel free to ask me any question or if you want to see any pics! Would love to help in any way I can! Tuesday – Nov 6th We arrived at Azul Sensatori around 1:30pm. Once we arrived, we checked in at the Premier Concierge. We asked her if she could recommend a shop in the Cancun area so we can pick up maracas. She actually informed us there is a Mexican Market on the premises on Thursday so we should be able to pick them up there. Since we needed 54, she was able to order them for us in advance. The big ones were going to be $5 and the smaller ones were for $3. Not sure if we could have gotten a better price in Cancun but since we were pressed for time we decided to purchase them this way. Any brides who may be pressed for time and really do not need to go to Cancun other than to purchase maracas, then I would recommend asking the Concierge to order them for you. After settling in, meeting with the Premier Concierge, and putting together the Welcome Bags, I went right over to Le Chique to make reservations for my guests and my husband & I. I only made reservations for guests who were staying past Sunday and who wanted to try out the restaurant. It turns out that if you booked in the Premier section than the $25 entrance fee per person is waived. Those who do pay $25 can apply it towards the upgraded menu ($110) or apply it towards the wine pairing. They have 3 different wine pairing prices ($55, $49 and $39). Le Chique usually does not allow you to make reservations for guests who have not booked. However, as long as you play the bride card and you know which section your guests are staying in, then you can do this. Since we went with the Silver Wedding Package, we reserved our candlelight dinner for our 1st night at the resort. It was perfect. The food was amazing and came out promptly. I recall reading from other brides complaining about the service. I guess we lucked out b/c the food and service was great. As we were dining, there was another couple actually getting married with 2 witnesses. It was so beautiful and super private. An added bonus to witness this event while we were having out romantic dinner. I actually think my husband even teared up a bit. lol Wednesday – Nov 7th We went to greet my bridesmaids and to go over the cancellations with Olympus. They were the transportation company who was handling all transfers for my guests. Since my husband and I picked up the tab for our guests, it was very important to us to figure out who was cancelling and whose flight was being delayed. As you may recall, my area was not only affected by Hurricane Sandy but there was also a Nor’easter that hit the area on Wednesday night /Thursday morning. We also went over the wedding detail sheet with our wedding coordinator, Janet. Make sure you go through each line and every detail. Do not leave anything out. There were a few minor errors I caught b/c I went through everything before I signed off. I was entitled to have a mannequin in the room to display my wedding gown. Since I did not want my husband to see it yet, I had it sent to my bridesmaid’s room. Also, I was entitled to a bridal attendant 3 hours before the start of the ceremony. I told Janet I did not think I needed her but if I did, I will call the wedding coordinator’s office. The day of my wedding, I called the extension # provided by Janet 3x and NO ONE CAME!!!! This made me furious b/c my bridesmaids and I could not get the gown off the mannequin! It took 2 women, who stood on chairs and pulled up the mannequin, while the other 3 women slid the dress off carefully. So, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, you ask for your wedding attendant to be by your side, even if she stands there doing nothing. You never know when you might need her……. In the evening, my guests and I went to Zavaz. Since there were 13 of us, they would not give us 1 big table. Unfortunately, this is the case for all of the restaurants at the Resort. They will only seat you in small groups, max is 7 or 8 people and depending on which restaurant. Great food at this restaurant..one of my favorites. Thursday – Nov 8th We greeted more guests and picked up the maracas. Also, I filled out the dry cleaning service sheet, which you will find in the closet. If you only want your dress pressed, then make sure you fill out the proper line for “wedding gownâ€. I did not see the line for “wedding gown†and filled out the line for “dress†as advised by Janet. The price for “dress†is 75 pesos. The line for wedding gown is 110 pesos. I was very annoyed when I check-out and I was not charged for 75 pesos. I did not care that it was more money but it was the fact that Janet helped me fill it out and she filled it out incorrectly. I wish someone could have at least given me the courtesy of telling me the sheet was filled out incorrectly and that it would be more money. At least I would have expected it. So if you want your gown pressed, make sure you fill it out correctly. You will notice a “Pressing†section towards the bottom of the service sheet. By Thursday, I had about 42 guests. We all headed to Tapaz. I called ahead of time asking if there was enough seating for us. They were able to accommodate us; however the service was super slow!! If you are going with a large group, I would not suggest this. The plates are super tiny and after the very long meal, my guests and I ended up at Spoon since most of us were still hungry. In the evening the resort had Tequila tasting as one of its entertainment. I HIGHLY recommend this. It was a blast!!! Its Tequila…you can’t go wrong. lol Friday – Nov 9th Again, we greeted the rest of our guests who were arriving. I will admit trying to greet all of our guests was a real pain. It is a super nice gesture to meet all guests in the front lobby with the Welcome Bag, but it does take away from you enjoying the day. My husband and I were constantly checking the time to see who was coming and when. So if this is something you are thinking about incorporating into your plan, then expect to not have much time enjoying the day esp if you have a large group. I had 54 guests. Since I had requested for a private event (Welcome Dinner) at Spoon for my guests, it was nice not having to deal with whether or not the restaurant could accommodate us. There were a few large tables set up, which was curtained off for privacy at Spoon. The food was ok but it was nice to just have the private area to my guests and me. Afterwards, we headed to the rooftop lounge. Unfortunately the mojito lounge was closed due to renovations but there was still a staff