jdavidso

Hi ladies I am so sorry it has taken me so long to get around to writting something I have been soooooo busy at work since we have been back, were to start well let me tell you everything was amazing totally exceeded our expectations. I was to worried about the lack of communicaton b/w me an Ana, but let me tell you she is the most wonderful organized person and she will go above and beyond. We had just under 50 guests with us, the weather was great resort was nice, not to full at the time we went. I will break it down into categories for all fo you to make it easier Hotel/roms/entertainment: the hotel was well laid out not to big not to small we were upgraded to an ocean view near the main pool bar, it was lovely the rooms are spacious and make for good pictures when getting ready. Housekeeping was great only had one guest have an issue with their room and they were moved right away. The lobby was spacious and welcoming the lounge areas on the terraces were great to relax sit back and have some drinks although there was no nightlife (they would play music) we made our own it alternated from the pool bar to the lobby bar and in each area we had a great time and finished the night at Route 66-my friends are all in their 30's most single and everyone commented about how this was the best trip they have ever taken. We did hit up Cancun for a night and got VIP set up with Coco Bongo best time ever........ Food:was all very good, nothing to complain about was it gourmet no, but it was delicious none the less, no issues getting into the al la cartes and there is no limit to how many times you can go to them which if you travel to all inclusives is not always the case. Take advantage all are good, we tried everyone and were not disapointed. Buffet was decent, we also had a very good experience because the hotel was not very busy so there was never any wait or lines for food or booze.... Wedding: the wedding was amazing we had a beach ceremony at 3pm at the far side near the priveledge area and yes there is an ugly fence on one side however it is WAY more private Ana and another employee stood at either end of ceremony and wouldnt let anyone walk by while the wedding was taking place, we legally got married there as it was very important to me to have my Dad walk me down and be there when we were married as we dont live in the same city anymore so they wouldnt have been able to attend at a courthouse the blood work was easy didnt hurt at all very clean and all together the process was very easy to legally get married there. the ceremony was short we were able to add in our own vows at the end we did not meet the officiant before hand but it didnt mater to us. We had our reception on the lobby terrace from 7-11 we paid the extra 2 hours and this was one of the BEST decisions we made as we were not ready to end the party even with the 2 extra hours. Afterwards we headed down to the beach party (we were lucky enought to have our wedding the night of the hotel beach party) the food was amazing compliments all around we choose the salmon carpaccio, lemon/vodka sorbet the surf and turf (which they cooked to a med/rare as per our request) and then creme brulee, the wedding cake was tres leche and was delicious. We choose and ipod set up for the ceremony and the reception they supplied all the speakers ect with our package paradise package and the did a great job I didnt know they would supply someone so we had asked our MC to deal with the IPOD but didnt need to as they took care of it. I had all my songs laid out into seperate playlists so it was to use. The service was great and we had a great time. Decorations;we brought with us table runners, napkins, chair sashes, sea shells, lanterns, chineese lanterns to hang, luminaries with all different sayings, made menu frames, and instead of using a guest book we bought a bunch of old vintage mexican post cards and got people to write their well wishes and adivce on those so we can keep them in a scrap book as our guest book we also hired mexican maracas to make 50 personalized maracas they were a big hit with the guests and they loved these as our wedding favours. I left all my non personalized decorations behind for Josie another bride and Ana was fine with that. Hair:I had hair and make up included but choose only to get my hair done as i have sensative skin and didnt want to have alot of makeup on I wanted to look natural Litzy did a great job on my hair it looked just like the picture I gave them to duplicate and it stayed all night Photography:we hired Foto Take It......so wonderful to work with young, nice friendly quick to respond I cant say enough good things about them they arrived at 12 and stayed until almost 10 and then returned for a trash the dress shoot a couple days later. I love their work and was so happy we hired outside the vendor fee was worth it as these pictures and our memories are all we have from that week. if anyone is interested in seeing the photos to give you ideas about the set up, locations decorations ect feel free to take a look at the wedding pictures they are on the webpage for foto take it under clients services Jan and Jon it is password protected the password is janjon there are alot of pictures 3 seperate galleries but it may help ease some worries for future brides. They also have an amazing turn around time, as you can see it was under 3 weeks. http://www.fototakeit.com/blog/jan-jon-gallery/ All in all the wedding was amazing I wouldnt have changed a thing it was the best week of my life. We honeymooned at the El Dorado Royale which is also a amazing resort and loved every minute the most relaxing week and outstanding food we have ever had.... Good luck to all the future brides if anyone has any specific questions feel free to contact me..

I went through Ana to book my hair and makeup (as it is included in the package we got) and then I had to send a request to the spa directly through the web page Ocean Coral and Turquesa to book the rest of the wedding party in.

Hi Juliana, looks like we have the same wedding day!! We went for the paradise package and beach ceremony we will have our civil ceremony on the more private beach side at 3pm and our dinner on the lobby terrace from 7-11 (paid for the extra hour) then we will head down to the pool area to finish off the night. I booked the spa from 10am-2pm for the girls and I to get our hair done and we hired Foto take it for our wedding photography as I have heard bad reviews about the resort photographers. I am so excited we have an average size wedding 50 people booked and confirmed so if you need any info or have any questions please feel free to shot them my way and I will try and answer as much as I can.

does anyone know if we are having the legal ceremony at the OCT if we can add in or own vows to each otherduring the ceremony as well as sticking to the scripted ones? This is important to me. Thanks.

