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.

So glad to hear you had such a great experience. I can't wait to see your pics. I was debating on what decorations to bring and what ones not to bring. What is included in the table with the wedding package. Our wedding colors are fuschia and bright orange. Was there an option to get colored napkins and if so was it included in the base set up for dinner or did you bring your own? I have no idea what to bring with me and what not too. And does Ana or Karen set up all the decorations and linens if you bring your own? Thanks so much for the advice.

Thank you so much for getting back to me I greatly appreciate it. I often fell so lost until I come to the site. thanks TropicLover

Does anyone know what the next steps are?? I have booked and reserved my wedding date, and now all that is left in terms of the actual wedding day is picking out decorartions, menu and flowers. When should I be doing this with Ana? Do I send her pictures and ideas of what I want ahead of time or do I pick everything out when we arrive at the resort? When and how can I book a welcome dinner at one of the buffets for out entire group? And also a reserved spot at the japanese restaurant for our wedding party and parents for after the wedding? How do I pay if we do it when we get to the resort if we dont know the exact pricing for all the add ons, can we pay by Visa? As well can anyone comment on the ipod situation we are getting the Paridise pkg and it says it includes speakers and mic and CD player??? do they have a ipod adapter that we can hook our ipod up to? OMG soryy so many questions....I feel so lost.... @Guilaine87 we booked with Romantic Plamet in Jan 2012 for our Nov 2012 wedding and we had to put down $200 for ourselves and 8 other guets to secure the group rate and then our guests had 2 months to put their $200 deposit down which we then got reimbursed for the 8 poeple's deposit we had to put up front and now all of our guests are required to pay in full by the middle of July the remainder of the trip cost. some guests are booking on their own but I have advised them we need to know by the middle of July if they are coming or not (just verbally) they can book whenever they want because we are over the 40 people alloted in the package so I wan to be able to budget accordingly and advise the resort and photographers ahead of time how big our wedding party will be. @modizzle: I have only heard horrible things from other brides in this thread about photographers at the resort so we opted for an outside photographer -Take it Foto is who we opted for they are a very small company super friendly take pictures in a journalistic fashion which I liked personally and they were well within our budget they dont charge by the hour which is great so we are getting them for 8 hours the day of the wedding and then for a trash the dress shoot two days later our package includes 100 photos, photobook, CD with pics, slideshow and about 40 individual prints of a larger size they edit them and we choose what we want all for only $1500 which is amazing I would have loved to get one of the bigger names for the photos but it just wasnt in our budget. They have been really nice and quick to respond however keep in mind that the resort will also charge you around $400 vendor fee and 80 per photographer for a day pass when you book an outside photographer. Seems like alot I know but worth it if pics are important to you. @leahbecker I have no idea what to tip either so if anyone can give some advise around this that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much. All those pics and info is so greatly appreciated.

@modizzle, thank you for sending me the price list. has anyone recently purchased the arch and flowers with it that wouldnt mind sharing with me the cost breakdown as it only lists that "prices vary" on the form and I am really wanting to add this feature to the wedding on the beach.

Hi ladies, So, so far I have booked my wedding date Nov 8th 2012 at OCT beach ceremony at 3pm and reception at 7 pm lobby terace. I have put down the deposit to hold the wedding date, time and locations, deposit for the outside photographer for wedding date and trash the dress shoot two days later, invites were ordered and arrived, wedding dress is bought, 40 people confirmed so far, wedding rings are bought, however I have emialed Anna and she is taking forever to get back to me which I can assume from other posts in this thread is normal and I shouldnt worry but I was hoping some other future or past brides could help me out. I am going with the Paradise package however, I was wondering if anyone had a list of prices for all the extra items such as the saches on the chairs, the arch, the wedding flowers for the brides maids, the arch, and or other decorations that I can purchase, also I was hoping to do fuschia and bright orange for my wedding colours does OCT offer decorations in those colours? Another thing I was wondering about was the music situation I am opitng for an ipod and speakers how does this work and is it loud enough? One more thing what is required before hand in order to get married legally in mexico I keep getting different answers, My fiance and I both live in Canada and he has been divorced. We have valid passports, and birth certificates and he has his divorce papers in English can anyone advise me what we need to do or get translated and where we could do that before hand???? thanks in advance for any help or advise this is way more stressful then I thought it would be and this forum is such a great source of info and help. Jan

okay just heard from Ana today and although it will most likely be the turtle hatching season this will not affect my beach wedding it only affects part of the beach events at night and is contained to one area.....thank heavens. just wanted to say a very big thank you to everyone on this forum for being such a wonderful resource. I am currently living in Calgary and all my friends and family aree back home in Ottawa so I havent had alot of help planning or researching so thanks for being a great support for information and advice.

Hey Ladies I have no idea if I am doing this right or not???? I hate computers we are getting married at OCT Nov 2012 and I had read awhile back that a beach wedding in Nov may not be possible due to the turtle nesting season. Both my wedding planner and myself have tried contacting the resort and they have yet to get back to us any info would be great and very appreciated.