member coming around to take drink orders. It was at this location that I met Jana, the other bride from the forum. She was getting married on Sunday. Jana and her now husband, Tommy were super nice and a super cute couple! Saturday – Nov 10TH – THE BIG DAY I started off at the spa getting my nails done at 10am. I was entitled to a free express manicure which was part of my silver package. I asked for a French manicure and was really disappointed. It was a very mediocre job. I had high expectations but then again it was for free and it was called an “express†manicure so…. While I was getting my nails done, my bridesmaid and MOH were getting their hair and make-up done. AMAZING job! I knew the work would be beautiful since I did not read one complain about their service on the forum. I trust if there was 1 bad job, a bride would be sure to inform us on the forum. Lol. I was getting my hair and make-up done by my bridesmaid, who is a make-up artist and her mother who is a hair stylist. So, I got ready in their room. Plus the mannequin with my gown was displayed in their room. I was ready by exactly 2:45; ceremony started at 3pm. If you decided to have your nails done before hand and your ceremony is at 3pm, I would suggest getting your nails done at 9am. The nail service is really slow. I had my ceremony playlist on my iphone, which I handed over to Janet about 1 hr before the ceremony. As long as you have the songs in the order you want played and you tell Janet ahead of time and it is written on your wedding sheet, it should go smoothly. Ceremony went well, except the Officiant was not speaking into the microphone. It was a very windy day so she was struggling with holding the script in one hand and keeping the hair out of her face. But if you have been doing this for a long time, shouldn’t you be an expert by now on juggling the script, wind and microphone? Since we opted for the symbolic ceremony and sand ceremony, I was pleasantly surprised that we signed a certificate in front of everyone right after the sane ceremony. It was a nice touch. Right after the ceremony, which ended at 3:30, we had a cocktail hour set up for our guests from 3:30-4:30. The location was Palapa Yoga which is a bit further down along the beach. I expected Janet to lead guests towards the Palapa Yoga. She only did it for a few guests and not all guests. So, only some of my guests made it and the others went to Spoon since they did not know where to go afterwards. I was really upset when I heard about this. I expected Janet to make sure things ran smoothly and to be sure guests knew where to go. Enough complaining about this.. lol. The only thing I would suggest is to confirm and re-confirm your wedding coordinator will not drop the ball on this. Make sure they lead guests to the next location. The reception started at 6:00 and it was an unforgettable night. DJ Doremixx is really great and had everyone on their feet the whole night. We also had the photo booth from 6:00-8:00 and then the cigar roller from 8:00-10:00. The photo booth was a hit and the pictures were hilarious!! The props they bring are super funny! The cigar roller was also another hit since we have a lot of cigar smokers in my group including my husband. The only complaint is the candles that I brought from home were not lit. Although we did not need the light, I still would have liked the candles lit. I even asked one of the waiters to do this but it never got done. Also, I had lights for the hanging lanterns. None of them were lit. Again, I assume Janet would be checking all of this to be sure things were perfect. After the reception we went to the Teens Club area which is turned into an adults lounge at night. We continued the party here and then ended the night on the beach. A side note - the water pump broke so there was no water in the late afternoon. Luckily my ceremony had started so my guests and I had no idea. But there was no water from the sink and no flushing the toilet until 1am! I heard another bride who was getting married after me was FURIOUS. Her guests, including the bride could not shower! I really would not know what I would do if that happened! Sunday – Brunch and then relaxing by the pool Monday – Dinner at Le Chique; excellent food!!!! Tuesday – Excursion at Chichen Itza! It’s a full day event but totally worth it!!! I promise you would not be disappointed. Wednesday – Back home as Mr. and Mrs. J A few tips: Make sure your wedding coordinator is by you during your big day. Even ask your wedding coordinator during your meeting, what exactly will she be doing…then ask her what you would like her to do. If you want your gown pressed, make sure you fill out the correct line I would suggest staying in Premier since dining at Le Chique would be for free and you have wifi for free. Otherwise, wifi would be $75/week or $15 per day (I think). Some of my guests and I played beach volleyball at 4pm every day (except sat) during our stay…definitely a lot of fun. When you check out make sure you go through your bill. I was charge a couple of things when it should have been for free. Bring plenty of small change ($1 and $5 and $10). Don’t forget sunblock…. VERY expensive at the resort!!!!!!!!! 8. Oh…and if you use the ATM machine, I believe it’s a 20% charge on what you take out. 9. After the wedding, they will give you back your decorations, make sure you double check it. We never got back our bride & groom signs. L 10. Wedding cake is terrible! 11. My set up fee was $150 b/c I did not have much stuff to set up. Honestly, the reason why the WC you are dealing with can not really give you a price is b/c they really do not know how much decorations you have. When you arrive at the Resort and you meet with your WC on the premises, they are the ones who can give you the quote. If your WC in Miami is giving you a quote and you like the quoted fee then get it in writing! The resort is reasonable on their set-up fee and you can always negotiate! ENJOY EVERY SECOND..IT WILL GO BACK VERY QUICKLY!

We had the cigar rollers at our reception from 8:00-10:00. The 2 hr event is a few guys who set up a table and roll right in front of you a mix of Mexican and Dominican cigars. Since it is rolled fresh, the cigars are actually pretty good. Unfortunately, they do not roll cuban cigars. However, you can pre-order Cuban cigars which come in a box for an extra cost. Off the top of my head, I do not remember how much extra the cuban cost. But if you are interested, I can dig through my file to see how much I paid. The cigar rollers were a big hit with my group.