I actually sent Ana an email today asking for the wording for the civil ceremony hopefully she gets back to me sooner than later once she does I will share it with you if you don't get it before then.

Thanks that's what I figured and your right it is a wedding and hopefully all of our guests will understand.

Hey ladies I would love to know if anyone that had the steak and shrimp dinner option knows how it works, can the guests choose how they want their steak cooked I'm sure most of our guests will want medium rare however there will be some that want it more well done. Does the server go around and ask or do I tell Ana ahead of time or do we have to just have them all cooked the same way?

Hey Meagan816. I did the master cleanse and it is def the hardest thing I have done since quitting smoking 3 years ago. Its is one of the longest running cleanses and comes with alot of controversy. 50% people support it and the other 50% say its the worst thing in the world, It comes down to your body and what your comfortable with. I too was one of those 50% that said I would never do it until my 65 year old Dad and my older sister did it they have been doing it now once a year for the last 3 years and love it. My dad worked out everyday while he was on it. So when my fiance suggested we do it I was more inclined. I discussed it with my doctor and he reassurred me I was getting the proper nutrients for the short amount of time I would be on it, I had already been eating really clean so I didnt have major food withdrawl and I had the extra support of my fiance. I hated the first 2 days but after that it was motivating to know I could accomplish something so hard for me and I feel great since completing the 10 days. It was hard especially with my busy work schedule but I woke up earlier made the sacrafices nothing is ever easy that is worth working towards and I love the results lost weight, feel great and light and have a new respect for what I put in my body. I am following the cleanse with continuing to eat clean, low carbs and 5 small meals a day portion control is the most crucial for me this is my downfall.

Hey ladies just thought I would jump in with some motivation as I know I needed some when I started. My wedding is this Novemeber so I started working out and eating better low carb lots of fruit and veggies in Jan of this year it took awhile but I dropped about 8 lbs. I completed a cleanse last week which I dropped another 12 lbs from so total to date 20 lbs 10 more to go to hit my goal but now that I am eating clean feel better about my body and fit into my old clothes it should be easy sailing from here. Low carb is hard but stay with it it, tis worth it and gets much easier after awhile. I dont even grave carbs that much any more and when I do have some I make better choices in carbs such as whole grain and or much smaller portions. weight loss is hard and its a long struggle but well worth it for the feeling of being healthier menatally and physically.

has anyone been legally married at the OCT??? We are scheduled to get legally married at the resort and I am trying to figure out if we need a long version of our birth certificate translated or just the wallet size???? I have tried to email Ana but she is taking forever to get back like more than3 weeks now and my wedding planner is completely useless and never gets back to any of my questions we are at the 6 month mark now and If we need the long version we need to order them and get them translated which will take awhile.....Please help..............

for sure and no worries at all once I get all my the stuff ordered ect wont be until after July mid Aug I will send you a pic and keep you in the loop. my email is [email protected] in case you need anything from now till then. Happy planning.

Josie, so excited that you are having your wedding so close to ours and the same colors. We are expecting about 40-50people we won't have a final count until the end of July. At that point I'm going to order chair sashes half fuschia and half orange, luminars for table settings, probably some stones/rocks and probably some small vases. We aren't doing to many things in terms of decorations but whatever we bring I will leave with Ana for you to have consider it a wedding gift to you guys from one bride to another. I don't think this will be a problem we will be leaving the resort the morning on the 11th when do you guys arrive? I would hate for their to be any issues but I can't imagine chair sashes or small vases ect getting damaged just after one use.

has anyone been married at the resort legally that can tell me if we need the long version of our birth certificates or can we just bring the wallet sized ones, and do they have to be translated into spanish? thanks

Andrea that is to bad about the issues with your TA we have 30 guests confirmed so far and are thinking at least another 10 will book for sure. We are doing legal so we need to be there a few days early I think if your doing symbolic you don't need to be there any specific amount of time prior. Honestly all the reviews about this hotel make me so happy we chose this resort we are moving to El Dorado for our honeymoon week right after our wedding week and so looking forward to both hotels. Ana is great takes her awhile to get back to you but I always get the response I'm looking for. I'm doing some DIY projects and have gotten some great deals on invites ect so if you need anything don't feel shy to ask I'm willing to help or advise any way I can.

Hi Andrea, I feel so bad that we have our wedding booked the day that you wanted obviously it is to late for us to switch our date as most our guests are already booked and invites are sent out and deposits and down, photographer booked. I'm hoping that the resort doesn't allow more than one wedding a day as this may cause problems with booking time in the spa, having Ana and Karens full attention and god forbide if it's not a nice day then we may have issues with the back up options. I do hope you here back from Ana soon regarding the other dates. As well not sure what your colors are but we are doing fuschia and bright orange and we are brinining some linens and decorations with us we would be more than happy to let you guys borrow anything that would help you out if you end up having your wedding after ours. This sounds like a wonderful resort and I can't wait to get married here, wishing you all the best in your planning.